Potentially outstanding games can be written off in a heartbeat due to ‘what the hell were they thinking’ moments like in Assassins Creed and the side mission where you had to run round like a twat collecting strategically placed little flags. Beats the hell out of me as to why they thought an assassin of the highest order would run round like that collecting flags for a character who has some random piece of information that may or may not aid in your primary mission.

What they should’ve done was give you a set of pliers and a sound proof room and I guarantee that character would’ve end up giving you his first born as well as the information. That moment in that game made me push ‘open tray’, and I never went back. Hopefully AC2 doesn’t cough up the same sort of randomness and please, sort out the fight sequences. Fifteen blokes standing back patiently waiting their turns to be dispatched via various moments of blood-letting awesomeness is only cool for the first day of game play. After that, it’s kinda dumb.

Infinity Ward’s apparent inability to sort out the ‘Australian Server Issue’ for consoles – (can’t imagine what sort of issues they’d be having in Kazakhstan!) – wound up with the Prime Minister of Australia stepping in for Aussie CoD4 fans and he is now creating a nation-wide upgrade of the Broadband network – (*possibly not his actual motivation).

Fortunately for IW, the effort fans made online and in forums to hook up and ‘host matches’, the originality of the game with customizable weaponry, the game play and the social aspect came through and saved a game that will become legendary in gaming circles.  It still is an issue and you hope they’ve listened to fans and sorted it out for Modern Warfare 2. I’d trade gaming with an endless shuffle of ‘Seppo’s’ for having almost flawless multiplayer like with the Battlefield series. DICE servers aren’t perfect, but compared to IW they are leaps and bounds ahead.

The secret component of any game is relevant game content with an eye on the end user. Games are like books. Research your target audience and fill it with content that makes it run like a good novel. Games are better than novels because you get to mentally own your part in the show. Originality is just as important as ‘tried and true’, but really, doesn’t it make sense to learn from others mistakes?. Fundamental stupidity in games will make me not go back to that developer. You might get my first 100 bucks, but you’re going to have to earn me back and that ain’t easy. Just ask Bungie.