Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Assassin's Creed: A Lesson In Realism

The recent E3 was a showcase of new console technology mostly, with the PS 3, XBox 360, and Nintendo Wii all vying it out for booth space. Besides the obvious hits like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, one game that stood out for me was Assassin's Creed (AC) for the PS 3. I was simply amazed when I first laid eyes on screenies of the game. It's developed by Ubisoft, and it definitely shows, with AC's style very much resembling Ubisoft's other hit, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Assassin's Creed (Click for larger image)This is actual real-time gameplay...utterly gorgeous.

The game is set somewhere in the 12th Century, and you play Altair, an assassin in a really cool white hood-cloak get-up. From what I've learned, you'll be able to cling on to ANYTHING that looks scale-able. From ledges to walls, to stall roofs, anything that sticks out more than 2 inches can be grabbed on to. Now, that's cool.

Assassin's Creed (Click for larger image)Jerusalem recreated in painstaking detail.

Also, everything is just so damn realistic. Townspeople will also react realistically to your actions. Bump into them too hard and they'll shout out, maybe alerting nearby guards. Draw your sword in daylight and risk creating a riot. And how you interact with people in the crowd depends on how fast you're running/walking. Run and you'll shove them, walk and you'll gently nudge them aside. Wow. Fable for the XBox 360 certainly offered this sense of realism, but that game just didn't make the grade. Looking at these early screens, Assassin's Creed looks to be well on it's way to being a better experience.

Assassin's Creed (Click for larger image)Get out of my way! Or not.

Assassin's Creed (Click for larger image)Again, just like watching CG.

And the graphics. You just have to stare at the screenshots yourself. Click them for larger images. Really, CLICK THEM. =) Games like this almost make it worth shelling out USD 600 for a PS 3. Almost...

Assassin's Creed (Click for larger image)Some parts of the game take place in the present...go figure.

Assassin's Creed (Click for larger image)The lighting is amazing here.

P.S. Oh, another little bit of info. The PS 3 will not have those boomerangs for controllers anymore. They will look EXACTLY like your faithful old Dualshock 2, minus the shock (*gasp*), but with a nifty 'Tilt' feature where you tilt the controller to control...oh, various things yet undiscovered, lol.

>>> Gamelog

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2 comments:

Crayotic Rockwell said...

The batarang controler looked a little large, but I am actually kind of dissapointed that they just fell back and tossed the old one out there with a scaled back Wii feature.. didn't even try to disguise it cosmetically or anything :/

But those graphics certaily are amazing.. I'm still hesitent on the concept though. Sounds like it could be great or just fall on it's face

Regalia said...

Yeah, that's true. The batarang was unconventional, certainly, but it was a step in a different direction. We've had the Dualshock for almost 10 years now, from PSOne time, and it would have been nice to change.

Well, this is ultimately one of PS3s 'early' games. So, at least it's a sign of great things to come yet. But if it's half as awesome as it sounds, I'm sure it'll do fine.