July 10, 2007 - There' s been a whole lot of hubbub about the next-generation of gaming and how it will take the interactive experience to a new level. So far, this new generation of design hasn' t emerged. We' ve instead experienced prettier and at times bigger games, but nothing that truly pushes things to that next plateau. That is until this November when Ubisoft releases Assassin' s Creed on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Finally we have a game with a design worthy of being termed " next-gen."

The E3 demo begins with our anti-hero, Altair, standing on a roof high above Jerusalem. The city, faithfully recreated to match its 12th century real-life counterpart, features a number of historical landmarks. The Tower of David can be seen in the distance. Everything Altair sees he can not only reach, but can climb as well. The scope of the city' s size is made all the more impressive by the fact that each building is made up of numerous foot- and handholds that allow Altair to climb pretty much any wall he comes across. And this is just one of three major cities, all promised to be of comparable size and scale.



The controls are built on simple principles, but are tough to get a handle on at first. The face buttons represent your head, free hand, weapon hand, and feet. The Right Trigger acts as a modifier. Hold it and the feet button down to perform the most crucial move in Assassin' s Creed: free run. With free run you can perform some amazing feats of daring-do. It' s your tool for scaling just about any building. If you just run towards a building with free run active, you will often be able to leap up to an available nook and then continue your climb to the top. This action is instantaneous and fluid. Unlike Gears of War, which sucks you into a wall, Assassin' s Creed makes the interactions between Altair and his environment look and feel natural.

Gone are the usual color-coded textures that make it clear where your character is allowed to move. There is no grid you move along. The art tells you what you can grab. If there is a crack in a wall, you can dig your fingers in and pull yourself up. If a decorative stone knob is sticking out of a building, you can take hold. There' s no superficial artistry here -- for once, art and level design have bonded to be one and the same. As you scale a building, the trigger and free run button are held. All you have to worry about is pushing the analogue stick in the direction you want to move. If there' s something to grab hold of, Altair will do so. If not, you won' t move forward. The detail in every building is key, because as you get to higher areas you' ll be forced to look for handholds to continue your ascent. It' s a lot like rock climbing, where you continue to search for any groove or jut to grab. The beautiful animations make the climb seem all the more impressive. Altair has weight to him and his movements, just like the virtual Jerusalem, seem completely believable.

Free running is not such an easy skill to master right off the bat. Gamers have been trained to tap buttons. But Assassin' s Creed' s most important control functions have you holding down buttons for long stretches of time. The first few times scaling a wall, we released the free run button, then pressed it again, which caused us to leap off the wall. It takes time to get comfortable with the controls. But after about 15 minutes, it starts to settle in and suddenly every high building seems like a challenge. And, in fact, every tall building is a game objective. If you spot an eagle circling a building, it' s a landmark you' ll want to climb. Finding a way to the top will earn you a spectacular view of the city and also unlock new areas to explore.

Another reason to climb is the search for specially-marked Leap of Faith spots. These areas will have pigeons flying overhead. Just perch on the area marked by the pigeons and you are prepped for Altair' s most sensational move. If you' re willing to squat over pigeon droppings, you should have no trepidation about leaping over the edge in a swan dive. Done in the right spot, you will land gracefully in a bail of hay. Miss your mark and you may crack your back on the roof below.

LINK

3 more pages at the link.

The Chase is Brillant!

The only " real" exciting thing to come from Microsoft at this years E3.

The only real exciting thing to come from microsoft at this years E3 what a daft comment.
Resi 5, Halo Wars, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect ect ect you must not have seen these. I assure you Microsofts presentation will be far better than anything Nintnendo show cos lets be right all were gunna get from them is mario, zelda, metroid and well more mario

and well more mario

NO MORE MARIO DAMNIT! Please, just Paper Mario, Mario Kart and the next proper sequel. No more sports or party games.

Now this game just plain looks cool!!!!! I am pretty sure that the code the reviewer is speaking of that surrounds some of the NPC' s is what was mentioned before, in the fact that this game has somewhat of a Matrix like background story to it.

Graphically this game looks amazing, but I' m not to sure about how the combat system will work. Guess I' ll find out once I get my hands on the game, but I keep wondering as well how much of the combat you actually control and how much is automatic so to speak.

ORIGINAL: Zanarkandxiii

The only real exciting thing to come from microsoft at this years E3 what a daft comment.
Resi 5, Halo Wars, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect ect ect you must not have seen these. I assure you Microsofts presentation will be far better than anything Nintnendo show cos lets be right all were gunna get from them is mario, zelda, metroid and well more mario

Of course I saw all of those, don' t say " what a daft comment" if you have no idea
what I am getting at.

Not exactly a good foot to start your first post on, but I' ll go easy on you;
Assassins Creed was the only " real" surprise that Microsoft had, we knew that the
rest were all going to be amazing, I am probably looking forward to Lost Odyssey
more than anyone else in this forum. Showing Halo 3 Single player was supposed to set people' s passions on fire, and it failed to do so, leaving the torch to another
pleasant surprise which happened to be the on-stage demo of Assassins Creed.

Everything else we knew that would be amazing, was, but Assassins Creed stood
out as the best. Currently Microsoft' s best looking game of E3 2007 is PGR4, that' s
in gameplay and graphics.

Also, this E3 has confrimed that M$ can only seemingly hold out for another year
and a half before the PS3 starts to pull ahead. Next year belongs to Sony, if
MGS4 stays an exclusive title to the PS3, if it doesn' t, then MS have another
lifeline to capture audiences, because the Killzone 2 trailer being released more or less right after the mildly entertaining Halo 3 single player shorts, caught MS with
their pants down and immediately stole the limelight.

ORIGINAL: Zanarkandxiii

The only real exciting thing to come from microsoft at this years E3 what a daft comment.
Resi 5, Halo Wars, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect ect ect you must not have seen these. I assure you Microsofts presentation will be far better than anything Nintnendo show cos lets be right all were gunna get from them is mario, zelda, metroid and well more mario

STFU GoBot!

What I liked during the press conference was when they played a bit of the game. When they killed a guard standing near the edge, his dead body was floating in the air, hehehe. So they quickly jumped over it I noticed. The woman commenting laughed nervously though ;)

Lollers. I missed that.

The game does look amazing though, too bad there' s going to be no demo.

Assassin' s creed was so 2006 E3 , all i am seeing is gameplay that is cool. It' s about time...better be that damn good as expected... with all the wait.
Definitely one of the top 3 games for next gen.