Sunday, March 15, 2009

Assassin's Creed Slowly Sneaks Into My Play Cycle

Gamefly sends me over Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's former big title back in Fall 2008. Reviews were mixed on it. Some people thought it was great, but certainly not incredible. Others (a lot more others) thought it was kinda... shitty...certainly not great. But where am I on this?

I don't know, because the game bored me too much in the beginning.

Yeah, the beginning is so slow and tedious, I did not want to keep playing it. There are so many unskippable tutorials, cut scenes, and gameplay scenes (What? Eavesdropping?) that I couldn't stand not playing Street Fighter IV or Left 4 Dead because of this. I get the feeling all the backdraft that occured as a result of this game was because Ubisoft was so sure this was gonna be a big hit. It's surefire title of the year. Then the reviews come out and people call their bluff and knock them down a peg.

You play as Altair, an assassin from the crusades. Only not really, you actually play as a chap who's been kidnapped for his genetic memory of his ancestor Altair. My first problem is the metagame involved in this, being forced to relive your ancestor's memory is totally unnecessary in my opinion. This could've beena decent game about stealth in broad daylight and assassination, and certainly it is about that. But ever now and again, the flow is broken by coming back into reality to see how the douchebags who kidnapped you have to say about your progress.

Ok, so now you're Altair. Time for some stealth killing right? Not so fast! You gotta go through some tutorials real quick! Learn to blend! Pickpocket! Eavesdrop! Wait, eavesdrop? I have to sit someplace, look inconspicious, and watch an in game cut scene about information that could've just been relayed to me via a waypoint on my map? No thanks Assassin's Creed. No thanks.

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