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| Post Number: 1
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Leisher 
Top 3%, yo.
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 26651
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 07 2008,10:10 |
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The commercials for this game showed an assassin, garbed in white, doing his work somewhere in the Middle East during the Crusades.
That being said, you might be caught off guard by the storyline, which I found to be interesting and unique. I mean, the commercials, aren't misleading, I just think they made a very wise choice in what they showed.
Assassin's Creed is in the "GTA genre" of free style gameplay. There is an overall main story, but there are tons of side missions you can do as well. You can work for other assassins, pickpocket people, eavesdrop, intimidate, reach the highest perches, find flags, etc.
The control system is pretty standard, although you'll find a bit of a learning curve due to the targeting and climbing systems. I played it a few times briefly at a cousin's house and couldn't quite get the hang of things. However, once I started from the beginning, it took me seconds to figure things out thanks to a very well designed tutorial.
AC is a very solid, fun game with an interesting storyline, but it does have flaws. There are a couple of minor bugs, but the thing that really got to me were the design flaws.
For one thing, the camera, being in third person, occasionally gets in a shitty spot or gets stuck on scenery. This can be difficult when you're fighting a group of soldiers and there's a plant blocking your view of the action. You can move it around manually though.
Another is the "flags". I believe GTA started this shit with hiding icons around a map and when they are all found a reward is given, in this case an "Achievement". I have three problems here:
1. If you're going to hide "flags" around levels, do so in ways that make sense. Put them in the highest spots, back alleys, places that logically make sense, etc. It is not fun to do what is essentially an Easter egg hunt where you not only can't see the eggs from any distance, but you also won't see them unless you're standing at point A and looking west. I'm a gamer who does everything possible in a game and will explore everywhere. For me to fined less than half of the flags on any given map is bad. I respect your level design, but I don't want to see every pixel.
2. When your setting is made up of grays, blacks, and browns, you might want to use a different color for your flags. Oh, and don't put these flags near timed missions in which you're required to collect other flags that are identical. That's not clever, it's lazy and shitty.
3. If you're going to have achievements that take forever, then you need to let the player go back and try to earn the achievement after the main storyline has been beaten. GTA lets people do such things and since you've copied their gameplay, you'd think you'd copy that too...
Speaking of that, another flaw is the ending. Hugely anti-climatic and really without direction. There is one thing in the end that you'd only know to do if you read it online. The act itself was discovered through the developer's hints or a person with OCD. As for the story, I understand why they did what they did, but it wasn't well done. It didn't end on a high note or a down down. It didn't even really end.
The Kingdom is just a pointless level. It's a large piece of land filled with flags, high points, and enemies (other stuff too, but only those matter). You truly only need to go there twice for the main story. Either make us traverse it every time or don't include it at all.
The game is also on the short side if you stick to only the main story. For example, I played ALL the side missions and the main mission and beat it within a week. That doesn't include the daytime when I was working.
The last flaw I'll point out is that there was too much repetition in the game. From textures to buildings to missions, etc. What's worse is that the camera never really gets a good enough look at anyone so it's hard for you to make an emotional connection with any character. There is one character, in particular, that was supposed to be a big deal at a few different places in the game, but I never knew it was him until he said something to indicate who he was.
Now don't let these flaws deceive you. There's a good game here, it's just more fun to talk about a game's flaws.
I highly recommend this game for fans of GTA style play, historical types who like this period, and even sci fi fans (really). There is a good story here and I'm interested to see where they take it from here.
However, unless they make some major improvements, next time I'll just rent it.
7 out of 10.
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| Post Number: 2
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Vince
I make sweet, sweet love to my legally licenced copy of Microsoft Vista.
Group: Privateers
Posts: 5016
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 07 2008,16:25 |
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The detail of that game is awesome. I mean, the scenery is kind of bland. But such was that part of the world circa 1092 AD.
There were a number of times when I was up on the perch high up and did the panoramic view and was just dumbfounded at how cool it looked.
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| Post Number: 3
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| Post Number: 4
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Vince
I make sweet, sweet love to my legally licenced copy of Microsoft Vista.
Group: Privateers
Posts: 5016
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 07 2008,19:22 |
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Yeah, but as far as colors, it was pretty drab.
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| Post Number: 5
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GORDON
90%
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 36125
Joined: Jun. 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 07 2008,19:31 |
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"How do you know he's a king?"
"Because he's not covered in shit."
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I don't give a fuck!
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| Post Number: 6
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| Post Number: 7
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Vince
I make sweet, sweet love to my legally licenced copy of Microsoft Vista.
Group: Privateers
Posts: 5016
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 11 2008,03:58 |
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Far from ugly. One of the best loading screens I've ever seen, too. First one I've seen that actually doesn't pull you out of the game immersion.
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| Post Number: 8
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| Post Number: 9
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Vince
I make sweet, sweet love to my legally licenced copy of Microsoft Vista.
Group: Privateers
Posts: 5016
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 11 2008,16:55 |
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Never played portal (want to), but I'd wager that it isn't loading nearly as much data. I figured there were other load screens out there that did something similar, but I haven't played them.
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| Post Number: 10
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Leisher
Top 3%, yo.
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 26651
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 11 2008,20:33 |
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I'm playing through Mass Effect right now and I'm wondering why it needs to load so much considering the detail isn't anything like in Assassin's Creed.
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| Post Number: 11
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