Fenixgoon
Lifer
I picked up AC on black friday for $10. I know I'm a bit late to the crowd, but I'm a gamer on a budget for a variety of reasons. Can't go wrong with a $10 game, I figured. Read on for my impressions (or skip to the cliffs if you're lazy).
Hardware/Video - the rig in my sig runs AC decently at 1280x1024 with most details on. The framerate hurts in a few places, but nothing game-destroying or overly distracting. It's playable during combat, when traveling, etc (it's usually just when you look from a viewpoint that it slows down).
Controls - Getting used to the control scheme was kind of annoying at first with the mouse and keyboard - there are different combinations of buttons to do different things (sprint vs jump vs scale a wall). This was especially true during the initial mission. After a few hours of play, it's really not an issue.
Travel - going to a different city from your home in the mountains is annoying. Yahtzee is on 100% here. If you move too fast (horse or on foot), guards will rush you, but if you go slowly, you'll go by. It's annoying to the point where you simply want to kill *anyone* in your way. So much for one of the Assassin's rules: "innocents need not die."
Exploration (in the cities) - there's great fun to be had scaling walls and jumping across rooftops. AC definitely wins points here. Personally, I like to try and be as stealthy as I can getting to viewpoints (which are usually guarded) so exploring cities is almost a giant puzzle for me. Coolness.
"Quests" - doing the "quests" is basically how you gain allies in the city and get enough information so you can assassinate someone (since you have to talk to the bureau before you assassinate). It's a bit repetitive, I'll admit. There's enough exploration, combat, and stealth (or just not getting your ass kicked) in between that it's not so bad. You get some sort of bonus points for completing quests and the like, which I think increases your health bar (sounds odd, but I guess it's how the game works). The only quest that is a total waste of time, IMO, is collecting flags that are hidden throughout cities. Sorry, I'm here to play a game, not to be a goddamn spelunker.
Combat - Sword combat isn't bad, though nothing stellar. 1v1 combat seems all too easy </darth vader> - just click away and you're guaranteed to win. Multiple opponents require you to be defensive and makes things a little more interesting. Still, click click click away.
The better part of combat comes from assassinating people, whether it's your main target or just a guard in the way. You can rescue citizens from guards to gain some favor with the populace (all it does is spawn a mob to help you; helpful nonetheless though). Look non-suspicious, then just rush the guards and stab them all with your assassin knife. GREAT. Usually they come in packs of 3-4, and I've only gotten 2/4 before busting out my short sword. Need to work on that 😀 You'd think the guards would get suspicious of dudes in white cloaks after killing a bunch of them, but I guess not. Oh well, more :stab; :stab; for me 😛
Yahtzee complained about the dialogues after assassinating someone important (your actual target) but this really doesn't bother me much. It expands the plot at hand and drives the story forward. Maybe he's just impatient. Oh, and running like hell after assassinating someone is great too.
Plot - This is the only thing drawing a big :WTF; at the moment. I really have no idea where the plot's going, and how the game will end, so I'll keep playing. Maybe there will be some moment of enlightenment.
Overall - I'm pleased with AC. It's committed no mortal sin (save for the intro videos which you can delete) and it allows me to covertly stab people at will 😛
Right now it gets somewhere between a 7/10 and 8/10. It's not mindblowingly awesome or totally revolutionary, but it's certainly a nice break from a lot of other games, and it's fun.
Cliffs:
AC has reasonable requirements
Travel from city to city sucks
Travel in city is fun
Swordplay is ok
Assassinating is awesome
Plot is confusing
Overall it's fun. Worth $10 easily if you enjoy stealth/action games with exploration thrown in.
Hardware/Video - the rig in my sig runs AC decently at 1280x1024 with most details on. The framerate hurts in a few places, but nothing game-destroying or overly distracting. It's playable during combat, when traveling, etc (it's usually just when you look from a viewpoint that it slows down).
Controls - Getting used to the control scheme was kind of annoying at first with the mouse and keyboard - there are different combinations of buttons to do different things (sprint vs jump vs scale a wall). This was especially true during the initial mission. After a few hours of play, it's really not an issue.
Travel - going to a different city from your home in the mountains is annoying. Yahtzee is on 100% here. If you move too fast (horse or on foot), guards will rush you, but if you go slowly, you'll go by. It's annoying to the point where you simply want to kill *anyone* in your way. So much for one of the Assassin's rules: "innocents need not die."
Exploration (in the cities) - there's great fun to be had scaling walls and jumping across rooftops. AC definitely wins points here. Personally, I like to try and be as stealthy as I can getting to viewpoints (which are usually guarded) so exploring cities is almost a giant puzzle for me. Coolness.
"Quests" - doing the "quests" is basically how you gain allies in the city and get enough information so you can assassinate someone (since you have to talk to the bureau before you assassinate). It's a bit repetitive, I'll admit. There's enough exploration, combat, and stealth (or just not getting your ass kicked) in between that it's not so bad. You get some sort of bonus points for completing quests and the like, which I think increases your health bar (sounds odd, but I guess it's how the game works). The only quest that is a total waste of time, IMO, is collecting flags that are hidden throughout cities. Sorry, I'm here to play a game, not to be a goddamn spelunker.
Combat - Sword combat isn't bad, though nothing stellar. 1v1 combat seems all too easy </darth vader> - just click away and you're guaranteed to win. Multiple opponents require you to be defensive and makes things a little more interesting. Still, click click click away.
The better part of combat comes from assassinating people, whether it's your main target or just a guard in the way. You can rescue citizens from guards to gain some favor with the populace (all it does is spawn a mob to help you; helpful nonetheless though). Look non-suspicious, then just rush the guards and stab them all with your assassin knife. GREAT. Usually they come in packs of 3-4, and I've only gotten 2/4 before busting out my short sword. Need to work on that 😀 You'd think the guards would get suspicious of dudes in white cloaks after killing a bunch of them, but I guess not. Oh well, more :stab; :stab; for me 😛
Yahtzee complained about the dialogues after assassinating someone important (your actual target) but this really doesn't bother me much. It expands the plot at hand and drives the story forward. Maybe he's just impatient. Oh, and running like hell after assassinating someone is great too.
Plot - This is the only thing drawing a big :WTF; at the moment. I really have no idea where the plot's going, and how the game will end, so I'll keep playing. Maybe there will be some moment of enlightenment.
Overall - I'm pleased with AC. It's committed no mortal sin (save for the intro videos which you can delete) and it allows me to covertly stab people at will 😛
Right now it gets somewhere between a 7/10 and 8/10. It's not mindblowingly awesome or totally revolutionary, but it's certainly a nice break from a lot of other games, and it's fun.
Cliffs:
AC has reasonable requirements
Travel from city to city sucks
Travel in city is fun
Swordplay is ok
Assassinating is awesome
Plot is confusing
Overall it's fun. Worth $10 easily if you enjoy stealth/action games with exploration thrown in.
