Assassin's Creed

Removed from amazon wish list.

Stop it guys! You're gonna make Jade cry.

Jade should give out oral favors with each copy of the game, that might help sales.

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Originally Posted by K3V

Jade should give out oral favors with each copy of the game, that might help sales.

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At least half of TNL still wouldn't buy it. :bang:

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

I'm sure AC is pretty decent in all truth, but the marketing money poured into this thing totally overshadows what the game actually is.

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I hate it whenever people rate stuff based on its marketing or hype. Was kind of humorous to see Halo 3 reader reviews with people saying, "I think this game is a 7/10, but I'm giving it a 0 because it's not worthy of the hype," but they really need to get over themselves.

Good, now I don't need to buy this. Immediately at least. Taking a week off from buying a game means my wallet is slightly more happy. But my 360 is slightly more sad.

IGN PS3: 7.5/10
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/834/834770p1.html

IGN 360: 7.7/10
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/834/834676p1.html

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

I hate it whenever people rate stuff based on its marketing or hype. Was kind of humorous to see Halo 3 reader reviews with people saying, "I think this game is a 7/10, but I'm giving it a 0 because it's not worthy of the hype," but they really need to get over themselves.

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What I'm saying, is that certain outlets were "paid" to "review the game better". Which seems to be a pretty common method of game marketing.

It's too bad this wasn't a PS3 exclusive like had been rumored earlier in the year. It would have been pretty amusing to see B-Ri try and spin that list of negatives he posted.

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Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

It's too bad this wasn't a PS3 exclusive like had been rumored earlier in the year. It would have been pretty amusing to see B-Ri try and spin that list of negatives he posted.

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no not really.

I figured it was going to have those issues, and even then like ive said, the game was losing it for me the more they showed off. COD4 it is instead of this,

Yeah, I agree. I wasn't too sold on it to begin with, then every time they showed it again, it looked worse.

floating guard in E3 demo luls

gamespot just gave it a 9.0 saying the PS3 version has a better framerate while 360 has better contrast in lighting.


wtf? its nearly opposite what IGN said.

From IGN:

"...The lengthy load times for levels (upwards of five minutes at some points) is forgivable..."

This alone makes the game a pass. Five minutes?

That can't be right.

I still think the game could be interesting, but these reviews aren't just polarizing, they're completely contradictory. I'm waiting to see what the forums say once the game's actually released.

5 minute load times are never, never, ever acceptable. You can make the greatest game on planet earth, and load times that long would still be unacceptable. After reading a few reveiws, I'm hesitant to pick this up. Not because I think the game sucks or anything, but because tha issues that have been described are things that I know would get on my nerves.

If the loading times were that long how could every review not at least mention it?

Reviewers are scared to death of publishers?

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

What I'm saying, is that certain outlets were "paid" to "review the game better". Which seems to be a pretty common method of game marketing.

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I'm fairly positive this was standard at GI for a while, because the scores usually didn't seem to match up with reviews. It was always a little odd.

The only thing right now that has me worried is the load times. Most of the rest of the issues don't seem like things that would bug me too much depending on the overall feel of the game, but I'm torn on it right now. I remember the original Tomb Raider being legendary to me in its load times which IIRC were about a minute, and five minutes for any game would be beyond ridiculous.

just everyone rent it :X

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Originally Posted by Lordmrw

5 minute load times are never, never, ever acceptable. You can make the greatest game on planet earth, and load times that long would still be unacceptable. After reading a few reveiws, I'm hesitant to pick this up. Not because I think the game sucks or anything, but because tha issues that have been described are things that I know would get on my nerves.

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http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d7...1541_brown.jpg

I really wanted this to kick ass from start to finish and after reading all of this stuff I'm all bummed out. Looks like I'm going to move this pre order to mass effect.

I'm still getting this. People I know and trust have been really enjoying it.

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Originally Posted by bVork

I'm still getting this. People I know and trust have been really enjoying it.

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thats what the reviews say, its great at kickoff and drags till the end. Lemme know

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

I'm fairly positive this was standard at GI for a while, because the scores usually didn't seem to match up with reviews. It was always a little odd.

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GI doesn't even need interference from individual publishers, they grade on a fucked-up scale where 7 is considered average, the only possible purpose of which is to inflate scores across the board, thus encouraging their readership - i.e. Gamestop shoppers, at least in theory - to spend as much as possible.

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Originally Posted by The Gas

GI doesn't even need interference from individual publishers, they grade on a fucked-up scale where 7 is considered average, the only possible purpose of which is to inflate scores across the board, thus encouraging their readership - i.e. Gamestop shoppers, at least in theory - to spend as much as possible.

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IGN calls 7 average as well. I always thought it was derived from the old grading standard where a 70-79 was a C.

That's how I always thought of it, too. Even with magazines like EGM in the '80s, 5/10 wasn't considered average. It was considered a bare passing grade. I have no problem with the media rating games that way as it's the way I rate them for myself.

The problem is when they get thrown into Gameranking and Metacritic. A 2.5 star review and a 5.0 come out to the same thing, and they really aren't. It would be interesting if they made a score adjusted on a curve based on the publication's average score.

I'm not a fan of the 5 star review system. It's too limited.

lt should be limited. Ratings are fairly arbitrary indicators of the reviewers overall sentiment. It's not a scientific measurement. I hate sites that will give a game like a 92.4, like that's something different from a 90.

Oh, I hate those even more. I just really prefer the "out of 10 with half points" system.

I prefer no ratings other than what you read. But, that's not news. ;)

I think a four point rating system is pretty good. Daily Radar had it (forgot how they named each point), and it rated a game as terrible, average, good, or excellent. No fussing over perfect scores, rating a shitty game a 2 or a 4 (out of 10), or whether you need to give a .5 somewhere.

Kind of surprised how Assassin's Creed faltered, but I already have enough games for the year, so I wasn't planning to pick this up regardless of its score.

A five point system should have 2.5 as average, while a ten point one should be 5. It's basic math. The five point system magazines and web sites use is pretty broken.

Of course, the problem is that I don't have time for any game below 7/10 (personal scale that takes into account things like my mood at the time and whether I'm feeling forgiving or not that day) outside of a night's worth of screwing around. Average isn't good enough with all the great games out there, so why bother?

James

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Originally Posted by Spike

IGN PS3: 7.5/10
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/834/834770p1.html

IGN 360: 7.7/10
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/834/834676p1.html

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How could the PS3 score be less than the 360's with the better AI?

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

I really wanted this to kick ass from start to finish and after reading all of this stuff I'm all bummed out. Looks like I'm going to move this pre order to mass effect.

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That was a better idea from the beginning though.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

lt should be limited. Ratings are fairly arbitrary indicators of the reviewers overall sentiment. It's not a scientific measurement. I hate sites that will give a game like a 92.4, like that's something different from a 90.

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I like stars best. It forces you to read the actual review. I think the best would be a 4 star review like Ebert and the movies. It's harder to figure out the "score" at a glance for publishers. Most people forget about the score of 0 when they figure it out, too.

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Originally Posted by Drewbacca

How could the PS3 score be less than the 360's with the better AI?

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:bang:

IGN:
These big open worlds, which are fully interactive, do come at a severe cost on PS3. There is considerable texture pop-in and noticeable framerate issues. Playing back-to-back with the 360 version, it's obvious that Ubisoft did not devote enough resources to the PS3 edition.

Gamespot:
There are few differences between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. PS3 owners are blessed with a slightly more solid frame rate, although the 360 version features a little more contrast in the lighting, so it's pretty much a wash.

all the reviews are all over the place.

Who cares. I'm not really asking so I didn't put a period on that.

some one on GAF posted this, if true, LOL

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I wonder what people were expecting in the investigation phase. How else do you figure out where a target is going to be and what their routine is without surveillance? Before assassination 7 Altair needs to bake someone a cake for information. The game then turns into a scavenger hunt for ingredients and you have to free run back to your kitchen because there's a time limit. Come the fuck on.

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Milking info from GLaDOS confirmed.

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Originally Posted by B-Ri

:bang:

IGN:
These big open worlds, which are fully interactive, do come at a severe cost on PS3. There is considerable texture pop-in and noticeable framerate issues. Playing back-to-back with the 360 version, it's obvious that Ubisoft did not devote enough resources to the PS3 edition.

Gamespot:
There are few differences between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. PS3 owners are blessed with a slightly more solid frame rate, although the 360 version features a little more contrast in the lighting, so it's pretty much a wash.

all the reviews are all over the place.

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Yeah, wtf is up with that. This game seems like a new version of Tenchu. I'll rent it, it still looks worth checking out.

What the reviews tell me is that the game is identical on both platforms and reviewers are just trying to find differences to point out.

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Originally Posted by haohmaru

From IGN:

"...The lengthy load times for levels (upwards of five minutes at some points) is forgivable..."

This alone makes the game a pass. Five minutes?

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This cant be fucking right. Oblivion didnt even take 5 minutes to load.

The game looked good to me and I almost hyped myself up for a Day One, but the reviews are looking highly unreliable.Ill probably just wait to see what some of you guys think about it.

I'll get it because it's got to be better than some of the other games I've bought and enjoyed.

I was never really expecting it to be the best game of the holiday season, I just thought it would be some fun. I'm still excited, especially since now it has less to live up to in my mind.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

What the reviews tell me is that the game is identical on both platforms and reviewers are just trying to find differences to point out.

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IGN has removed the PS3 framerate issues out of their review, you may be right sir.

Been playing for about four hours or so and it's been fucking awesome so far. Perhaps the repetition will grate on me in a little while but right now I have very few complaints.

The reviews confirm my suspicion, though rooted in a different reason. Once I heard this was based on the Splinter Cell engine, I just began to doze off.

I said fuck it and picked it up on the way home from work. I'm probably going to throw down in COD 4 first, but I'm gonna put some quality time into this after. I'll wax poetic about it later tonight.

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Originally Posted by Gooch

The reviews confirm my suspicion, though rooted in a different reason. Once I heard this was based on the Splinter Cell engine, I just began to doze off.

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amen, brother

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Originally Posted by Gooch

The reviews confirm my suspicion, though rooted in a different reason. Once I heard this was based on the Splinter Cell engine, I just began to doze off.

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It's not, though. It's the Scimitar engine, which is being used for the new Prince of Persia.

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Originally Posted by haohmaru

From IGN:

"...The lengthy load times for levels (upwards of five minutes at some points) is forgivable..."

This alone makes the game a pass. Five minutes?

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I've played for 4 or 5 hours and didn't get load times anywhere near 5 minutes. They seemed pretty normal to me

I got to the first city and messed around a bit, I think I've put in a little more than an hour in.

The game is gorgeous. Like, whoa! beautiful. Great character models (the horse is a real stand out), some crazy texture work, awesome lighting and the animation is nuts. Watching Alatair climb is really a technical achievement that needs to be seen by everyone. That said, it could have used another month or so of tweaking and cleaning up. I haven't seen any horrific frame rate dips, but there is noticeable screen tearing at times and the pop in can get annoying. Like you'll be walking down the road past some buildings and then BAM a ladder will appear on a house and then a few seconds later you'll notice it happen again on the other side of the street and then you'll notice some foliage pop in out of no where. It's not really that bad, it's just that the game looks so damn good that shit popping in from nowhere doesn't look right and can be distracting. There's clipping too, but whatever.

I haven't come across any bugs and the "5 minute load times" is complete bullshit. It had to have been a beta release IGN had because I haven't waited more than 20 seconds (that's even pushing it). Nothing to worry about, it's well in the bounds of what is acceptable today (it's neat being able to move Alatair around during the load times actually).

Storywise I like what I've seen so far. I don't mind the "twist" at all. I just find it weird that Ubi wanted to keep it secret for so long. If you didn't know there was a big secret during development I don't think you'd give it much of a second thought when you see it unfold in front of you at the beginning. I think it has some promise and at this point I can only hope that they thought it through and it doesn't turn out lame. I got a Dreamfall: Longest Journey vibe from it actually (I think the graphical style you see it in reminded me of it).

Controls are the biggest thing to get used to. There is no jump button. Holding the right trigger puts you into "action mode" so to speak. Charge at a jump with the RT down, hold down A and Alatair takes off landing like a pro on beams, ledges, edges and the like. I think it was done like that for ease of use and speed, manually timing jumps/landing on some of the shit I've done would probably be a nightmare. It's the same method for climbing stuff. Run up to a wall with the RT and A button down and Alatair will kick off the wall and grab any ledge he can reach. You let go of those buttons and just steer him where you want ago. Look for stuff to grab and Alatair figures out how to grab it/lift up/shimmy over. I think it works well and it's pretty amazing to see him grab onto stuff and get get footholds, it looks incredibly real.

Combat is entered by pulling the left trigger to lock on to a target. You can fight bare handed or take out your weapon, punch/slash (light and hard hits, combos) with x and grab with B. The right trigger is your defense stance where you block, counter attack (x), dodge (a). B does something too but I forget right now. It's much more about timing than it is about hacking and slashing. You're initial response is just to hack away but that won't get you anywhere. Just like with the freerunning, you need to adjust to the new rules in the game. Once I did I found it to be a lot of fun. Sure it's simple but I like it more than just hitting A a hundred times and the counter attack animations are dope.

From what I've done, you climb up to Vantage points to find important places/fill out your map (find flags during exploration, seems to be the only collect-a-thon thing right now. Not sure what perks it gives you, if any). You can do pickpocket missions, interrogation missions, help defend people and of course go on your assassination runs. I can see where it would get repetitive but I think there's enough to it to keep you going. Doesn't look like they draw it out too far.

There's some more shit to go over but I'm beat right now, I got to get some sleep. I'll fill in some more details tomorrow, I'm sure Mech can tell you more. As it stands right now I think it's a game that everyone who has the means to play it, should. An excellent rental at the very least.

Rumpy's last two sentences are truth, I was sad when I had to stop playing last night and it's been a long time since that happened. Currently up to third city.

Graphical glitches are abound and many but honestly feel so minor in the face of how good the whole thing looks. This is the first time since Oblivion where I've just stopped to stare at things, like how cloud cover makes the light slightly fade and the detailed pathways and rocks. It's beautiful and the way shadow maps drape in real-time on top of the characters is just gorgeous.

The combat is lots of fun even though it's dead easy once you get counter-attack. Enemies will attack while you're preoccupied with another soldier although not as often as I'd like. They spawn in soldiers during the battles and generally disguise it by doing so behind objects or around corners, but I've had a couple fights in a corner where they would just appear next to me. Every once in a while the soldier AI is a little wonky as there's a difference between the types of guards, and if you're saving a citizen while a non-mission guard walks along you can hit him and he won't even notice. I've even killed the other guards while one's still there and he started looking around asking who did that while I walked off, and this was after I cut him a few times.

But to say that these things stood out and bugged me would be an open lie. I noticed them and carried on with no issues because the game as a whole is just so damn cool. Hauling ass through the marketplace and shoving people away while supporters grab on to soldiers to slow them down, then running up to the rooftops and dodging archers until I can make a flying leap into a haystack is just amazing. The way people comment on what you're doing is also a fantastic touch, I love how whenever you're doing something that would be out of place random citizens talk about how odd you're acting.

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

B does something too but I forget right now.

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Counter-grab, which you probably don't have yet or haven't re-obtained. The grab makes me wish they included collision for throwing guards so that I could go people bowling with them.

p.s. It strikes me as a little odd that even with all the tons of animation work they did characters still don't walk up and down stairs. Oh well, maybe later this generation.

Fry's was selling it only on the 13th for $39.95, and since (of course) they didn't actually have the game in stock yet, I grabbed a raincheck. Worth it, Mech? Sounds like it.

My hopes have been revived for this game.

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Originally Posted by Prince Planet

Worth it, Mech? Sounds like it.

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Easily, as far as I'm concerned. I'm guessing it'll have no replay value unless you just want to run through story mode again and it looks like it's going to be around 10~12 hours long, but I'm happy with the $60 I spent (TRU was out of Mario when I went so no $25 off for me). For many people this will probably be better as a rental game but I'm in love with the atmosphere and cities so I'll likely end up playing it a couple times through.

I had planned on at the very least this ending up as an expensive rental with me trading it in for Mass Effect if I didn't like it, but I'm keeping it, no question. The weird contrast of two different stories in two different time frames is a little jarring, and the rational as to how they connect seems like something that was just pulled out of their ass that they forgot to fix in the final script. But at least for now I'm willing to swallow that pill provided the rest of the story holds up.

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Originally Posted by Thief Silver

My hopes have been revived for this game.

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Get your ass out here and play this.

Yeah, I will most certainly be heading out there tomorrow.

I want to be playing this right now. I miss it.

I definitely agree with Mech. I played this at a friend's and I definitely want to pick it up. Gabe from PA brought up a good point that if you rush through the game that you will feel the game being repetitious. If you actually take the time to soak everything in you will enjoy it tremendously.

Good post from PA regarding AC and the reviewers of AC.

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Originally Posted by Gabe from Penny Arcade

I want to talk about Assassins Creed but first I need to get something out of the way. I have a lot to say about the game and I want to talk about some of the bad reviews it's getting but I want to make sure everyone understands I'm not saying this because of the comic we did for them. So I'm going to link you to an old set of news posts about Prince of Persia 2. Feel free to read those and come back if you like.

Now I'm going to tell you how advertising on PA works. Every other game site out there takes ads for whatever game they can get. It doesn't matter if it's a pile of crap, if the publisher pays for the spot IGN or Gamespot or whoever will run the ad. That's fine but that's not how we do it and the news posts you just read are part of the reason why.

We were huge fans of the first Prince of Persia game so when Ubi came to us and wanted to run ads for the second we said yes. We had no idea they were going to completely fuck it over. So from then on we started demanding playable copies of games before we'd agree to advertising. No matter how early the build we tell the publishers that unless we can see it played in front of us or play it ourselves we won't run ads for it. Obviously a lot can still go wrong during development but we make the best decisions we can. We do not think of the ads you see on our page as ads. They are recommendations and we try extremely hard to insure that anything we put over there is worth your time. When Prince of Persia 2 came out and we saw that it was crap we said as much on the site. Ads for the game appeared right next to those news posts slamming it. Needless to say Ubi wasn't very happy and Robert got some angry phone calls but our loyalty is to our readers not the people paying the bills. We explained to Ubi that the reason our ads perform better than any other site out there is because our readers trust us and that means we have to admit when something we advertise doesn't turn out as good as we hoped. Obviously they understood because we're still advertising their games but like I said this isn't the way other sites operate. I actually give Ubi a lot of credit for not just telling us to fuck off and buying more ads on IGN and Gamespy with the extra money.

I'm telling you all this because I want you to understand that if Assassins Creed actually was a 7.0 game I'd tell you. I also want you to know that when I tell you it's fucking incredible I'm not bullshitting you because we're running ads for the game.

There are about four or five reviews of the game with scores in the low to mid 7's. I want to cover some of the common complaints these reviewers had in case anyone out there is worried about them.

Many of the reviews say that the ending is bad. Obviously I don't want to give away any spoilers but I will say that the final confrontation was exciting and gratifying. It was an extremely satisfying ending to this chapter of the game. Chapter is the important word here. This is a huge story, probably a trilogy at least. The game does end with a cliff hanger and it certainly sets up the rest of the arc but that's how the first part of any multi part story ends. If Star Wars had ended with Luke jumping into his X-Wing to go take on the Death Star that would be a shitty fucking ending. It doesn't though, Luke destroys it and then we get hints about what's in store for our heroes. I'm telling you right now Altair destroys his Death Star.



I also can't be 100% positive but I'm guessing that some of these reviewers didn't let the credits role. Again, I don't want to spoil anything but wait for the credits to end. Until reviewers start posting their Gamertags along with the review we'll never really be able to tell how much of a game they played. But I'd be willing to bet some of them are missing the "Visions of the Future" achievement. I'm not gonna say why but If you don't have this achievement you can't say jack shit about the ending.

I think the biggest complaint I saw was that the missions become repetitive and boring. I actually didn't understand this complaint at all until just the other day. I had gotten an early copy of the game just like everyone else in the media but I was just playing it for fun. I'd cracked into it over the weekend and when I got into the office on Monday I started seeing these negative reviews. When I saw the low scores I was actually really upset and I wanted to talk about the game here on the site. I wanted to tell everyone that these guys were full of shit. However, since so many of the complaints were based on the ending I wanted to beat it first so I was sure I wasn't missing anything. I attacked the game again but this time with the goal of beating it as fast as I could. I was determined to get a post up on Tuesday and I was pushing through the game as fast as I could. I went from finding every high perch in a district to only getting the ones I needed to advance the story. I stopped saving every citizen and avoided any unnecessary confrontations. The informer missions that I had really enjoyed before, I now avoided because I knew they took too long to complete. I did the bare minimum of missions to progress the story and anything that "hindered" my progress was frustrating. Monday night after skipping over another combat (something I used to really enjoy) I stopped myself. What the fuck was I doing? I wasn't playing the game because I wanted to I was playing it because I had a deadline and I needed to beat it. I stopped immediately and decided I'd write about the game whenever I got around to beating it. I spent another day and a half with it and during that time I hunted for hidden flags and explored the cities again. I came in this morning and finally did beat it but I did it at my own pace and I enjoyed every part of it.

Imagine what an open ended sandbox title must look like to a reviewer especially right now. How many games do they have piling up on their desks? A game like Assassins creed isn't meant to be played under a deadline. You shouldn't be trying to beat it as fast as you can so you can move on to Mass Effect or Mario Galaxy. As soon as I gave myself a deadline all of a sudden I understood all their complaints. It was like a fucking Escher painting. I had put myself in their shoes and suddenly the landscape flipped and I could see games from their perspective. In the end I wasn't angry at them for their bad reviews. I actually just felt bad for them.

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Good write-up. Fuck reviews, once again, dont know why I take stock in any of them.Fuck it. Buying this and COD4 today.

The thing that really is going for this game (as Mech said) is the atmosphere. There's nothing else like it right now and it's totally different gameplay wise too. It's kinda like Prince of Persia and Crackdown mushed together. I really want to be home and playing this.

I'll take Rumpy and Mech over any site that posts online reviews. I'll be picking this up, too.

Hey Hao, have you played pinball lately? MUHAHAHAHAHA.

I read that earlier today and I most definitely agreed with the viewpoint of reviewers having to rush things and how that can affect you. Back when I wrote reviews I loved doing so, but with work taking up a large chunk of my day and then forcing myself through stuff even when I didn't want to started to burn me out on playing anything at all.

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

I really want to be home and playing this.

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I know. :(

I need more money.

So I rented the game today and played through till I got a horse. This game so far is way better than a 7.0. I think I'm going to stop playing it now and get it for Xmas. I'd buy it but people want to know what to get me for presents and this would be sweet with Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect.

I had my doubts, but the game seems really kick ass.

I would give impressions but I'm not rewording what Rumpy and Mech already wrote. In other words, I agree with almost everything they posted.

Also.

I wish the guards wouldn't give up so easily - four seconds in a haystack and it's as if I never existed.

The world has a huge feel to it, even more so if you disable all the annoying UI "features" like the radar. Looking at your surroundings and checking the map is more entertaining than staring at a compass marker. Giving us a toggle for the UI eliminates my "stop the hand-holding" argument.

I like it so far.

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Originally Posted by Six

I wish the guards wouldn't give up so easily - four seconds in a haystack and it's as if I never existed.

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Depends on if they see you hop in. I once tried to jump in one during a chase and they dragged me out and started beating on me while I was still on the ground. Rodney King simulator imo

I've heard mediocre things about this game from another TnLer but I still want to play it. Will most likely pick this up today. I hope it lives up to the hype, otherwise it will be another $60 unwellspent.

OH! I got this kick ass artbook when I picked up the game. The concept drawings are fucking amazing. It's really neat how Alatair is designed after a hawk.

With what I've seen the AI does seem like the games biggest bummer. It can be really dumb. Did I mention I want to go home and play this right now?

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Originally Posted by haohmaru

I'll take Rumpy and Mech over any site that posts online reviews. I'll be picking this up, too.

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Not sure if I'll be picking it up, but Rumpy and Mech communicated their impressions well enough to pique my curiousity. It seems that GT's review may be the most aligned with our boys' feedback.

I think the GT video review is the most dependable.

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Originally Posted by Gooch

Not sure if I'll be picking it up, but Rumpy and Mech communicated their impressions well enough to pique my curiousity. It seems that GT's review may be the most aligned with our boys' feedback.

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Their impressions took it from the "maybe, sometime" category and put it in the "buy it in January" category. Mass Effect is enough for me this month. Everything else will just have to wait (with some TF2 on the side of course).

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

Hey Hao, have you played pinball lately? MUHAHAHAHAHA.

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Fuck. Playing CoD4, Simpsons, a little bit of Crash, I have no time for that shit. Now I have to play the game bearing the name of this thread too.

YOU ARE EVIL, SON.

How is simpsons?

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

OH! I got this kick ass artbook when I picked up the game. The concept drawings are fucking amazing. It's really neat how Alatair is designed after a hawk.

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You might want to check out the actual artbook. Big, hardcvoer book (the size and thickness of most strategy guides). Even more awesome stuff in there. Came bundled with the strategy guide as the "limited edition", but I think you can buy it seperate, online at least.

Also, this game is fucking awesome. Screw the haters.

My only wish was that the "Kingdom" area was more open, instead of a bunch of winding paths. And that I didnt have to move really slow on horseback not to be attacked. You'd think the normal passive trot would be benign enough.

I had a lot of fun with the wrist blade. If you walk up to a group of guards who are harassing a citizen, if you walk real slow and attack at just the right moment, you can do the stealth assassination o nthe first one. Move to fast or attack too late, and its deflected. Cool and intense way to start a fight :)

And I have a question: I noticed that when you draw the short blade, when you attack he just throws some throwing knives. Is there a way to attack with the blade or is it "gone" when you get the throwing knives?

Ok, one of you guys that likes the game, hurry up and finish it so you can tell me if the last 1/3 or whatever of the game really does blow.

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

How is simpsons?

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Not a great game, but definitely worth the experience. There's a lot of laughs throughout.

Random thoughts from a couple hours of playing:

• This game is absolutely gorgeous. This is the first time I am seriously considering buying that strategy guide - just to get my hands on the artbook.
• Popup galore but it somehow doesn't detract from the beauty.
• Animations are amazing... but why isn't there any for going up stairs or slopes? Considering how detailed the animation is in just about every other case, this is an odd oversight
• The horse controls realistically. This sure beats Oblivion's tank horse controls. Only Shadow of the Colossus is AC's equal in horseback riding
• Speaking of SOTC, AC's emphasis on climbing, the huge environments, and the slightly pale look all remind me of it. Except that AC has a decent framerate and more to do.
• The AI can be really, really dumb at times. I was being chased by a guard, so I ran around behind him and hid in a bale of hay and he didn't notice me.
• Combat doesn't seem great but it isn't bad either. Multiple enemies can and do attack you in sequence, so I don't know what the reviewers were complaining about.
• The "future" sections have the potential to be going serious places in terms of plot. I'm really interested in how this will pan out.

There's no doubt that this game has problems, but I still definitely recommend it. I think that people who enjoyed Crackdown or Shadow of the Colossus will really like Assassin's Creed.

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Originally Posted by haohmaru

Not a great game, but definitely worth the experience. There's a lot of laughs throughout.

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Great production, especially considering all of the slapped together shit in Simpsons videogame history. Not a groundbreaking game by any means, though. I'm glad I played it. If they use the foundation they've made here and beef up the actual gameplay mechanics (the superpowers like rolling blob-Homer are awesome) they could have made some serious headway.

Cliche's and things like that were fun collectibles too.

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Originally Posted by bVork

There's no doubt that this game has problems, but I still definitely recommend it. I think that people who enjoyed Crackdown or Shadow of the Colossus will really like Assassin's Creed.

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I liked Crackdown and loved SOTC. Now I think I need to play this.

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Originally Posted by UrielSynthesis

And that I didnt have to move really slow on horseback not to be attacked. You'd think the normal passive trot would be benign enough.

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It is unless you get too close. Just give yourself some space and you can trot around just fine. Personally I've been provoking them (galloping into their face) because I want a bunch of those killing achievements.

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And I have a question: I noticed that when you draw the short blade, when you attack he just throws some throwing knives. Is there a way to attack with the blade or is it "gone" when you get the throwing knives?

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Get up close, I believe. He wields both at once but if his target has any distance he'll just toss knives (which is great for finishing off the guys that get scared and run).

Also, for some reason I was completely retarded during the first mission I had with friendly informants and couldn't figure out how to speak to them, as I somehow pressed every button on the controller except the right one. I ended up killing my target without them and now I can't go back and do them so I have these two empty spots and it makes me sad. I think I might be able to replay it but I haven't fiddled around with the mission selection very much so I'm not sure.

This game is like Tenchu next gen done right.

The more I play the more I like it.

I want this and I'm sad I can't experience it.

The open world SotC references are making my demand more froathing. All I want to do is climb to random fucking places to find flags. It sounds awesome.

Yeah, that's piqued my interest more than anything. Are there any permamiss items or events in this game?

There's an achievement for talking to one of the games characters completely, you could probably miss that. Also, when you get to a cinema, you can still move around. There are times where you can push a button to get a new camera angle of what's going on. There's an achievement for watching all the angles, so you can miss that. That's not an item though, so you might get boned out of some achievement points through a first playthrough because you didn't know about it. I don't think it ever locks off an area once you open it up, so you can cruise for flags whenever you want. Same thing with saving civilians/pick pocketing missions and the like. You can do them in any order you want, you don't have to do all of them. The only missions you have to do is the informant spying to track down your main target.

Still not picking this up at launch, but it's a maybe $30 title down the line.

NECA has released an action figure based on this. It's out now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../altairlit.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...x2/altair4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...x2/altair6.jpg

How much?

Probably between $10-15. That how much the God of War and Castlevania figures are going for.

Those pictures look damn good for $15.

I forgot to mention that the disclaimer at the start gave me a good laugh.

The figure is $13 at BBTS.

Yoshi, is that picture actually in SMG or is that something you photoshopped?

Yoshi definitely has the coolest avatars.

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Originally Posted by Thief Silver

Yoshi, is that picture actually in SMG or is that something you photoshopped?

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its in SMG

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=208744

LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lowtax

From: Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka (webmaster@somethingawful.com)
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 9:06 PM
To: 'Anderson, David'
Cc: A BUNCH OF FRENCHIES
Subject: RE: NOTICE: Infringement of ASSASSIN'S CREED Mark and Jade Raymond's Personal, Privacy, and Publicity Rights

Please let it be known that hereforth I have read the express mail and email sent thereforth by Famous Lawyer David Anderson of the Famous Lawyer Law Business of Nixon Peabody LLP, and furthermore a declaration shall be expressed on the part of Internet User Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka that thatforth herethrough I have conducted rigorous tests implemented through a vigorous barrage of legal studies, and furthermore hitherthrough these rigorous tests have therefore proven Famous Lawyer David Anderson of the Famous Lawyer Law Business of Nixon Peabody LLP shall be recognized as a man of the fag persuasion.

Pursuant to the United Dairy Council

Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka
Internet

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That's what happens when the company makes you the poster child of the company. You get a lot of attention. In the back of the art book is a picture of the dev team and Jade is in the front all by herself while everyone else is crammed in behind her. You can't see anyone in the back 2 rows, just the top of their heads.

you could ahve at least posted the comic.