Assassin's Creed gameplay video in three parts
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Oct 12th 2007 at 6:00PM }
Everything looks good until the third part when you see the combat. Sure, the cutscene killings look cool (a la Heavenly Sword), but the combat appears a bit slow and awkward (one guy fighting when there are ten other people standing around). As we learned during our hands-on time with the game, there won't be a demo for gamers to experience the "different" style of Assassin's Creed before its release. Eh, they've got a couple months to work out the combat kinks ... or longer.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
copa @ Oct 12th 2007 6:13PM
Still no release date on this puppy? Not a great sign.
Agent4187 @ Oct 12th 2007 6:18PM
Yeah, uhh...
Assassin's creed looked great initially, but the more I see of it, the more I feel they should just wait until next year to release it.
arrrgh @ Oct 15th 2007 11:46AM
+1
i reeeeeeeeeeeally hope they take their time to work out the shit...'cause right now this game is starting to disappoint me :(
Navk123 @ Oct 12th 2007 6:21PM
they should just call this bad asses creed, i hope they work out the battle AI cuz other wise its gonna get old fast
Mr Khan @ Oct 12th 2007 6:26PM
Read the article about this over at PS3fanboy
The signs look bad, they seem to be having similar issues to GTAIV (programming issues with PS3, disc space issues with 360)
Wes @ Oct 12th 2007 7:47PM
Read:
Problems with PS3 coding like the 20 delayed games this year or more.
PS3 fanboy tries to spin it as 360 disc space issue when disc space basically hasn't been an issue for any game on the 360 yet and a lot of games still don't even reach the full 9GB but regardless gamers wouldn't care too much about spanning it to 2 disc and producing 2 dvds is still cheaper than 1 blu-ray.
Anonim @ Oct 12th 2007 8:44PM
Actualy DVD problems are BECAUSE they are WANT to PUT FIVE LANGUAGES on ONE DVD.
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 12th 2007 8:48PM
that's dumb, unless all of europe gets the same disc
Matt B @ Oct 12th 2007 9:15PM
Get your facts before you make yourself look stupid Wes.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198494
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 12th 2007 9:38PM
oh look the sdf is here to...save the day?
Matt B @ Oct 12th 2007 11:31PM
Oh look, there is blooh. Nothing to do but hit refresh on the 'stiq all day.
n0v4 @ Oct 13th 2007 10:05AM
What are you people talking about There IS a release date, it's november 13th.
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 14th 2007 10:37AM
the way they're talking, it sounds like it was delayed and a few of us didn't hear about it before
blehh @ Oct 12th 2007 6:36PM
i hate how they couldn't keep the twist a secret. i have yet to play a game that made me go "OOOOH SNAP" because of some crazy plot. maybe i should just stop going video game blogs.
mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Oct 12th 2007 6:44PM
There was a moment of glee when, after just walking around a crowd for a while, he suddenly jumps and climbs up a wall.
It was a little hard to believe all of those guards didn't just jump on him and pin him to the ground.
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 12th 2007 6:48PM
why didnt he kill the head knight with one of his instakill thrown daggers?
and yeah, that combat looked very easy and unrealistic
maybe this is a failed assassination attempt? a good assassin is like agent 47 (in most missions), nobody suspects foul play unless you want them to
Autopsy15 @ Oct 12th 2007 10:17PM
You have to assassinate with style!
r @ Oct 12th 2007 7:08PM
It seems like he can run past everyone if he wanted to...
They better fix that.
Billy @ Oct 12th 2007 7:24PM
Yah, needs a bit of polish. When you're surrounded by 10 guys, they shouldn't just stand there with their thumb in their ass while you fight one at a time. Game still looks hella sweet though.
Willie @ Oct 12th 2007 7:25PM
So sad that a game could have as much press and "potential" and then looks as though it will fail miserably all in the same 3 months.
Jag0tje @ Oct 12th 2007 7:25PM
The more I see it the less awesome it is. :( Kinda reminds of the Thief series except here you can just kill anyone and anything without much trouble, you can climb on anything so there isn't much difficulty in escaping it seems. The combat against a mob seemed kind of lacking too, 80% of them sort of stood there and pointed at him and that was about it. And for a guy wearing a giant-white jesusrobe how is it he manages to blend in crowds? I hope I'm wrong but the game looks really "easy".
mcatrage @ Oct 12th 2007 7:32PM
They really gotta stop showing videos if the game isn't finished yet. They are killing the hype and basically having people wonder if this game is going to ultimately fail.
lessbiasedthanmost @ Oct 12th 2007 7:53PM
Would you rather go back to the days of the SNES and never know if or when a game was going to see the light of day?
But I do agree to a point, this random showing of unfinished games has to stop. That's what press events are for.
red @ Oct 12th 2007 7:51PM
looks like someone forgot that realistic and fun are not the same thing. However, there is a POSSIBLE explananation (read: best case scenario) and that is that they just had them all stand around for demonstration purposes and in the real game they will attack and instead of fighting them, you will need to run away because of course one person cannot take 10 unless hes a super ninja or a god of war or whatever. Im hoping that the final game the sequence will be more like:
kill the target
counter one or two of the knights who attack you first
run like hell
and if thats the way it works then the combat system doesnt have to be fast, it just has to work well enough for you to kill one or two for fun and to then bolt.
So assuming thats the case, then of course they will change the AI a bit. Remember, there is still plenty of time to fix AI, its not like they have to fundamentally change the way the game plays. So I think in the final release you would be attacked maybe by 3 or 4 at a time (remember swinging a sword around does take space, so you cant exactly have 15 poeple swinging at once), although you would have to be able to survive of course, and you would flat out die if you stood around and fought them like you did here.
From what Ive heard, its not a hack and slash, so Im reasonably confidant my explanation is PLAUSIBLE.
otherwise ubi is really shooting themselves in the foot.
arrrgh @ Oct 15th 2007 11:56AM
This would work out VERY well if every single one of those guards is massively lethal. Like 2 hits and you're done. 1 and your badly wounded. That would be pretty intense because it would be about evasion (like i thought the game was supposed to be from the start) rather than actually TRYING to fight off 10 guys. You'd be a dead man. They have swords and arrows
Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Oct 12th 2007 8:09PM
I don't think cyanide makes you froth at the mouth.
exit stencil @ Oct 12th 2007 8:25PM
Take your time with this one guys, it looks far from done. That fight scene was an abomination.
Cyro @ Oct 12th 2007 10:20PM
It wasn't that bad. It just needs some polish, or maybe a lot. But still the game looks nice. I am personally looking forward to this title.
MarkyJ @ Oct 12th 2007 8:47PM
I've taken this from pro-g who have just posted a hands on with the game:
"There is no difficulty level to choose from. Combat isn't about complex combos but well-timed counters. Even when surrounded by ten guards, you're not in massive trouble. They won't all attack at once, instead stalking, conveniently waiting for the other to strike first. Counter one thrust, and you'll trigger one of Altair's animations (24 in total) which usually result in a gruesome death. Do this for a bit and your enemies will start to get edgy. Then it's time to go on the offensive. You could probably go on like this, countering every strike, until the cows come home. But you'll have to make a run for it eventually."
and
"Every time you kill a civilian you'll lose a third of your life. You'll even lose life when you run over people when on the horse, which you use to travel between the cities. As the developers said during our hands on: "It's Assassin's Creed, not mass-murderer creed." No GTA-style murder mayhem then."
Looks like the enemy AI will stay like that for the release, more like a slow action adventure type game than a full on hack/slash game. Especially as it doesn't have any difficulty levels.
Starke25 @ Oct 12th 2007 9:11PM
From this preview and the one in gamespy
(http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/assassins-creed/826889p1.html)
it sounds like combat is more limited (ie. target the next enemy and perform a button press combo). Also, the punishment you get for killing innocents (civilians) is really artificial. It would have
been better if you gain notoriety and have random civilians attack you in that case.
A couple of other things I noticed in the second
video:
- The crowd AI seems broken, lots of civilians were starting and stopping when the crowd broke up
- Altair walked pretty funny when entering the gates (i.e. sideways) in the second video, probably because he was close to the civilian woman (reminded me of the first episode of Earl and not being seen by hiding behind people)
Luckily there are some bright spots (from the gamespy preview):
- There are mini missions were you gather clues (thru interrogation and picket pocket) before performing the main assassination (similar idea to Sly 2 where you had to gather intel before performing the robbery)
- Climb anywhere and wide open cities
I'll probably rent it or wait for the user reviews...
Mike @ Oct 12th 2007 9:07PM
This game looks great, but the fighting mechanics looks a little weird. I believe this title is going to be pure eye-candy and nothing more. The battles looks weak!
Eric Pham @ Oct 12th 2007 9:07PM
The fight scenes have looked the same for several builds. The graphics look great and all but if thats how the fighting is going to play out it'll be a disaster. It just looks so damn awkward with all these enemies standing around waiting for you to attack kind of like a bad episode of power rangers.
isocrazy @ Oct 12th 2007 9:14PM
I think the game looks amazing. Sure the combat kinks are there but how do you realistically think you can fight 10 guys at once?
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 12th 2007 9:41PM
hitman does it pretty well, you usually don't win those fights. you have to eliminate people when they're alone or almost so
Long Bow @ Oct 12th 2007 9:25PM
I can see why the European kingdoms lost the crusades. A white ninja is jumping around a fortified city like a freaking chihuahua on crack and the guards don't even bother to turn around to see what's going on.
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 12th 2007 9:43PM
if you want a good ninja game, try tenchu z, i just played it last month on 360 and it was fun and somewhat realistic. there's definetely room for improvement, but enemies could hear/smell/see you within a decent range, so you had to hide in bushes or behind walls or whatnot, and then strike when their back is turned and they're alone
3cubed minus 3squared plus1 @ Oct 12th 2007 9:18PM
I don't care when this game comes out it just better come out good.
The fighting sucked and it seemed like there was no limit to his instakill daggers.
Like someone else said before, take your time guys.
Autopsy15 @ Oct 12th 2007 10:14PM
He does have a limit on his daggers. You can see them on the side of his coat. I think he has six or so.
cjs2004 @ Oct 12th 2007 10:01PM
Maybe they were just playing on the EASY level!!!
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 12th 2007 10:06PM
read the thread
Cyro @ Oct 12th 2007 10:22PM
Exactly my point.
Deviation @ Oct 12th 2007 11:28PM
I thought this game had a release date? September 13th or something like that - the week before Mass Effect and Uncharted.
Oh well, if this is representative of where the game is actually at right now, I hope they delay it. There's some definite work that needs to be done on the AI and the fighting.
Deviation @ Oct 12th 2007 11:36PM
Obviously I meant November, not September.
Pedobear @ Oct 12th 2007 11:32PM
Awesome.
KEFIOX @ Oct 12th 2007 11:44PM
WOW! This game just looks better everytime I see it. I seriously can't wait for this game, easily MY most anticipated game this year. My only complaint isn't about the game, but the gamers. Too many people complain about the combat, who honestly gives a damn. The game is about being an ASSASSIN not a WARRIOR/TANK-type character, so obviously the combat isn't going to be like a Hack N' Slash. It's supposed to be designed around defensive/evasive manuevers. Besides if you are truly good at the game, you'll probably never even have to get into a 10 on 1 fight.
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 13th 2007 12:00AM
well we don't know that. we just have this 1 video. perhaps you have to assassinate that guy this way. we'll find out when its released
ThornedVenom @ Oct 13th 2007 1:53AM
This game looks really sweet... beautiful graphics and animation, awesome wall-climbing and crowd-interacting mechanics, very cinematic feel... as for the difficulty of getting out of situations, it might be because the video could have been from the first mission.
Oh, and from the looks of it, even though Altair may run fast, it seems like there are too many guards all over town who'd be looking for him.
gettempapa @ Oct 14th 2007 6:54PM
looks like crap
Blahh @ Oct 13th 2007 7:49AM
Do any of you actually realise the way in which sword fights take place? Now, in the case of a 10 on 1 fight, to have all 10 men attacking at once, would likely cause half of them to kill the other half, it doesnt work!
Even with 2 on 1, unless the 2 are experienced at fighting in tandem, it is far more likely they will cause problems to each other rather than help. You may think from Hack and Slash games that surely everyone should just attack, but as trained sword fighters the AI they have would tell them not to attack when their friend is attacking, as they will likely just hinder them.
You want realism, thats far closer. However i would point out that it would make far more sense for the guards to jump on Altair, to throw things, use bows and arrows, or other methods to stop rather than just running after him like fools. The combat AI would be reasonably realistic however.
zeroword @ Oct 13th 2007 9:06AM
Blahh hit the nail on the head. Forget what video games taught you about sword fighting, real swords (of the European variety) are not just large knives. They are kind of heavy and have a weird balance to them. The good thing about this is that they have the ability to sever limbs, the bad thing is that they require quite a bit of momentum to swing and more than one person swinging those bad boys around could cause more trouble than good. The semi-realism is apparent in the animation. Though I do hope that the later levels are much harder.