Assassin’s Creed finally [?] out this week

The wait is over and the game is finally out. Well, it’s in the States, us Europeans have to wait til Friday and let’s not get started on the people down under.. Now Assassin’s Creed is one of my top five games this year, something which I’ve already mentioned in this post, so I won’t bother again.

Traditionally 1-4 weeks before the release of games the reviews surface and even though Assassin’s Creed appears to have several great reviews there are two reviews that worry me a little.

1up – 7/10:

Or at least until you get sick of it — which will likely happen very quickly. The fault of Creed’s game structure isn’t what you do — gathering intel and conducting hits is actually pretty sweet. The repetition of these actions, however, is severely bitter.

To make things worse, despite Ubisoft’s faithfulness to history, the three cities of Acre, Damascus, and Jerusalem are practically the same.

It’s a game what was clearly created with a sequel mindset. Instead of making a complete experience, we’re getting a game that’s obviously holding stuff back for the inevitable follow-up.

All of this works really well at first, but after a while, it gets so plodding that you’ll likely opt to skip fighting altogether.

Instead of going at your own pace, you are instead forced to hop around frantically searching for a hiding spot, and this means making many, many mistakes.

Launch trailer 1

Eurogamer – 7/10:

And these, frankly, become a bit dull. Eavesdropping involves sitting on a bench, locating the source of the gossip, targeting them and pressing Y. That’s it. Pick-pocketing involves much the same, except you have to follow someone for a bit and press B when your hand’s within grabbing distance of their back pocket. It’s sleuthy, but also a bit one-dimensional. If you get spotted, you hide until the heat’s off, then go back and try again. The same’s true of interrogations – listen to some chatter, follow them for a few seconds, then punch them until you get a cut-scene. That’s not simplification on our part; that’s literally what you do.

There’s no clever hiding or skulking. There are no interesting approach tactics. You just get close, watch a cut-scene, and then strike.

But there simply isn’t any variety to wax about. Enemies spot you and then surround you and you either kill them or leg it and hide. That’s it. There’s almost no fun to be had just playing with the world.

After about hour four, the most amusing thing is checking the Achievements screen to discover there’s one for beating up female beggars. Er?

But while there’s no end of potential to the foundations Ubisoft Montreal has set, the game built upon them is ultimately disappointing, and leaves you unfulfilled.

Now those are only the negative parts of the review, but 7/10 just doesn’t really strike me as remarkable.

However, the still has amazing graphics to offer and I’ve been waiting for a free roaming game for a while now. Plus the latest launch trailers look amazing. The story may not be compelling, but jumping around rooftops certainly has something to it!

Launch trailer 2 [the more amazing one!]

As for all you people getting to this blog by searching for ‘Assassin’s Creed soundtracks’ and ending up at this old post, there are two tracks now available for download:

• Jerusalem Horse Ride is available here: Right click this and ‘save as’.
• City of Jerusalem is available here: Right click and ‘save as’.

Both are composed by the excellent Jesper Kyd.

Oh and another great Ctrl-Alt-Del comic [yes, I have developed a slight obsession with it!]:

Cat

[UPDATE]

Another fairly disappointing review from IGN – 7.7/10…

That brings Assassin’s Creed to 83/100 on Metacritic..