Gamers, you have some important decisions to make as of Tuesday: Teleportation or hoofing it? Swords or assault rifles? Single-player campaign or multiplayer melees?
These questions represent just a few of the aspects of new downloadable content packages for Dishonored and Call of Duty Black Ops II, respectively. If both sound equally attractive yet expensive, here’s what all you frugal gamers need to know to make an informed decision.
The Knife of Dunwall is more inventive, and I like how Arkane Studios has chosen to supplement its original story with the Daud narrative, rather than go the typical prologue or epilogue route. Dishonored was one of the best-crafted, all-around games of the year, and you should expect no less from the DLC.
It’s not likely to keep you entertained for more than a few hours and I question the replay value, but when you’re finished there’s a sense of accomplishment and illumination that’s quite satisfying. If you appreciate the artsy elements of video games, choosing The Knife of Dunwall is a no-brainer.
On the other side of the equation, I’ll admit to being a longtime fan of the zombie modes in Call of Duty games. I can promise you’ll spend hours developing your strategy and screaming as the horde folds in around you and your friends, and it’ll be a blast while you’re in the moment, but afterward you may have that creeping, dissonant feeling that you’re not any richer for the experience.
The afterlife mode, or ghost mode, as I prefer to call it, has you flying around and shooting electricity to power up the many different useful machines that conspicuously litter Alcatraz; a clever addition, but it’s no game-changer.
The game-changer is that for the first time ever the game mode can actually be won and the players can survive. Treyarch deserves praise for making the change, along with clarifying the objectives by putting a map with directions in the starting location.
If you have a couple of friends to play along with you, and you’re not afraid to let a couple hours slip away from you in the blink of an eye, be it zombies or online multiplayer, then Uprising is the way to go.
