The Last of Us - Playstation 3

    After years of humanity imagining it's own end, it has finally come. Though many expected human extinction to come in the form of bombs, climate change, or some interstellar danger - it was Mother Nature herself that began wiping humans from her earth. Perhaps she finally took her revenge for the raping and wanton destruction of her planet, or perhaps it was just a freak mutation of a plant that was otherwise harmless to humans. Either way, the end of humanity comes in the form of a tiny, microscopic, fungal spore. Who knew something so small could be so destructive? At the beginning of the end, scientists reported that the small spores, once entering a human's body, would directly attack that person's brain. At that point, a parasitic fungus would begin to grow in the cranial cavity - slowly taking over control of the human's body. Once started, the fungal growth cannot be stopped and progresses until its human host no longer behaves or even physically appears the way he or she once did. With no way to stop the transmission of the fungal infection, what few humans are left gather in military-run quarantine areas to live out what few miserable days they might have left with the rest of the world in shambles. Yet, humanity struggles to continue, even in the face of their own extinction.

Assassin's Creed III - Xbox 360

    Assassin's Creed has proven to be quite a successful and prolific property for developer Ubisoft. At the time of this writing, a total of 20 video games, a live-action film, a series of comics, and a series of novels have been created with the Assassin's Creed name. Unfortunately, I am horrible at keeping up with playing games as they come out. So, while Assassin's Creed III was the 8th chronologically out of the 20 games released, I'm just now arriving to the party. Partially this is because I found myself feeling disappointed with the series after playing and reviewing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Against my better judgment, I forced myself to play the next game in the series, Assassin's Creed: Revelations soon after finishing Brotherhood. Revelations was so similar to Brotherhood, including all the things that I didn't like from the earlier games, that I found myself very burned out with the Assassin's Creed series. So much so, that didn't play another one of the games until...well....now. I'll admit that I had pretty low hopes going into Assassin's Creed III due to my past experiences, but I actually ended the game feeling a little better about the series. This review will cover the game's single-player mode only, as I did not attempt to jump into multiplayer.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Xbox 360

    Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the third game in the historically based Action and Stealth game series. Released in 2010 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, and Mac OS X, Brotherhood picks right up where Assassin's Creed II left off, and adds some new features to the already improved gameplay of the second game.

Tenchu Z - Xbox 360

    Tenchu Z is a Stealth/Action game developed by K2 LLC and published by both From Software and Microsoft Game Studios. The game saw release in 2006, one year after the Xbox 360's launch. Z is the seventh entry in the Tenchu series. I have no idea why the game ended up with the "Z" at the end. You'd really think that it would be an "X" for Xbox or something. All I can figure is that K2 LLC chose the final letter in the alphabet as they realized that their lackluster game would possibly spell an end for the Tenchu series on the Xbox 360.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD Edition - Xbox 360

    Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (MGS2) was released on the Playstation 2 way back in 2001. The game was highly anticipated as it was directed by Hideo Kojima, a game writer and director who brings a cinematic quality to his games which had not previously been seen in the field. Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, and produced by Konami, MGS2 had such a hype about it that another game, Zone of the Enders, owes its huge sales numbers almost solely to the fact that a demo of MGS2 was included with the game. In 2011, Sons of Liberty was re-released  as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection after being remastered for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PS Vita and upgraded to HD.