Introduction
Assassin’s creed, what an interesting game. First of all this is not a fanboy review. I did not hype up Assassin’s Creed (from now on will be displayed as AC) for myself. I found out about the game through a friend and got it the same day. AC seemed interesting enough to me, and the pretty graphics were more than enough to convince me to buy it. Looking back, I might have made a different choice after playing it.
Graphics 9/10
First and foremost let’s get this out of the way. AC looks great! I use a 40″ HDTV, and I couldn’t be happier with how the game appears. The frame rate is amazing, the textures superb, and the characters (especially Altair) come to life. I spent a good 20 minutes just admiring how cool Altair looks during the tutorial. It really is quite amazing to see the game in action, it does feel alive.
The Cities are just as good as the characters as well. All of them are relatively large with hundreds of NPC’s that mostly look as good as Altair himself. The landscape looks great from all of the bird’s eye view points (for those that do not know you need to get to these “viewpoints” and scan them in order to find objectives throughout the game). Even as I load the game up now, the graphics continue to amaze me. This is the first game I’ve seen that made me feel like I was actually falling during the “leaps of faith”.
The only reason I didn’t give this section a 10/10 is because at times the game can glitch causing a very awkward world. In fact, one time the entire ground disappeared and I found myself running through buildings for a good 2 minutes before the game corrected itself.
Story 5/10
Ok here we get into the beginning of the problems for AC. I went into this game hoping for an engaging story. I mean, the game even comes with a warning for those that might be offended by its historical setting (Jerusalem during the crusades). But, I was greeted with something a bit underwhelming. I started out the game listening to every word intensely hoping to gain some incite into the story, yet as the game progressed I found myself feeling saddened by the apparent lack of story. The game can essentially be played with little or no interaction or knowledge of the story. I found myself sometimes wishing the characters would just shut up so I could get on to the more exciting parts of the game. Don’t get me wrong, I love stories and am a big fan of heavily story based games, but AC just didn’t deliver the cinematic, engaging experience I had hoped for it.
Gameplay 4/10
What a disappointment. The game could have been so much more than it is. The combat system, while it seems engaging and fun, becomes unbearably repetitive after a couple hours. Once you gain the ability to counterattack, there really is no reason to do anything else unless you feel like amusing yourself with other attacks. I have been surrounded by over 10 guards before and just sat there counterattacking each one, all of who conveniently await for their comrades to die by my hand before taking their turn to strike at me. It almost felt like the enemies drew a number before the fight and waited their turn to attack. And, as I said, the counterattack solves all of your problems for combat. It simply just becomes a repetitive show of mass murder by Altair after the first couple of fights because the same animations for counterattacks are highlighted throughout the entire game. I just didn’t feel compelled to even try to fight the guards after my third or so assassination, as I felt it more fun and challenging to just run away.
This is not even considering the Assassination missions that are also a big flop. Each assassination comes in 3 parts, the investigation, the assassination, and the escape. Two of these three parts are ridiculously repetitive, and the third is over so quickly it just isn’t fun. The investigation involves you finding out information about your target. While this sounds fun and new, it is far from that. Each assassination has investigations that have you doing the same actions in different cities. One of these investigations even has you collecting flags around the area in a specified time period. A master assassin running around collecting flags? I’m sorry this isn’t some kiddy platform game. That especially was a bad call by the developers. Sadly, even the more fun ones just become a chore after you’ve done them 4 or so times for each assassination.
The Assassinations themselves again could have been so much more engaging. Initially I took my time surveying the areas with my targets and planning out an escape path. It was thrilling at first, but I soon realized that it didn’t matter at all. You essentially can just bum rush your targets and hack them up with your sword. Don’t worry if guards attack you because as I stated above they are easily dealt with no matter how many are on you.
Finally the escapes are just as, if not more, repetitive than the investigations. After you’ve killed your target, and listened to a 5 minute dialogue with Altair and the target’s “ghost?”, you just need to either fight off the army of guards attacking you or simply run away. Never fear because running is just as easy as fighting. You just need to run far enough away from guards that your indicator tells you its ok to hide, then just sit on a bench, jump in some conveniently placed hay, or hide in a booth. I found it sad that guards would be in my line of sight and still be unaware as to where I had disappeared.
Overall, the gameplay could have been so much more. The assassinations and the combat system seems just tagged on to a pretty game in order to make it somewhat playable.
Replayability 2/10
If you’ve saved 1 civilian, you’ve saved them all. All of the objectives throughout the city are easily done and become tedious more so than fun. I got really bored saving all the civilians because each time the fights were uninspired and the civilian dialogue just bored me. The other objectives, including finding more…you guessed it, flags, didn’t inspire me to keep trying. The most fun I had was finding all the viewpoints throughout the game, and even then, that became repetitive and boring.
Don’t worry, redoing the assassinations doesn’t matter because they all turn out the same way, whether you hack up your target or actually assassinate them the way Altair would. Sadly, I felt no incentive whatsoever to boot up the game after the 20 or so hours I spent on it.
Overall 6/10
AC was a beautiful game with a story and gameplay tagged on the side. The game definitely could have been so much more than it is. And for all those perfectionists out there, the game will keep you occupied much longer than it did me. The problem is the game just doesn’t compel the gamer to try at all. I felt like I was watching a movie with a great cast that I just couldn’t force myself to care about. The game fails on some key issues that force its score down.
Rent or Buy
I bought it, but I wish I would have gone with my initial instinct to rent it. The game is a DEFINITE rental at best. The eye candy will keep you entertained for a couple hours before you realize the thin game underneath.
Sorry Altair, your game just doesn’t deliver. =(
Reviewer’s Score: 6/10
Mass effect
I had been interested in Mass Effect (from now on will be known as ME) for quite some time since I heard that Bioware was developing it. I’ve loved Bioware since I played KotOR but knew that Mass Effect could not just be a KotOR clone in order to be successful. Luckily, it does not disappoint.
Graphics
Amazing. The character models look amazing, the environments are superb, and the entire package just comes together to look almost as if its real. Shepard, or your own creation of him, really comes to life in the in-game sequences. This proves to be very engrossing and is great for role-playing fans such as myself. The ships, people, and planets never cease to amaze in terms of visual eye candy.
However, certain flaws do come up throughout the game. One major flaw is texture loading. Throughout the game you will notice that certain environments, characters, and insignias do not load immediately with the game and will come out somewhat blurred for a couple of seconds. This does take away from the immersive nature of the game because I was staring at a claymation character rather than the usually crisp creations I had come to know and love. Also, the framerate can come to a slow at times throughout the game, making gameplay sometimes awkward.
Graphics 8/10
Class System
The Class system, while it seems overwhelming at first, really is not as complicated as you’d think. There is the soldier, the engineer, and the adept as well as a mix of all these, bringing the entire class count to 6. Each one has its strengths. The soldier is a great play through for first timers and FPS fans because really its a run and gun type of class. The engineer and Adept start out more difficult than the soldier, especially on harder difficulties, but prove to be far more powerful come endgame because of their powers.
While the auto leveling system does an ok job for people that do not wish to micro-manage their Characters, the game really stands out with the customization. Players are able to shape their characters into the abilities of their classes that seem most powerful. This allows the RPG fans to make balanced teams that cover all weaknesses, which really displays its power come endgame when a well balanced team wreaks havoc through the entire last level. To add to this, each class has a subclass that becomes unlockable later in the game, which adds further to specialize your Shepard into however you see him.
The class system suffers from some minor flaws in the fact that many of the classes share the same abilities, making them seem repetitive. This can be remedied by the individual skills that classes get, but does not offer a totally differentiate experience for hybrids from the parent classes.
8/10
Gameplay
Now KotOR, at least in my opinion, had an underwhelming gameplay, which in turn gave me qualms about ME. But, ME does not fail like its predecessor did. The entire game is very playable from start to finish. The controls, while not set up like the standard FPS, are still very fluid and allow the player much flexibility in terms of gameplay preferences. The combat system, which I had MANY doubts about previously, turned out to be a surprise hit because of its fast action element that combines with the RPG nature of the game. You are able to pause the game at any time to select your biotic or tech abilities, change your weapons, or to just get a look around your environment. This helps the Die hard RPG fans that may be turned off by the fast combat that seems similar to Halo. No this is not a Halo clone. No you cannot just run up to people and shoot them down like you can in Halo.
Overall, I can’t really complain about the gameplay. The Conversation system is a superb improvement over KotOR, and adds to the already engrossing combat system. The choices do not directly affect gameplay in the same terms that KotOR did. No you cannot change the course of the entire plot based on your actions, but you can affect several subplots as well as the characters your travel with. The choices are tracked by a Paragon and Renegade meter that are displayed on the character screen. These meters do nothing more than to indicate how good or rogue’ish your character has become.
The Combat and Conversation systems work very well throughout the game. They do have minor flaws, such as the occurrences where Shepard says the same thing regardless of your choice, but the game really shines on these two systems.
9/10
Story
Superb. The story is one of the few games that has drawn me in for years. ME starts off with you as Commander Shepard, a human Alliance marine with varying background based on the players decisions upon creation. Which is ME’s strongest point. Role-Playing fanatics will be in heaven with ME. The game offers so many roads for the player to take with their individual Shepards that each player will have a unique play through each time. What really comes to life is not only the main plot but the several side quests that involve minor plot elements, including the backstory that you chose for your Shepard.
The story overall is fast paced and interactive. It does have its slower points, especially after the initial mission on Eden Prime, but afterwards the main plot does not cease to draw the player in. To describe the story with no spoilers: You are Commander Shepard and your job is to stop the “bad guy” from destroying the galaxy. I don’t want to ruin it for those that haven’t played but the story is not as simple as it may seem. There are many facets that just cannot be revealed in a review without spoiling it.
The story, while remaining truly spectacular especially at the end, is a bit short and causes the player to wish the game were not over so quickly. Also some of the side quests do become repetitive and boring at times, causing the game to be a chore more so than a game. Sadly these minor flaws bring down the overall great story.
It should also be known, the story is very much so adult at times, involving vulgar language as well as some strong sexual themes (including a suggestive sex scene between Shepard and one of two possible candidates).
8.5/10
Replayability
The game does offer some harder difficulties, which I played because I enjoy challenging games, but there is no real reason to play the game again other than to have a harder time and choose different conversations. The different classes do offer a variety of playstyles, but they tend to become repetitive since many classes overlap each other.
The side quests offer little to no replayability as they become repetitive, especially since each planet tends to look the same after a while, and the bases for many of the side quests use the same map layout, taking away from the role playing aspect of the game. I can’t count how many times I found myself thinking “how convenient that all these smugglers have similarly designed bases so that I can plan my attacks for all of them.” The game is only going to be a good replay for die hard RPG fans like myself.
6/10
Overall
The game has many sublime moments that drew me into the story, but many minor flaws start to add up over time. I didn’t even mention the horrid controls of the mako (the vehicle you will pilot while traversing alien planets) which handles like a pregnant grandma. The game feels unpolished to me and could have been a 10/10 if some of the rough edges had been smoothed out.
Bioware, I have hopes for the sequel, and regardless of its flaws, ME is still one of my favorite games of all time.
Final Score: 8.5/10
Lost Odyssey
I began my journey into Lost Odyssey (from now on referred to as LO) with a mixed bag of emotions. I have been a huge Final Fantasy fan for many years, and I always hold a special place for the RPG genre in my heart. The game does deliver on several of the major points it claims to have, yet I just do not feel the dazzle that I should from the legendary creators of Final Fantasy.
Graphics
The graphics in general are very solid, and run at a surprisingly smooth framerate. I was overjoyed to see that the in-game graphics are primarily used in the cutscenes sans a couple instances where a prescripted, glossy movie is implemented. However, overall the graphics look beautiful. You can watch all of your characters hack away, talk, and fight through this epic story that transcends all of our modern lives. From the smooth facial features to the elaborate costumes and weaponry, LO does not fail to deliver on the graphical eye candy department.
Although I do praise the game for its graphical appearance, I cannot ignore the slight glitches I noticed while playing through the game itself. I always wondered how at times the faces of the characters seemed to appear a bit disfigured at certain angles. This primarily was a texture issue, but it was not something to be so profound as to be labeled as game-breaking. Occasionally there would be minor hiccups in lag that always brought back awful memories of the Red Ring of Death. Fortunately, these minor glitches were not symptoms of the fatal disease, and I was glad to see that they seemed to only appear rarely.
Graphics Final Score 9/10
Sound
The musical score is amazing as it always is with Final Fantasy games (Yes, this is a Final Fantasy game, it’s just on Xbox360). I felt compelled by the music throughout the story, and often times it motivated me to gain goose bumps. Many of the character themes, Gongora especially, pleased me as they seemed completely fitting for the general motif that each character represents. The music did not seem to overpower the game itself, but I did feel that it guided me through several sections of the game, lifting my interests and enhancing the story.
The only downside to this is the repetitive nature of some of the music. I cannot say enough how tired I got of the random encounter tune. The few times throughout the game that I spent grinding levels for my characters(which by the way is not really necessary, I just did it for completion sake), I could not bear to stand the music. Many of the musical soundtracks are reused throughout the game, which I felt hurt its overall effectiveness because their originality seemed to lose value as the game continued.
Sound Final Score 8/10
Combat System
If you are not at least introduced to JRPGs (and if you don’t know what that means, you most likely are not introduced) at this point, then I can say that you will most likely not enjoy the combat system of LO. It follows the traditional system of turn based combat given to each side. Each round gives you a turn to order out your commands to your party, and then all of these commands are executed based on a certain amount of variables. For example, your character’s speed, the enemy’s speed, and the speed of the particular command are all taken into account when deciding what commands will take precedence over others. To make matters even more complicated, enemy attacks will slow down certain abilities your characters are using, and as many who are familiar to turn based RPGs know, positioning of abilities during critical moments can make or break a fight. In fact, several instances in LO severely annoyed me because of this minor problem.
To further elaborate on this point, let me explain what I mean. In one instance, I found that my primary party healer had been killed in combat. While I continually used items to bring her back to life, the “boss” would take a turn AFTER my items took effect, which usually resulted in the repeated death of my healer. This is because item usage takes precedence over actual attacks, and this forced my party to be stuck in a perpetual cycle of reviving my healer and watching her die. Needless to say, it was excruciatingly aggravating.
However, despite these unusual instances of annoyance, the turn based combat is a very welcoming addition to the game that I was overjoyed to play.
The other portion of the combat system takes place in the usage of rings. Each party member can equip a ring that will enable them to gain some sort of effect as a result. These effects vary from status changes to extra damage, and to make it a bit more involving that traditional RPGs, LO allows players to use these rings in combat via the right trigger. It is a very simple mini game that just requires the holding of the right trigger until both rings have lined up. Once the trigger is released, a rating appears of either good, bad, or perfect. Although at first it is a bit difficult, I found it to be very easy to master through practice.
Overall, the combat system has a few new tricks up its sleeve from more traditional RPGs, but I do feel that it is very much so centered around JRPG style.
Combat System Final Score 8.5/10
Story
The story of LO is very well written and brings in several RPG elements that I feel have been missing from Xbox games. Most of the characters in the game are very deep and have interesting back stories, with the exception of a few. The characters are all enjoyable to watch, and I was captivated by a few of them. What I really enjoyed about the game was the large variety in character personalities that seem to apply to all audiences. For example, Kaim and Jansen represent two complete opposites on the personality spectrum, yet they manage to mesh well together and offer a good variety of dialogue that caters to all gamers.
Without ruining the story itself, the idea of immortality plays a significant role and theme throughout the game, as does connections with others. I thoroughly enjoyed the connections made between the characters throughout the game, and I identified with many of them on a personal level.
Although the story is very compelling, one area in which I felt let down was the dream sequences. Originally I had been very excited over these additions to the main story, hoping to gain some interesting back story for all of my characters, but I was sorely disappointed to see that many of these dream sequences are simply not necessary. Also, I felt that many of them became repetitive as they continually regurgitated the same sad state of emotion and depression for Kaim and his companions. Adding insult to injury, a LARGE majority of the dreams are not necessary to actual gameplay or the primary story, which further takes away from their value. Add in the fact that these must be read, and many times I felt the dreams were more of an added length to the game rather than an enhancing factor.
Story Final Score 8/10
Replayability
The game does not offer much in terms of replayability. Once you have seen the primary plot points of the story, there is no real reason to go back and replay it. Yes, there is a new game plus mode, but it does nothing more than allow you to use your maxed out characters right from the get go. There are several mini games to complete and secret bosses to unlock that add to the replayability, but if all you are looking for is story, then you will be satisfied with a single playthrough of the game.
This however, I do not feel is a major defining factor for the game as almost all RPG’s do not give a real reason to replay the primary campaign.
Replayability Final Score 5/10
Overall
LO delivers on all of the nostalgic RPG points that I have come to know and love. If you are a JRPG or for that matter any RPG fan you will more than likely thoroughly enjoy this game. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get lost in a fantasy world unlike anything they have ever dreamed. Yet, I do see a few flaws throughout the game, and I feel that the game was lacking in the dazzle department. Therefore, I do not feel that it lives up to the legendary hype of the likes of Finaly Fantasy.
Final Score 8/10