Hit or Miss for November 17, 2009

Well first off I’d like to extend congratulations to our newest editor and a personal friend of mine Ross Orlando who will be a preview specialist and will be helping me with this segment, my greatest creation. Hit or Miss is a new segment Gaming Bolt will have for most major releases. Essentially we take a look at a certain game or for a busy week multiple games and break down what to look forward to and what to be suspicious about and make an early call of whether or not it will be a Hit or a Miss…hence the title. The next week we will do a follow up with some week one sales, review scores, and a final verdict. Things pretty much break down like this.

• Big Hit: We’re 90% sure this game won’t flop so a pre-order would be a safe investment.
• Hit: We’re 75% sure this game will be good, but there are definitely some doubts. If it’s a new IP maybe wait for the review but if it is a sequel, you’re probably safe.
• Miss: We’re 75% sure this game will flop, but there’s always hope that something will come of it, or that it could it could be the beginning of something not so floppy.
• Big Miss: We’re 90% sure this game will flop, actually closer to 100% but we have to stay consistent. Don’t bother with this one, lock your doors and call your friends to warn them before it’s too late!
• Anywhere In Between (AIB): Exactly what it sounds like. Sure it could flop, but it could be a hidden gem, to be honest we can’t be too sure and we don’t want to push one way or the other because then if we’re wrong you’ll hate us forever and we wouldn’t want that. It’s 50/50 so it’s yours to gamble with.

This week we’ll be talking about three games, Assassins Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and the God of War Collection.

-Assassins Creed 2-

Overview: Assassins Creed did well with critics, but not as well with the gamers. Thought it sold very well, most found it to be very repetitive. All anyone said was “It’s too repetitive, too repetitive, too repetitive, too…” well you get it. Assassins Creed 2 aims to improve on the original by keeping the missions feeling fresh and by bringing things to the renaissance in Italy.

What to look forward to: Obviously more variety in missions. Without getting into how repetitive, how re…, the missions were it is great to know that Ubisoft was listening to the money the original was making and decided to ensure that the second one would be able to bring in just as much and not be the R word. Also there is the wider variety of weapons and gadgets that will be available to you during play that can spice things up a bit. Why go stealth when you can just hit guys with an axe…or a mace…of maybe your plane thing? Oh yeah and you can fly, sweet. If you haven’t yet you should go check out the prequel movie here to get a bit more into the story.

Suspicions: Nothing is more suspicious than articles like this where publications are forced to wait for review copies because they won’t guarantee a high score. The game could be worthy of such a score, but when publishers start making demands such as that it becomes difficult to have faith in the final product.

Overall: Aside from some shenanigans by Ubisoft it’s looking like Assassins Creed 2 will be a game worthy of our first hit.

Prediction: Hit

–Left 4 Dead 2–

Overview: Left 4 Dead was winner of many awards in 2008 for its fun co-op play, chalk up another winner for Valve. A little over a year and two pieces of DLC later Valve is bringing us Left 4 Dead 2. With the initial wave of “This is nothing but an expansion” cries subsided, we have had a chance to play Left 4 Dead 2 for both PC and Xbox 360. Here’s what we think.

What to look forward to: Left 4 Dead 2 will have all of the modes available in the first as well as new modes and new ways to play such as realistic mode. It features 5 campaigns littered with new, smarter, and more breakable zombies as well as new weapons with which to break them. Melee weapons are one of the top additions as ammo is not an issue, the issue becomes finding more zombies to smash with a frying pan or slice with a machete.

Suspicions: Will Left 4 Dead 2 receive the kind of treatment that the first game was supposed to receive or will we simply find Left 4 Dead 3 placed in our laps at the next E3 with little or no content to support this game post launch? If it keeps up like that there won’t be enough fingers to hold up on that creepy hand by 2013.

Overall: Left 4 Dead 2 is a much more complete game than the first. However I’m not sure whether that is a credit to this game or a discredit to Valve in regards to the first. Either way Left 4 dead 2 will succeed and undoubtedly I’ll find some of you online with me playing it.

Prediction: Big Hit

-God of War Collection-

Overview: It’s God of War. It’s two of the best…if not the best Playstation 2 games of all time.

What to look forward to: Well first off, it’s God of War. Now it has been retextured to 720P and is in Playstation 3 format meaning those without backwards compatibility can play. Each game has its own list of trophies for the trophy hunters out there and they come together for the bargain price of $39.99 plus it comes with the E3 God of War 3 demo which is amazing.

Suspicions: None about the game but I’d be suspicious of those who don’t take advantage of this. I mean, it’s God of War.

Overall: Buy it, it’s God of War.

Prediction: Big Hit

Well guys and gals that wrap’s up this segment of Hit or Miss, join us next week for a recap of this week and how well we made our predictions. Also check with us this week for our Assassins Creed 2 review, Left 4 Dead 2 review, and as if you didn’t already guess our God of War Collection review. See you then!