Of The Digital ‘Verse
The past couple of weeks was mostly spent playing single-player games. Beaten Heavenly Sword, Gears of War (for the PC), Call of Duty 4 (sp campaign) and just this weekend, Assassin’s Creed.
The lastest game, Assassin’s Creed, was very fun. Having to fish for information about the target and planning the method of attack was enjoyable. While dodging the vengeance of the guards after the kill is challenging and makes you think on your feet as you look for a place to hide, it does get irritating at times. But this irritation is only when traversing the streets. Being able to scale buildings and travel along the rooftops makes the getaway much easier… just don’t make a misstep and fall.
Some people criticizes the deliverance of certain threads of the storyline and I agree with them. Those bits could have been condensed and saved for a good climactic ending instead of stitched between the action resulting in too many breaks in the pace and a pretty poor ending.
I’m disappointed that there wasn’t a single night-time mission. It’s understandable that there wasn’t because there’d be less citizens, if any, wandering about and they’re an integral part of gameplay; not just eye candy. Neutral citizens, which are the majority, are obstacles that if you run into, can cause you to lose your balance and fall. If you’re not running, they can still pose a threat by bringing attention from the guards. For example, there are many women carrying clay pots on their heads and if you don’t gently push them away, or avoid them altogether, you’ll cause them to drop the pot and the resulting noise will make a nearby guard notice you. Other citizens, like drunks and beggars impede your path by either pushing you or getting in your way.
Besides these nuisances, there are two groups of ally citizens you befriend by saving “someone they know” from badgering guards. The first are scholars that are moving hiding spots (kinda like you see the monks are in the trailer). The second are vigilantes that help impede pursuing guards making it easier for you to get away. While not necessarily allies, there are citizens who are siting on a bench. You can blend in with these folks by sitting between them to use as a hiding spot. Yeah, I know.
Combat in the game is fun but a little easy (once you learn the Counter Attack ability) and it’s not hard to take on five or six enemies at once. You could probably take on more but you rarely encounter more than that at one time, unless you intentionally go for it.
Sound was okay. There were some delayed sounds in the game, but it worked and sounded good for the most part. Graphics were awesome. The buildings were wonderfully detailed and even though the people were all copies of each other, that discrepancy didn’t really take away from the experience as animation for all of them (guards, citizens, and Altair) were great. There’s been some mentioned framerate problems with the Playstation 3 version and I didn’t encounter any of it until the late part of the game. But all I did to resolve that was to take a break and turn off the PS3 for a little bit. When I fired it back on the framerate slowdown was gone.
Replayability is half-half due to the subpar ending. Doing missions over again just to attempt different approaches can be fun, but the position of the information gathering bits aren’t random so there’s no added challenge unless you impose them yourself. All in all, I did enjoy Assassin’s Creed, but it could’ve been more.
