It’s nearly here. The Christmas Holiday Game Battle! Who will win out? The Military under the guise of Modern Warfare 2? The Creed of Assassin’s? Or will a horde of zombie’s end up eating them alive?

It’s Well established Modern Warfare 2 has had the media coverage behind it, add a mass of fanboy’s willing to commit martyrdom in the games defence and people hypnotised by TV ads etc and it confirms its self as the winner, we all know this but the question was never who would win, it’s a by how far will they win? Let’s find out...



Assassin’s Creed has no fear unlike other titles in the face of Modern Warfare 2 because it did battle with Modern Warfare before and people while praising the amount of publicity Ubisoft gave their new franchise in aid of it selling well using the now President of Ubisoft Montreal’s Jade Raymond, attention and sales went well to Assassin’s Creed and the sales numbers spoke for themselves and shocked a lot of people. It’s gameplay was solid and very well refined. However it fell into some bad habits with its mission structure and this was Assassin’s Creed’s biggest issue with many gamers. While niggling issues other than this pertained it was by far one of the biggest criticisms of the game.



Assassin’s Creed II has fixed the biggest issues of the game changing its mission structure from its previous predictable linearity to a freeflow mission structure, while some missions may begin like previously they by no means end the same, and on some occasions change, to the point doing so forfeit’s your advantage from an early assassination, or by ignoring it means you will go poor on another occasion because you chose to ignore a thief. Assassin’s Creed II has more of its finer details, in the details. From Ezio’s attire to the landscape’s themselves having real life landmarks. If a title was going to win an award for most Improved, Assassin’s Creed II would most likely win it.
Which brings us on to the hit title of 2008; Left 4 Dead.



Valve is renowned for their long development cycles and hard work, and more recently their dedication to their user base supporting both the *lover’s and hater’s* when it comes to Left 4 Dead. So it comes as quite a shock for many people that Left 4 Dead see’s a sequel in Left 4 Dead 2 in what will be just under one year. New location’s, new graffiti, new weapons, even new zombie types. Left 4 Dead 2 is ticking all the basic requirements for this sequel, along with improving upon previous model’s of the horde for a new slimier zombie horde with easier chances of dismemberment, to a more technically advanced AI Director.



Left 4 Dead has the most technically sound multiplayer ever put in a videogame so far, with Left 4 Dead 2 simply building on this with the two B’s ‘ Bigger & Better’ and it delivers well, with a pre-release demo out to those who pre-ordered and very soon to those who haven’t it should make some decide which side of the fence they will drop on, the question is will it’s glory of last year be enough to maintain a similar or better sales record, or will the previous experience of therapy seeking lonewolves be too much? Or have they adapted to work as a team long enough to survive the masses of the zombie horde?



Terrorism... N00b... and too many cursewords and racial remarks including some you never even knew about, and hordes of pre-pubescent gamers playing a 18/M rated game their dumbass parents went out and bought them clueless to what content is on the disc will be over this like fruit bat’s over a fresh crop of mango trees. While this isn’t anything to do with Infinity Ward, or Activision. It most certainly is a by-product of success, and for gaming it smells like money and unwashed thirteen year olds.

With that unsightly public sanity announcement out the way, Modern Warfare’s success comes from a developer listening to the public outcry of, ‘Enough with the World War 2 games already!’ because if you need a history lesson on first person shooters pre-Modern Warfare, the amount of shooters based on world war 2 feels like it’s touching triple figures. Medal of Honour, Call of Duty, Brother’s in arms, Hidden & Dangerous, and many more franchises, spawning more sequels based on world war 2 scenarios than third world country families have children to help with farming, was getting out of hand, people barely kept their sanity with Tom Clancy titles like, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon. While they weren’t amazing back on their first outing, and weren’t the only modern war based first person shooters out there, they were few and far between.



So when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was shown back in E3 2007. The video was of All Ghillied Up, then as soon as your commander moved in the grass the press gave a booming round of applause and the rest ended up being history with both gamers, and press. Modern Warfare was going to sell well no matter what but putting it in a modern climate with a modern selection of guns and using the world’s best known special operation’s team the S.A.S. along with the US marines meant it would sell across both sides of the pond.

Now the sequel is on the horizon, with more guns, perks, and modes than you can shake a stick at. Infinity Ward went all out with promotion, and development making two teams, one for single player, and another for multiplayer. Meaning the king that defeated Master Chief and took his Multiplayer Crown is about to retain its crown with customised kill streaks and death streaks, gun load outs and perks galore.

Let’s hope they can conquer the beast of infinite spawning enemies and phantom grenades with structured battles this time. But this year’s battle will begin with round after round of gun fire, then one week later followed by stealth assassinations and rampaging horde of those who have fallen wanting revenge.

This year’s Christmas rush has learned from its 2007 counterpart that too many titles grabbing for the domination of sales isn’t worth the hit in sales and moved out. But the new question remains, have they left it long enough for or did they forget about Christmas morning? Sure sales will go crazy with gamers, and parents buying the games, but while some will be sedated, others have to wait until Christmas day to get their hands on these titles, and it looks like Mass Effect 2 is first in the firing line of the post-Christmas madness.

Personally I question if those that pulled out of Christmas release after delaying a late summer / fall release in aid of getting a Christmas sales boost, then pulling out yet again , (yeah I’m looking at you Splinter Cell: Conviction) to avoid the shadow of Modern Warfare 2 will actually benefit the game or not. Only time and our pockets can tell.