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- chillypacman, on 11/25/2007, -82/+359Why Halo fails: It's just like every game before it and has repetitive gameplay.
Why Assassins Creed Fails: Has repetitive gameplay... eh?
Theres a lot of hypocricy going on in the industry, while FPS games in aprticular can get away with repetitivty others like Assassins Creed, for not being an FPS, suffer because apparently they're not good enough. It's like because a game is not an FPS it has to prove itself as to why it should be considered a 'good game'.
No one complains about Halo having repetitive gameplay because it's an FPS, of course you're supposed to kill the same bad guy fifty times over. With Assassins Creed? No! Too repetitive! Why do I have to go and interrogate someone in a repetitive way 5 times?
And therein lies the problem. - tektalk, on 11/25/2007, -25/+298Summary:
Assassin's Creed fails because it has repetitive gameplay, repetitive missions, lack of focus on stealth, and boring cutscenes, otherwise it's a beautiful game.
Message: Ubisoft, get your head out of your ass and make a beautiful game that is actually interesting to keep playing for 10+ hours. - djbumunltd, on 11/25/2007, -1/+242i like how the spoiler warning is at the very end.
- duggtodeath, on 11/25/2007, -10/+186Thanks for the indepth review that looked at both the good and the bad points. Too bad other gaming articles aren't as coherent!
- navster15, on 11/25/2007, -5/+171You know the problem with Assassin's Creed? Those ***** retards.
I meticulously plan my assassination, stealthily taking out rooftop guards, surveying the area and planning my escape route. Then I carefully approach the target, breathlessly anticipating my hard earned kill. Suddenly, some ***** retard who's only purpose in life is to push me and me only does just that and my mission goes to *****. Then I am forced to engage in mind numbing sword combat with 50 guards and somehow randomly kill my target in the least satisfying way possible. ***** retards... - Puffball, on 11/25/2007, -10/+138The repetition is less noticeable when you're doing something fun over and over. Repetition isn't necessarily bad if the gameplay is in the least bit satisfying. From what it sounds like, Chris doesn't like being an investigator over and over -- a lengthy process just so you can kill someone -- while you simply shoot and cover in Halo.
- proghead, on 11/25/2007, -23/+95The only reason this reviewer said the assassinations were "anticlimactic, fumbling kills" was because he sucks at the game. And as far as the battle mechanics go, I thought they were spot-on, especially at the end when you have to fight your way to Robert DeSable.
He says that the investigations are boring, but I hate to break it to you, this ain't Halo. The so-called "boring" parts were the moments where you were supposed to listen, as they advanced the story and told more about the target. A lot of people say the game is repetitive. I don't doubt that, but the challenges are by no means the same every time. I guarantee this reviewer lacked any creativity at all in performing his assassinations. The second kill in Acre? He could have scaled the castle wall, taking out archers stealthily, climbed down above the target, waited until the moment was right, dropped down to do the deed, and have an escape route ready. That was just one strategy. There were countless ways of doing it. But was he clever and stealthy? No, he runs straight in, crying that the game doesn't prevent him from doing so: "The game will force you into a situation where the easiest thing to do is just stab the guy right in the middle of broad daylight with a dozen armed guards standing around not doing anything about it!" *****.
Assassin's creed is by no means perfect, but it's far from the colossal *****-up this article makes it out to be. - FXPooky, on 11/25/2007, -2/+67This guy in the comments said it best:
"Having also just finished Assassin's Creed, I think I need to make a few comments here.
As far as the repetition goes, you're absolutely correct. You get three fantastically detailed cities to do the exact same things in. If you don't like these missions much, you're not going to like Assassin's Creed. I can understand that.
I find however that for one, you've omitted mention of the objective that was both the most fun and the best in keeping with the assassin spirit of the game. There are a few flag collecting Informer missions, but the bulk of them are Stealth Assassination Informer missions. You have a time limit for killing a certain number of targets. You have to stealth kill them. You cannot be seen, or you fail the mission. Very assassin, no?
Your complaint of always been seen by the guards... were you actively trying to be unseen, or were you simply running from objective to objective, trying to beat the game in time to write your review? Taking alternate routes, blending into a crowd, killing to create a diversion, all of these are good ways to stealthily move through the city. As far as stealth games go, I find this a little more believable and fun than "wait until the guard turns, then avoid his cone of vision, clearly visible on your radar." Sound familiar? The guards will see you, but if you're actually trying it won't be as often as you claim. No insult intended, but I think you were doing it wrong. It's like claiming that the police are always after you in GTA, when really you're just driving on the sidewalk through pedestrians. Try the middle of the road, or in our case, stealth tactics.
On the drawn out dialog scenes, you've made some good points. These could really stand to be more dynamic. As much as I appreciate the different camera angles, they're not exactly making the dry bits any jucier. Definitely something to improve on for the next iteration.
It would have been nice for there to be more varied activities for fun in the cities too. Maybe something unique to do in each place to give each area a more unique flavor, as far as activities are concerned.
As for the major assassinations boiling down to a brawl with the target joining in; What were you doing? Most of these missions allowed you to sneak in through some alternate route and get a stealth kill without any guards ever knowing you where there. Heck, there's even an achievement for doing this! And even if you're spotted, many of the targets will flee, forcing you to employ all your free-running skills to catch up and deal with them. Again, if your game degraded into mob fights in place of stealth kills, you weren't playing it the way you wanted it to be. Perhaps you're confusing a play style that the game designers allowed (group fights) with the way the game has to play out. If you want a stealth game, play it. It's not going to force you into any particular method of gaming and I count that as a definite plus.
Button mashing combat? I guess you didn't notice that attacks had to be pressed in a certain rhytmic fashion to overcome the guards' defenses. Or that there's step-in, dodge, grab, grab break, and various weapons in addition to "attack" and "counter"? Mash buttons and you'll die. Period. I don't know why, but you really weren't describing Assassin Creed's battle system at all.
Is Assassin's Creed perfect? Of course not. Is it even a "must-try"? I can't claim that it is. Clearly there's a lot of room to improve here. The bottom line is that you're claiming that the game botched up the gameplay it promised to offer. I say you must have been trying pretty damned hard to play the game and yet avoid the very elements you wanted to see!" - Lumiras, on 11/25/2007, -5/+66I played through the entire game, and I thought it was actually pretty good. Yes, it lacks variety and hopefully that's something they'll fix in the (inevitable) sequel, but I thought that for a brand new IP, this game made some significant strides.
I think the reviewer is honestly way too cynical about the game, and I will attest that I felt some genuine moments of wonder during the game as I pulled off assassinations and climbed up the buildings.
In other words, just like you shouldn't believe the hype that Assassin's Creed is the best game of the year (it isn't) you should also not believe the negativity the guy is putting out for the game. I assure you it's a worthwhile rental - KeyLimePie, on 11/25/2007, -4/+61Whilst the FPS is a saturated genre, it's a much more immediate and satisfying experience than something like Assassin's Creed. In Halo, you shoot, you kill, great. The game mechanic in AC is much more laborious and it takes awhile for your actions to get a satisfying payoff, therefore Ubisoft has a duty to make the experience more exciting to the player.
- TimeIsTissue, on 11/25/2007, -8/+53"You totally ignore all the guards, who don't do much damage to you, and end up assassinating the guy anyway, despite yourself, not even knowing which one he is."
This entire article kinda killed my chances of buying the game, but the main reason was that quote I posted. I thought the assassination was hard, and had to be executed perfectly. I was hoping for something like in Fable, where you have to be very careful when you pick-pocket someone, or sleep in someones house... Oh well. - davidjay247, on 11/25/2007, -0/+39Lol, I wholeheartedly agree. Assassin's Creed is going to be responsible for a lot of increased hate-crimes against the mentally-handicapped.
- l0tharnt, on 11/25/2007, -5/+42Is it sad that I had 0 interest in this game until I heard a Massive Attack song for the commercial?
- epicstruggle, on 11/25/2007, -10/+40I hear Jade is on her way to the Wired offices. A correction to the article will be posted soon after. (incidentely many happy faces in those offices.)
- Jrr6415sun, on 11/25/2007, -8/+37"Assassin's Creed is probably one of the top 5 most disappointing games of all time, when you consider its potential" - IGN.com
I wonder why they didn't include that in the ads I see everywhere that says it got a 10/10 :/ - jaynemother, on 11/25/2007, -3/+30The most interesting part of this is how blatantly obvious it is what this guy is doing wrong.
- inactive, on 11/25/2007, -8/+34I bought the game yesterday, around noon. I finished it yesterday, around 5 pm. I'm not even good at FPS games.
You have to unlock multiplayer modes AFTER finishing the game. The max number of players in multiplayer mode is 12. TWELVE. You can't browse for servers either. The game decides which game you join and that's that.
The entire game is just you following some idiotic AI and shooting at a large number of ennemies, while waiting to be rescued. You can't possibly lose or even fail a mission. There's absolutely no strategy involved in the story. All you have to do is go where the leader (AI) is and shoot. Everything is litteraly spelled out for you, there's absolutely nothing to figure out. It's just going where it says you should go.
I agree that the graphics are amazing, the sound was better than most action movies. But if I wanted to look at pretty pictures and listen to explosions, I'd watch a movie for 55 dollars less. - krazykor, on 11/25/2007, -6/+32I absolutely agree with you, having played and loved this game. All the complaints about the missions being too easy? They all advance the plot or help you plan out your main assassination better. The same goes for the cutscenes, which in his opinion were boring, "have the characters stand stock-still for five minutes explaining big plot points to each other." I'm guessing the writer was hoping that the plot would be explained to him while he was riding on a horse in an epic battle, fighting off templars and racing to safety, or something ridiculous like that? The cutscenes are there for the sake of advancing the plot, not entertaining you with mindless action. That's what the combat and free-running is for. I mean seriously, this writer has a really short attention span: "I was running Altaïr in little circles, rapidly switching through camera angles, and eventually just started looking at other things in the room. These scenes were so boring that I nearly stopped paying attention to what they were saying altogether."
Wow.
Really Assassin's Creed most reminds me of a game like Shadow of the Colossus; very beautiful to play, a whole world that absorbs you, and plenty of places to explore that are 'useless' to the game, but still fun to see for a lot of people. It makes the world more real. Shadow of the Colossus was extremely basic on gameplay, and very repetitive, but its still a fantastic game to many people and reviewers, myself included.
To me, Assassin's Creed was really more like an interactive movie, where you can take it at your own pace and uncover as much or as little of the plot as you wanted whenever you felt like it. But it really is all about the plot. The gameplay is just a vehicle to advance the plot. The gameplay is incredibly fun, but admittedly a little shallow, so if you're getting bored of the repetition but like the plot, you can just skip all the side missions and pretty much go straight to each main assassination, which are great cinematic sequences.
Bottom line; if you like a good plot and a huge world that absorbs you, then Assassin's Creed is a fantastic game. If you don't mind repetition as long as the game controls well and don't mind having not that much to do, then Assassin's Creed is a fantastic game. If you have a short attention span and mostly want to kill people without wondering why you're killing them, then don't get Assassin's Creed. Get like Call of Duty 4 or something instead. Also a good game. - Saiing, on 11/25/2007, -0/+25I guess there had to be someone in the world who didn't.
- nealeneale, on 11/25/2007, -1/+26that is my exact problem. ive stealthy killed the first guy and thats it! those naked retards push you and your spotted EVERY SINGLE TIME
- lazyeyesam, on 11/25/2007, -2/+27Agreed that the information gathering missions were quite repetitive but I did still find the overall game enjoyable. Regarding the lack of emphasis on stealth, I quite liked that. I believe it added to the freedom; you were able to choose how you personally wanted to play the game.
- DD00, on 11/25/2007, -1/+26Kill them. You can kill those guys with no consequence. Just a quick hidden blade and they never screw you up.
- dime, on 11/25/2007, -3/+27Uhh, maybe we read different articles, but I didn't get the whole "zomg it's so repetitive" angle.
He saying the game fails because it aims to do something very big, but delivers very small. There's not much "assassin-y" when you're just doing the same (simple) things over and over... nor is having an open world game where there's not much to immerse yourself in... nor is changing the entire fundamentals later in the game. Great philosophy... execution, not so much. - nynety, on 11/25/2007, -3/+26I think I remember Maddox using that trick first, a long time ago. After that, everybody on the internet started putting their spoiler warnings at the end, as a joke. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.
- Ashkc88, on 11/25/2007, -3/+25Online multiplayer? You're kidding me right? A game is better than another because it has online multiplayer? Zelda OoT and Mario Galaxy are rated for being the best games of all time, and you say the game cannot be good because it lacks online multiplayer? I'd say the online multiplayerin Halo is a negative because I'm sick of hearing winey little cheating/modding 13 year olds scream out racial remarks every time they win OR lose.
- drewd53, on 11/25/2007, -0/+19so you didnt like call of duty4??
- TiE23, on 11/25/2007, -1/+21I spent over 20 hours to finish this game on purpose. I slowed down and had fun with it. I never rushed and I only completed the investigation levels when I happened to run by them by pure coincidence. I mean, when I first got to the city the first thing I thought was, "Man, I gotta look around." But from what I understand, nearly every reviewer thought, "Dammit, where's this dude so I can kill him?"
This game spent over a week inside my 360 without coming out... until Mass Effect. But I had a load of fun with it, so you can probably see why I'm really confused why everyone hates this game but me. The investigations are repetitive, but it only hurts you when the only thing you're doing is investigating and assassinating the main target. I rarely ever went out of my way to do something I didn't want to do. And my god, how bad can it be when the investigations only take 1 to 2 minutes to do? If they were like, "Kill this man's 20 personal guards and then interrogate him." But no, you LISTEN to a man for 45 seconds, follow him for another 45 seconds, and then beat him and listen to him.
And for the dialog, the Assassin's Bureau visits I actually looked forward to them. Later in the game you actually see Altair changing in his behavior when talking to them. And you need to listen to what they're saying otherwise it's just two mouths on screen moving.
Anyway, I truly enjoyed this game, and it's probably going to be in my Top 10 List of All Time - But then again I'm the kind of guy who plays the single player story of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for well over 80 hours - so I may have the tendency to like games where I can control the fates of enemies. - l0tharnt, on 11/25/2007, -5/+23How is that sad? I'm only offering my 2 cents on the subject just like everyone else.
My point is that the only thing that caught my interest about the game was the song in a commercial, which doesn't even have anything to do with the game itself. - BlackJackJester, on 11/25/2007, -1/+19I just thought House was starting when I heard it...
- Qumahlin, on 11/25/2007, -2/+19lame? What about the plot is lame? The ending is lacking since all they do is set you up for a sequel, but the story itself truly isn't lame. I won't go into details and ruin it for those that may not have played, but I feel the story is actually quite interesting.
- DukeMojo, on 11/25/2007, -6/+23For those who don't understand why Halo is so popular, think multiplayer.
- LemonChicken, on 11/25/2007, -1/+18Ironically, this is an original title.
So, you're saying now that they're working on an original title, they should get bad press? Or they should work on Beyond Good and Evil?
Or are you just retarded? - yutt, on 11/25/2007, -3/+19Lord. I'm glad you guys posted. I am getting so tired of the game media taking cheap jabs at Assassin's Creed when it was a great game. What these idiots don't seem to understand is, every time they rant their worthless opinions, they hurt sales. Making it less likely the studio can take huge risks by making games like this. Then we end up with recycled cautious garbage instead of imaginative and creative games like AC.
This thanks to the gaming media, that hypes games for 5 years, and then is disappointed when games don't live up to the unreachable hype they created. - neferiousrich, on 11/25/2007, -0/+16every time one of those bastards pushes me, i kill them. Without Hesitation.
- yeahthatsme, on 11/25/2007, -1/+17"I could see Ralphie's family from A Christmas Story gathering in the living room, lying down on the rug, and turning the dial to Little Orphan Altaïr." winner
- Bamborzled, on 11/25/2007, -0/+15"Assassin's Creed is probably one of the top 5...games of all time" - IGN.com
The ellipsis is your friend. - yutt, on 11/25/2007, -2/+14I assume I am being dugg down for the link, since every comment I made in this thread that didn't have the link was dugg up, and the two that had it were dugg down.
For those who don't know how it works, it is common to link to your Xbox Live profile to prove your credibility. You can see I did indeed complete the game and unlocked a number of achievements (though far from all of them).
Every reviewer and commentator should link their Xbox Live, Steam, or whatever applicable profile if they expect to be taken seriously. I highly doubt most "professional" game critics play games at the same depth as the average gamer. They speed through as quickly as possible so they can meet their deadline. This doesn't give a realistic assessment of the game for the average buyer. - trentasaurus, on 11/25/2007, -0/+12I see what you mean, but the Call of duty series isn't really about strategy, it's just like being thrown into a big hollywood movie. You're just put into situations and you have to just survive/be the hero. But it's fun, exciting and intense enough that i thoroughly enjoyed it.
- SlipGreen, on 11/25/2007, -0/+12i wish this could be posted on the wired blog
- otero1, on 11/25/2007, -11/+22Just play the damn game, and move on with your life.
- TheNuminous, on 11/25/2007, -0/+11You mean fraught, and it wasn't.
- trentasaurus, on 11/25/2007, -2/+13You'll live.
- ZombieKiss, on 11/25/2007, -2/+13Right but he also stated that even the 'assassin' part of the game wasn't even good in that you can just walk up and stab the guy and walk out without any real consequence. I understand yes, perhaps thats just how he played it and he COULD have snuck up and assassinated the targets but without the treat of detection and death (which apparently there was none) there was no thrill, which I think is most of the reason you play these kinds of games.
- Schmidtopolis, on 11/25/2007, -2/+13A-freakin-Men... and could someone please objectively tell me how multiplayer is NOT repetitive. I've been playing multiplayer games for years, but lets not kid ourselves here, it gets old about as fast as the single player did... the only bonus is you can play for a short time, and actually get something done... or at least feel like you got something done. Most people are just whores for levels, and a grind is a grind is a grind, either in Halo 3 or WoW.
- Schmidtopolis, on 11/25/2007, -1/+12I can say edgy, razor sharp wit. The writer is a douce-douce douche on so many levels... one of them being he writes for Wired, and another being he has A.D.D. and is allowed to review videogames.
- Izacus, on 11/25/2007, -2/+13The developers should really look at how assassination was done in Hitman: Blood Money. Combine the mission design from there (stealth focus, multiple ways of killing targets, necessity of carefully checking the environment) and open world from here and you have a winner.
- mGARANDEUR1, on 11/25/2007, -0/+11Yeah Hitman was a pretty fun game. You could stealth around and make a kill which meant less attention, or you could kill everyone in sight and still beat the mission.
- Qumahlin, on 11/25/2007, -7/+17Yes, yes you can when your not comparing the multiplayer components. If you read the reviews of halo 3 they make the single player campaign out to be possibly the best in any game...when its nothing new whatsoever....even the graphical changes are lacking in Halo 3.
Is assassins creed repititive? Yes it is, can that repition be tons of fun? Yes especially in the later memory blocks when you actually learn how to fight. and smoothly counter EVERY enemy which means you need to do more then just hit the "X" button and need to learn to efficiently switch weapons - Pyroteq, on 11/26/2007, -0/+10I'm pretty sure that was a joke buddy.
- l0tharnt, on 11/25/2007, -6/+16Yay, being buried for having an opinion!
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