Review: Assassins Creed

Ah, Assassins Creed. The ever-so popular series about murder. And don't we all love a good murder game?

The answer is yes, but the real question here is: IS this a good murder game?

Weeeellll...I'll tell you.

A few months ago I got this game in preparation for AC3, which I thought would be an awesome game. I mean, did you see those trailers? HOLY CRAP! They looked amazing. And me being me, I wanted to play the first one to see if I liked it. So I got it and was anxious to play.

If any of you read "GameLog: Assassins Creed, I" then you know I wasn't very successful at first. Not at all. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do and couldn't get anywhere. The map was very difficult for me to read. (In games, I'm awful with maps. Go figure.) The world is HUGE back in this medieval land, and getting to Damascus is hard work! Especially when it's super easy to tick off guards...Oh...My...Word...You can't run without being attacked. Do you know how hard it is not to run in a video game where you can run? DO YOU KNOW?

...Yeah...

Moving on. The controls. Ergh. Those aren't good. Even before Assassins Creed 3, they were bad. You had to hold five million buttons to sprint. And climbing buildings (A key thing in these games) was just difficult. I give them a strong grade of D. They would be F, except that after you FINALLY get used to them, they're decent.

But I didn't get to that point. Nope, I bailed after playing it two times. TWO. I wasn't impressed. I couldn't bring myself to enjoy the confusing pain. I'm sorry. But the graphics, although crappy compared to this-gen games, were okay and good for their time. And the storyline? AWESOME! I'm really appreciative of the fact each game has two storylines, basically. The storyline of the ancestor which is fully played out in the game, and then the main storyline of Desmond and his fiascos outside of the Animus which connect all the games together. I love storylines, and this storyline is great. It's depthy enough, but isn't confusing. So that's swell.

I couldn't get into this game, I just couldn't. The controls were the main issue here. If you want to read of my first time playing the game, here's the link to GameLog: Assassins Creed, I: http://ablogforgamers.blogspot.com/2012/12/gamelog-assassins-creed-i.html

Do I dislike the Assassins Creed franchise? HECK to the NO! (Lame, I know) The characters are truly well-done and lovable, the worlds are AMAZING and extremely detailed, the extras (Such as assassination contracts) are really fun, and it's somehow rewarding to kill someone with a knife and watch blood spew out of them. Heh.

My next review will be of Assassins Creed II, where I have some nicer things to say. So stay tuned.

Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (Throwback Thursday)

This week, I threw it back with my dad. Yup, Dad Gamer and I decided to conquer the realms and defeat Skorne the demon by collecting runestones together; all while throwing axes, shooting arrows and running away from Death. Such great bonding.

In the beginning of the game you're faced with the challenge of who you're going to be. Luckily, they give you the stats of each character. They rank speed, strength, armor and magic. Dark Legacy is an expansion form of Gauntlet: Legends, so they give you better character types. In this addition you get Sorceress, Knight, Dwarf and Jester. Of course, in Round One me and my father weren't any of those new characters. Apparently we kept it boring because I was an Archer and Dad was a Warrior. Archers have superior speed and above-average magic. Warriors have superior strength...And not much else. At least I was able to run faster and use magic better; take that, Dad. 

But I must admit that Warriors have impressive HP, and Archers do not. Of course with the enhancing in levels your HP escalates, but if you have awful HP (*cough* Archers *cough*) and cherries, meat, and other various fruits that lay around the levels WHICH ARE THERE TO GIVE YOU LIFE only give you, I don't know, five health points, you're pretty much put in a hard place. So, you die. And you have to go to the stupid TOWER and WAIT until the level is COMPLETED and you have to watch your better-at-video-games-than-you father throw his axes, go up in levels, and beat the level while you go back to level one IN THE TOWER.

Yes, I'm just the slightest bit bitter. And did I mention that this totally fair game only refills your HP less than a fourth of the way? So every time I died, I came back not only weaker, but with not enough HP to get me through the level...Note to self: Don't play as an Archer.

Even though playing as an Archer makes the fighting and battling really fun. Well, battling in this game is really fun no matter what. The Atari version of Gauntlet was described as a hack-and-slash arcade game, and that description still stands for Dark Legacy. While playing, me and Dad were trying to figure out a way to describe it, and things like "arcade rpg" came to mind.

The battling is fun, yeah, but I would say that if you can't throw or shoot things the game would get a whole lot harder. Multiple times Dad (who could throw axes) and I (who can shoot arrows) would just stand still and take-out the dozens of on-coming enemies by throwing our weapons of choice at them. But considering there are so many things, like targets you have to hit/shoot at, which you need to hit to progress, probably everyone can throw something. Therefore, I'm not too worried.

Another element of the game is magic. You get potions you can use to kill enemies in different ways, but usually you hoard them in case Death comes alive. (Think about it) Of course Wizards are the best with magic, so unless you're a Wizard, you never use it. (Unless, like I said, for Death.)

In Round Two I played as a Jester and Dad played as a Minotaur. Minotaur's are pretty awesome, I must say. They look just as you'd expect them to and they're tough. They have similar stats to the Warrior, being that they have sweet strength and not-so-sweet magic and speed. And the Jester is very similar to the Archer, except has better armor. Wow, we picked almost the exact same characters. Way to go, us. The Jester is way better than the Archer, however. I really enjoyed this character. Of course throughout the game you collect crystals and treasure that allow you to buy things that increase armor, speed, and strength, so as you go on you can increase whatever you lack. Which is a definite plus.

The storyline isn't really there during this game. You get the point of going through the levels, collecting crystals and runestones and killing people, but all that stuff about Skorne escaping from the evil mage Garm is only mentioned in the beginning scene, otherwise it's nonexistent. Plus the whole  thing with the evil president of the eight realms I didn't know of until I visited Wiki. So if you're looking for a storyline, maybe this game isn't for you.

I had a good time playing this game. It's not too easy, yet it's not too hard. (Although it all depends on the character you choose, apparently. Or else you'll spend way too much in the tower, weeping in the corner, slipping into insanity and depression, all because your dad is a meat and fruit hogger. Thanks, Dad.)

This game is somewhat relaxing, too. And very enjoyable. It's an arcade hack-and-slash, what's not to like?! This game gets a good four out of five towers of insanity and depression, because even though it's not as depthy and lengthy as one might like, it's a good arcade game. It wasn't made to be over-the-top amazing, and that's exactly why it's very close.