Home Gaming Assassin’s Creed has always looked difficult, but been easy to play

Assassin’s Creed has always looked difficult, but been easy to play

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assassin's creed 1

Assassin’s Creed has come a long way from its inception, and I’m not just talking about all the historical and geographical locations explored. When the game franchise launched eight years ago, it really was a rather different and innovative beast. While we take a lot of the gameplay for granted now, Ubisoft is showing us just how special the game was back then.

First up, here’s the video showing off some Assassin’s Creed gameplay that still looks rather gorgeous even after all this time:

I think I have found the core aspect of the game that people are upset about as the franchise has progressed. Here, look at these two quotes from the blog about the first game:

Before AC, clambering from street to rooftop was either comically effortless or a frustrating test of skill; here, parkour looked difficult despite being easy to pull off, which brought a weird sense of satisfaction. Even its climbing puzzles were deceptively straightforward; getting up to precarious viewpoints looked and felt like a life-or-death struggle, but so long as nobody threw rocks at you, it was really just a matter of finding the right handholds to create a path to the top.

That same straightforwardness extended to its combat, which hinged on one very important move: the instant-kill counter. When surrounded by enemies, Altair only needed to wait for one to strike – and when that happened, a correctly timed parry was all it took to kill or knock down said enemy. This move made Altair extremely hard to defeat, and like the parkour, dispatching guards in gruesome ways was both easy and rewarding, once you mastered the timing.

The game has always been built around looking difficult but actually featuring some pretty easy/straight forward gameplay. Combat is still dumb in Assassin’s Creed and with the introduction of the rope launcher in Syndicate I’m wondering if we can even call them “climbing puzzles” anymore when it comes to synchronizing view points. Still, it’s interesting to look back on where the franchise started. AC wasn’t the best installment (we all know Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood were) but it kicked things off and set a ton for the series that is still relevant today.

I know I might be the only one, but I’m excited to play Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Sure, it might not be “as innovative” as people would like, but I think it will bring something new to the table while still building upon the staples of the franchise.

Last Updated: August 26, 2015

29 Comments

  1. VampyreSquirrel

    August 26, 2015 at 08:39

    I still have my copies of AC and AC2… I think I traded AC3 in already… not sure… haven’t looked at it for a long while.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Fantasticus

      August 26, 2015 at 08:41

      I think I’ve got AC2 on PS3.

      Reply

      • VampyreSquirrel

        August 26, 2015 at 08:49

        I’ve got AC and 2 on PC, then picked up 2 again when buying a friend’s games after his xbox was stolen, and then bought 3 on xbox 😛

        I have the AC2 black and white edition figurines thanks to someone grabbing my friend’s xbox.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Fantasticus

          August 26, 2015 at 08:51

          Ah, excellent…well…kind of…for you at least. 😀
          I think I got AC3 for pc for free with an older gfx card.

          Reply

          • VampyreSquirrel

            August 26, 2015 at 08:55

            lol! Last free game I got with a gfx card was Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
            It’s amazing what you can pick up when someone decides not to replace their xbox.

          • Captain JJ Fantasticus

            August 26, 2015 at 08:57

            The only other game I got for free with something was Dead Space 3 that came with SimCity. I’m not sure which is worse, having bought SimCity on release or getting Dead Space 3 ;P

          • VampyreSquirrel

            August 26, 2015 at 09:04

            Hahaha, that’s a tough one.

            I’ve gotten a lot of games for free on PC by buying something or the other. One of the gems was Will Rock, which was very much like Serious Sam. I’ve sold very few PC games (going back to the mid 90’s), and have some that I’ll never sell.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            August 26, 2015 at 09:12

            THAT’S the game I’ve been trying to remember the name of. I played the demo & it has Twisted Sister playing in the menu screen. WIN!

          • VampyreSquirrel

            August 26, 2015 at 09:29

            Hahaha, I still have it if you want me to send you the disk. XD

            Will Rock is really fun though.

          • Matthew Holliday

            August 26, 2015 at 15:43

            trying to get/activate a free game from the graphics card promos nowadays is more challenging than playing the actual games.

  2. Captain JJ Fantasticus

    August 26, 2015 at 08:40

    The one thing that makes AC games difficult to play on pc is Uplay.
    Though it has been a bit more stable lately, it’s still an unnecessary evil. I have AC3, but never bothered to play it. Black Flag, on the other hand, I still really want to give a shot. One day.

    Reply

    • AfricanTimeZA

      August 26, 2015 at 08:44

      Black Flag is the best one, if not the only one that should be played

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Fantasticus

        August 26, 2015 at 08:45

        I’ll see on the next Steam sale. No Uplay game is worth paying full price for that amount of admin and struggle.

        Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        August 26, 2015 at 09:03

        yes

        Reply

    • VampyreSquirrel

      August 26, 2015 at 08:49

      AC2 on PC was unplayable for over a week after launch because the Uplay servers were either down or heavily busy.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        August 26, 2015 at 09:08

        That happens every time a new game launches on Uplay.

        Reply

    • Zander Boshoff

      August 26, 2015 at 09:45

      I wouldn’t bother with 3. I tried for half an hour and got over it. Black flag sucked me in and is basically as good as 2

      Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      August 26, 2015 at 15:40

      uplay is fine, sort of. but i just dont care for it.
      its just another login to remember and another manager to keep updated.

      what i really dont get is being able to buy assassins creed in steam, but then being forced to install uplay, then the game goes and launches through steam anyway…

      Reply

  3. Alien Emperor Trevor

    August 26, 2015 at 09:08

    After playing from AC1 to AC3, AC2.2 is my favourite.

    Reply

    • FoxOneZA

      August 26, 2015 at 09:25

      Black Flag is a masterpiece. Lots to do there in the open seas.

      Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    August 26, 2015 at 09:11

    Assassin’s Creed has always looked difficult, but been easy to play and they’ve changed absolutely nothing about that since the first one in 2007.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      August 26, 2015 at 09:50

      We are all such happy cynics, aren’t we?

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        August 26, 2015 at 10:09

        VERY HAPPY

        Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      August 26, 2015 at 09:53

      The only thing they’ve changed is how badly they roll out day one patches…

      Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      August 26, 2015 at 15:32

      the games have become more about an “expansive world” and “oh look, parkour” with every iteration. rogue and black flag were refreshing in that sense.
      unity had nothing of what made black flag and rogue so good.
      i dont think this new one will either.
      unity felt like a totally new game compared to black flag and rogue. game handles and feels different. not in a good way.

      with unity they actually made the game harder, purely by making it less responsive.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        August 26, 2015 at 15:59

        O_o that’s bad for business

        Reply

  5. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    August 26, 2015 at 09:41

    AC 1, 2 and 4, that’s it, those were the successes of the series, unfortunately they’ve watered down too much now… It’s one thing to showcase how nice it is to play a game, but if you have such a lacklustre, half arsed story that baits for the next iteration without any form of consistency, then you have a different problem at hands….

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      August 26, 2015 at 15:36

      rogue was also pretty good, but it did feel like a lesser version of black flag.
      rogues story was more interesting, i felt that was the weakest part of black flag, but it wasnt nearly as colourfull and the main character was pretty boring.

      honestly, i dont think the franchise would have gotten nearly as much flak if they didnt bother stretching the series out with BS like brotherhood and revelation, liberation of freedoms cry.
      even rogue, although i prefer it to other titles, could have been ignored.

      Reply

  6. Derrich Schleich

    August 27, 2015 at 15:45

    I’ve got AC1 all the way to AC Black Flag. Unity was not able to run on my pc. So they basically lost me there….

    Reply

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