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[TTG]

Not sure I see what's so innovative about the platforming here though, care to explain? In fact, nothing so far has echoed the comments about great ambition and new ideas, but then I've only just reached Damascus.

Go to the market in Damascus and check it out for yourself. It's sort of like Jet Grind Radio meets early Tony Hawk meets Prince or Persia. You can string some very long sections of free running where you're just hitting a pole, ledge, bar or whatever to keep your speed going. If you're trying to move fast and you spend a lot of time on the ground, you're just not doing it right. That's where the animation and the level design shines. What makes it even cooler is the way these "lines" are worked in within the levels are really seemless, there's no obvious "jump from this ledge to this one to get ahead!" like in most platformers. It's all worked into a very believable city. If someone showed me the design for it and told me it was a zelda type game with NO jump or climb button, I wouldn't think twice of it.

The other thing that really stands out is how the character interacts with others in the world and objects around him. One of the big "next-gen" things they talked about are crowds. It's not only that there are a huge amount of people on screen at once, it's also the tech that goes into how Altair feels his way through it. That also extends to the way he climbs things. It's not just a mesh that gets thrown onto a wall when the designer decides that it the player should be able to climb it. Every foot hold and hand hold are a part of the geometry, Altair's movements are never random. He will shift his feet and hands to get a better position before climbing up or to make a leap to the next ledge. I can't even begin to imagine how long it took them to write the code for all that.

 

[zam]

How do you get the achievement for watching the credits?

I got the achievement for beating the game. But, now I just stuck walking around...

Go into the bedroom and press Y

 

[conman]

It's strange to hear people saying that the platforming in this game is "too easy." The fact that all you do is hold down a button to run and another to jump in no way makes the platforming easy.

Once you start unlocking the later sections of the cities, the handholds and ledges become more and more scarce. You have to start thinking more carefully about your lines and routes. In escape situations, you have to be able to respond very quickly and find those lines at very fast speeds. This is just one way (among many ways) that this game is "innovative."

As I'm making my way back through the game (playing the "right" way), I'm noticing all kinds of small gameplay details like this. Simply incredible.

 

[Ponn]

A pure SoTC'esque game (with the AC engine) where the world is just made up of mountains and crags you platform on and hidden areas (also Monsters) would absofuckenlutely rock.

Assassin of the Colossus :lol :lol

"psst...hey Colossus, whats up"

snkkt

 

[revolverjgw]

I want to play a Batman game with this engine, in one huge, dark Gotham City. I felt like Batman when I swooped in from above to save the citizens, and I love how powerful your intimate acrobatic relationship with your surroundings make you feel. And Batman has so many cool toys and shit.

 

[Ponn]

I want to play a Batman game with this engine, in one huge, dark Gotham City. I felt like Batman when I swooped in from above to save the citizens, and I love how powerful your intimate acrobatic relationship with your surroundings make you feel. And Batman has so many cool toys and shit.

Thats too much of a good idea to really happen.

 

[chespace]

It's strange to hear people saying that the platforming in this game is "too easy." The fact that all you do is hold down a button to run and another to jump in no way makes the platforming easy.

Once you start unlocking the later sections of the cities, the handholds and ledges become more and more scarce. You have to start thinking more carefully about your lines and routes. In escape situations, you have to be able to respond very quickly and find those lines at very fast speeds. This is just one way (among many ways) that this game is "innovative."

As I'm making my way back through the game (playing the "right" way), I'm noticing all kinds of small gameplay details like this. Simply incredible.

Yeah, the platforming in AC has kinda ruined the platforming in other action games for me. It's just so intuitive here, without dumbing it down to a point where you're just pushing forward on the stick and holding down the A button. You really do have to think about your routes and be lightning quick about where your next step should be in a chase/escape situation. I also love that the guards will climb, jump, shimmy, and do all sorts of wacky things to get to you. :lol

What's even more innovative for me is the fact that you can procedurally climb anything you can reach with your hands and feet, and very clearly see in a structure/wall why you can't climb it, unlike other games where it's just a texture or obscure piece of geometry and you're almost trying to piece together where the level designer requires you to take your next step. So annoying.

 

[Marty Chinn]

Man, the guards should hire the beggers to spot assassins because they sure seem to know to come up to you constantly when you're in the middle of a timed assassination.

Yeah, the platforming in AC has kinda ruined the platforming in other action games for me. It's just so intuitive here, without dumbing it down to a point where you're just pushing forward on the stick and holding down the A button. You really do have to think about your routes and be lightning quick about where your next step should be in a chase/escape situation. I also love that the guards will climb, jump, shimmy, and do all sorts of wacky things to get to you. :lol

What's even more innovative for me is the fact that you can procedurally climb anything you can reach with your hands and feet, and very clearly see in a structure/wall why you can't climb it, unlike other games where it's just a texture or obscure piece of geometry and you're almost trying to piece together where the level designer requires you to take your next step. So annoying.

Eh? The platforming feels dumbed down to me and it does feel like it's down to a point where I'm just pushing forward on the stick while holding down RT and A. There's nothing to it and it's pretty effortless to me with no skill involved. I also hate that the guards are doing the same wacky things you are when you're a trained assassin doing freerunning stuff and they aren't. I can appreciate that they try to follow you but they are way too efficient at it.

I also think there are a lot of areas where there's no good explaination on why you can't climb something or in some cases why all of a sudden you have to back track a little in order to get to where you want to because for some reason the connection pattern doesn't work in its logic when it should. It's mostly good, but god is it irritating when it won't do what you want it to do when you know you should be able to.

Bleh does this game blow. It's almost great but it just fails in so many ways.

 

[McBacon]

I have a problem

So I've got Assassinations to do in Jerusalem and Damascus, and need to do some Investigations, "Climb a view point to locate them"... oh dear, I've already climbed all the view points in both towns! So I can't seem to move on, or I'll have to find people to pickpocket/interrograte myself?

Madness!

 

[DrBo42]

Are you sure you have entered a certain section of town that was previously blocked?

 

[conman]

Eh? The platforming feels dumbed down to me and it does feel like it's down to a point where I'm just pushing forward on the stick while holding down RT and A. There's nothing to it and it's pretty effortless to me with no skill involved.

I couldn't disagree more with your assessment. This game really is "The Great Divider." I feel like I'm having a vastly different experience with this game than most other gamers and reviewers (sounds like chespace might be the only other one who "gets" this game like I do ).

While it's true that in the early areas, you can (mostly) just run around with R1 and X held down (I'm playing the PS3 version), you definitely cannot do this from mid-game onwards. Rooftops stop lining up as nicely. Walls become miniature mazes of handholds and footholds for you to navigate, and these "mazes" become more and more difficult as you progress. Either I'm doing something wrong (which I doubt), or you're not paying close enough attention. These design features are an example of Ubi's incredible attention to detail in this game.

I also think there are a lot of areas where there's no good explaination on why you can't climb something or in some cases why all of a sudden you have to back track a little in order to get to where you want to because for some reason the connection pattern doesn't work in its logic when it should.

Again, we must be playing totally different games! I agree completely with chespace on this one. The architecture has its own "logic" in this game. Unlike most platformers, I never feel like the game is "cheating" me in any way.

Not only does the architecture adhere to an incredibly coherent platforming/traversal logic, it's actually convinced me that all other platformers have been cheating me this whole time. It's the platformer equivalent of seeing things in four dimensions. The underlying logic has been made clear. To be sure, there are still some imperfections and bugs with the platforming, but I don't think I'm overstating things when I say that this is the greatest thing to happen to the mechanics of platforming since Super Mario Bros.

 

[Solo]

Finally beat the final assassination (and then the one after that) and beat AC last night. Fucking awesome game. It has a lot of flaws to be sure, but the game is also so unbelievably ambitious and original, and strives for such greatness that its hard to focus on the things it does wrong. There really is no other game like it. I absolutely loved the end-game, and the post credits revelation, perfectly setting up AC2 (which, based on the sales of AC despite its lacklustre mainstream reviews, seems inevitable), which I will buy day one - Ubi Montreal already has my money for AC2.

Move over, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Assassin's Creed is my new #2 game for 2007 (Bioshock is still #1).

 

[Sandman42]

Honestly guys, this may be my game of the year. It's just that good.

I'm not running into any of the problems that people have been complaining about. In fact, sometimes I read the complaints in this thread and I'm totally shocked as I've never encountered anything like what some users are complaining about.

This game has just blown me away in every category.

 

[Blimblim]

I have a problem

So I've got Assassinations to do in Jerusalem and Damascus, and need to do some Investigations, "Climb a view point to locate them"... oh dear, I've already climbed all the view points in both towns! So I can't seem to move on, or I'll have to find people to pickpocket/interrograte myself?

Madness!

Go to the bureau.

 

[MCD]

Go to the bureau.

I think he is supposed to go to the other parts of the city that just have been unlocked. (remember the blue barrier?)

for example, the Rich District in Damascus.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

I think he is supposed to go to the other parts of the city that just have been unlocked. (remember the blue barrier?)

for example, the Rich District in Damascus.

Yeah, travel to the unlocked area and find a viewpoint to display all the information on the map.

 

[Blimblim]

I think he is supposed to go to the other parts of the city that just have been unlocked. (remember the blue barrier?)

for example, the Rich District in Damascus.

Yeah, but he has to go to the bureau first

 

[jey_16]

initially i thought this game was awesome but after a few hours of play, its little problems do start to get annoying

the tasks do get repetitive and the combat can be frustrating, especially against multiple enemies where it automatically switches targets for you while your getting constantly attacked

continuously pressing the square button also loses its charm after a while, combat needs to be improved.....the biggest problem for me though is that you have this massive world which looks really interesting but there is basically nothing to do, you dont even have to complete most of the objectives to get to assassinating someone

i still think its a good game though, the animations (mainly for Altaïr) and graphics are great and jumping over the rooftops as well as climbing towers is really fun. The actual assassinations are the best bit, nothing beats sneaking up on someone and having that little sword drop out of your arm as you stab them in the back

i am glad i bought the game though

 

[RSTEIN]

Question: I have just finished my 3rd assassination. Is there a way to fast warp to the cities? Or do I have to travel to each city via my pet horsey? I tried to look but I didn't find a warp option.

Really liking the game so far. There's something about the combat that just clicks with me. Even tho it's basically just button mashing, it's very satisfying.

 

[pr0cs]

I'm surprised how the game changed for me. My initial post in this thread was pretty negative, for me the first few hours of the game were bad, really bad. I really thought about taking the game back or some way to recoup some of my losses from buying it, I was that disappointed.
But I stuck with it and finished it last night. After the 3rd or 4th assassination the game gets really good, you have some important skills and tools and it then becomes less of a button masher and more of a planning game.
Near the end I really did end up feeling like an "angel of death". The combat finally clicked, I was swapping weapons in and out of combat for the situation, using the hidden blade in mid-combat to finish off guys, etc.
I liked the ending and I'll definitely be buying the sequels. There are a lot of things about the game that need fixing but I'm sure they'll take them to heart and reevaluate them for the sequels. At least they sold enough copies to ensure sequels will appear.

 

[Kobold]

I'm still playing this. Got HDTV recently, it's just awe inspiring.

 

[Blimblim]

I'm still playing this. Got HDTV recently, it's just awe inspiring.

'bout time!

 

[Kosma]

I'm still playing this. Got HDTV recently, it's just awe inspiring.

Grats, there is no turning back now!

 

[siamesedreamer]

Question: I have just finished my 3rd assassination. Is there a way to fast warp to the cities? Or do I have to travel to each city via my pet horsey?

You should get the warping option now. It'll ask you after you leave the city.

 

[RSTEIN]

You should get the warping option now. It'll ask you after you leave the city.

Oh, yeah, I can warp FROM the cities fine (you know, back to the head assassin guy) after I complete assassinations. But what about GOING to Acre, Jarusalem & Damascus from the assassin city (I forget the name)?

 

[Cardon]

Oh, yeah, I can warp FROM the cities fine (you know, back to the head assassin guy) after I complete assassinations. But what about GOING to Acre, Jarusalem & Damascus from the assassin city (I forget the name)?

Yes you can warp from the assassin city to any of the cities. You just need to ride out of the city to that load area and it'll ask you where you would like to go. You can also warp from city to city by just riding out to the load area as well.

 

[RSTEIN]

Yes you can warp from the assassin city to any of the cities. You just need to ride out of the city to that load area and it'll ask you where you would like to go. You can also warp from city to city by just riding out to the load area as well.

Ah, got it. Thanks!!

 

[Opus Angelorum]

You should get the warping option now. It'll ask you after you leave the city.

Yeah, he just needs to ride to the 'The Kingdom' and it will prompt him.

 

[McBacon]

Yeah, but he has to go to the bureau first

Bureau tells me to get out there and investigate, I'll try going to other parts of the city, I'm probably just being stupid.

 

[Satter]

Man, the guards should hire the beggers to spot assassins because they sure seem to know to come up to you constantly when you're in the middle of a timed assassination.

I beat down those insane fuckers. You can also grab and throw the beggers down without loosing points on the sync bar. I clear them out the best I can before I start an informer quest/assassination.

 

[Cornballer]

I made through the first six assassinations this weekend. I'm having a lot of fun with the game, though I'd agree with people's complaints about the repetitiveness. Nonetheless, the free running and actual assassination missions are a ton of fun, and I'm going to enjoy polishing it off this week.

I'm still having lots of trouble using the combo attack, though - I just can't get the timing down. :/

 

[beelzebozo]

I'm surprised how the game changed for me. My initial post in this thread was pretty negative, for me the first few hours of the game were bad, really bad. I really thought about taking the game back or some way to recoup some of my losses from buying it, I was that disappointed.
But I stuck with it and finished it last night. After the 3rd or 4th assassination the game gets really good, you have some important skills and tools and it then becomes less of a button masher and more of a planning game.

my initial thoughts about the game were less than wowed, too, but the more i get into the game's frame of mind and let it be what it is, the more i like it.

but i still don't know what to think of all the flags scattered everywhere. every time i get to a new area, pick up a flag, and realize there are 100 more of the damn things scattered around, it's a little disheartening--wasn't there a less artificial way to get you to look around and explore?

 

[conman]

Bureau tells me to get out there and investigate, I'll try going to other parts of the city, I'm probably just being stupid.

Look for the eagles circling in the distance.

 

[calder]

I can't think of a game that has changed my opinion of it as I played as much or as often as AC. Pretty impressed at first, then a bit sour by shitty instruction and poor engine performance, then a growing appreciation of what the game was offering until I just loved it for the last few missions.

But then once I was done going back to try to replay the sections I skipped early just about killed the game for me again. All the annoying stuff is exacerbated by how many of the most tedious things are unskippable and painfully repetitious. So I soldiered through and suffered through endless boring ass conversations to replay my first city (the one I skipped the most stuff) only to have to quit after only getting about half the remaining missions done... and to go back and finish the last few I'll have to listen to 20 minutes of preamble AGAIN?? No fucking way.

It makes you feel good about AC2 though, since so much of the stuff I hate about AC (and unlike most great games there is stuff in here I h-a-t-e, not simply dislike) is clearly fixable and not actually a flaw in the core design or gameplay.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I beat down those insane fuckers. You can also grab and throw the beggers down without loosing points on the sync bar. I clear them out the best I can before I start an informer quest/assassination.

See the problem is, I would try to push them then for some reason the guards would shout "Assassin!" and I would immediately fail which in turn makes it so I kill the guards, then run far away so the area resets and the bodies disappear, then relisten to the informant go through his unskippable speech only to get annoyed by the damn beggers again. So irritating.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I couldn't disagree more with your assessment. This game really is "The Great Divider." I feel like I'm having a vastly different experience with this game than most other gamers and reviewers (sounds like chespace might be the only other one who "gets" this game like I do ).

While it's true that in the early areas, you can (mostly) just run around with R1 and X held down (I'm playing the PS3 version), you definitely cannot do this from mid-game onwards. Rooftops stop lining up as nicely. Walls become miniature mazes of handholds and footholds for you to navigate, and these "mazes" become more and more difficult as you progress. Either I'm doing something wrong (which I doubt), or you're not paying close enough attention. These design features are an example of Ubi's incredible attention to detail in this game.

I'm in the middle of my 8th assassination so how much closer to the end of the game do I need to get before the level design gets more complicated and makes it feel less like I'm just pushing up and holding down RT and A?

Again, we must be playing totally different games! I agree completely with chespace on this one. The architecture has its own "logic" in this game. Unlike most platformers, I never feel like the game is "cheating" me in any way.

Not only does the architecture adhere to an incredibly coherent platforming/traversal logic, it's actually convinced me that all other platformers have been cheating me this whole time. It's the platformer equivalent of seeing things in four dimensions. The underlying logic has been made clear. To be sure, there are still some imperfections and bugs with the platforming, but I don't think I'm overstating things when I say that this is the greatest thing to happen to the mechanics of platforming since Super Mario Bros.

I loved the one cathedral which you had to climb and it was a puzzle just to figure out how to get to the top. I wish there was more of that in the game. However, I find the free running works like 90 to 95% of the time but that last percentage it doesn't work as expected. It's pretty good but I've been irritated by areas where I thought I should be able to get to but it wouldn't let me because I didn't move in the right order even though logically it should work.

 

[Kobun Heat]

I'm in the middle of my 8th assassination so how much closer to the end of the game do I need to get

WHOA

You're at the 8th assassination already? Slow down! You're rushing through the game! Save every citizen! Walk around and explore its beauty! Count every brick on every street twice! Brush the horse! Turn off the HUD! Apologize for everything! Spell your name in dead bodies! But for God's sake, don't do the missions!

 

[Mifune]

WHOA

You're at the 8th assassination already? Slow down! You're rushing through the game! Save every citizen! Walk around and explore its beauty! Count every brick on every street twice! Brush the horse! Turn off the HUD! Apologize for everything! Spell your name in dead bodies! But for God's sake, don't do the missions!

Awesome. More snarkiness from a video game "journalist."

Just accept that some people enjoy the game thoroughly. It's not that we're making excuses (in fact, criticisms of the game make a lot of sense), it's that we enjoy the fucking game. Get over yourself.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Awesome. More snarkiness from a video game "journalist."

Now imagine, this is how these particular game reviewers probably go about game reviews

GWARG I HATE THIS GAME ALREADY TIME TO LAMBAST EVERYTHING ABOUT *SNORT*

 

[SketchTheArtist]

WHOA

You're at the 8th assassination already? Slow down! You're rushing through the game! Save every citizen! Walk around and explore its beauty! Count every brick on every street twice! Brush the horse! Turn off the HUD! Apologize for everything! Spell your name in dead bodies! But for God's sake, don't do the missions!

Wow. You excel at being an ass. You truely are a videogame 'journalist.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Wow. You excel at being an ass. You truely are a videogame 'journalist.

You've got to go to videogame "journalist" school a long time to be able to do stuff like that. Never give up the dream.

 

[Ether_Snake]

You've got to go to videogame "journalist" school a long time to be able to do stuff like that. Never give up the dream.

 

[conman]

I'm in the middle of my 8th assassination so how much closer to the end of the game do I need to get before the level design gets more complicated and makes it feel less like I'm just pushing up and holding down RT and A?

I was recognizing subtle differences by the time I got to the fourth memory block (second districts in each city). By the time the final districts opened up, there was an unmistakable difference in the logic of the architecture.

I loved the one cathedral which you had to climb and it was a puzzle just to figure out how to get to the top. I wish there was more of that in the game. However, I find the free running works like 90 to 95% of the time but that last percentage it doesn't work as expected. It's pretty good but I've been irritated by areas where I thought I should be able to get to but it wouldn't let me because I didn't move in the right order even though logically it should work.

That's really too bad. For me, my only disappointments have been with the architecture itself. Meaning, if I couldn't get somewhere I wanted to go, I blamed the city's architecture rather than bad game design. That's a sign of something truly special happening here.

 

[EekTheKat]

I really really hope UBI follows through with a patch to this game. Initially I was opimistic that they would get this resolved...but...

It's a bit scary to see how UBI treated their other titles on the PS3 (R6:Vegas on the PS3 AFAIK hasn't been patched yet, despite one being announced).

Some Xbox players are asking for a patch as well, but there hasn't been any confirmation of such in the works.

 

[JB1981]

You've got to go to videogame "journalist" school a long time to be able to do stuff like that. Never give up the dream.

Shouldn't you be sucking up to Nintendo?

 

[BitchTits]

I'm finding the game a little difficult to get into.

I haven't even done much yet, I just got to the point where you get your weapons back - I play around for a bit, do some running/jumping/climbing, then get bored and start killing citizens and forget what I'm meant to be doing, get bored of killing citizens and hiding and then turn it off.

I think I need to give it a proper go again from the start to get into it. It looks great, handles great, feels just like Medieval Splinter Cell (I loved the 360 Splinter Cell, seems like not too many did).

 

[Skilletor]

I'm finding the game a little difficult to get into.

I haven't even done much yet, I just got to the point where you get your weapons back - I play around for a bit, do some running/jumping/climbing, then get bored and start killing citizens and forget what I'm meant to be doing, get bored of killing citizens and hiding and then turn it off.

I think I need to give it a proper go again from the start to get into it. It looks great, handles great, feels just like Medieval Splinter Cell (I loved the 360 Splinter Cell, seems like not too many did).

This is usually my problem with sandbox games. I love casing out a perfect assassination, though. So satisfying being "just another blade in the crowd."

 

[Kobun Heat]

Shouldn't you be sucking up to Nintendo?

If I spend every day on the phone with them telling them how great they are, it gets really annoying. Have to take breaks.

I'm still waiting for some kind of refutation of any point that I've ever made about this game, by the way.

 

[RSTEIN]

If I spend every day on the phone with them telling them how great they are, it gets really annoying. Have to take breaks.

I'm still waiting for some kind of refutation of any point that I've ever made about this game, by the way.

Could you please sum up these points? Or where can I find them?

 

[Y2Kev]

I read your blog post last night, Chris. It definitely raises valid points and isn't easily dismissed, even if it may be a tad exaggerated.

It really just comes down to what you enjoy about games. Assassin's Creed is brimming with "emergent gameplay" and a little light on structured, scenario-esque gameplay.

I didn't agree with your assessment of the assassination stuff though. I made it a goal of mine to sneak around and behave like an assassin would, and the escape was an absolute rush for me each and every time. You also get benefits for doing the extra investigations. Not just stupid trivia, but, for example, doing all the investigations for the

Spoiler

public execution

assassination nets you scholars in the bottom right corner.