Assassin's Creed : Rogue (PS3)

While the whole world is hating UBISOFT and cursing UNITY, here I am with my sad PS3, contented with what was made for PS3 players like me. AC: Rogue. It was less anticipated compared to Unity, thus making it seemed like an underdog. And guess what? IT WAS AWESOME.

The gameplay is exactly the same as AC : Black Flag, but a few new features were added. For example, in Ship combats, the R2 button was added as Swivel shots with manual aiming. Also, the enemies are stronger and since the protagonist is a Templar, the Eagle Vision is not only used to spy on soon to be visible enemies, but also Assassins that are stalking you hiding in bushes and closets. It's basically the opposite of Black Flag using the same controllers concept.

We continue the modern day in Abstergo's Animus using the deceased Desmond's DNA to obtain memory fragments from history.  The main character is Shay Patrick Cormac who started as an assassin trained by Achilles (whom was Connor's mentor in AC3), a hot woman named Hope and some Ah Tabai lookalike named Kaasagawe (sp?). Other cameos include Adewale from Black Flag and Haytham Kenway from AC3 (who turned to be the one who made Shay a Templar Knight).

As confused you are on the title : Rogue, the game would make you understand why Shay turned his back against his Assassin brothers without making you blame him or them. It was during one of his big missions, where he realised that the Assassins are no better than Templars, wanting absolute power without caring who gets killed for it. After retrieving a Manuscript for the "Tree of Eden" in a church, a deadly earthquake occurred in Lisbon killing thousands and he was overwhelmed with anger and guilt, and begin his journey as a rogue Assassin as he joined the Templars' side.

Just like other AC games, you find yourself deeply involved with the characters and saddened by the deaths of Shay's former allies as he had no choice but to assassinate them one by one. The storyline was very moving, creating a neutral perspective between the Templars and Assassins.

In the end, Shay managed to save Achiles from being killed by Haytham. Although Haytham shot Achille's leg anyway to make sure he stays crippled. Hence, the reason why he was reluctant to train Connor in AC3. Shay also killed Charles Dorian in hunt for an artefact, an assignment by Haytham he agreed to. Charles Dorian is the father of Unity protagonist, Arno.

Assassin's Creed : Rogue is the Prequel to Assassin's Creed III and AC: Unity and the Sequel to Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag. The storyline is neatly organised and would fill in the blank spaces left by the former games.

Of course, in the modern day, it was revealed (as we expected) that Abstergo is actually another name for Templars.

Overall, I give this game a 9/10. I would play it again, this time with side missions as well.

Gamerly,
Ms Anne

The Pyramid (film)

I actually watched this movie last Thursday. Just remembered to write a review before I forget about it. Okay so yeah, it was advertised as a horror flick and me, being the horror addict persuaded my boyfriend to go watch it, regardless of his reluctance towards movies like this.

Firstly, the movie is a mix of the standard unedited documentary style with some normal played cameras every now and then.

The trailer seemed good, which drew me into wanting to watch it in the first place, but trust me, the movie is NOTHING like what they trailed you.

It's been a while since they last made movies like this. Usually it's the typical "surprise" elements of supernatural beings popping up here and there making up an entire 'horror' movie. The Pyramid is full of suspense and surprises without the boom bang sound effects. And as you expect there to be mummies walking all over the tunnels, your brain fails you as the villain of the movie is not what you thought it would be.

Of course, the standard blonde girl cliche is included. The persuasive "hey let's go into the pyramid..." speech when nobody else wanted to go in, but went in anyway, and they all turned out gruesomely dead except her because she's cute and wears hot pants.

[SPOILER ALERT]

So the 'ghosts' mummies you expected turned out to be monsters. Deep under the 3 sided pyramid lay generations of sphinx cats (which makes you reconsider about having one just for the value) and a hell yeah 'literally' Anubis. I'm telling ya LITERALLY ANUBIS. Not in a mask, but the half human-half jackal himself! So he went out killing these people and letting his cats eat em. Okay enough spoilers.

This movie would make you go through your dusty old encyclopedias to read all you can about pyramids and their ancient history! I'm telling you that is exactly what I did! Although the Anubis reference was kind of unreal and fake, but the movie is worth watching.

Overall I would give this a 7.5/10. Better than Mockingly Part 1 which I am too lazy to review.

Anciently,
Ms Anne.