Assassin's Creed

[Hell Kitty]

Anyone else playing this?

 

I luuuurve the combat in this game. Sword fights have never been so satisfying. Anyone who thinks melee combat can be done just as well in a first person perspective needs to play this, and if it doesn't change their mind they need to give themselves an uppercut. And it's realistic fighting too, not that I really have any idea what a realistic sword fight is like, being born in 1979, but it is lacking the "whiz-bang console flashiness" as Walsingham might say.

 

First time I entered a city I thought of Thief, in a "wouldn't it have been cool if the city hubs in Thief 3 were half as decent as this" kind of way. Altair makes Garrett seem like an arthritic old man.

 

One of the biggest complaints I've seen about this game is that it is repetitive, which is true. You get your target, travel to a section of the city, and then you need to complete several assignments which gets you info about your target. This was cool at first, but every single time it's the same set of stuff - 2x pickpocket some dude, 2x eavesdrop on a conversation. 2x rough up some dude, 2x help an informer with a timed job either by collecting flags (not at lame as it sounds, basically an exercise in using your free running skills), or by killing some dudes without being detected. One plus though is that the the game doesn't hold your hand when it comes to the main assassinations, it's up to you the analyze the info you collect and then plan your attack (and escape).

 

Those after stealth in the style of Thief or Splinter Cell won't find it here. The informer assassination tasks are probably the stealthiest part of the game, as they require you remain undetected, whereas when you kill a main target the whole town instantly goes on alert, and you'll never get away unseen. Sword fights are awesome though, so it's not too bad.

 

Things that annoy:

 

Drunks: Why do they only hassle me? Jerks.

 

Deadly Water: My role as protector of the common man ended when I threw that drunk into the sea. Bah, he had it coming.

[angshuman]

Sword fights have never been so satisfying.

Better than Ninja Gaiden?

[Hell Kitty]

^ Never played it.

[Calax]

Assasins Creed drew me in better than Mass Effect did.

[mkreku]

Jade Raymond > Assassin's Creed

[Pop]

The ripped-from-Deus-Ex sci-fi conspiracy plotline sucks total ass and gets in the way of what the game should have been, which is Prince of Persia on a GTA map. You get the definite idea that the designers were looking for a cheap and effective way to account for load times, health regeneration, resurrection, saving and most of all, invisible walls. And somebody had the bright idea to have it take place in the Matrix. And throw in the Illuminati. Smart, considering the presence of the Knights Templar in the Matrix-game. The Templar have always been inextricably linked with the shadowy (jewish) cabal that runs the world. They were also in Deus Ex.

 

The gameplay is fun enough, but constantly counterattacking (even with 2 different weapons!) gets old. I got about 60% through it and got bored, so I sent it back. But it's one of the most consistently polished games I've ever seen.

Edited November 28, 2007 by Pop

[Kaftan Barlast]

The conspiracy plotline of DeusEX is even cheaper, they just threw in every secret organisation ever invented and had them fight eachother.

 

 

 

Ive played alot of AC on the PS3 and it's ok I suppose. I prefer direct "push a button - punch" combat over the counterattack system, which can get frustrating at times.

Edited November 28, 2007 by Kaftan Barlast

[Pop]

The conspiracy plotline of DeusEX is even cheaper, they just threw in every secret organisation ever invented and had them fight eachother.

I don't see where you get the idea that it's "cheaper". Deus Ex's story unfolded in a more or less satisfying way, and never really gave the player real reason to stop and consider how ridiculous it all was. Assassin's Creed plot is mainly composed of the PC getting torn from the Matrix between missions and being told by an irate bearded man in a lab coat that WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME and WE HAVE TO RESTORE GLOBAL ORDER USING THE MEMORY IN YOUR DNA. It's like the Chronicles of Riddick, overloaded with plot in ways that make what the player would normally ignore glaring and awkward. This game doesn't need a plot. Hitman doesn't have a plot. Incidentally, Hitman is a lot more compelling than this game.

 

It doesn't work in the remotest sense. Whoever decided to split the narrative should be fired. You have the part of the game that actually includes play, in the Matrix, which is where the game fires on all cylinders. There's just enough time spent with all the relevant characters to make them believable and engaging for the purposes of the game. Then there's the sci-fi part. Basically, you're in a lab, and you're a bartender. Oh, and you may have been an assassin at some point. And the memory of your ancestor is in your DNA and it's being accessed through the Matrix. First of all, they just tell you all this through leaden exposition before dumping you into the Matrix. The lab parts are not fun. It's "do mission -> wake up -> blah blah exposition blah -> back to the mission" Since you spend all real gametime in the Matrix, there's no time given to establishing character or context in "the real world". And it's really unfortunate, since I know right off the bat that the Holy Land Matrix part of the game isn't "real". I know right off the bat that the fun, interesting part of the game is a means to an end towards resolving this go-nowhere present day plotline. And I didn't care. I didn't care if the diabolical cabal of shadowy (jewish) people who are wholly responsible for each and every important thing that anyone has ever done (even Deus Ex wasn't that contrived) got their hands on the ancient holy / alien / whatever World Domination artifact whose location was locked up in my ancestor's memory which was in turn locked up in my DNA.

 

Basically, Assassin's Creed is a great medieval combat game with a parasitic sci-fi schlock twin sucking it dry from the inside out.

Edited November 28, 2007 by Pop

[Tale]

My understanding of the sci-fi twist is that it's linked to how they plan the game as a trilogy. This first one is medieval, they plan to have one of the other two be futuristic.

 

Or I could have imagined them telling us that.

[mkreku]

Jade Raymond has said that they're going for co-op multiplayer in Assassin's Creed 2..

[Kaftan Barlast]

Hitman is a lot more compelling than this game.

 

 

I agree with that. AC is severely lacking in gameplay elements tied to assassination, so far Ive found no other way to kill the main marks but to attack them and kill them in combat. No strangling, no cutting throats, no poison if their food, nothing but plain combat.

[Musopticon?]

So there's no actual assassination(man, that's a lot of bunghole) in the game? Just killing and running away?

Edited November 28, 2007 by Musopticon?

[Kaftan Barlast]

I havent played the whole game, but it's very much combat oriented so far. You can stealthkill normal people with your wristblade, but your "big marks" are always positioned so that your only option is direct combat.

 

 

But AC was never intended to be anything else but an action game.

[SadExchange]

But AC was never intended to be anything else but an action game.

 

This is very true. It's very much an action game with assassination tendencies in all actuality. Would it be nice to have a game where you have different ways to assassinate people? Of course, but we have to remember this is the developers first venture into this style of game. No, not rooftop jumping, actiony combat, but overall 'grand theft auto' style of gameplay that's open to the player and from what I've seen, they definitely have the open-ended part down with the ability to climb almost anywhere and to me, yes, it's gonna get repetitive, but it's dependent upon the player and their type of playing style. I look at AC and see this as a great first step in what good be an amazing trilogy.

[Calax]

I havent played the whole game, but it's very much combat oriented so far. You can stealthkill normal people with your wristblade, but your "big marks" are always positioned so that your only option is direct combat.

 

 

But AC was never intended to be anything else but an action game.

I've managed to kill the first two marks (that's as far as I've gotten) like a true assassin and use the wrist blade. I like it a little better than Hitman because stealth ISN'T such a huge aspect of the game, well more that there is several ways assassinate your opponent.

[Musopticon?]

I liked how IO gave you almost endless ways to go about being undetected in the last Hitman game and still gave you a good chance to survive direct combat. In comparison, the last Prince of Persia game, Two Thrones, perfected melee combat and gave a whiff of stealth to the game.

 

Then came Assassin's Creed which started a new series, but raised both features introduced previously into a whole new level.

 

I'm seriously giddy how IO is gonna answer.

[Calax]

well I picked off my third mark (he's a runner so watch it) by leaping on his back and using the wrist blade to pop that thar jugular. and am now making my way through the fourth memory block.

[Tale]

Bought this game. Played this game. Beat this game. Love this game.

 

Sequel, you give.

[SadExchange]

I can see how some would call it repetitive, but I love it. I enjoy exploring all of the different locales and the huge sprawling cities, but I did have a question; does the game finish after your last assassination, or can you go and explore and look for flags afterwards?

[Tale]

After the ending you can do whatever you wish.

Edited January 10, 2008 by Tale

[Pop]

Then came Assassin's Creed which started a new series, but raised both features introduced previously into a whole new level.

No it didn't. The "stealth" system in AC, if you can call it that (I wouldn't) was terrible.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Nooo, it was a whole new level of moronic

 

 

 

You walk up to a bloke in the middle of the street and stab him, then all you need to do is press the "walk like a monk" button and no one will suspect a thing

[Tale]

You walk up to a bloke in the middle of the street and stab him, then all you need to do is press the "walk like a monk" button and no one will suspect a thing

In crowded areas, this technique works.

[Kaftan Barlast]

It would have been a much cooler game if you could disguise yourself and do all the sweet stuff you could in the Hitman games. But, AC is a pure action game so it makes sense to simplify it.

 

 

Still, it would have been nice to be able to strangle or poison people

[Pop]

You walk up to a bloke in the middle of the street and stab him, then all you need to do is press the "walk like a monk" button and no one will suspect a thing

In crowded areas, this technique works.

Out in the middle of the country, it also works. Holding your hands together and moving slowly is a switch that turns off suspicion, even with the selection of weapons you don't even try to conceal.