Background

If you somehow haven't heard of Assassin's Creed at this point, it's the game that placed a milestone in video gaming history. The very first mediocre game that was marketed so heavily that it actually became a world wide success. Assassin's Creed early development stages started back in late 2005, being one of the very games to develop for "next generation" platforms (at that time). Details were scarce and not many people outside of the team creating the game knew what it was actually about. The only thing that could be confirmed was the presence of knights wearing chainmail.

In late 2006, Assassin's Creed had been in the works long enough to actually show some gameplay. When it was first shown to the public it was announced only for the Playstation 3, leaving an on-going debate on whether or not the game would be multiplatform or not. Some considered this to be the start of an on going confusion of exclusive games actually being multiplatform, but in reality it was the start of Assassin's Creed soulless marketing. By creating a confusion, Assassin's Creed stayed in the headlines, with multiple video game websites reporting on the game's exclusivity standings, and many more video game related podcasts discussing if it should be multiplatform, or if it will be. After a few weeks of constant talking, the game was confirmed to be for both the Playstation 3, and the Xbox360.

The next time Assassin's Creed was shown, it had a brand new presenter, her name, was Jade Raymond. Jade was touted off as if she was behind the game's creation, made the important decisions, and generally created the direction, art style, and atmosphere the game retained. In reality the big boss at Ubisoft Montreal (Also known as "That place that Jade Raymond used to work at") was Patrice Desilets, the name might sound familiar, because he was the one demoing the game, next to Jade. It's obvious for marketing reasons that Jade was given the spotlight, being a girl who plays video games, and being an attractive woman who plays video games. Which is totally fine, my guess is that Patrice had a thick accent anyway, but when images pop up on the net showing the staff of Ubisoft Montreal, and they're all standing... behind her (See right). That's where things get a little tasteless.

This sort of stopped being a background, and more about "This is how Ubisoft is a bunch of scum bags." So I'll just get to the game.

Why I Hate Assassin's Creed

When it comes to reviews, there's never been a game that's had such a mixed reaction. From average 7/10s from Eurogamer, to 9.5/10s from GameInformer, there's obviously a variety of opinion on this game. In my opinion, Assassin's creed is in the 7 section of a ten point scale. I'll try to explain why. (For those who don't know, I made a YouTube Video last November, I would assume watching that is easier than reading this).

For starters the game took a risk and tried to create a new type of stealth gameplay called "social stealth." Instead of sticking to shadow or hiding from in the shadows, Altair (the game's protagonist) must stick to the crowds of the city, and blend in. While this sounds like a good idea in theory, it translates into gameplay as "press A to turn invisible." The ambitious social stealth system sounded (lol alliteration) like an interesting advancement for the stealth genre, but the execution fell flat on it's face, since all you're doing is choosing to press A, or choosing not to. The failed system in intensified when you realize it's the ONLY stealth system in the game. You CAN'T hide in shadows, the game isn't constructed that way. So you either have to slaughter every guard you run into, run away from every guard you see, or walk around all the cities in Assassin's Creed for hours and hours. You no longer feel like an Assassin, or a bad ass, you feel like you're playing a video game.

Coupled with the lacking hiding system, is an abysmal AI. It's bad enough that you can stab a guard in front of a crowd of twenty people, and no one will notice. These types of artificial detelligence intensify the already obvious gameplay flaws. So in reality, you're playing a beat em up action game. You never try to hide from anyone in the game, you just go in with your sword brandished, ready to stab some fools in the face. The combat is really one of the better parts of Assassin's Creed, it's really simple, but fun to execute, so the fact that you're fighting guys the entire game, isn't really as big of a problem as it could've been, since it's kind of fun. But 10-15 hours of constantly fighting people, gets old eventually.

Also Assassin's Creed doesn't really have anything to do besides the constant hackfest. There are three large cities in Assassin's Creed, and what can you do in them? Find flags? There are no side missions, or other storylines or people to work for. It's just the assassinations and that's it. Plus doing the assassinations is also rather boring. Before each assassination you have to "collect Intel." Which really means either sitting on a bench and pressing why, holding b next to someone, hitting some guy in the face two to three times, or collecting flags in under two minutes. These tasks are extremely, something a lot more interesting could've been added.

The real problem with Assassin's Creed is the combination of hundreds of minor problems. You can't skip cutscenes, there's an entire "future" section of the game that's really stale and long-winded, stealth system doesn't work, a cornucopia of technical glitches, the story is convoluted and needlessly complex, gameplay tires after the fourth assassination, and there are plenty more problems I could list off like it was a list of people from high school who've wronged me and why they suck. It seems like the game is constantly trying to find ways to convey the point "You don't REALLY want to play me, I mean look at ________ doesn't that suck? You should turn the game off."

So while the graphics are stunning, and the combat is brutal enough to provide some form of entertainment, really Assassin's Creed is just a mediocre action game with a hot chick talking about it, and a PR team more abrasive than George Romero's legal crew. What's worse is that the entire love is so interested in this game because of the marketing. I have a polish relative over my house right now. His previous game knowledge is "The Sims 2." He knows nothing about video games, and they don't care about him, after all he lives in Poland, not very economically well off. But the only game he's played while over here is Assassin's Creed. Not Halo, Gears of War, Final Fantasy, Guitar Hero, BioShock, Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, nope. Assassin's Creed, that's it.

Your thoughts?