A little over two years ago I wrote a blog about being
wallet raped by Ubisoft regarding their annual release of Assassin’s Creed. I’m
not sure I really explained my thoughts well enough on the subject now that
I’ve gone back and read it, but it was interesting that I felt then what I’m
feeling now about Ubisoft and their Assassin’s Creed franchise. For those of
you who don’t know, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate has been announced with a
release date of October 23rd...Of this year. This means that less
than a year since Ubisoft provided us with Assassin’s Creed Unity AND
Assassin’s Creed Rogue (both released on the same day) we’ll have yet another
game. I’ve completely lost interest in the Assassin’s Creed franchise now and
I’m going to explain why, hopefully better than I did two years ago.
First and foremost is the annual release of these
franchises. As I’ve stated in my previous blog, it’s tiresome. What’s wrong
with giving us a good couple of years to soak in a game? Most Assassin’s Creed
games take me thirty or more hours to finish. That’s a lot to soak in and
they’re asking me to do this every single year. Imagine if Ubisoft didn’t
released an Assassin’s Creed title since Assassin’s Creed III and just now
announced Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for a release date of this year. I’d
be shitting golden eggs and this particular post would be about why I’m very
hyped about this news.
Instead, I feel nothing for the news about Assassin’s Creed
Syndicate. It was something I was expecting given the annual trend and it’s not
something I’m excited for. I literally just finished playing Assassin’s Creed
Rogue, which is hands down the worst game in the franchise, and have yet to
even load up Assassin’s Creed Unity. I’m not even in the mood to play Unity
yet. What in the world could possibly make me want to play Syndicate? Imagine
eating pizza for dinner every single night. Pizza lovers would say hell yes!
But after a week or two you’re either constipated or shitting liquid. The taste
of pizza becomes less exciting, you start to grow man boobs, you feel like
crap, and you’ll ultimately crave something different. That’s why pizza is a
treat that most people wouldn’t consume on a daily basis.
Assassin’s Creed can be exhausting to play through. If
you’re a completionist like me, you hate seeing all those extra activities on
your map. Those are the side activities placed in the game to make it seem like
there is a ton of content. But half the time it’s recycled garbage that we’ve
been doing since the first Assassin’s Creed game. Often times it’s the same
activity copied and pasted all over the game. Oh, go into that tavern and talk
to the bartender, but on your way some thugs start a fight. It just so happens
to be the same damn thugs in every location.
The franchise has experimented with different things throughout
their titles, but it feels forced. These activities literally add nothing to
the story and only exist to fill space. Speaking of useless things to make the
game seem fuller than it is, collectibles are everywhere in the Assassin’s
Creed franchise. Collecting flags in the
first game was cool and it sparked the interest of the whiny little achievement
hunter within me, but it has since gone off the deep end. Animus fragments,
feathers, swords, more flags. Ugh. They serve no purpose other than to maybe
give you a new weapon or outfit. But by the time you’ve collected everything
you’re near the end of the game and don’t have much need for it. At least the
glyphs found in Assassin’s Creed II helped unlock a neat little video that
added to the lore of this strange universe.
All this stuff adds up and people like me wind up spending
more time in a game doing nonsensical crap all while the developer expects me
to be excited to do the exact same thing every year. No thanks, Ubisoft.
Have I mentioned how broken the mechanics have become while things that use to be fun have grown stale? The first venture through the early Assassin’s Creed games, climbing up walls, air assassinating people, blending into crowds, using poison and smoke bombs was all very exciting. But as time goes on you start to see that nothing really changes all that much. To sprint and to climb is essentially the same button and it can be very frustrating. Think trying to find all the collectibles is enough hell? Try chasing a damn shanti across some rooftops only to climb a random chimney when you meant to run right the hell by it while the piece of paper disappears before your eyes. It’s like they’re punching me in the balls and laughing at me while I keep thanking them and asking for more.
The need for stealth has grown less and less important as
well. You wind up getting into more fights than you may want to and that leads
us to the ever popular, whose turn is it to die now, combat system. If you’re unfamiliar
with it, it’s when a group of enemies surround you, but only ONE fights you at
any given time. I did notice in Assassin’s Creed Rogue that one person would
try to attack me when I was slicing his buddy into fleshy ribbons, but it
wasn’t enough to make it challenging or engaging.
Going on one of the many eavesdropping or tailing quests has
me using less and less of the stealth tools around the environment and a lot of
it has to do with them forcing me into combat situations. I’m trying to follow someone
by scaling the rooftops, but there are dozens of enemies up there patrolling. I
try to maneuver around this by either taking them out or following my target on
the ground. But more often than not, those same bastards on the roof, or the
many guards on the ground, will simply spot me and force fail the mission or
drive me into unneeded combat.
Why exactly is that, now? Just because the area is red on my
map means I’m an instant target? What about that lady carrying her laundry? Why
does she have more access in this “restricted” area than I do? No one takes pot
shots at her from the rooftops because she’s b-lining it through the “red”
area. That’s not how things work. It doesn’t make the game harder; it just
makes it more annoying. I enjoy being stealthy but the execution of it has
simply been thrown out in favor of me slaughtering everyone who poses a threat.
I think it would be completely awesome to sneak in, gather info, and get out
unnoticed without having to slaughter a small army.
At least naval combat came and made the game fun again, for a little bit at least. But having experienced it in Assassin’s Creed III, IV, and Rogue, it’s gotten rather stale. Especially since Rogue butchered what was fun about it. Although that could be because I literally just got done having the EXACT same experience a year prior.
Then there’s the story. At first it was interesting to see an
Assassin named Desmond get kidnapped so his enemy, the Templars, can peer into
his past using his DNA. They search for long lost artifacts by finding out what
happened to them. Fortunately for them, it just so happens Desmond was related
to everyone who’s ever come into contact with an artifact. Oh and finding these
things would trigger a weird cut scene that had you asking “what the fuck did I
just watch,” and then boom, game over. Still, I really enjoyed the stories of
every game up until Desmond dies saving the world.
Well now that Desmond is dead, the development of the modern
story has gotten lazy. You don’t play anyone worth caring about. You’re not
even given a name, unless being called numbskull a thousand times counts. These
sequences have devolved into a big game of, “Hack certain computers and get
some exposition about a character you forgot about.” It’s not as fun as it use
to be and the story in modern time doesn’t seem to propel the plot any further
making it a chore for me to complete.
The stories that are truly fun to experience are those of
the Assassins. Altaïr’s tale during the crusades was new and fun. Ezio’s trilogy
made this franchise what it is and remains the most interesting story to date.
I could write an entire blog about these stories so I’ll just assume you’ve
played them. They’re the meat and potatoes of this franchise and a huge reason I
still play the games. Unfortunately the Assassin stories have begun to slip.
Assassin’s Creed III gave us the worst protagonist yet in Connor and Rogue is a
massive skid mark in the underpants of Ubisoft.
Hell, most all of the games seem to follow the same pattern,
the exception being Brotherhood and Revelations.
-Meet the
protagonist
-Find out
how he becomes an assassin
-Realize
there’s a lot to learn when it comes to slaying people
-Assassin
outgrows his childish ways and realizes what his true motivation is
-Assassin
completes his goal, overcomes his enemy, and encounters an artifact
-Insert annual, "What the fuck," moment and then end the game
-Rinse and
repeat 19 times (There are literally 19 games)
It wasn’t until I played Rogue that I saw how stale this franchise
has truly grown. Assassin’s Creed Rogue released on last gen consoles on the
exact same day as Assassin’s Creed Unity, which released on current gen only. I’m
annoyed that they release a game every year and yet last year they released
TWO! I’m so glad I waited to buy Rogue because it wound up being the most glitched,
rehashed version of any of their titles. Much of the game was copy/paste
segments of areas from both Assassin’s Creed III and IV. The naval combat was
exactly the same, but with the addition of ice and a new type of gun, because
adding subtle things to make it “different” should be enough to confuse all of
their fans, who are clearly morons. Me included.
Releasing an annual game has clearly caused most of the
issues I’ve pointed out. Where is the time to innovate and make the franchise
fresh again? Instead of adding decent side activities that add to the overall
experience they fill their games with nonsensical crap in order to appear
large. Maybe the game mechanics could be worked on and innovated so people can
control their character better. Hell, having a few years to work on the game
may even bring us more thoughtful stories that truly impact people rather than
making them ask, “wtf,” all the time.
Having three years to do that will not only give fans
something different within the world of something we’re familiar with, but
we’ll also have had a long enough break to actually WANT to play it. Look at
Fallout 4, we haven’t seen a title in years for this game and now people are
frothing at the mouth for this new game like a cake deprived fat kid. Think it
over Ubisoft. Until then I’ll spend my time playing The Witcher 3, a game you
should totally take some notes from regarding side activities…just saying.
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