To put it bluntly, Assassin's Creed looks way better than it plays. The stealth bits can be frustrating, the combat rather dull and repetitive (hold down the right trigger and press X to counter), some of the platforming sections absolutely maddening, the story borderline incoherent, the "collect the flag" achievements a nightmare. Yet a lot of people really liked the game, including myself. Why? Style - the AC series has it by the truckload. It's just plain cool to play as Altair and leap about Acre or Damascus from rooftop to rooftop. I'll never forgive AC for the flag nonsense, but I will always remember it fondly.
Assassin's Creed 2 is a better game than its predecessor. Some of the collecting was scrubbed off, replaced by slightly less irritating puzzles, beginning a new trend in the series. The series traded the Crusades and the Near East for the Italian Renaissance, which I think is a fairly equitable trade. Some of the same issues persist though - fundamentally flawed combat and stealth engines and an even more ludicrous story. The vehicle oriented bits are fun, yet serve mainly as one-shot diversions from the otherwise, again, repetitive gameplay. The one constant? Style. AC2 expands on the series, almost creating a pseudo-steampunk style with fantasy elements like Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines. I liked AC2. I'll admit that it's one of the few games I achieved 1000/1000 gamerscore in. You know, it might be worth pointing out right now that you can buy AC 1 and 2 for 20 bucks or so at Gamestop. Worth it for anyone who's never played the series before.
So, I went a long while before playing Brotherhood. No real reason, I guess I just never got around to it. I picked it up recently and played through it. What can I say about the single-player? It's, again, fairly repetitive stuff. The story (whatever it is at this point) seems to have disintegrated. About halfway through, I started to ask myself what was at stake. The bizarre concoction of historical figures like da Vinci, Machiavelli, the Borgia and others certainly didn't help to allay my confusion. Oh, and now aliens. Or the First Civilization. And Templars. And a solar flare. None of it really forms a cohesive plot or story. But neve rmind that. Counter, killstreak, counter, killstreak, gamerscore. Oh, and Borgia towers. Lame. No game teaches you how to be a total dick to the enemy like Assassin's Creed. Why bother fighting a boss when you can shoot them three times with your pistol and avoid the whole pointless thing? Brotherhood even allows you to summon assassins to do your work for you, so now the series has devolved to the point where you don't even have to assassinate people any more. Oh, and platforming. Lots of stupid platforming bits.
But the multiplayer - AC:B surprised me with its fun and accessible multiplayer. You get to stab, poison, shoot, punch and hide from people online. It's a welcome addition to the series, but the well of fun dries out pretty quickly once you realize how repetitive the multiplayer gets. Plus most of the multiplayer matches devolve into constant running around across the rooftops, which tends to eliminate the tension fun of the ground game.
So now here I am playing Revelations.
Promising setting - Italy had gotten a little stale, I thought. Now we're in Constantinople/Istanbul around the early 16th century. Ezio now has bombs and a hook blade and new, seemingly neat tools. Still, the same old problems plague the series. Repetitive gameplay. Irritating platforming. The changes amount to the latest edition of window dressing. A new tower defense minigame which somehow manages to bore on the very first mission. More collecting crap. If the story were an automobile, it would be sitting on cinder blocks in the front yard with weeds growing out of the air conditioning. Flashing back to Altair (now voiced by a much less talented voice actor than Philip Shahbaz from the original) solves nothing, simply adding to the nonsense.
The multiplayer has declined as well. Liberal use of the smoke bomb guarantees a near-invincibility. Poison provides an astonishing number of points that guarantees the end results will be one sided. The game almost demands spastic use of the rooftops to do well. Also, finding a match not already 7 minutes in online has proven frustratingly difficult. Even the style, something AC has relied upon since day one, feels somehow wrong. At times as I'm playing I'm not sure I even know what I'm playing any more. Hooklines, parachutes, bombs, towers, keys, tower defense, Altair, Ezio - in Revelations it feels like the series has been tossed into a blender and churned into a murky, unidentifiable soup. And now the ubiquitous ads for Assassin's Creed III are cropping up.
All of my recent trips to video game stores have ended with "Would you like to pre-order Assassin's Creed III? You get an extra mission and a new outfit" or some variation. Since when did Assassin's Creed become a more violent Barbie doll game?
Assassin's Creed III promises that now you're able to climb trees and do other really "awesome" stuff. Probably all you need to know to beat the game is hold the right trigger and press X to counter. I wouldn't look for much hope in the story either, as that will undoubtedly be as incomprehensible and muddled as the previous games. I'm sure we can also expect some instantly available DLC with some crappy multiplayer maps for just a few more bucks beyond the 60$ price of admission too.
Will I end up playing it? Probably. I'll probably end up bitching about the platforming and repetitive combat and broken stealth system too. I sort of wish the developers would scrap the outdated mechanics and take a risk with AC3. Undoubtedly I'll be disappointed.
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