Bit late to the party, but I really really like AC.
Like others I have lots of issues with gameplay elements and its clear more playtesting could' ve resolved them. But its not meant to be a 1 day polished thrill ride like some other games.
AC is really ambitious, maybe not quite getting the intended effect of huge open rich world with crowds of people all doing their thing and you in the middle. But they did achieve the illusion mostly.
The Beef Yeah so the people can repeat themselves, and theres not enough variety in the things you can actually do, places you can hide or ways you can kill.
You can behave in strange ways without people minding, like groping citizens etc, the leap of faith is hilarious landing in a hay stack and just popping out and going righty' ho instantly on your way.
The controls aren' t really that intuitive at all. That head, limbs feet system doesnt make sense to me, and having to hold a combo of several buttons down just to do one thing feels wierd.
The fighting isnt as fast and fluid as I imagined from trailers. Although occasionally you can string together a couple of kills that look cool. And sometimes you can get into a classic old PoP strike-block string that ends in one person getting hit. I like that they reintroduced that.
Why on earth they force you to slow trot through half of the acres of countryside, just because some guards find galloping horses suspicious is beyond me.
The glitching feature is really offputting as well, I want some of the dramatic alternate camera angles in cutscenes to occur automatically.
The Sweetness But those are all minor things to me. The main focus of the game is solid.
I love the relatively mature storyline (actually interested in the real life subject of being born with genetic memories) although I fear the ending may be predictable (dont tell me!). The characters are fairly rich and feel like they' ve got a lot of background to them.
I love exploring the insanely gorgeous and detailed environments. The ambient noises are especially good. The depth of field and motion blur effects are supremely well done, when targeting people, walking around in cutscenes etc.
The animations are mostly brilliant. If you get it right, and string together several moves it can all look very natural. Its cool the way Altair moves his head first when turning as well.
I also
dont find it repetitive - even though the tasks are always similar, the variety is in the story, context and environments. Like someone said earlier if you' re a mission driven person you do one investigation mission after another very quickly and it' ll get dull, but if you like exploring every corner, then the missions dont feel like they obstruct you.
I dont think its like Crackdown at all which was all about extravagant super powers and carnage fun. This is a tightly constructed world to explore with tonnes of atmosphere, and beautiful detail. And I' m taking my sweet time with it.
Not polished enough to be a GOTY contender, but most respect for ambition and attention to detail. Its between COD4 and Mass Effect now!
< Message edited by choupolo -- 21 Nov 07 19:31:16 >