Assassin's Creed

RSS

Assassin's Creed

We plunge into the heart of Ubisoft's crusader

Words: GamesRadar US

Email this article

Bookmark

Bookmark this Article

If that sounds a little… well, unpredictable, there’s another factor that decides what you do and that is the “intensity button.” By holding down or releasing the right trigger you can decide how much physical force you want to use. So, depending on whether the button is pressed or not, nudging and sliding through a crowd can become shoving, ramming or punching.

There is a final factor to be included and that’s momentum. While Altair is agile, he can still be caught off balance as he barrels through, and bounces off, the great unwashed. It’s meant to be intuitive but it’s also a risk - while it’s designed to free you from the need to learn combos, it can also disconnect you from Altair while simultaneously demanding that you unlearn every control method that you’ve ever used.

The other area that still needs attention is the swordplay. The combat lacks the same joyous fluidity and freedom that gushes through the rest of the game because at the moment it still looks pensive, very pokey and very slightly clumsy. But in an odd way that just emphasizes how impressive the other parts of the game are. When other stealth titles suffer with ponderous approaches and impersonal butchery, Assassin’s Creed’s free-roaming, flexible structure, truly intelligent NPCs and need for close-quarters brutality inject a previously unseen pace and enjoyment into every phase from the exploration to the escape. And similarly with the game, all of the approach work has been done; now all we need to see before its release later this year is if Ubisoft Montreal can just get the execution right. Time will certainly tell, even if the team won’t.