What's what, what's not and all the things in between

Good morning. An ice cold one.

It's been a while since I made my last general update. So much has been going on the past week and I reckon there's going to be a lot more going on the next one, so I think it would be essential to look into some of this stuff.

The weather back here is unbelievable, in the core sense of the word. It's only October and it's already begun to snow. A very stereotypical Finnish weather in the eyes of a foreigner, but I tell you, it's weird even by our standards. It brings upon very early sensations of darkness and seclusion that have usually inspired some of this blog's most productive moments. Here's to hoping the tradition will continue. It has all the potential in the world to continue, as I have a lot of reviews to consider doing, and a lot of reviews I've already decided to do. Read on.

A year ago, I swore I would never get
hooked on something so silly and overtly
commercial. But... you know how it is...

A few weeks ago, I finally took the long-anticipated quantum leap from the middle ages to the modern times and got myself a smartphone; the Nokia Lumia, to be exact. It's still somewhat difficult for me to grow accustomed to a touchscreen since I've been using a traditional interface for 14 years, but I'm learning. I knew modern mobile games are incredible at best, but I had no idea they could work as such excellent learning material for the features and use of the touchscreen. Been playing a LOT of Angry Birds and the Windows Phone remake of Final Fantasy lately (it's awesome, by the way), and wondered whether it would be a good idea to review mobile games. They're so advanced these days... so advanced that they're releasing them for major consoles as they originally were.

After at least two years of bitching about portable exclusives, I can finally proudly claim to have beaten whole of the God of War saga, and finally I can truly set my sights on the upcoming prequel of a prequel of a prequel, God of War: Ascension, which is scheduled for an early 2013 release. God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta, which were originally released exclusively on the PSP but later bundled into the PS3 game God of War Collection Volume II (known as God of War Origins Collection in the U.S.) are up for a review some time in the near future. I can tell you already, that I never expected to have this much fun with direct PS3 ports of portable games. Both games are more than solid, full-blooded episodes in the great saga that is God of War.

I hope you've enjoyed the Monster Mash. I know the pace has been kinda ridiculous, as I first reviewed Resident Evil 6, then nothing for a few weeks and suddenly a million reviews poofed up from out of nowhere during the course of one day. But, that's just how my day job dictates things nowadays - can't make any direct promises or sensical schedules, I have to truly invest in the brief moments I have real spare time on my hands, spare time that I've not already committed to my relationship or friends. There are a few more Monster Mash reviews coming up, then it's time for a revolution.

Come tomorrow, the frontier will
not be the same again.

Assassin's Creed III is released tomorrow, and it marks the coming of the third big review of the year, after Mass Effect 3 and Resident Evil 6. Actually, most Europeans will have to wait 'til Wednesday, but for once, a game I pre-ordered is on midnight launch at GameStop, and I will surely be there at midnight sharp to get my copy - I'm still not sure which edition out of the dozen candidates I'm getting, but I'm hoping it to be something a little more photogenic than a standard-looking issue.

Finally, I'd like to try something new and tell you in detail what's coming up after the Monster Mash and Assassin's Creed III, since I think a lot of you are in good spirits right now, for a certain theme I've never touched but know much about. As do all of you. I went to see Skyfall with my girlfriend a couple of days ago. I haven't been huge on James Bond for a number of years (I grew out of the 007 franchise somewhere between GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies), but the tickets were free refreshments and the movie was the only recently premiered one I remotely wanted to see, so. To my complete surprise, I loved the movie. It was so different from the 22 previous ones, of which I found over a half having the exact same structure, and James Bond as a character had sucked on my account since Roger Moore called it quits after A View to a Kill. Daniel Craig ruled, the punchlines ruled even more, the easter eggs related to the Bond franchise due to the 50th anniversary schtick ripped my ass apart, and the movie had the best 007 pre-credit sequence ever, and a great villain, played by the always creepy Javier Bardem. As it happens, they're showing every Bond flick ever made on TV right now, and I thought I should offer my own homage to the mother of all spy vs. spy franchises by reviewing a bulk of 007 games.

This widely acclaimed title will receive the honor
of being the first FPS game reviewed on VGMania.
How does it fare today, and what did I think of it to
begin with?

So, a 007 marathon is coming up. Not immediately, of course, 'cause if Assassin's Creed III turns out what I expected, I think the game's going to take me a long time to complete, not to mention review. But, it is coming. There, we have one of the most critically acclaimed games in history, and a lot of games that have been deemed total shit. A total of six or seven games, for five different platforms - more might turn up along the way, as I'm currently in search for more. A franchise everyone knows to some degree - I smell an exciting marathon full of nostalgic memories. I think I'll have a blast, regardless of the actual quality of the games.

That's it - for now, since this update was meant to be the first part of a double set. The second part is an article I was originally planning to publish somewhere between the Legend of Zelda marathon and Resident Evil 6, but my broadband collapsed just when I was about to lay it down, and then it kind of slipped my mind. I've found the draft, I'll make a few changes and finishes, and it'll probably be up in a few hours, so stay tuned.