Quick reviews Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Skate

[j_garcia]

I haven't been Playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for long, but so far it is an excellent game. The environments are stunning and the movement/physics are very impressive. The little comments that the main character makes about the various situations he gets into are quite funny. Game play is very good so far, will have to report back on this one once I have had time to finish off the others....

Assassin's Creed is an amazing game so far. The physical mechanics and story are excellent, the combat system isn't deep but it is very entertaining. Game play is very interesting but a little slow going and I can see why it didn't get a great review - it does seem to be get repetitive quickly. The ability to wander around the city and explore is great, but you can't really interact with anything aside from your mission so it doesn't really hold anything to "find" on your explorations, aside from item discovery "find the flag" side games. I also wasn't expecting the story: based on all the previews, it looked like it is set in the past and while game play is, the overall game is not. I have only completed one assassination so far and am about to complete my second, but doing the investigations to have all the information to find out who and why I am after my target took about 3 hours for the first one alone, so there is a fair amount to do to achieve your goals. It hasn't gotten old, despite some repetition. Graphics are exceptional. Overall, I'd give this one right around an 8.

Skate. Awesome. Nuff said. The skate environments are realistic yet setup very well (for skating) and the challenges are fun. Graphics are very impressive. This game just doesn't get old and I have been playing it for many, many hours.

I am still finishing up Folklore...I thought I was done, but there is quite a bit more to go still.

Stranglehold - still fun, but got so difficult so fast that it is quite challenging, to the point that my interest level has dropped off for this one. The bosses are fairly tough at this point.

 

[aberkowitz]

Assassin's Creed is an amazing game so far. The physical mechanics and story are excellent, the combat system isn't deep but it is very entertaining. Game play is very interesting but a little slow going and I can see why it didn't get a great review - it does seem to be get repetitive quickly. The ability to wander around the city and explore is great, but you can't really interact with anything aside from your mission so it doesn't really hold anything to "find" on your explorations, aside from item discovery "find the flag" side games. I also wasn't expecting the story: based on all the previews, it looked like it is set in the past and while game play is, the overall game is not. I have only completed one assassination so far and am about to complete my second, but doing the investigations to have all the information to find out who and why I am after my target took about 3 hours for the first one alone, so there is a fair amount to do to achieve your goals. It hasn't gotten old, despite some repetition. Graphics are exceptional. Overall, I'd give this one right around an 8.

I agree with most of what you said. The repetitiveness starts to go away after the 3rd assassination since the game starts to get much smarter and you have to become much more stealth in your actions to even walk around the city (Btw- assassination #4 is virtually impossible to do stealth. I've even searched around on the web and have yet to find anybody who's been able to do it without starting a "firefight"). The AI gets much smarter in swordfights with dodges, counters, and grabs and you will find that you have to get much smarter in the way you fight- it's quite easy to get cornered and certain parts of the cities make it impossible to run away. Once you get to level 5 the map is not automatically laid out for you and you have to figure out where some of the view points are so you can find the investigation and save citizen points. For a good challenge try killing the Knights Templar- they rarely allow you to sneak up and they are fanastic with swordplay. I'm currently stopped on mission #5 since I'm away for Thanksgiving, but I cannot wait to get back.

I've actually set aside Folklore for now so I can play Assassin's Creed, but so far (through 4 levels for each character) I think it's amazing.

 

[jliedeka]

Assassin's Creed wasn't exactly what I was expecting but it's fun. I'm pretty far along. The fights get a little harder but you have more tricks up your sleeve so it's a wash.

I was really blown away by the viewpoints. Being on top of the various spires and towers felt slightly acrophobic and I'm not really afraid of heights in real life. (I'm afraid of widths)

Usually the Templars spot me before I see them. I've only managed to shank a couple of them and I think I've killed over 20. They're pretty good fighters but if you can knock them down with a counter, you can kill them before they get up. That may not be very sporting but they are trying to kill you.

Jim

 

[gus6464]

I played a little of Assassin's Creed on my wife's little brother X360 and wasn't all that impressed. The different ways of killing gets old to fast and becomes too repetitive. Plus I didn't like the whole futuristic aspect of the story line. I felt like I was just playing another version of heavenly sword after a while.

Now Uncharted on the other hard is just too good. Great story so far and superb graphics. My favorite aspect of the game is the shooting system of covering a la gears of war. Makes the game a lot more realistic.

 

[j_garcia]

I'm at levels 7 for each and I believe that means I am in the final realm for Folklore. If I have some time this week, I plan on finishing it. I have all the cloaks and have completed about 95% of the character upgrades with the exception of the new realm.

Assassin's Creed impresses in what they've done technically, not so much in termms of the game itself. I am already starting to see that the Templars are tougher to defeat, and I scope out an area before I try anything so I know where I can run to. We'll see if it gets old or not. The story is pretty interesting so far.