Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is a video game that consists of 21 releases| News | Rebooting the Animus | July 19, 2008 |
BECAUSE TWO HIDDEN BLADES ARE ALWAYS BETTER THEN ONE!
The original Assassins Creed developed by Ubisoft Montreal Studios met with mixed reception upon it's release back in 2007, despite offering a rather unique take upon time travel and historical settings, many felt that the whole experience was let down by repetitive gameplay mechanics and a less then well developed story. But even with such flaws it became a hit with many gamers and sold reasonable well, so of cause both Ubisoft and gamers saw future potential in a sequel. Roll on the year 2009 and we sit only weeks away from that anticipated sequel, Assassins Creed 2.From the start, the development team from Montreal spoke of offering more variation in almost every department to improve the overall flow of the experience had by the gamer. This meant more ways to assassinate, more activities to participate in within cities and a more rewarding linear story. That tale tells the story of Ezio Auditore Di Firenze, a young nobleman from the Italian city of Florence. The confident young Ezio lives the rather normal life of a teen aged nobleman until he and his family are betrayed, he soon witnesses the hanging of his father and brothers, promising that vengeance will be had. Of course also being part of the Assassins Creed time line, Ezio is also a descendant of Desmond Miles, a key figure of the first game and connected to the original games protagonist Altair.
The way the story is told doesn't just apply to Ezio's renaissance time, Desmond to will be seen doing much more then simply walking about in a office. The development team have stated that although he will feature less, Desmond will have a much bigger part to play, one that will see him understand his ancestral ways. The sequel looks to please those who were left disappointed by the ending of the first game while also providing more details of the endless fight between the Knights Templars and the Assassin order. The story will also feature key historical events of the time and as Ezio, the player will play their part in experiencing such events.
While gameplay hasn't seen vast changes, the experience as been better defined with more options and more variations. Ezio is now equipped with two hidden blades instead of Altair's one blade and his combat style is both more rugged and violent then that of Desmond's other assassin minded ancestor. In a rather interesting twist, Ezio unlike that of Altair, is not born and bred to be an assassin so must learn the ways of combat, parkour and stealth from other factions of whom the player will commonly interactive with. Factions themselves will play a much larger part, Ezio won't always be fighting alone and can rely on the help of friends from time to time. Another new addition to Assassins Creed 2, is an economic system which will allow the player to buy many varied items for Ezio to use or even wear. New armour types are available as the story progresses and the player will also be able to loot from downed targets, cause distractions with the scattering of money and much more.
How well these changes will be met is yet to be seen, the original was loved by some, disliked by many. So while the franchises current fan base will thoroughly be pleased that the developers have stuck to the fundamental gameplay mechanics of the first game, as enough been changed to interest those who disliked Altair's adventure back in 2007, only time will tell. Still, despite being a sequel Assassins Creed 2 looks to offer one of the more intriguing videogame tales of this year. It's a concept with great potential and if done right could be worthy of something great. If the Montreal development team can match the historical immersive atmosphere of the first game while also improving on as much of the content as possible, then maybe Ezio's search for vengeance is one we can all anticipate.
Assassins Creed 2 is to be released on 17th of November (US), 20th of November (EU).
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KEEPING TO THE CREED - ASSASSINS CREED STYLE.
While most of you (and gaming media) await their chance to play Infinity Ward's latest shooter in Modern Warfare 2 hitting stores on the 10th of November (that's like, in less then two weeks time), I and I suspect many others will be rather excited for Assassins Creed 2. That's the sequel to 2007's Assassins Creed if you weren't to sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to experiencing Modern Warfare 2, but when it comes to the sequel wars the silent assassin stabs the Modern Warfare game right in it's armoured chest (I realize that probably wouldn't kill someone with armour protection, but give me a break).
Despite my excitement for the game, I have odd feelings for it to. After all, I have just begun playing through Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the second time and I honestly can't see any game beating that for one of the best experiences this year. Even Modern Warfare 2, which will no doubt sell so well that the robbing gits at Activision will be taking baths in pools of money and gold diamonds probably won't beat Uncharted 2 for many of this years GOTY awards. Though saying that after hearing some rather respectable gaming folk wet themselves over the latest Call of Duty title in a recent podcast (I shan't name them) I do have to wonder. Still, I really hope this latest Assassins Creed game gets some worthy attention over the insane gunfire of Modern Warfare 2.
Still, I know I can't wait to experience both. Especially Assassins Creed 2 which will hopefully bring some conclusion to the horrid ending of the first game. Man did I feel deflated after completing the original title. After what was a fantastic weekend of endless playing, immersed in a world and time of itself. It went and did an Halo 2 and ended all suddenly and rather poorly. It felt as if I was a rabbit and the developers had put a tasty carrot in front of my eyes but the carrot was on a stick and they made me chase it for the slightest taste of pure fresh juicy carrot. If your wondering why I'm comparing myself to a rabbit, it's because I had one of the most haunting of rabbit related dreams last night.
But I and many others found themselves looking deeply into the smallest pieces of information for clues on what would happen next and the slight reveals made in the first game, one as to admit though that it was fun and the new game will hopefully both answer some of those questions, and provide us with all new exciting ones to discuss on forums for months to come until we finally see Assassins Creed 3. But seriously speaking if there is one game that could topple Uncharted 2 as my GOTY, it's Assassins Creed 2. Have to wait and see how it will turn out, I intend to play through the original at some point in the next week or so to catch up on a few things. I've also yet to officially preorder the game as I'm choosing between the White Edition or the Black Edition, which one shall I get?
Which version of the game have YOU ordered?
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Assassin's Creed
( I seriously didn't want it to come to this.) After shoving Revas down an elevator shaft, I decided I'd give my Wii some equal time. After all, it had been quite a while since I played the damn thing. But something was wrong; it would choke on whatever game I put within it, giving off death clicks whenever I tried playing anything. My last memories with it were a Radiant Dawn, making it to Micaiah's forbidden tongue before I received the death message. I tried everything within my reach, but alas, it ended on Saturday, when I sent the poor thing to its maker. Literally, I sent it to Nintendo for repairs. During all this, left with no Wii games, I played Professor Layton (but you couldn't have known that, right?) and Assassin's Creed.Set in the future and also the past, you play as a bartender playing as a medieval assassin on a quest to assassinate the various leaders of the known world. It sounds confusing in words, but that's only because of the sci-fi theme, or as I call it, the "why"-fi theme. Wait.....uh, anyway, I can imagine why Ubisoft chose the science fiction thing, but a lot of the reasons seem unnecessary; the story sets you up for a tutorial perfectly (and gives one, as well), most of the villains repeat the message that the sci-fi attempts to deliver (more on that later), they do nothing in terms of gameplay, and I don't see much of a reason for them to limit off certain areas of cities ((parenthesis)).
This is where the game excels: exploration. There are many ways to access whatever you want to reach, a lot to explore and collect, and doing all of this is incredibly easy. The controls take some getting used to, but when you finally do adjust, moving through the city feels completely natural and fun. There were times when I'd just ignore the missions by scaling view points and saving half the population, like the complete opposite of Batman in every way. Or maybe it was because the missions aren't that good; the informer missions are good, but the assassinations are all the same: first, you gather info by beating people up, stealing from them, or neither. Then, you activate the mission and sit through twelve minutes of the target being asshole. Then, finally, you kill him with your sword, something the game seems very stubborn about. I've tried it other ways, usually by pelting them with throwing knives (like an assassin SHOULD), but the knives have this weird property where they turn into bananas when the target is near death. So I always had to rush over to my target, beat him a bit with the sword, and sit through another twelve minutes of the same speech over and over again: "I was really helping people" and "we're not so different, you and I."
Then you go back to the mission guy, never to be paid for your assassination. What I'm saying with that is why isn't there currency in this game? It could have opened up so many doors left closed in this game: I could have bought different clothes to blend in better, bought better weapons/upgraded my current ones, pickpocket citizens for their meager cash, bribed guards for hints/amnesty, hell, maybe even paid those beggar women. Instead, I lured them to me with my natural sexiness, let them ramble on a bit, and then killed them in plain sight. The wrath of Templars did not come down upon me, as many have led me to believe; usually, I could just run around the nearest corner, nobody the wiser. But even if all those guards did chase after me (and they did), who the fuck cares, these made for some awesome moments! As I said before, it's fun to jump about on the rooftops ( hmmm...), throw knives at knights from above, hide in plain sight (even if getting there is oddly more difficult than the hiding itself), and, in my case, summon the aforementioned wrath, hop on a horse, and walk forward, just out of reach of all those guards.
Also weird: the bugs and technicalities. There aren't as many as I've heard, but they're there, and that counts. Colors will sometimes stick, characters will get stuck on the in-game objects, and early in the game, I encountered freezing near the end of every assassination, meaning I essentially had to play through them twice. They're not game-destroying glitches, but it can get annoying when a counter lands you on the other side of a memory block...and into Death's cold hands. The same hands that....that took my Wii from me!!! *starts bawling* WHY!? IT WAS IN ITS PRIME!!! *runs out of blog, crying*
The Queen said:
*sigh* Why do I have to clean up my husband's messes whenever he doesn't finish a blog? Why can't that guy who uses his username on Giant Bomb do this? I guess I'll have to do it anyway. Before he ran off crying, he was supposed to give this game the Devil Survivor Award for, and I this is what he wrote, "Batshit Insane, Ridiculous Plot Twists."
Review Synopsis
- There are some ancillary portions of the story, but overall, it's worth a look.
- From what I could glean, he really likes the open world aspects of the game.
- Huh, he didn't care for the scripted parts of Assassin's Creed that much. Weird, in all the years I've known him, he loved JRPGs and other such games.
He's still tearing through Kleenex boxes and buckets of ice cream. Here, just watch this while I console him:
Ninja Crusaders
( Well, I'm finally over the loss of my Wii.) No matter how much I cry and beg, my Wii/$85 check is still in the hands of Nintendo. I'll just have to find some way to fill the void (probably this) and pass the time during its absence. Hey, look what we have here: another mediocre NES game, but with a cool title: Ninja Crusaders! That idea alone would probably shut up even the most vehement of Assassin's Creed critics. Not because ninjas in Israel would be awesome to the power of holy fuck, but because they'd remember that this game is actually worse than Assassin's Creed, even when you discount the fact that it's an NES game. I might as well begin with the first thought that popped into my mind when I started playing: this is a helluva lot like Ninja Gaiden, isn't it? I probably should have known just by the presence of the word "Ninja" in the title, but dear God, this is a Ninja Gaiden rip-off in almost every way. I say "almost" because it forgot to copy a lot of the things that make Ninja Gaiden good, like a decent story or good graphics.
However, it also does a few things a bit better than Ninja Gaiden, like difficulty. The game's much easier than Ninja Gaiden, so you can take that as you see it. For me, the easiness is good, but the things that make it easy aren't. Things like weapons. Like Ninja Gaiden, you can collect different weapons to use at any time. However, instead of collecting secondary weapons, you just collect weapons, ranging from a stick to a sword to a grappling hook that's pretty much a longer stick to ninja stars. Also unlike Ninja Gaiden, all the weapons do the same damage, there's no limit on how much you can use them, and most if not all of the weapons behave in the same exact way, meaning you either stick with the shurikens for the entire game or prepare for an early death.
You know what, scratch that; prepare for the early death anyway. There's a crapload of enemies in this game, and they all regenerate when you leave the screen. Of course, they die with one or two shurikens to the face, but that's not the point. The point is that the enemies regenerate for no reason, making them harder than they need to be. Of course, as is the nature of bad games, this means the bosses are easier than a 10-dollar hooker. Just dodge their attacks by jumping (or ducking, a lot of people forget that), shove ninja stars so far up their ass that they start developing ulcers, and repeat ad nauseum. Not even the final boss is immune to this treatment; the only way you can tell he's the final boss is that he has two forms that are exactly the same in every way.
If they hadn't done this, you probably would have played through the same ten levels repeatedly in your search for a final boss of some type. Yes, I said ten levels. They aren't that long and the game is already really easy, so the game's going to be shorter than your sex with the aforementioned 10-dollar hooker. Yet unlike Assassin's Creed, there's really no reason to go back and play this game again; no extra characters, no secret levels, not even a different ending. So, in the spirit of this game, I'll repeat the ending to my Assassin's Creed portion of the blog and give this game the Sobbing Wii Award. *runs off "crying", leaving somebody else to fill the synopsis*
Review Synopsis
- 'Ey, Oi liyke this game's easines'. Gotta luv a 10-dolla hooka, roight?. - Bushwald Sexyface.
- I think the King forgot to mention that this is at least a playable game, which is much more than I can say for several others games I've/we've played. - Writey Guy, the guy behind the username. (That's all you're gonna get.)
- I don't see why he's complaining about the game's length; usually, he just plays these games so he can push his blogs out the door quicker. - The Queen.
First: Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
I wanted to love this game. I have recently found a new connection with the Marvel universe, and so I picked the game up expecting it to really do justice to both my favorite characters and to the RPG genre. It only sort of got it in both respects. Leveling up didn't do a whole lot to your characters abilities and didn't happen all that often. Powers were the biggest disappointment, as some didn't work very well and others didn't even seem very character specific. Even after finishing the game I never quite got used to the controls, especially the superpowers and squad commands. The presentation was great in some spots, but horrible in others. All in all, the game was about as average as a game about superheroes can be. I may still play Fusion despite my qualms, since it goes over the Civil War storyline (the source of my returned Marvel love) but I think I already know what to expect.
Second: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
You can chalk up another first person shooter that i'll make an exception for. My dislike for the FPS is well documented, but a few like Bioshock and Fallout 3 defy the odds and become among my favorite games overall. Modern Warfare doesn't reach that upper echelon, but the experience was enjoyable overall, specifically the later half. The flashback sniper mission in the USSR was a great level, as was the final bit where they stormed the nuclear facility. It of course looks good, and uses sound well. The levels are well designed, and I almost never had any problem figuring out where I was supposed to be going. The only faults I could find were in the inconsistent difficulty and occasionally impossible enemy fire. I most likely won't touch the sequel, but I have little doubt it will be just as good.
Third: Assassins Creed
Assassins Creed is an odd little game. On the one hand, there are so many things about the game that frustrate and annoy me, between the inconsistent enemy detection ability, repetitive gameplay and occasionally unresponsive controls. I do want back the hours of my life that were wasted redoing missions after Altair jumped left-forward rather than forward. At the same time though, the story was interesting, the kills were VERY satisfying, and the game may be the best looking of the generation thus far. Seriously, it is a good looking game. I really enjoyed the endgame as well. Some people when talking about the combat deride it as just waiting to counter, and I'm sure that worked fine, but I think people that use the full arsenal get much more out of the game than those who don't. I'm really looking forward to the sequel.
By the way, if anyone has a better name for this blog (I plan on making a series) let me know.
After playing so many fast-paced sandbox games (Prototype, Crackdown, Infamous, Far Cry 2) recently, I couldn't really get into GTA 4 at first. It has a deliberately slow pace, even down to story progression. Even after adjusting to the slow pacing, I kept on noticing problems that kept popping up. Which was weird, because I heard this game was on many people's best games of 2008, and it got 10s from some reputable websites. Maybe I was missing something, maybe I hadn't gotten to the "holy frickin' awesome!" parts of the game. Sadly after 50 hours with finishing the game, they didn't come.
Linear Murder
Grand Theft Auto 4 is very misleading. I thought it was a sandbox game, where you can tackle missions in any way possible. Turns out, my playthrough of the game will be exactly the same as yours, since all the 100 or so missions are completely linear, down to the orchestrated car chases. What I personally consider sandbox games are the ones where you're given a lot of choice in going on about the same task, which could be through multiple gadgets (Batman: Arkham Asylum), going stealth or Rambo (Far Cry 2), pathways (Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory), or side-missions (Knights of the Old Republic). Only once do you get a choice in who to kill, which ends up in different consequences. You can not sabotage any mission like the recent Far Cry 2 or Hitman franchise. Frankly, I was getting a lot of Assassin's Creed, and I didn't like it. GTA IV felt outdated to me in this linear mission's aspect, and the fact there is no sandbox game to speak of.
Open World?
Not open. You get an island to mess around in, but you're locked from other islands, much like Infamous. I can't go into the police station or hospital, even if they're standing right in front of me. There are internet cafes, but they become useless when you get a laptop in your safehouse. There are restaurants, but they're pointless and take more effort than just going to a hotdog stand. Speaking of the stands, there aren't enough of them considering this is a dramatization of NYC, AND when you need more health all the time because you get hurt very easily. Some buildings have iconography of being a restaurant, but you can't go into them. So, even if Rockstar put a lot of effort into making all their buildings unique, you as the player are confused which ones you can interact with, and are therefore resigned to check the map for confirmation.There is no exploration. This is not Oblivion or any other game with a slightly bigger world where you can find out stuff off the beaten path. You can't discover a single shop, club, or restaurant. For weapon shops, you can't buy any of the weapons unless if the game has made you use them in a mission. Then they're "unlocked" in the weapon shop. It's a huge tease, and is another example of bad design. Why not just show weapons that you CAN access at the time?
Another mark for GTA IV feeling outdated.
Sandbox Variety?
For a character who always needs more money, there isn't much to do.I was surprised that you could count all the types of activities outside of the missions on one hand (clubs; restaurants; indoor games; wanted criminals). You do get errands or "jobs" from people, which consist of being a taxi cab rider, assassin, or a drug runner but I barely got into them since I never needed more money. Which is ironic, because Niko in every cutscene says, "I always need more moneeeee!"
So, if Assassin's Creed can be criticized for giving no choice in how you go about your missions or tasks, so should Grand Theft Auto 4. But hey, the game got 10s, and previous games were apparently great, so Rockstar deserves the blind love assigned to them by fans groveling at their knees.
As a complete n00b to this franchise, I can only go by what other people tell me, and they say previous games had a lot more choice and exploration.
Lead by the Hand
From the moment go to the end of the game, you'll be seeing tutorial information constantly. This felt like a multiplayer-focused game that has singleplayer, just so you can become comfortable with the mechanics when you go into real battle. I don't even remember there being an option in the menus to disable the tutorials.Not being able to discover any single thing in the game, and the pacing of weapons/locations to unlock, felt too dishonest to me. Doing missions in a very specific way, and the mission pacing completely dictated by the designers by forcing you down missions for people you'd hate reduced all the scope of what this game should be able to do. It just reinforces how little choice you have in the game and how anti-sandbox the experience is. You're just playing the game to the designer's intentions, rather than what we expect from sandbox games. Very misleading, much like Assassin's Creed.
Just Not Memorable Enough
For being 50 hours long and having more than 80 missions, GTA IV is just not memorable enough. The dialogue to me wasn't either. The only memorable stuff was already in the trailers, like all of the 3 famous Niko Bellic quotes. C'mon, that's a little pathetic for a game with such a huge script. The very few memorable characters (Packie, Brucie, Little Jacob, Roman Bellic, Bernie) are outweighed by the majority of wannabe movie gangster parodies (Vlad, Faustin, Ray, Jimmy, Dmitri, etc).There are some damn memorable dark and emotional moments like Niko kidnapping the Anceliotti's daughter and the friends' mission where you dump a guy's dead wife (he did it) in the river. These are very few moments to justify the darker, more serious tone taken with this new GTA game. However, there's hardly any comedy bits other than the excellent Brucie, which makes the story come off as an overly heavy-handed, disengaging mess. Also, Niko's a psycho.
Niko Bellic: The Immigrant Story That Never Was
I'm genuinely surprised at a game involving immigrants to not explore the issues or even give you an experience of what it'd be like to be one. There aren't any immigrant jobs like plumbing, car washes, or pizza delivery. The plumbing could have been a Pipe game, the car washing could be just clean up the whole car with the analog stick, and pizza delivery fits perfectly with the bikes in the game. There are so many other vehicle jobs I'd like to do, like helicopter rides for tourists or be a bus driver temp.I know these activities don't really ascribe to the notion of being a gangster as what the GTA games try to be, but it would add a lot to Niko being an up-and-coming immigrant hitman. It would make you hate them and they should be boring mini-games or stale gameplay, which is a great metaphor for the real thing. So, before you're called up for a high-paying murder mission, you have to do measely tasks and live through the daily grind. That I think would be far more relevant and give more social commentary that the non-gaming public would respect. "So, these games aren't just about killing everyone? You mean there is some actual exploration of modern issues in real life through this virtual world?" I'm waiting for that GTA game.
Gameplay of Frustration
Which leaves the driving. Apparently, this is one aspect many previous fans didn't adjust to. It became more realistic, but for me as a PGR player, it fit. If you've played those PGR games, you know it's all about the Left and Right Trigger balancing. There is actual weight to the cars, but they look like low-riders in action with the body-frame always bobbing up and down. Bikes were even more fun, because you can go so fast that you murder the motion blur and framerate. Then crash to see Niko fly in hilarious, unrealistic fashion. I'll touch the "unrealism" later on.
I only liked driving in this game, similar to liking free-running in Assassin's Creed. Rockstar, did you purposefully try to make as bad a game as that?
Buddies
The whole tamagotchi Sims thing with managing friends and going with them on mundane dates got redundant real fast. Very quickly you notice the comedy or cabaret clubs don't have much content, yet the game forces you to see everything available or then you lose respect with these "friends". You only ever get to date 2 people out of a possible 20, and that's because they are actually cheat codes (Carmen and Kiki). Carmen's health boost only works OUTSIDE of missions, which just sucks.At least Kiki's service of clearing your Wanted level works right? Yeah, it works on missions, but in many missions, she'll keep on saying "Sorry, Niko, this time they're really out to get you". And no, going on a date with her extremely recently didn't even work. Which missions it works and doesn't is inconsistent, because it worked perfectly for "Three Leaf Clover" which is a mission where you end up with a 6-star rating but doesn't work for the Gerry mission where you get a prison snitch out of prison (no, there is no actual prison breakout like in Kane and Lynch 
). Did I even mention how difficult it is to drive, and get to Kiki in your phonebook to remove the Wanted rating, when she's all the way down in the Contacts section?! Shouldn't Kiki be the first Contact during a mission? Handling the phone is very frustrating, to say the least. Again, GTA IV felt outdated in this aspect compared to other games where you handle several NPC relationships (Bioware, Bethesda).
The reputation stuff is just another pointless mechanic. So what if Brucie likes me 70%, but respects me 90%? None of this had any effect, other than either they stay as my friend and bug me every now and then, or just un-friend me like some Facebook weirdo.
Disconnect with Niko
I've never been this disconnected when playing a character in a game, even compared to first-person shooters. Niko is likeable to an extent because he wants to keep on the down-low from his traumatic past, but as soon as he didn't want to let it go in the second to third Act, I just couldn't care less. The more I played, I couldn't empathise with this hired killer "off the boat" who always had a hard-on for more money. He's a man of action and I get that, but do you need to punch everyone you don't like?Also, I don't particularly believe that he's unwilling to do these errand-boy missions, and the money doesn't sound like a good enough excuse. The blackmailing from EVERY gangster so he did their missions was also unconvincing. He's a psychotic serial killer, deep inside. On top of all the unconvincing motivation, he has some of the most unresponsive controls I've ever witnessed. His tank-like walking and steering to rotate him, the cover mechanic being so shoddy, and him dying very easily was not very empowering or enjoyable to play as him. Dressing him up was the only hilarious fun I could have with him.
Playing the Missions
So, onto the missions themselves. There are two types: shooting, and vehicle chases. Sometimes they have both! Ooh, the variety! No, but the missions get redundant/repetitive REAL fast. Chasing people brings out how badly scripted the whole thing is, to the point where you can't even flank. The ones that stick out are extremely hard to remember, because of the amount of crap and frustrating missions. Rockstar KNEW this, because they have a "mission replay" counter, and they add extra dialogue the 2nd time around for a mission.
Outside of Stranglehold, this is the worst cover system I've witnessed in a game. I'm actually right now trying to think of a worse one. The problem is with the inconsistency of some objects you can take cover against. In cover-based games, it's pretty obvious which objects you can take cover. However, in an open-world game like this, it's not obvious and you pay for it by dying while fiddling around with your Cover button. Most of the cover shootout areas felt very claustrophobic, and you don't have the ability to move from cover to cover, which is again outdated. Every shooting section felt like whack-a-mole, with a lock-on system no less, which made the game extremely unchallenging and more of a chore.
Everyone made me believe that "Three Leaf Clover" would be amazing, but then I realized they must have hated all of the missions in the game that they thought it would be worth putting up the only shooting mission that is fun, on a pedestal. People even mention it's like Heat, but I don't remember going into subways in that film. I told them, "Have you played Kane and Lynch? The two bank heist missions in that game are 10x better than Three Leaf Clover or at least they haven much more variety". Kane and Lynch is already the best (and most enjoyable) interpretation of Heat or any Michael Mann movie I'll ever see. With better shooting, health, weapon switching and cover mechanics to boot.
I'm not saying this is a bad game. I just enjoyed very little of it. The ratio of good missions to bad must be like 1:15. I can't point out specifically any part of the game I thought was more awesome in this game compared to any other game. Which just means, the game doesn't stand out against the crowd. Could Mafia II overtake it, as the best crime open world game?
A Few Good Elements
The Radio. That's the one overriding good factor. Listen to the Journey Station while murdering everyone on the street. Listen to healthcare issues, while someone gets chainsawed. Hear Laslow, the perfect right-wing lunatic. Hear Mr. T's law trials in the form of Judge Judy. The satire in the radio is just excellent, which is why I'm always confused why the main story and characters are so damn serious. This bi-polar split made me feel that there was no creative director for the game.
Good writing. Nothing Oscar-level, though! The story is nothing special and lacked an overall theme or message. Is it a revenge story? An immigrant story? Commentary on the American dream? A crime epic? Since all of these themes were scattershot, I couldn't really grasp what the game had to say. But the dialogue was good. Even though the only memorable dialogue to me was from all the trailers already shown. Ookayy, eef yuu put it dat vay, I'm eeeeeeeeeen.
Solid writing as every character is suitably over-the-top and yet believable. I won't say great characters (the few I've listed in the next paragraph), because they were all wannabe gangsters, that had nothing unique to them (you tell me the difference between Faustin, Jimmy Pegorino, Ray, that old dude in the hospital). Nothing memorable about them, except for maybe their quirks like Faustin always snorting drugs. So, I guess, what I'm meaning to say, the characters have really good mo-capping performances. Even though most of the characters in GTA 4 are way more unlikeable than Kane and Lynch (take that, Jeff!), I appreciate their great performances.
A few great characters. Little Jacob may be a drug dealer, but he's so tolerant and lovable! Packie might be a kid gangster always getting in trouble, but his accent and positive, humorous attitude are for the win! Brucie might take bullshark testosterone and is too alpha macho for his own good, but he never tried to get into the murdering business like everyone else in the game. Roman may be annoying and frustrating and stupid and gambles too much and gets kidnapped a bajillion times, he's your conscience to move away from Niko's past and just lead a good life.
Niko himself is actually quite deep, even though he's so stuck for revenge that not even SPAWN would care. He always need money for no reason other than to buy nice clothes. No, you can't buy expensive cars even.
Nevertheless, he has moments of introspection after the killings he does, and even helps the pathetic Dwayne out of depression.
Notice how I only really liked the lighter-side characters? Maybe because the serious stories and characters came off as pretentious, predictable, annoying, and pointless.
What's Fun about Realism?
Why was it the most unrealistic parts of the Euphoria engine I found fun? Pushing down people to death (yes, you can do this!), and standing proudly over their bodies. Dragging people down the road as they hold on to my car door? The Indiana Jones "truck hustle". The very end of the game where you jump from a flying jet ski into a helicopter!
See, there is a debate about whether a game can be realistic and still be "fun". I can prove many already successful examples of that, and GTA 4 isn't one of them. Realism isn't meant to be fun, but it can be intense; such as your weapon jamming in the middle of a firefight (Far Cry 2), dying in a few shots (SWAT 4), and healing up your body through a detailed damage system (Call of Cthulhu).
I mean, Grand Theft Auto games were never meant to be realistic. They were cartoony-looking for a reason, to downplay all the violence that is central to the game. And now with this 4th entry (6th? 8th?), they played exactly into the censoring crowd's hands and made the game more disturbing than it should be, just by having the Euphoria engine, realistic blood spray, and graphics. I feel really bad killing people in this game. Swearing is through the roof, which would make Kane and Lynch blush (take that, Jeff!).
If you're going to spend a $100 million budget for a new graphics and animation Euphoria engine, why not make them fun? A realistic driving model, having to get armour for every mission, using a phone for a lot of things while not being able to pause, and having an almost unplayable framerate on top of all the action, shows they spent more time on the tech than the gameplay. Graphics over gameplay, as we call it. Just like sty.le over substance in the films business.
The violence is taken way up to such realistic levels that it's gruesome to kill people in this game. I guess that's an artistic achievement, of making such sensitizing violence in a game. However, this doesn't make the game enjoyable. It feels like work. There is a difference between a challenge, and homework.
Finally, my last piece of criticism and possibly the most important.
Is this Game Bi-Polar?
The game's bi-polar tones. It has an utterly amazing and always entertaining satire of American life on the radio and in the world through the NPCs, bundled with a pointlessly dark murderfest of a story that drags on forever to no meaning. The radio talk shows, billboard ads, NPC talk, and the world is so over-the-top that it's the only part where Dan Houser's writing shines. To be topical, they even had healthcare satire which even though kept on repeating on PLR, was just so poignant.However, the main story itself is so pointlessly serious, and heavy-handed, I just couldn't get into it. The gangsters are so generic, and forgettable. Niko is such a lapdog, yet he's a man of action only when he wants to be. I'm not playing this for a dramatic crime tale, because I've already experienced those (The Darkness, Max Payne, Kane and Lynch, Mafia). I thought I was in for some brilliant satire, mindless fun, and stupidly memorable missions.
There clearly wasn't a game director or creative director behind this, to let the themes stay or have a natural conclusion. This is the problem with game development when you have 200 people working on a game, and there's no overarching auteur to steer everyone into the whole point of the game. Imagine if other games had conflicting design like this? Duke Nukem had mindless killing, but the Duke would be moping in every cutscene. Max Payne would have gritty voice-over and a tragic story, but he would have Final Fantasy magic powers, and had stupid dancing idle animations.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you get what I'm saying by now. Grand Theft Auto 4 is a game of missed opportunities, misleading freedom, annoying linearity, outdated gameplay, and bi-polar storytelling. Nearly all of the missions just sucked. There's not a single innovation here. There's barely anything worth writing home about. You're not missing out on much from the status quo by passing on this game. It's still a game worth playing, because of some fun with the Euphoria engine, but the focus here is not on mindless fun like previous incarnations; it's on misplaced realism. The most fun I had with this game were the lighter side such as the few characters, the few unrealistic missions, and the unrealistic lengths of the Euphoria animations.Every good thing I have to say about GTA 4, there is a bad point to counter-act it. I'm now scared for Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption, and I'm going to check if it's not the same team. Please, Rockstar as the publisher, don't screw up the sequels to my favourite character-driven games!!!
Grand Theft Auto 4 and Assassin's Creed are now red flags for me to not follow the design teams. Both games seem to adore creatively dry linearity and lack of choice. Both games have only 1 solid mechanic. Both games are examples of graphics over gameplay. Both are products of wasted development time for the tech, instead of the gameplay content. I'll be cautious before I play games made by these guys.
Even if I lose some friends over this inconsequential blog post, I at least had fun writing it.
My PSN account will be the same as my XBL one (iwilldoit9times), so hit me up on either. Make me feel at home. And by home, I don't mean Playstation Home. Ugh...
This fall, Assassin’s Creed II comes to us as a sequel to certainly one of 2007’s most popular games. After reading about many other’s opinions about the original Assassin’s Creed, it has come clear to me that my opinion on the game is unique and unusual. Most who have played the game simply do not like it for its repetitive missions or for various other reasons. Recently, I played the game through again and I am going to share with you why I love the game so much. There are going to be spoilers here so proceed at your own risk.
As Assassin’s Creed starts, I am reminded of one of the few things I dislike about it: The Sci-Fi thing. I remember first playing it and seeing this and exclaiming “WHAT!?” It was pretty interesting at the time considering no preview that I had seen showed this part of the game at all. I consider it to be throwaway as I do not consider it to be an integral part of the game. I want to play as a bad ass assassin from the middle ages, not some french nosed doofus in the present time. The whole premise is that you’re some dude who’s captured because his ancestor, Altair, from the middle ages has memories that need to be accessed in order to find this thing for the present time. It’s safe to say I do not like the sci-fi aspect of the story at all, but I do enjoy the story moments accessed in memory very much.
Once in the middle ages, I’m playing as Altair and within the first few moments, he makes a large mistake by crushing enemies when not told to. Altair is a member of a group of assassins, and there’s certain rules within the assassin’s creed that must be followed. Altair has broken one of the rules, is stripped of most of his abilities and must prove himself all over again. From then on, the game proceeds in a ‘hit list’ fashion. You’re given specific targets to assassinate, and can dispose of them however you please.
Now that I’ve set the game up a bit, I’d like to start describing what I love about it. Well, first off, the immersion. When playing it, I do not feel as if I’m playing a game, I am Altair. Not only that, but I feel all powerful and that I own the kingdom in which the game takes place. Not only is it extremely difficult for me to die, but I can go around killing just about whoever I please. I guess you could say this is a super hero game without the actual superhero part. I enjoy climbing to the next watch point so I can reveal the whole map, I enjoy saving citizens that are being harassed, and I enjoy assassinating targets.
One of the main things that really sets off the immersion factor for myself is the combat system. It is one of the most fluid combat systems I have ever seen. Each sword slash has weight, each knife slash has focus and don’t even get me started on counters. Counters are very simple to pull off and have heaps of rewards. Countering with swords sometimes has you just simply sending someone to the ground dazed, as is the same with the knife. With the hidden blade, though, a single counter is certain death for a foe. Altair will shove a knife in your throat with no remorse. The downside to the hidden blade is that missing a counter results in quite a bit of damage taken. Risk reaps reward in most cases, and Assassin’s Creed is no exception.
The assassinations themselves are also pretty amazing. In each town, there are sects of the Creed. Within them, there is an informant there to tell you about your target. The informant however does not tell you everything, and you must seek out the rest of the information regarding your target yourself. This is set up in many different ways: informers will give information by completing tasks for them, collecting flags, or assassinating targets for them. I enjoy assassinating the targets more than collecting flags, but these missions are still pretty straight forward and easy to do. Another way to collect information is through interrogation, in which you follow a person into a dark corner and punch them into submission. Altair is cold blooded in that after each interrogation, the interrogated is then put to the death with a chilly knife to the throat.
One thing that should have been mentioned much earlier is the graphics. To put it quite simply, they are stunning. Each section of the kingdom is highly detailed and breathtaking. The most thrilling part of this is when scaling a high point. From this view, it’s easy to see the entire city. I remember first seeing this and being blown away by it. Nearly two years later, it has the same effect as it did then. I am taken back due to the level of detail put into this world.
I think it goes without saying at this point that I love Assassin’s Creed. Many dislike it for many things I love it for, but this is okay. I only hope that with the second game, the things I mentioned are not tossed out the window. I have very high hopes for it, and if it can at least match the quality of the first game, we’ll be in for quite a treat. I imagine the sci-fi story stuff will return, but I can only hope it’s in a limited capacity. I realize this whole write-up sounds like a gushing review for the game. However, this is not a review, but rather a recollection of my thoughts on Assassin’s Creed.
PEOPLE LEARN THINGS FROM MY BLOGS
For Example:
In the 18th century Science and Logic took social priority over religious beliefs for the first time, post renaissance. This was called the Age Of Reason. Aside from being an awesome name for a videogame, the Age Of Reason marked a pinnacle of social evolution in the way we look at the world and accept the information we are presented. It is important in a way that much of the content we are exposed to is not.
Ok i'm done.
IN OTHER NEWS
The video driver in my laptop is fried, I get blue-screens every time I try and log in. Not only can I not blog easily, but I lose a whole chunk of work and I can't go online. The upside of this is that I can now justify window shopping for my new desktop. I also started writing up my travels backpacking in Europe. If anyone is interested my first travel blog can be read here.
Thanks For Reading
Love Sweep
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Five Years In The World Of Warcraft
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Pandemic Shutdown Leads to Office Space Tribute
If there was a TV channel called "men beating office equipment," I'd DVR every minute.
|
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EA Announces The Next Mercenaries Game
"Mercs Inc." to continue Pandemic's legacy of explosions and open-world-type stuff.
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Play The Zelda Trivia Challenge, Part Two
Five more questions to tease your brain and maybe net you some cool stuff.
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Hands-On: Ridin' Zelda's Spirit Tracks
A few minutes with Nintendo's next DS Zelda installment.
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Most Popular Achievements (11/14 - 11/20)
As the year winds down, it's clear that one game will stand alone... well, for the next few weeks, anyway.
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Five Years In The World Of Warcraft
A bit of reminiscence about Blizzard's little juggernaut from a few of the developers who have been there.
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