An Opinion on Assassin’s Creed and the Gaming Media at large.
Apparently gamers hate repetitiveness, even when it occurs in different contexts. Don’t let the sales of everything from the original Donkey Kong to the latest Mario (the very definition of doing the same thing repeatedly in a slightly different environment) fool you; we just absolutely hate it. So it’s no wonder that Assassin’s Creed has received a universal “meh” from the gaming media, as well as many members of the hardcore gaming community at large.
After all, Assassin’s Creed consists of performing a series of repeated tasks, culminating in the assassination (who would have thought…?) of a target. Rinse, repeat until you’ve finished the game eight-to-ten hours later.
The sheer gall of Ubisoft to make a game that involves collecting items, reaching specific points of the level, or having to kill a certain number of enemies in a time limit! How could a revolutionary open level design, a reasonably non-linear approach to gameplay, a dual storyline and sublime graphics make up for elements of game design that have been in use in just about every game ever created since before Noah considered a dual degree in carpentry and animal husbandry.
Now THAT’s sarcasm.
I can only put the resoundingly negative view of what appears to me to be a damn good game down to a combination of every reviewer in the land having to play the game to death to meet deadlines, thereby magnifying and exacerbating the flaws in the game; and just a little disappointment after everyone in media land spent a couple of years touting the game as the second coming of Jesus, Buddha, John Wayne and J. R. R. (I need more initials) Tolkien all rolled into one.
What we got instead was a damn fine experience that is no more repetitive than grinding your way through many other (oft lauded) games. Furthermore, it makes up for its flaws by doing most of what it aims to do absolutely brilliantly. The sense of immersion in the environment and the storyline, the pleasure of the controls, and the sheer beauty of everything that occurs in what is really an ugly and highly brutal time; all of these things are executed to perfection in a way that would make most other designers envious of how effortless it all seems.
Could the game have aimed at a few loftier goals? Probably. Everyone would have loved RPG elements, or a bazillion different side-quests or whatever. Maybe, with an extra year of time to work on the game, it might have been the next Deus Ex or whatnot. Instead we got a great game right the hell now that I, for one, am happy to have take pride of place on my proverbial games shelf (proverbial in that most of my games sit haphazardly on the floor).
And oh bugger I think I might have spoiled my review.
-Tim Sweeney
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