Assassins Creed Chronicles: China

Platforming like the Prince of Persia!

Shao Jun, a disciple of Ezio Auditore, is out for revenge as the Templars have slaughtered almost all her other Assassin comrades. This is the first in the series that is a platformer and it pulls it off rather well.

Guards have viewing cones to help you hide.

Apart from extra equipment there are also animus fragments for those that like to explore but that is risky business as Jun is much more fragile than the other protagonists in the series. Not only do the bad guys hit hard but her life bar is pretty low and combat can be a clunky affair.

That said it is still quite enjoyable and a worthy addition to the Assassin's Creed series and I give this 2.5 rope darts to the head out of 5. If you like platformers or Assassin's Creed, you will probably enjoy this. If you want a "better" stealth platformer then I recommend Mark of the Ninja instead.

Insight: Slide/Jump kills are very handy once you learn them. Till then, hanging ledge whistle followed by rope dart to a curious guard is a handy autokill.

Skyrim: No Interuptions... Almost

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The downside of slaying all the Dragonslayers was that a new master dragon took the opportunity to show up and terrorize ... Labyrinthian. The ruins high up in the frozen mountains where no one goes. Lol. Anyway, since dragons are sort of our job, my team got there - avoided the meteor shower and killed the silly thing without batting an eye (twin katanas of dragon death helped).

"Dragon shmagon, I'll make boots out of you."

I sent the sisters back to Whiterun at this point, for their own safety, since I knew the forces of the Sinister Seven wouldn't rest while I was still alive. I opted to go to the safest place I knew: Death Mountain, and there I continued my self-studies in schools of alchemy and enchanting.

Sure enough an army of assassins led by the giant orc, Temujin the Thunderer, came barging in and were dealt with splendidly by Einer and the daedric guards. They didn't even interrupt my work! Alas, running out of ingredients did though, so during a lull in the fighting, Einer and I snuck off pick up supplies.

Fortunately there were none as talented as Ezio.

Assassin's Creed 3

New characters and beautiful maps really make the game worth exploring again.

It's great having first played Black Flag then going backwards to see the development process for the naval ship idea. In Revelations there was a segment where Ezio had to break out of a harbor which was pretty cool. The whole sailing part was already introduced here as sort of a side game, one of many given that there are board games and QTE hunting to do too. It's no secret the sailing segments are my favorite, but what else did I like?

The killing! Wait, you mean apart from the killing?

The many huge maps to explore, not just cities either. The open frontier is awesome, especially on horseback. At least when they give you the horse whistle ability. I also quite liked Desmond getting a chance to do more than just sit in the Animus, more than usual anyway in modern settings. Obviously they were testing to see how that could be done with the lack of haystacks these days. The solution is one they looked to be testing here: BASE jumping. I also quite liked the story of the whole thing and found the voice acting to be superb.

Having six unique recruits with their own abilities was also a lot better than the bunch of hard-to-remember throw aways added in Revelations, but ultimately unnecessary. After getting used to the slightly different controls it is business as usual for the assassin heroes who are like gods that can't even be put down by enemy firing lines as you regenerate quickly over time. Well, I still got thrashed by someone named "Rope Beater" a few times but he was a rare (and honestly, refreshing) exception. :P

This also seems to be where they worked on the notoriety system though it is a bit flawed in the execution here - why bribe criers or newspapers when pulling down three wanted posters is just as easy? Oh well.

On to the things I didn't like: There is a whole chapter in Native American. Yep. For some reason, the Animus which translated Altair and Ezio almost fully to English, fails to do it here. Why? That whole bit felt alienating but whatever. As a result I really disliked one of the main protagonists (Connor), not just because he's a douche bag but because of that. When he finally speaks English it's almost like I'm being introduced to a new character. One I don't really give a stuff about.

Moving on, the lock picking mini-game - stupid and a waste of time since there is really no threat to you while you do it. It's just there to slow you down. On the same vein, spelunking in large underground maps devoid of life is annoying (yet I still did it). Yes, I know they were trying to get the scale right or whatever but I'm just equating it to my maps in Neverwinter Online, no way would anyone get away with making such a sprawling and simultaneously boring place. 15 minute quests man. 15 minutes tops.

More to add to the useless list are: Hunting, Crafting and that god awful mini-management game. Why do they insist on putting that shitty management game? I know it continues on to Black Flag but I'll be glad if it is destroyed entirely. Fortunately it's not needed here and can be skipped, just like in the next game. I hope that people wise up and spend resources on something better than this crap. You also get a TON of tools you can use, but really you just need a sword, pistol and horse and you are set. Everything else is fluff.

Also, the Homestead missions. They are both really cool, and exceptionally stupid. Unfortunately, more on the stupid side of the scale. Oh, I could go try stop/win a war or you know, I could take the time to pick some flowers. The game also suffers from a long, unskippable credit roll and once again has some sort of PvP multiplayer attachment which instead of Abstergo training their own people is now better presented as an entertainment game. This sits a lot better and is followed through in Black Flag's main story, but is still just on the side content I'm not really interested in. If only they made a coop multiplayer version... I think that one is called Unity, right? :P

A definite improvement over Revelations but still nowhere near as good as Black Flag, I give this game three and a half arrows out of five.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Ezio is back as an old and tired guy - and that's kind of exactly how this game feels.

I know I played the Assassin's Creed games out of order when I skipped ahead to Black Flag after Brotherhood, so I was slightly expecting a reduction in quality when playing this older game. I just didn't realize how much. Right after the "Lucy Event", we find Desmond trapped / being kept alive in the Animus. Unlike the previous games we actually get to learn a fair bit about Desmond this time around, and it reveals that he is a fricking liar in the previous games (from what I remember anyway).

As usual his part is second fiddle to that of the now aged Ezio Auditore who seems to run just that bit slower that before, but is wise enough to carry parachutes for when the player does stupid jumps off the really high buildings of Constantinople. It's a pretty city, but it is the only main site in this game. There are only... what, two other explorable maps? Ezio has also brought with him his knowledge of city investment which really makes gaining money a breeze but is slighlty tempered by the "Templar Awareness" meter which goes up everytime you do an "illegal" action - like investing. Lol.

If you anger them too much they attack one of your hideouts in what has to be one of the stupidest tower defense mini-games ever. Yup. You setup barricades and your assassin minions to defend against a horde of invaders but the whole time the only thing I really needed, and wanted to do (but could not) is just jump down there and personally slay all of them. Because you are still Ezio and your counter kills are still as deadly as before. Segments with Altair are here too, and those are even more fun to play - almost more rewarding as in brings his story to a close.

The ultimate tag team?

The mini management of recruiting assassins and sending them out in a mini-game is present here, and gels far better than the same system in Black Flag (it was Kenway's fleet there). This is because your rookies can become Den Masters at level 10, opening more quests for you in the city and again at level 15 at which point they prevent the silly tower defense game themselves.

I guess I should mention you also have new gear in the form of a hook blade (you can flying fox down ropes and do some other minor things) and bombs, complete with a bomb making crafting segment. Honestly? They come in handy here and there but are totally unnecessary to someone who knows the combat system. Hide? What hide? Just draw your sword and walk right up to the elite guards and kill them. Sure the Janissaries have some nice moves but they don't carry as much meds as Ezio. No regen here, but it doesn't matter. :P

There is also a PvP multiplayer aspect present here again (Templars using the Animus as training) but I'm not sure it's even worth a mention as every single game type has "Low Player Activity" (old game). All up, this is a decent romp through the Assassin's Creed universe but nowhere near as neat as Black Flag. I give it 2.5 hidden blades out of five.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

You might have noticed a large gap between my last post and the one before it, and the main reason for it is this damn game which really brought out the kleptomaniac in me to collect and do all the things! Well, most of the things anyway. I've always liked the Assassin's Creed franchise but have missed a few after Altair and Ezio (up to Brotherhood). That didn't matter as Black Flag picks up a new protagonist in pirate Edward Kenway who is pretty much motivated throughout most of the game by greed, which sits well in both the setting and the available side activities which are done so well that they don't feel like side activities at all!

Privateers don't attack their own country, so... pirate fits better!

As a "Creed" game it has all the familiar stuff of climbing about, jumping into haystacks, hiding from guards occasionally and generally being a near unstoppable killing machine in combat. If you've played any of the previous games this is all the same. Fortunately it also only comprises of maybe 30-40% of the game (which is most of the main story).

What they've added here and added well is a pirate game. You sail your boat around the huge map (which is conveniently littered with fast travel points you can unlock) and can go fishing, treasure hunting and pillaging like the scoundrel you are. You'll find quickly though, that out at sea you -will- get your ass kicked if you don't upgrade the boat. No matter how good Kenway is at swordplay or his personal gear (which you can also upgrade) it won't matter against a cannonball or mortar shell. Even when you've finally upgraded fully there are a few set legendary ships you can try go after and wow, the Spanish ones especially proved quite challenging.

The only downside to some might be the shanties your crew sings but I found them really cool and was eventually humming or singing along to some of them (yes I played too much), but those can be turned off with a simple setting. Speaking of settings, you'll want to have your subtitles on so you can understand (even if Edward can't) what people are saying when they speak in Spanish, French, Portugese or bad olde English.

The modern day stuff (a standard in AC games I think) is interesting too with little hacking games (of frogger) but generally you'll be wanting to hook into the Animus for the most part to keep following Edward's story to its conclusion, and a fine story it is too. As usual the graphics are great though the camera can do some wierd things at times especially in melee. Not that it matters since the bad guys (erm, good guys?) need all the help they can get in that aspect.

Obviously if you don't like sailing games (or sailing games that don't go into depth of what rigging you put up or the build of your mast) or the Assassin's Creed series in general, this probably isn't the game for you. I found it mesmerising and fantastic, and despite it crashing on me every 30 minutes or less I give it 4.5 out of 5 cannonballs.