Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (PS3)

It is rare that gamers are treated to a franchise as original or well developed as Assassin's Creed. Arriving on consoles in 2007, the series has manifested in six incarnations on four different systems and each time it has surpassed expectation. The world Ubisoft Montreal are building is fleshed out with every release while the story becomes more captivating without become incomprehensible. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is probably the finest entry in the series so far.

For all the newcomers, Assassin's Creed is a cross between period adventure and futuristic science fiction. Each entry follows the journey of Desmond Miles, a drifter from the not too distant future. A man with a distinctive pedigree, Desmond is the latest in a long line of significant, historical assassins. Using a device known as the Animus, he is reliving the memories of his ancestors, searching for clues to a puzzle unfolding in his own time. Eventually both Desmond and the player will discover an ancient conflict between the Assassin's Order and the Knight's Templars, each side fighting since the crusades over some oddly anachronistic technology. It's a compelling setup that allows the series to approach both narrative and gameplay in ways quite different to many modern games.

Brotherhood presents itself as an epilogue to Assassin's Creed II. Once again we follow Desmond's renaissance ancestor, Ezio Auditore and return to the rooftops of 15th Century Italy. Where Assassin's Creed II turned some significant pages in the series' overall story, Brotherhood really is a case of "what happened next?" As Assassin's Creed II was drawing to a close, the game strongly hinted that Ezio's role in larger events was finished. Brotherhood supports this with a story that is more concerned with Ezio's personal struggles and the time he is confined to. Coming into conflict with Cesare Borgia leads to the destruction of his home and a revolution in Rome, while there are still secrets to uncover that will affect Desmond's future, it basically amounts to little more than "where did Ezio leave the keys?" While the contribution to the series narrative is minimal, within Ezio's life the game deals with much larger things; tasking you with bringing about the downfall of an entire city. Ezio himself has grown as a character. Much older than when we first joined him, he seems somewhat weary of his life in charge of the Assassin's. A greater sense of responsibility has replaced his recklessness and while it's a somewhat cliche development, it's still a rewarding feeling to watch a familiar character develop. While the contribution to the series narrative is minimal, within Ezio's life the game deals with much larger things; tasking you with bringing about the downfall of an entire city.

Series regulars will find themselves to be on familiar territory here. Many of the series' fundamentals remain totally unchanged and you will still spend most of your time leaping from rooftops, dodging guards and sneaking into buildings to chase down your target. It feels identical to Assassin's Creed II and rarely breaks from your expectations in this respect. As before, the series is largely centred around climbing and free running. This is fairly simple to perform, holding down a couple of buttons puts you in free run mode. Run at a wall and you'll climb it. In the past the series has taken some criticism for this control method, the suggestion being that it removes control from the player. Rather, it is about emphasisng a different form of control. The player doesn't necessarily tell the character when to jump, however the player does find the next ledge or foothold, tracking the right path up or down. It's not everyone's cup of tea but it doesn't bother me. Where Brotherhood branches out in new directions is in your gradual domination of Rome. Unlike previous games in the series, you are largely confined to Rome here. This isn't too much of a restriction as Rome is significantly larger than any of the cities in previous games, however it does change the gameplay somewhat. Your long term goal is to remove Borgia influence from the city, this is done by destroying Borgia landmarks. After this is done you can the purchase businesses and beauty spots in these areas. This will provide you with an income, useful for purchasing assassin's supplies but also creates areas in the city that are a little like safe zones where allies congregate.

Brotherhood, as the title suggests, also lets you take a little of the Assassin's burden off your shoulders. As in all previous Assassin's Creed titles, occasions will arise when you can save some oppressed townsfolk from harassment. Doing so will recruit the individual to your cause and give you backup in tricky situations. You can call in around five assassins at a time, useful if you're heavily outnumbered or need a distraction. You can also assign them to assassinate specific targets, a handy option if you're having trouble reaching a victim. Between your own escapades you can send the recruits on missions around the world for the assassins. Here they will help turn the tide against templars around the world while you sit back and collect the loot at the end. The benefit to this (aside from cash) is that your assassin's will strengthen up and provide much better support the next time you call them in to back you up. The combination of recruiting civilians and buying up the businesses gives Brotherhood a juicy subversive feel. At times you really feel as though you're building an army and spreading influence. It's not perfect and I'd love to see it tackled a little more organically, fluid amounts of guards and way of taking territories based on influence and enemy strength would make it feel a lot less like risk. However, it's a hard feeling to cultivate in a game and works well as an extension to Assassin's Creed II.

Periodically the game will take you out of Ezio's life and plant you in the future. The future is a lot more compelling this time around and its nice to see Desmond and the modern assassin's taking more action. The story is allowed to build up a lot more than normal and you get the feeling that Ubisoft are setting the stage for an Assassin's Creed title that involves a lot less animus. When the inevitable flagship of Assassin's Creed III sails along it'll be interesting to see if they can bring the series to a natural, satisfying close.

One area I can find no fault is in the graphics. While I would expect no less from this series, it is one of the most stunning games I've seen since Assassin's Creed II. This is partly because a large amount of effort has gone into producing detailed designs and rendering them well, partly due to style. The game reproduces renaissance architecture and then lets you climb all over it. It's stunning to climb to the top of the tallest building in Rome and just look around. You can see for miles and it's genuinely breathtaking. Something few games can claim.

Lastly, I suppose I should take a minute to mention multiplayer. As I've no doubt mentioned before, I don't much care for multiplayer so I'm not the best person to judge, but I did enjoy it. While I didn't spend much more than a week with Brotherhood's multiplayer, it was a fun week. The game essentially asks you to choose a disguise, you will then be placed in a segment of town with various other players. A target will be randomly selected and you must track down that target, who will no doubt look like a lot of the civilians hanging around, and assassinate them. Meanwhile someone else out there will be tracking you down. I didn't stick with it because after my one week, I felt I'd seen everything there was to see. But then that's how I feel about all multiplayer so don't let it put you off. It was fun, original and clever; it even contributed to the plot mildly. It's definitely worth a look if multiplayer is your thing.

Brotherhood is not a perfect game by any means. Its biggest shortcoming is that it remains, at best, an expansion to Assassin's Creed II. In its defense, it is huge, but with all that extra content it does so little. The building of an underground resistance is absolutely enthralling and I'd have loved to see more done with it but I suppose we can't get everything. It's absolutely beautiful, as usual, and the voice acting and writing is all to a good quality. It delivers what it promises, more Assassin's Creed II, and I would argue that's worth the price. Just don't expect a revolution.

Summary: An excellent, if somewhat familiar, affair that stands among the best in the series.

Grand Theft Auto 3 (PS2)

It’s so easy to make a game that’s controversial. Add guns, add violence and add as much criminal activity as possible. Slap on an 18 certificate and ‘Hey presto’ – instant loathing and worry from most parents and moral people everywhere.
The clever part here is when you add intelligence, thought and include graphics and sound to make other games look a bit pathetic. So what now? Is it just about violence? Is it just making an 18 rated game for the sake of it? The answer to these questions and many more shall be answered in what I shall call:

Grand Theft Auto 3 – Pathetic attempt to make violence cool or pure genius?

The observant ones among you will have already noticed that this game ends in ‘3’. Yes, it’s the third instalment in the Grand Theft Auto series and this one is bigger and better than ever. The previous games took an overhead view on proceedings as you carried out missions around the vast city.
GTA3 sees you roaming around the three Liberty City islands in glorious ground-level 3D.
For those of you who don’t want all that newfangled three-dimensional gubbins you’ll be glad to hear that you can opt for the traditional overhead view. You’ll be missing out on a whole load of fun though!

Your mission (should you actually remember to carry them out!) is to do whatever it takes. You’ll be given specific objectives from various sources which you’ll have to carry out. Some are against the clock, others just have an end goal that you have to achieve however you choose. Get ready to get missions from the Mafia, gangs and you’ll even get missions from phoneboxes dotted around the city.
As you progress across the three islands you’ll have to meet and greet all kinds of people – just try not to upset too many of them unless you have to, you may regret it later.
Your reward is money, weapons and access to the next island
as you complete the missions and there are plenty to get through so don’t hang around.

Take a look around the place, get familiar with your surroundings as it’ll help you in the long run. Luckily you have an on-screen map which highlights where you’re heading in missions, where you can buy weapons and help you find your way home. Incidentally, at your home you can store vehicles and save your progress.

Gritty looks:
A while ago when the screenshots started appearing I was concerned that the end result was going to be something rather disappointing. It all looked quite bland and empty – not too dissimilar to Driver.
But how things can change over a few months. GTA3 is actually quite superb in terms of looks. Liberty City feels alive with all kinds of things moving around in quite impressive levels of detail. Vehicles have a unique appearance, papers blow around the streets, weather effects are superb, day changes to night – I could go on but I’m sure you get the picture.

It’s gorgeous, no other way of putting it really. On top of that the game bumps along at a constant frame rate too regardless of how many police cars and helicopters are chasing you!

Nasty sounds:
Everything that’s strong about this game in visual qualities is made stronger in the sound department. Weapons sound quite awesome, all of the vehicles have their own distinctive engine noises and as if that wasn’t enough you get a set of radio stations to select just like in the superlative Metropolis Street Racer. As with that title you don’t get official tunes or proper DJ’s but it’s put together so professionally that it won’t take long for you to be picking a favourite station/song. The dry sense of humour comes across here too with fictitious companies advertising on air. Petsovernight.com anyone?

Bad*ss Gameplay:
If you were thinking that this offering is all ab
out killing, speeding and underground evildoing then you’re pretty much on the right tracks. The thing is that everything is executed so well that you really end up taking GTA3 very seriously. Every one of the vehicles handles differently and I’d go as far as to say that they handle more realistically than some games that are purely driving based!
Getting around on foot is equally pleasurable with no obvious clumsy movement and painfully realistic fighting movements.

The Dual Shock 2 controller is used fully and it even makes use of the R3 and L3 buttons. WOAH! L3 and R3?! That’s right my friends, the analogue sticks have buttons underneath them – press them down and you’ll hear a clicking sound, that’s a button. L3 being the left one, R3 the right. These are used to activate the horn/sirens and on the Fire Engine R3 activates the water cannon! See, they even had to show off with the controller – and you thought they were just out to be controversial.

The serious bit:
Grand Theft Auto 3 is violent. It’s seriously violent and graphic with it. It’s nothing that you haven’t seen before in dozens of films but in gaming terms it’s pretty bad at times. Nothing is untrue though – people do die if you run them over, they will kick the bucket if you shoot them and yes they’ll croak it if you beat them to the ground with a baseball bat.
You can pick up prostitutes, work for the Mafia and even be a hitman. GTA3 is NOT for children, that’s why it has an 18 certificate and you should respect this rating as much as possible. Saying that though, you may decide that a youth of 15 is perfectly old enough to play this.
I had the pleasure of helping someone (15) to convince his dad to let him buy the game. My point was this – Saving Private Ryan is a 15 rated film. The opening fifteen minutes are absolutely horrific and can leave you quite drained. GTA3 isn̵
7;t even close to being as real as that so just remember that before refusing your 15 year old (or thereabouts).

The verdict:
GTA3 is excellent in just about every way. It’s clever, it’s gorgeous and it sounds positively alive. Violence is a key factor, hence the 18 rating but I would honestly advise that 15 is far more realistic.
It’s one of the top PS2 games available and ranks up there with the likes of Gran Turismo 3, now how much more praise do you want? Buy it. Now. Or I’ll break your legs.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (PS2)

With its first release Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time the franchise became a massive hit. The was an action adventure with a number of great environments filled with lots of puzzles and topping it all was the prince's acrobatics. Now the franchise's second release Prince of Persia: Warrior Within picks up the story just from where the Sands of Time ended with some great new features. Now the prince can hold two weapons and his combat moves has also been expanded. 

STORY:


The story starts seven years after the events of The Sands of Time where the prince is constantly attacked by a beast name "Dahaka" since he had unleashed the sands of time. The prince seeks help from an old wise man who intends that whoever releases the Sands of Time must die and its the Dahaka's duty to kill the one who released the sands as its the guardian of time. The only way for the prince is to travel back in time and kill the Empress of Time(who created the Sands of Time) before she created the sands. The prince starts his journey in a ship to the Island of Time to fulfill mission, but he faces a series of obstacles on his way. He has to travel back and forth in time to find his way, often gets chased by the Dahaka and also he faces the Empress of Time (Kaileena).


SANDS OF TIME:


Like the previous release of the game the prince can use the sands of time to rewind time for a few seconds. This comes handy when I mistime a jump or make a false move in combat during which we can use the sands to rewind and proceed. The prince has a total of six sand tanks (used to store the sands of time) which can be unlocked one by one as the game progresses. I can also use slow motion which consumes a sand tank in combat particularly when we have to a number of enemies. There are some surroundings in which we cannot progress without the help of slow motion, so use it wisely. The sands can also be used as a special power when surrounded by enemies, this move unlocks as the game progresses.


WEAPONS & COMBAT:


The prince can wield two weapons simultaneously with one being primary and other secondary. The primary weapon sticks with us all the time but we get a new and stronger primary weapon in the game progress. Secondary weapons are optional, I can even opt not to use it, but it allows the prince to perform great combos which are all listed in the pause menu of the game. Practice all the combos somewhere at the starting of the game as it will be very helpful later in the game. The secondary weapon gets damaged with every hit and worn out after a little use, but I can always take another weapon dropped by the enemies or use the weapon steal combo to steal the weapon from an enemy. Combos are a great way to eliminate stronger enemies, so its good to learn most of the combos. The jump ability of the prince is also very important in combat. The prince can jump off enemies and perform a combo attack in air and also in ground. The prince can also jump off from walls and smash into an enemy to push him away. Evading is also an important strategy in this game because its better to evade from certain enemy attacks. We will notice that throwing enemies off works better in many places. Evading attacks will be key feature in boss fight as most of the combos never work against a boss. Lighter combos combined with perfect evading will result in an easier boss fight.


GAMEPLAY:


The gameplay of Warrior Within has improved dramatically when compared to The Sands of Time. The graphics is a whole lot better and the prince physic looks great . The surroundings are also more challenging complemented by extensively wide combat moves. Despite the improved combat, the strength of Warrior Within lies in its environmental puzzles. As the prince, I will need to rely on your acrobatic moves to navigate your way through many cleverly designed rooms and traps. You can still jump, wall run, climb, mantle, swing, and vault your way from ledge to ledge and from branch to branch. You can also now controlled falls by sinking your sword into wall tapestries and then sliding straight down as you slice through them to slow your descents. Completing the game's puzzles and navigating your way through each room tends to be extremely fun and satisfying, and it's made all the more enjoyable by the well-animated moves of the prince and the beautifully designed levels. This gets more interesting with inclusion of Dahaka chase every now and then, where you have quickly find your way through the environment while the Dahaka chases you. This increases the pace of the game at the right time where one false move would cause the prince getting caught by the dahaka. The game may get tougher for a few as you travel back and forth in time to find your way and this may confuse you every now and then. The prince has become more dark with the bloody and gore combat scenes which has earned this game an M rating. This game has two endings, one with a water sword and another without it. You will find life upgrades for prince throughout the game in hidden locations, it increase the total life bar of the prince a little with every every life upgrade he collects. If you manage to find all the life upgrades you will find the water sword (the most powerful sword in the game) in the throne room and in the end you will face a tougher boss (Dahaka) and the end story changes accordingly. Instead if you fail to collect all life upgrades you will face the Empress of Time (Kaileena) at the end.


Overall Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is an excellent sequel to its franchise and all POP fans will love this game while others may struggle a bit but its easy to complete. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is easy to recommend for any action adventure fan, and its lengthier campaign should keep players busy for a lot longer this time around.

Summary: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is an excellent sequel for everybody to enjoy

FIFA 11 (PS2)

FiFa 2011 is the latest and recent edition of EA Sports football game, EA Sports releases a newer version of FiFa series every year along with their other sports game series. The prettiest thing is that it was also released for the PS2 platform despite the fact that PS3 and Xbox 360 have already taken over the gaming world. I bought this game within the first few weeks of its release and started playing it immediately along with brother. There were many improvements in this version when compared to its previous 2010 release.

-----Control-----

The controls are pretty much the same; nothing new is implemented here except for a few additional tricks to perform. An extra set of controls is added for the goalkeeper since there is a new mode in this version called "Be a Keeper" where we can control the goalkeeper. There are separate controls for dive, punch or catch, anticipation save, charge, slide and so on. Or you can also use the right stick for a quick attempt to save the ball.

-----Graphics-----

There are slight improvements in graphics from its previous edition starting with the audience; there are few improvements in the graphic details of the audience. Then the graphic of some popular players like Ronaldo, Messi have been improved to make them look more unique. Of course it's impossible to bring out the exact facial for all the players. The In game graphics is also improved, now the ball can be seen very clearly, tackles made are very much visible and the players dribbling, kicking & heading the ball is also very clear now.

-----Game Play-----

This is part where this edition has shown a lot of improvement. They have added a new feature called personality+ which means special players like Messi, Ronaldo, Van Persie, etc have incredible control over the ball when compared to other players. I was able to experience this clearly when I was controlling the ball with Messi, it was at such ease to dribble the ball with Messi. The secondary attributes also plays an important role in this edition, it works for real in this edition whereas in the previous edition it was quite hard to feel it. For example, when comparing secondary attribute "short passing " between Messi and Ronaldo, Messi has the highest and its easily felt when we make a short pass with both the players, Messi makes and receives a short pass with much more accuracy when compared to Ronaldo whereas Ronaldo has more shot power and his shots fly like a rocket whereas Messi mostly scores only with first touches since he has less shot power. The same apply for all types of passes, the pass accuracy of higher attribute players are way better than the rest of the other players. In the same way defenders like Terry, Puyol are very aggressive compared to other since their "Strength" attribute is high, they can just make another player fall and roll over with a slight block itself. Injury chances are high whey these kinds of players mistime a tackle. Also it's hard to score against goalkeepers with high "Reflexes" attribute. Goalkeepers are very intelligent in this edition; they are very agile and capable of making unbelievable saves when their positioning and momentum is high. These smaller improvements just make the game more interesting to play.

-----Tricks-----

Tricks play an important role in every football game according me. I believe if one can master all the tricks then it becomes so easy to score goals. There are a couple of tricks included in this edition but the main difference is that there are a few tricks that can be performed by only highly attributed players. Such tricks are usually an advanced version of a simple basic trick but require high skill attributed to perform it on the field. The main thing of using the tricks is the timing at which I perform a trick, if I time a trick exactly the chances of beating the defender and scoring are very high.

-----Game Modes-----

There is a new mode added in this edition which the "Be a Goalkeeper"where we can play as a goalkeeper. Our only work will be to correctly position the keeper according to where the ball keeps moving, and then we can attempt saves, charge against players, and anticipate shots and much more. But I feel this new mode is not needed at all, since you get only 4 to 5 chances to defend your goal but the rest of the time you have to idle. This will be good during online play, but definitely an unwanted inclusion according to me.
Then there are some new features included in the career mode, I can play as pro where I can control only a single player. The rest of the team plays automatically but I can request a short pass, cross, through pass anytime when the ball is with my teammates, I can even force my teammates to take a shot at the goal when they are in the right position to do so. I must carry out the season in this fashion, I will gain fame slowly among the fans as I keep winning and performing well for my team. If I perform badly I will warm the bench sometimes and if I perform really well I can get a place in the national side. These things give an edge to the Pro career and make it interesting to play.

The Coach career is a bit different where I have to take up the role of coaching my team and make them perform well. I have to look into injuries, improve certain skills of certain players and much more. I do not prefer this career mode much because I think it's sort of boring to play.

This the best part of the career, the Manager mode. It has lot of things to do; first I should sign up a contract with a team from a list of offers. Then prepare the team with the best playing 11, subs and reserves. I should then sign a contract with a sponsor of my choice and set up a few friendly matches before the start of the season to test out my team. The team bosses will put up some requests which I should achieve with my team. I will have full control over the team; I can give a chance for some unknown fresh players from the youth academy or scout for fresh players around the world. I will have a budget, with which I should manage my team salaries, staff developments, scouting, and stadium extension and so on. I get a bonus for every win from the team's sponsors. My fame level will increase if I keep winning matches, tournaments, cups and so on. I will be asked some questions by the media at the end of some matches; I will come up with some team issues which of those I should handle carefully without any damage, for the team, bosses and my job. I can even make transfer deals during transfer season and sign new players to the team, sell some payers from my team and even hire a player to another team for a few matches. These things make the manager mode my favorite career mode.

-----Overall-----

To conclude, this game is a must for every PS2 owners. Up to 6 players can play at a time which makes this game ideal to spend some time gaming with some of our friends, it's so much fun when playing multiplayer but online multiplayer is a different scenario. Overall I love this game and hope EA release its next edition in PS2 platform also.

Summary: Its the best game to all football game lovers

Resident Evil 4 (PS2): Thrilling to play

Resident Evil 4 is a horror genre game developed by Capcom for Nintendo's Gamecube and later Capcom announced its release in the Playstation 2 also. The Resident Evil series itself was already a massive hit for capcom, it's known as the Biohazard series in Japan. Soon Resident Evil 4 was also released in other gaming consoles like Wii, iPhone, PC, Zeebo.

----------PLOT----------


The playable character is Leon S. Kennedy, a Racoon City Police Department's cop who also featured in Resident Evil 2. Six years after the outbreak in Racoon city, Leon is recruited by the U.S Secret Service to rescue the President's daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious group named "Los Illuminados". Leon is sent to a rural village in Europe where the Illuminados are occupied. Soon after Leon reaches the village he finds out that the villagers are not like normal human beings and they are after him. Leon moves through the village find out the whereabouts of the president's daughter. Leon is captured by the village head and is injected with the plaga(injected person turn into ganados) and is tied up along with Luis sera(a researcher who worked for Saddler in the discovery of the plaga sample). Then they both escape and Leon learns about luis and finds out that luis betrayed saddler (head of the Los Illuminados), so he is chased by the ganados to be executed. They both go different ways and Leon finds Ashley who also is injected by the plaga, now they both have very less time before they turn into those ganados. Leon progresses along with Ashley, but Ashley is again caught by the ganados later in the game. Leon fights his way through to rescue Ashley, then finds a cure for the plaga and successfully escapes from the village at the end. Leon is often helped by a private agent "Ada Wong", who is working for Albert Wesker's organization.

----------GAMEPLAY----------


The gameplay has improved tremendously when compared to the rest of the Resident Evil series. First thing to notice is the change in camera angle, the previous titles were all third person action adventures. In Resident Evil 4 the camera is placed behind Leon thereby giving the player a clear view of his surroundings. This camera view has made the combat with enemies much efficient. With a weapon equipped press and hold the R1 button to aim (a laser aim appears with most of the weapons) and press the X button to fire. Another improvement is the Ganados (by which enemies are called instead of zombies) who are much faster, accurate and smart than the enemies in the previous releases. The ganados are normally equipped with axes, pikes, pitchforks, knives, crossbows, dynamites and other farm aid items as their weapons. Sometimes a couple of tougher ganados appear with a chainsaw. The ganados can often duck from your shots; they sneak behind you and grab you, throw their weapons and rush at you often. Leon is also equipped with a wide range of weapons like pistols, shotguns, rifles, RPG, grenades to defend him from the smart ganados. But Leon first starts with only a pistol with him but later he finds a merchant near every save typewriter who sells Leon weapons in exchange for peseteas(the village currency). The defeated Ganados also drop some ammo and peseteas which Leon can pick up. Leon can also tune up his weapons from the merchant which increases the power and durability of every weapon. In case of low currency Leon can also sell the treasure he finds through the game, some treasures are of greater value when combined together before selling it.
Often the ganados attacks Leon in packs of 5 or more, in such cases Leon can use the laser attachment to aim and shoot accurately at any of their body parts. For example shooting their legs will make them fall down, shooting their hands will make them drop their weapons. Leon is often prompted to use some action buttons during the course of the game depending on the surroundings. For example, when a ganado grabs Leon, shaking the left analog stick when prompted makes Leon muscle out from the grab. Leon can shoot their knee (makes them to kneel down) or head (makes them dizzy for a few seconds), then move near them and there will be a button prompt, when pressed Leon either kicks them or perform a supplex. This comes in handy mostly when you play in professional difficulty where you need to conserve your ammo. There are also a few cutscene fights in the game which is very challenging where you have to press the prompted buttons exactly in perfect timing.

The Graphics in the game has also improved from its earlier releases; you can experience the improvement in graphics especially when the game progresses to insides of the castle. Every detail inside the castle looks amazing. You can notice the graphics improvement when you fire you weapons, during explosions and more.
The difficult parts of the game are the boss fights, each boss has a weak point and you have to find as soon as possible to in order to kill the boss easily. You must also choose your weapons wisely for every boss fight and it's always wise to tune up your best weapons. The best and difficult boss fight according to me is the fight with Krauser which is damn long and tough one.

There are also a few mini games in the game, the merchant asks you to shoot 10 or more medallions for which he will give the Punisher pistol. Also you can find shooting ranges near the merchant in the later part of the game; you can enter it with a weapon of your choice and complete the minigame which earns you some bottle caps. You will also have play as Ashley (President's daughter) in a certain part of the game which was fun for me but also a bit difficult because she won't have weapons.

As I mentioned earlier Leon has a wide range of weapons to use in the game. First the basic weapon is the pistol and leon can buy a few more pistols from the merchant which are Red9, punisher (obtained by shooting 10 or more medallions) and the blacktail. The Blacktail is the best pistol in the game, so wait until that is available to buy and spend the money in tuning it up. Next the shotguns available are Shotgun, Riot gun & Striker, the best is the Striker. So spend your money to tune it, don't waste money on others. Then, there is the Rifle and semi-auto rifle. The best is the semi-auto and there is also a scope attachment available if you need it. Then there are 2 magnums broken butterfly and Killer 7(best one). Then explosive weapons like Mine launcher (use it for tougher enemies) and RPG (use it mostly for the bosses) are also available. There is also a submachine gun named TMP and I strongly recommend not tuning it up.

There are three types of grenades namely Incendiary, Flash bang & Frag grenades. Frag grenades can be used to take out a group of enemies or blow off a stronger enemy like the ganados with chainsaws. Incendiary grenades are often used to block the path of the ganados like the near doors, ladders, etc. Flash bangs are particularly effective against the creatures popping out of the heads of the ganados.

Leon uses first aid sprays and some herbs to increase his health. First aid sprays increases his full health and there are three types of herbs which can be combined for better use. The green herb increases a small part of the health; two or three green herbs can be combined to increase a large amount of health. The red herb can be used only when combined with the green herb and it replenishes full health. Then there is the yellow herb which increases the health bar a bit and it's also useful only when combined.

----------EXTRAS----------


On completing the game, several extra features and game modes are unlocked such as separate ways, Ada's assignment, Mercenaries, professional difficulty mode, matilda handgun, infinite rocket laucher and special costumes. Separate ways is just like the normal game progression but the playable character is Ada Wong who often helped Leon in the original gameplay. This story mode allows you to experience how Ada was able to help Leon and what all difficulties she had to face from her side. After completing separate ways a special gun named Chicago Typewriter unlocks and it can be used by Leon if you play the game another time. The gun has infinite ammo and is nearly powerful as the magnum, so it will much easy to finish the game for the second time.

Ada's assignment is like a side mission where you have to recover some plaga samples, but it's really difficult to finish. There are no save points, so you have to finish the assignment in one complete stretch.
The mercenaries are playable with different characters along with their own specialized weapons. You start in a location with a timer running out; you have to kill as many ganados as you can within the given time. Time bonus pickups are available to extend time, try to get a 5 star rating in every area with all playable characters. Doing so unlocks a special laser gun which removes the plaga out of the ganados when fired.
If you complete the game quite easily, give it a try in professional difficulty as it's more challenging and the enemies are hard to kill.

Overall you don't have to be resident evil fan to try this one out; anybody who plays this will like it.