Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 is here. The final game of 2012. I'm almost relieved, I've bought so many games this year that I've rushed through most of them so I can finish it before the next on comes out. Even so, I have over 20 unfinished PS3 games to get through, and fuck knows how many on PC.
I'm thinking of taking a gap year from the new release scene. Just finishing off all the games I've started, replaying some old classics, trying out some smaller games I've missed.  There's a few exceptions on the horizon such as GTA V and Carmageddon Reincarnation and whatnot.
The main reason is the Saints Row 3 complete edition. Including over 30 pieces of DLC for the same price as the vanilla game. The game is just as good now as it was last year, but you pay a premium for hype. I'm not gonna pay for hype any more. New releases are a mug's game in today's market.
The game also comes with a Far Cry bottle opener thing, not sure why but at least I have a miniature saw now.

Rasslin

I'm pretty far behind on wrestling. It's that time of year when a bunch of good videogames are released in a two month window to maximise Xmas sales, so I've been busily trying to keep up with the release schedule.
I've half an episode of RAW to watch and I'm up to date with WWE, but I'm like a month behind on TNA. 5 Dollar Wrestling is all up to date, obviously.
Nothing very interesting is happening. Cesaro is having a cliche, America-hating foreigner title run, Sandow's tag partner is injured so he's doing nothing special, Team Hell No is old now but they won't let it die, it's obvious Punk won't lose the belt before the Rumble so his feud with Ryback is just a string of screwjobs.
I'm going to keep an eye on Ambrose and Rollins, lots of people online love them but I haven't had a chance to make my own mind up yet. If they're as good as Cesaro and Sandow, this will be the best WWE roster in a long time. For me, at least.

Far Cry 3

The game has been released on the torrent sites. I am going to resist the temptation to download it, and wait a couple of days until release. Because I really care about Uplay points. Yep.

WWE 13

I had to stop playing because I couldn't pick who to play as...

Max Payne 3

Max Payne 3

Even on the lowest graphics settings, it still looks pretty nice.

Max Payne 3

I finally got round to playing some more Max Payne 3. It's really good, I dunno why It never clicked the first time. Probably because Max is so out of place in Brazil, being a moody introvert works well in New York but here it's not a great fit. In the first two games he was cool, now he's the weird guy who doesn't like the party but is still there anyway. Literally, in several cases.
Also finding the late game enemies pretty tough, they have body armor so only headshots kill them, plus some have helmets so they need two headshots, plus their guns can seemingly strip an entire health bar in less than a second. It's not hard to progress because each time you die the game gives you more health items and ammo until you get to the next checkpoint. It seems difficult because you die a lot compared to other shooters, but actually you can't fail. It's an interesting system.
I should finish it tonight if I don't end up watching more Lost with Linda. It started out good, then went shit, now it's good again.
I also played a fair bit of Anno 2070 and 1404 over the weekend, but there's not a lot to say about them. They're micromanagement intensive city builders. They're engrossing, but not interesting to talk about, really

Hitman Absolution

Finished the game. I was enjoying it while it lasted, but now it's over I feel like it was pretty shit. Probably because the levels at the end of the game were really bad. The very last level especially was total shit, you have to kill three dudes and there's nobody else in the level whatsoever...and then 47 kills the main bad guy in a cutscene. What were they thinking. A third mission in Chinatown would have been better that that.
It's really just a stealth game, not a puzzle game like the rest of the series. A shame, but Far Cry 3 is just round the corner, so who gives a shit?

Hitman Absolution

In the last cutscene I was walking away from a burning town, now I'm driving the streets of Chicago in a hearse. No idea where he got the hearse. I care more about that than the storyline of the game, which is just the tired old 'damsel in distress' cliche.
I did find some Easter eggs though.

Hitman Absolution

I keep meaning to write a big effort post about the game, but can't be bothered. Bottom line is, despite mixed feelings I'm enjoying the game.
They seem fixated on Christianity though, so far I've escaped a massacre in a convent/orphanage, done a mission dressed as a priest, killed an assassin hitsquad who were all dressed as fetish nuns, and the last thing I did before switching off for the night was shoot a guy who'd taken a priest as a human shield in front of an entire church congregation. It wouldn't surprise me if the pope was the final boss, but Assassin's Creed already did that so maybe not.
I can't wait to finish the game so I can try again without worrying about a Silent Assassin rating. So many guns, and I never get to use them.

Hitman Absolution

I somehow managed to get #8 in the UK for one of the missions...total fluke, I'm sure, but I get to brag anyway. #60 globally, which is still pretty good I guess.

Silent Assassin

Hitman Absolution

The game just crashed and erased my savegame. I'm not all that fussed because I don't mind replaying it, but if it happened on the last level I would be pretty mad.
Update: turns out it's the hard drive, not the game. Fuck.

Hitman: Absolution

This screenshot pretty much sums up my feelings on the game so far.

Hitman Absolution

Baldie is back

Hitman Absolution

Just bought the game on PS3. I wanted it on PC, but the console version came out a day earlier. Plus I kinda like my cellphone screenshots, PC ones are too perfect.
I'm expecting it to be a good game, but a bad Hitman game. Like XCOM but balder.

Sleeping Dogs and Black Ops 2 are in the completed games box. Back to AC2.

Sleeping Dogs

The wedding

Sleeping Dogs

The way it's meant to be played.

Sleeping Dogs

First time playing in a long time. Was greeted by this.

I've been playing some multiplayer the last couple of days, which is very unusual. CoD is actually a lot of fun, I can even hold my own most of the time. I actually won a game of Gun Game earlier.
Also been checking out Assassin's Creed 3 multiayer. It's also pretty good, you actually have to think about what you're doing. It's not just a test of relfexes/connection.
The new Hitman game is coming out this week, it's supposed to be pretty shit but we'll see.

Black Ops 2: First Impressions

I put my '100% every Assassin's Creed game' mission on hold to try out the new COD game. I actually haven't bought a COD game since the last WWII one, but Tranzit mode sounded worth trying.
First impressions of the singleplayer: Shit. Remove all the cutscenes, set pieces, and gimmick levels and you've got a decent little shooter. But the it would only be ten minutes long. Way too much fluff.
The graphics were not as great as I was expecting, I always thought they were the main selling point of these games but they didn't seem that special compared to other AAA games. Nice environments, though.
Multiplayer is a lot of fun. More fun than it looks from gameplay vids. Plus I'm a lot better than I thought I'd be and even got a couple of positive k/d matches.
The downside is, because of the timezone here it can actually be pretty hard to find a game, and connections were all pretty bad. A lot of the time I'd shoot a guy a few times before he killed me, but in the killcam I never got a shot off. It's not a huge deal, just means I have to focus on sneaking behind people and shooting them in the back rather than trying to take them head on.
It was also apparently impossible to get a game of Zombies. I sat waiting for a game for like 10 minutes but got nothing. I guess people are playing multiplayer now, and more will migrate over in the next few weeks. I'll try again over the weekend.
Overall, I had an enjoyable evening with COD. My main focus was the multiplayer (even though I'm am SP guy), and I want to properly try zombies.