I’m not much of a football fan (*gasp* blasphemy!), but a few weeks ago I decided to download the demo of Fifa World Cup 2010 on XBox Live. I was surprised to find I quite liked the way it played and had quite a bit of fun with it!

Next day when I was at the shops, I decided to have a quick look in one of the game stores to see if they had the game on the shelves. They hadn’t; at that point I still had not realized the game I had downloaded the demo of was not even released yet! I found myself looking at the Fifa 10 box. I thought to myself: “Hmm, €60 is quite a lot of money for a game I’d probably play just once or twice.” So I put the game back on the shelf and left the shop.

That evening I came home from work and I realized I still had a coupon lying on my desk that could be spent at the shop I was in earlier that day. Even better, it was a €50 coupon! With a lame excuse I told myself that I could spend €10 on a game that I probably wouldn’t play all that much. So, next day I went to the shop again, grabbed Fifa 10 off the shelf and took it home with me.

After watching the tutorial video’s and playing a few matches, I was surprised at my own enthusiasm for the game. As I said, I don’t quite like football, the gameplay of Fifa 10 is really great! It’s very well made and has quite a lot of depth to it. I found it was quite a challenge to play properly and scoring goals brought a feeling of satisfaction with them.

At that moment I decided to give Fifa a proper try and started a tournament with my old-time favourites: Juventus. I can’t remember how many matches I played before I became a little fed up. I had a hard time winning matches and creating chances of scoring goals. I considered to put the game away and return to my beloved Assassin’s Creed 2, but decided against it and gave it a try by reshuffling the default formation and line-up of the squad. I also added a bit more pace to the tactics and fired up another match.

The little changes I had made to the team made an immense difference to the gameplay. All of a sudden I was able to break away from my opponents, pass the ball around quickly and create a lot more opportunities to score goals. I started winning matches with bigger numbers and I even managed to completely annihilate a few teams by winning with scores such as: 8-0 and 9-1!

Right now I’m simply loving the game! I still don’t like watching football on the telly. I still don’t follow the leagues and I don’t have a favourite team to cheer for. But, I’m still playing this game for the sheer amount of pleasure it brings! If you’ve not tried it yet, at least give it a go! If I, as football hater, can enjoy it so much, I’m sure anyone would be able to!

I’ve finally found the last few glyphs I needed to complete Subject 16′s video, in Assassin’s Creed 2.

The Truth shows Adam and Eve running through a futuristic setting. It looks as if they’re being chased by something unknown to the viewer. The video ends with Eve telling Adam she has the Apple. Here’s where I became confused… Adam and Eve have always been referred to as the first human beings living in Paradise until they could not resist to steal the forbidden fruit. The idea of them in a futuristic high-tech setting and the forbidden fruit (the Apple) being a device of power intrigued me!

Not only did it intrigue me, it confused me as well! Determined to find out more about this, I decided to counsel the infinite wisdom of the web. In short order I stumbled upon some forum posts putting things in order for me. The Truth video combined with the ending of the AC2 plot actually makes sense!

After Ezio deals with Borgia, he holds two pieces of Eden; the Apple and the Staff. The combination of it granted him access to the hidden vaults where he received a warning of Earth’s imminent destruction from the “Gods” themselves. Gods is the wrong word, but they were beings who had created humankind after their own image. These beings were overcome after Adam and Eve had taken a piece of Eden and because of this no longer under the control of their creators. Apparently the creators and their high-tech civilization have been wiped out completely and humankind will have to start from scratch.

Of course the knowledge of this has faded over the ages, until only the direct descendants of the bloodline remember. Or, at least that’s what we have to assume considering the fact that we’ve been visiting our ancestor’s memories in Assassin’s Creed and completing DNA sequences.

I was absolutely amazed to find the amount of conspiracy theories about all this on the Internet. Desmond’s storyline takes place in the year 2012. Oops! We’ve all heard of that year, haven’t we? Did some ancient civilization make a calendar that stopped at 2012? Why, yes, yes they did! There are people who believe the world will end when the Mayan calendar ends. But, I found some interesting posts tying this to the warning Ezio received.

Remember the warning about the Earth’s destruction in the vaults? Remember that Desmond lives in 2012? The piece of Eden holds the power to control people. Is that what is so vital for Desmond to save? Locate the piece of Eden to prevent the Knights Templar to control the world and reshape it to their ideals? The world doesn’t stop existing in 2012, no, a major conspiracy theory would be revealed which ends up controlling our lives. All of a sudden you’re not fighting an Assassin’s vs Knights Templar war, but a war for continuation of the freedom of life as we know it.

For me Assassin’s Creed 2 was just a bloody good game. Yes, I’ve turned into a bit of a fanboi as well. I had never looked so deep into the storyline at all and I’ve become curious how it will all turn out. It’s a shame it will probably be a few years before a new Assassin’s Creed will be released.

I guess I will have to be satisfied with replaying the entire damn thing… Again.

I had been looking forward to the downloadable content of Assassin’s Creed 2 for a little while now. I absolutely loved every little bit of the game since I’ve bought it and, for me personally, it was the Game of the Year 2009. As soon as I had a little time on my hands, I grabbed the DLC from Live Marketplace.

My first reaction was one of positive surprise. The DLC only costs 320 MS points, which, in my opinion, isn’t a lot! As soon as I got it downloaded, I started the game. I only had to load my savegame and I found Ezio already in Forli, ready to start on his new missions. In total there should be six to play through. I have to admit I didn’t count them, I enjoyed playing through them too much!

I found myself in Forli, helping the lovely Caterina Sforza to regain control of the city and her stronghold. The missions themselves are varied. It begins with meeting Caterina outside of the city where you discover the Orsi brothers have tried to take over the city. Soon I found myself infiltrating the city to open the gates. Once the gates were open I had to make sure Caterina arrived safely in her stronghold.

After securing the fort, the Orsi brothers manage to kidnap two of Caterina’s children and I was sent to rescue them. It was unlike any other mission I had played in AC2! As soon as I accepted the assignment, a timer was counting down in my screen and I had 10 minutes to complete the rescue. With the guards on high alert I had to be extremely careful not to get involved in big street brawls as I simply didn’t have the time. It was a healthy mix of creeping stealthily through the city, avoiding fights as well brutally murdering the guards to free the children. Good stuff!

Of course Assassin’s Creed wouldn’t be Assassin’s Creed if there wasn’t a particular target to eliminate. I won’t reveal the who and why as that’s too close to the plot of the storyline, but it was another good mission. At first when I tried to assassinate my target, the guards spotted me and I ended up chasing my target through the outskirts of Romagna with about 30 guards on my tail. Not good! Needless to say my target escaped and I had to start again. The second time, I decided to go for stealth and eliminated my target before he knew I was there.

In short: I loved every little bit of the Battle of Forli! Except, perhaps, the ending… Which is a major cliffhanger. At first I found myself wondering where my follow-up mission was until I realized that I had finished the content. It didn’t take long to play through, but I loved the missions and I think it was well worth the 320 MS points!

I shall  anxiously await the second DLC…