I hope to be able to talk about a different game next week as I'm nearing the end of Arkham City. All being well with the ending, this should rank in my top five games of 2011, with Rocksteady's title ramping up and up the further I go into the story. To be honest, I'm still a little rubbish when it comes to combat, not knowing the best techniques to take out large groups of armed enemies, but I defeat them eventually. If I've got one major problem with the game it's that I could have done without the Catwoman sequences - having to play as her when you've been Batman for the last few hours felt quite jarring.
In my eyes, Apocalypse Now is quite possibly the best film to ever come out of the USA. When someone decides to use it - along with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness - as the primary inspiration for a video game, they're sure to grab my attention. Spec Ops: The Line is a story-driven shooter in an age where competitive multiplayer rules the roost. 2K and Yager Development think they've found a gap in the market, but will the gamble pay off? I've no idea, but on the basis of the 90-odd minutes I've played so far, the game will certainly be worth investigating.
Not much has been made of the ending to this, partially because I think a lot of people are still playing it. Still - it's probably transmedia gone wrong. While I found the game perfectly enjoyable I was particularly disappointed that I had to watch an animated feature - Assassin's Creed: Embers, which is ether available with the Special Edition or on sale on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 240 Points - to see Ezio's actual ending. While I liked the conclusion to Ezio's trilogy, releasing it this way leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
In less than a month Star Wars: Galaxies is shutting down – something I talked about in my ongoing diary feature over here. For anyone who has spent time in WoW, it will feel like honest-to-god one of the strangest Massively titles you've ever touched. Within minutes you'll rub shoulders with Han Solo, before (in my case) following on to quests that revolve almost exclusively around dancing for hospital-dwellers. It also has some of the strangest camera controls I've ever had to bother with, but there's still something quaint about an MMO that feels so rough around the edges. Stay tuned for the next entry in my SWG takeover next week.