Week 1: Assassin's Creed

     Part of me wants to provide a brief review of why it has taken my five years to play through this game. In the interest of brevity, it boils down to lost progress and a slew of other games that I found much easier to get into. I wasn't super excited for AssCree when it came out, and couldn't find it in me to give it a chance.

It didn't help that those other games forced me to start AC from the beginning four or five times, having lost sight of what the f*ck was going on. Having to play through the tutorial mission, and work my way back from demotion got old around the first time I had to do it, so imagine my attitude towards the second, third, fourth and fifth tries...

I'd like to say I made a lot of progress with AssCree (Yes, I fully intend to call it that throughout my playthrough), but I didn't. I only made it through one of the main assassinations, Tamir, and halfway through the Acre. 

Maybe I'm wasting my time, but my approach to the game is fairly simple, if a bit compulsvie. The memory sync bar is my primary goal, which means hitting all the view points, saving the citizens in need and completing the pre-assassination missions (pickpocketing, eavesdropping, etc.).

It requires time, but I prefer seeing the synchronization bar full.

With my renewed desire to complete this game, I have more of an appreciation for it. Assassin's Creed is a beautiful game, intelligently designed, with great gameplay. The whole view point thing feels an awful lot like the developers forcing players to take a look around, which I respect.

I admit there have been times when I have ignored my surroundings just to get through a game, and that is hardly fair to those who spent so much time putting minute details into everything.

The cities feel alive, making it easy to ignore the duplicated models and voices of the cityfolk.

The obvious appeal to the game is darting through the streets, climbing any and all structures, leaping across rooftops and descending on an unsuspecting foe. The process of reclaiming rank, and thus your equipment, is tedious, but doesn't last long.

Once you get your arm blade early on, it is easy to take a break from the mission and prowl the rooftops looking for guards to pounce on and jab your blade into....

... And then walking away like a badass.

Also, it may be because I have not made it that far in the game yet, but the travel between cities feels unnecessary. You gain a sort of fast travel ability eventually from what I recall, making the overworld a waste of space.

For completionists, there are viewpoints and flags, and such, but it doesn't add to the game from what I've seen. My two cents, I guess.

I hope to make more progress in the next week, though I make no promises to myself or anyone who may be reading this with some level of interest.