Assassin's Creed Maps

I have been totally hooked on Assassin's Creed the last day and a bit (but haven't been able to play as much as I'd like though.) When I first started playing it on Saturday I wasn't that into it I have to admit but as the game progressed I got more and more hooked. It has to be good since it's caused me not top play COD4 for the last 2 days!

The visuals are really good and look spectacular in some scenes although the draw distance is a bit of a problem sometimes. You could be running on the rooftops thinking you path ahead is clear when slowly guards will start appearing due to the short draw distance. Sometimes while walking you can clearly see a line ahead of you as shadows and other details are being drawn. It's a bit of a bummer but if you can look past it you are left with a great game.

The controls are also pretty slick and what seems to be quite complicated at the beginning of the game soon becomes second nature and you'll be running and jumping across rooftops, climbing high towers and fighting soldiers without thinking about how to do it.... it becomes second nature.

The achievements seem to come at a steady pace too but the ones where a little help may be necessary are collecting all the flags scattered all over the cities and countryside. Luckily help is at hand and if you don't own the Prima Game Guide you might want to go check out this post for a little help.

Call of Duty 4

I have been playing quite a bit of Call of Duty 4 this week and am really enjoying this game. Apart from Gears of War co-op this is the game that I have spent the most time online with. The multiplayer is really good and I love the levelling system as well as all that goes with it including the challenges and perks.

I have only just reached the officer ranks (Level 25) mainly because I simply don't play it as much as everyone else. It's amazing to see how quickly some people have gone up through the ranks... they must be putting in some serious hours into it. All I know is that the multiplayer is really good and for me to say that it has to be really good since I usually shy away from the multiplayer parts of games.

XBox Live Issues

Seems like there have been some serious problems in Xbox Live land the last couple of days. Is it coincidence that it started just after the launch of COD4? I'm not saying it's COD4 fault but is the service maybe just not able to cope with everyone playing COD4? Friday and Saturday was ok for me but since Sunday I have been struggling to connect to multiplayer matches.

The last 2 days have been even worse with the whole Live service appearing to slow down. After the maintenance on the service yesterday it seems to have been worse! Last night the console would just hang when calling up your friends list and would show everyone with 0 gamerscore for quite a while before it would update. Almost like waiting for a slow webpage to load.

According to Major Nelson the problem should be a thing of the past today but I'll have to wait and see when I get home tonight to test it. Sure hope they sorted it out... I seriously need to level up in COD4!

10000 and counting...

I reached 10000 gamerscore earlier this week thanks to completing a few more games. The biggest thanks has to go to King Kong where you actually get 1000 gamerscore just for completing the game..... awesome! I also completed GRAW2 which is now officially my favourite Xbox360 game. I really love this game and sure hope they are going to make some more. I enjoyed this game more than Halo3 and Gears of War combined! Rainbow 6 Vegas comes in at a not too distant second place though. I guess modern day tactical shooter are just "my thing." Now I just hope that Call of Duty 4 lives up to all the hype when it gets released here this Friday.