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Assassin's Creed [DS]: Altair's Chronicles - Out now!
slash000
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Due to popular request, I bring you:
The Altaïr's Chronicles thread!
_
The Altaïr's Chronicles thread!
_Assassin's Creed Altaïr's Chronicles is the direct prequel of the console title Assassin's Creed, where players discover more about the protagonist Altaïr and his deep history. The game features a fully realized 3D world in which players will travel and battle through four cities of the Crusade's Middle East, using acrobatic moves and exhilarating combo attacks that mix sword skills and high-flying kicks.
What do we know about this game? Not much yet, since it just came out, but we have an IGN preview:
Probably the most obvious alteration is the game's structure: instead of an open world environment, Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles is a much more linear design. Each mission is a level with an assortment of ledge climbing, rope swinging, and swordplay, with limits on where you can go and what you can do. Many of the acrobatic skills you have in the console game, like running up a wall and climbing up onto a roof or platform jumping on small wood beams, are represented here, but don't expect a lot of exploring since you're restricted to the area that the mission takes place.
The upper screen shows the 3D action, while the lower screen offers a handy overhead view of the specific environments.
In specific instances, you can sneak up on a guard or a victim and pickpocket him, and when this happens you're kicked to a touch-screen minigame. The pickpocket minigame requires the use of the stylus to quickly wipe away the darkness of the victim's pocket, then to maneuver the required treat around other objects to the pocket's opening before time runs out.
You can also interrogate certain people, and here you'll play another minigame that's much like Elite Beat Agents without the music. You'll have to tap circles representing pressurepoints on the victim's back as they appear on the touchscreen.
But most of the game revolves around the Prince of Persia-like platform jumping and figuring your way around the city, either on the ground or over the rooftops. The linear design keeps players informed where the next waypoint is
Of course, there are tons of situations where swordplay will come into the design – you have the ability to hit strong or weak, block and kick, and the combination of these button presses will pull off combos and counters at the right moments.
So it sounds pretty good. A bit of Assassin's Creed from the consoles, a bit of Prince of Persia, a bit of pick pocketing with the stylus, a bit of Elite Beat Agents.
Looks great, too, and makes good use of the second screen in that you can see what you need to see. Very helpful indeed.
So, I just got this game about 30 minutes ago. Anyone else picking it up?
I'll have my own impressions and post them later tonight once I get a chance to sink my teeth into this bad boy. No official reviews from site/magazines yet, though.
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Updates:
IGN's Video Review has been posted - also contains lots of other image/video media
Kotaku posted 2 pretty good videos that give you an idea of what this game is like:
http://kotaku.com/353579/assassins-creed-ds
My Own Impressions as I Progress:
After 1 hour of play
After ~2 hours of play
After 3 to 3.5 hours of play
After 4.5 to 5 hours of play - Game Completed, Final Impressions.
My final impressions:
Just beat the game.
I don't think it tells me anywhere how much time I logged in completing the game, but if I had to guess, I'd say my total first playthrough took about 4.5 to 5 hours, and that's mostly with hints turned on. If you were to play this with Hints OFF, you'd probably both have more fun and take noticeably longer to complete the game.
Now that I've completed it, how have my thoughts changed?
Well, all I can say is that the game does get better towards the end - you gain a lot more combat abilities and weapons so the combat becomes a lot more fun. You get more options; more attacks, more combos, more counter attacks, and more ranged attacks. You get more weapons so you have a greater variety of attacking enemies from battle and from stealth.
The platforming also gets more fun. The more you play the more accustomed you get to the controls, particularly for jumping. But also having the Grappling Hook really adds to some of the cooler platforming segments.
There are also more fun stealth segments. More opportunities to sneak and kill from the shadows.
The minigames are few and far betweeen and they don't get much in the way of variety. I wish they had done more with these in variety and had them more frequently as I enjoyed them.
Ultimately, the last level or last 2 levels were the most fun in the game. They were fast paced and the combat was at its peak, and the platforming was fair and enjoyable.
Overall, I still think that this is a pretty mediocre game and you'd be better served by buying Contra 4 or GeoWars Galaxies.
I think the game would have been a lot better if you had all of your platforming and combat abilities up front, and if the earlier platforming bits were as much fun as the later ones. Seriously, the good stuff in this game is ultimately too little, too late.
Anyway, I'll say that what you're getting here is an okay game. I don't really think it's all that great. just 'meh.' I don't feel sorry about getting it, but I think I'd have rather gotten something else in its place.
Also, I'm not sure why they call this the "Prequel to the console versions." There's hardly much story to speak of in this game.
I don't think it tells me anywhere how much time I logged in completing the game, but if I had to guess, I'd say my total first playthrough took about 4.5 to 5 hours, and that's mostly with hints turned on. If you were to play this with Hints OFF, you'd probably both have more fun and take noticeably longer to complete the game.
Now that I've completed it, how have my thoughts changed?
Well, all I can say is that the game does get better towards the end - you gain a lot more combat abilities and weapons so the combat becomes a lot more fun. You get more options; more attacks, more combos, more counter attacks, and more ranged attacks. You get more weapons so you have a greater variety of attacking enemies from battle and from stealth.
The platforming also gets more fun. The more you play the more accustomed you get to the controls, particularly for jumping. But also having the Grappling Hook really adds to some of the cooler platforming segments.
There are also more fun stealth segments. More opportunities to sneak and kill from the shadows.
The minigames are few and far betweeen and they don't get much in the way of variety. I wish they had done more with these in variety and had them more frequently as I enjoyed them.
Ultimately, the last level or last 2 levels were the most fun in the game. They were fast paced and the combat was at its peak, and the platforming was fair and enjoyable.
Overall, I still think that this is a pretty mediocre game and you'd be better served by buying Contra 4 or GeoWars Galaxies.
I think the game would have been a lot better if you had all of your platforming and combat abilities up front, and if the earlier platforming bits were as much fun as the later ones. Seriously, the good stuff in this game is ultimately too little, too late.
Anyway, I'll say that what you're getting here is an okay game. I don't really think it's all that great. just 'meh.' I don't feel sorry about getting it, but I think I'd have rather gotten something else in its place.
Also, I'm not sure why they call this the "Prequel to the console versions." There's hardly much story to speak of in this game.
slash000 on
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Note: Never played 360 AC. Since it's a prequel, I'm not missing anything, right?
I doubt it. I've never played the console versions, either. :P
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Kinda like... an assassin! :shock:
Battle.net: Fireflash#1425
Steam Friend code: 45386507
The initial intro is a little bit laggy, but after that it smooths out, as far as I've seen. The 3D is regular DS quality, somewhere around/a little better than N64 quality. It's a little rezzy, as DS isn't great at AA, but that's neither here nor there.
Altair moves around fairly easily, and is pretty quick and responsive. Some of the jumping is a little bit counter-intuitive in some circumstances (I was standing in place on a beam, trying to jump to another one. I pressed forward and jumped and overshot it -- standing jumps move forwards) but otherwise it's not too terrible.
The pickpocketing system is kind of interesting, and I can see it getting very, very tricky later on in the game. The EBA-style torture sections, though, I'm not so sure about. Part of the reason EBA is so great to play is tapping in time with the music, while this is completely silent. It becomes less about being in rhythm, which is what the system was designed for, to trying to time it so that you always hit when the circle goes green. I don't know exactly what to think about it as of yet, but I've got a general dislike after doing it once.
I saw one cutscene of higher quality, which was kind of weird. It's got this beautiful pre-rendered scene, and beneath that is the regular dialogue interaction that you see in the rest of the game. I suppose it's good for immersion, but it's weird seeing this cutscene freeze on two people while they gab on about whatever.
Also, the game seemed to hold my hand a lot. The part I played was very linear, though if that was because of the tutorial or the actual gameplay I can't say. There's always a green arrow on your screen telling you exactly where to go, and there are checkpoints about every five steps. Maybe I'm spoiled from playing Hitman for too long, but I think that if you screw up you should have to start from the beginning, especially in an assassination game.
So far, I'm cautiously optimistic.
That's the nature of the assassin...
It didn't really come out of nowhere; it's just that its release date wasn't highly publicized. The game itself has been publicized at gaming sites in terms of news and press releases and previews quite a bit.
So far I"ve only played it for about 20 minutes.
What I can say for sure is this --
I have not seen many DS games that looked this good, graphically. The variety and detail of the textures is astonishing for a DS game, and the levels are all very varied and contain many graphical nuances to them, such as smoke and particle and transparency effects. The music is mostly pre-recorded, rather than MIDI generated, and is also very good. There are even pre-rendered cutscenes for story bits between major levels.
What that means is that this game has abnormally large production values for a handheld game. Something we don't see very often due to the nature of the handheld side of the industry.
so far it's fun, but I want to get a little further before talking about gameplay. It indeed mixes up a little stealth, a good bit of platforming, and pretty fun little minigames for pickpocketing/interrogation and such. The combat is pretty cool but the first level is rather easy, presumably to get you accustomed to it. You can upgrade your weapons and health by obtaining spheres..
Anyway, I'll give some more gameplay impressions in a bit.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
You can turn off Hints in the Options. Less handholding, I presume.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Oh yeah, I found that but forgot to mention it. I think it just gets rid of the arrow.
But isn't torture supposed to be unenjoyable?
lol :P
It's more of an interogation sequence than 'torture'
I've only done the first interrogation sequence so far, and I thought it was mildly fun. I'm guessing that these will get increasingly difficult. I imagine it will be more fun with greater difficulty down the road.
Of course, it's a 'interogation mini game sequence,' it's not meant to have the full appeal of Elite Beat Agents, even though it borrows its concept entirely from that (minus music of course). So these sequences are few and far between. But I still think they're (all of the minigame sequences) cool and keep things mixed up and interesting.
I'll probably post more impressions much much later tonight though after I get some work done.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
The only thing I've learned from it is that the game is a few hours long. Which I'm totally fine with for a portable action game, though, really.
He failed to mention that you can turn off hints when he was talking about how the game tells you where to go.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Sorry, can't finish that with a straight face. Balls to IGN, I'll wait for someone who's not a retarded chimp to review it.
That, too me, is a 15 buck an hour deal.
Off putting to say the least.
So far, I have to say that it is an.. "OK" game.
The combat is pretty basic. It's decently fun I suppose, but pretty basic. You start out with two basic combos for fast, weak attacks and slow, strong attacks. You can block and dodge roll for defensive maneuvers. You can also counter attack when attacked, which will stun an enemy. A stunned enemy you can walk up to and kill instantly. The more enemies there are, the more difficult it is, obviously, but it gets harder to pull off combos and insta-kills. So.. it's 'okay' combat but definitely not super great. I'm assuming that you unlock more combat options as you progress, but I'm not sure exactly how/when this occurs...
The best aspect so far is the platforming. I think most people would prefer to play with Hints turned OFF, because hints give you an arrow telling you always where to go. Having that Off lets you try to figure out and platform your way to where you need to go. It is indeed less handholding in this regard.
The platforming is the best part. But it's definitely not as good as Prince of Persia (Sands trilogy) style platforming. It's fun, but not super great. You'll die a few times from misjudged jump distances, indeed. But you have running, jumping, crawling along beams, schimmying along ledges, swinging from ropes and grappling, and wall jumping.. so far, anyway. I think there may be wall running of some sort but I have not opened up all of Altair's abilities yet..
So far there aren't that many instances of pickpocket/interrogation minigames. I found those kind of neat and would like to see more of them... so... I hopefully there'll be at least a few more along the way..
The assassinations are simple things; the assassination may be the goal but it's getting there that is supposed to be the fun. Assassinations are just pressing A and watching altair kill the guy off.
Travelling and platforming about the city is done mostly to avoid detection by guards on the ground. Messing up platforming either results in death, or in falling to the ground and alerting guards. Killing guards can replenish your health from battle and the fall though. But you ultimately can climb your way back up to the rooftops to resume platforming. If you die, you reload one of the very often checkpoints. So it's not like you ever lose much progress due to death.
So anyway. I think I've put maybe an hour into this game. Hopefully it's not merely 2 hours long. That would not be cool. But if it is.. well... hopefully the gameplay picks up before then. Because right now it's "decent" at best in my opinion...
If it's only two hours long, and the gameplay doesn't get much more complex than it is, then it will be hard to recommend this as a $30 game...
I'll keep you all informed as I progress further.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
So, I haven't been tracking my time spent playing this, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be longer than 2 hours.. I think I crossed the 2 hour mark just now and I'm definitely not near the end of the game...
Still. So far this game is pretty 'meh.' Right now, it's hard for me to recommend at $30, unless you're a huge Assassin's Creed fan. I bet I would enjoy it more if I had played the console versions.
Anyway - I'm going to keep charging through it to the end. I'll reserve my final judgment once I've beaten the game. But I just want anyone interested to be aware that there are probably better DS games to spend $30 on right now. So far this seems more like a decent platformer with mediocre combat, in a game that would best appeal to Assassin's Creed console game owners as a portable companion to the console games.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
So, I must be at least 3 hours into this game, or maybe even 3.5 hours into it. I know I'm approaching the end of the game, but I'm not quite there yet.
I have no idea where the reviews got 2 or 3 hour playthroughs for this game, because that's just not right. I'm probably at 3 or 3.5 hours and while I'm close to the end, I'm not there yet. Plus, playing with Hints OFF probably significantly increases that playthrough time, since you have to use your own head to figure out how to get to your targets and achieve your objectives rather than having an arrow hold your hand the entire time.
So, how have things progressed on the gameplay side?
Well, since Hour #2, I've unlocked more attacks, moves, and weapons. Thus, the combat has become a little less repetitive and a little bit more fun. One of the combos stuns enemies easily, and alternatively knocks them back - which can send enemies off ledges to their deaths in the right scenario. Stunned enemies can be instantly killed, which makes taking on larger groups a little less frustrating.
I also obtained a grappling hook, which is used for both platforming (jumping and swinging from objects), but also for combat. For combat, you can pull a Mortal Kombat Scorpion "Get over here!" style move in which you, from a distance, shoot your grappling hook at an enemy and drag them along the ground toward you. Once close, you can jam your sword down into them for an instant kill.
I've also obtained Bombs and Throwing Daggers and a Crossbow. Switching between weapons during battle is kind of a pain, so I rarely use the Daggers. Plus, it's hard to aim and hit people with the throwing daggers. the Bombs, however, are somewhat useful for throwing into small groups of enemies, or dropping at your feet as you dodge back to watch enemies blow up from the bomb, killing an otherwise threatening mob of enemies.
The Crossbow is actually kind of fun. You target enemies on the touch screen when they are in range, and then shoot them down. It's fun in that you can kill unsuspecting enemies from the rooftops or other unaccessible places.
The grappling hook increases variety in the platforming as you can swing from objects. There's also a wall jump so I've been doing various back and forth Prince of Persia like segments.
Which brings me to my next point; in the second half of this game, the platforming gets a good bit more varied and satisfying. It's not so great in the first half, but the second half, when you have all of your newer abilities, gets more fun. Plus, the platforming sections are larger, more ambitious, have more traps and obstacles, and make more use of your abilities. So it gets more fun in this regard.
I feel like it's trying to be a POP:SOT-like game, but just can't pull it off in that the platforming puzzles aren't quite as interesting or fun, and you don't have a time reversal move in case you miss a jump and plumet to your death, which is not an uncommon occurence. I think a lot of "cheap deaths" would frustrate/annoy a lot of people, despite the fact that the game Quickloads to very recent points.
So I'm glad to report that the game is longer than the feared 2 or 3 hours long, and the gameplay does indeed get a bit more fun.
But it's still a somewhat 'meh' kind of game. It's not bad, per se, but it's not great either... I still think that it's only good if you're a big A's Creed fan and not much else.
I stand by my sentiment that $30 would be better served going towards Contra 4 or Geometry Wars Galaxies, if you need a new DS game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I don't think it tells me anywhere how much time I logged in completing the game, but if I had to guess, I'd say my total first playthrough took about 4.5 to 5 hours, and that's mostly with hints turned on. If you were to play this with Hints OFF, you'd probably both have more fun and take noticeably longer to complete the game.
Now that I've completed it, how have my thoughts changed?
Well, all I can say is that the game does get better towards the end - you gain a lot more combat abilities and weapons so the combat becomes a lot more fun. You get more options; more attacks, more combos, more counter attacks, and more ranged attacks. You get more weapons so you have a greater variety of attacking enemies from battle and from stealth.
The platforming also gets more fun. The more you play the more accustomed you get to the controls, particularly for jumping. But also having the Grappling Hook really adds to some of the cooler platforming segments.
There are also more fun stealth segments. More opportunities to sneak and kill from the shadows.
The minigames are few and far betweeen and they don't get much in the way of variety. I wish they had done more with these in variety and had them more frequently as I enjoyed them.
Ultimately, the last level or last 2 levels were the most fun in the game. They were fast paced and the combat was at its peak, and the platforming was fair and enjoyable.
Overall, I still think that this is a pretty mediocre game and you'd be better served by buying Contra 4 or GeoWars Galaxies.
I think the game would have been a lot better if you had all of your platforming and combat abilities up front, and if the earlier platforming bits were as much fun as the later ones. Seriously, the good stuff in this game is ultimately too little, too late.
Anyway, I'll say that what you're getting here is an okay game. I don't really think it's all that great. just 'meh.' I don't feel sorry about getting it, but I think I'd have rather gotten something else in its place.
Also, I'm not sure why they call this the "Prequel to the console versions." There's hardly much story to speak of in this game.
Can someone give me a quick rundown of the console versions' story? Because I want to see if there really is much of anything that links this game to the console versions.
I ask because I'm thinking that this game may be more enticing to someone who has the console versions, so that this may be more of a companion to the bigger games rather than for just anyone with a DS.
edit: I'm updating the OP with the last of my thoughts on this game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games