By Reece Merryweather Brown
There’s been a lot of anger surrounding Ubisoft’s latest offering from the world of the Assassin’s Creed. It’s gotten more than a few of us here at IWG vexed that we’ll be unable to play as a female assassin, even though this choice has been given to us time and again before, meaning that not only was it possible but they made a conscious decision not to include it (and their bogus excuse for not including half the world’s population is ridiculous at best.) Gameplay-wise though the studio aims to break through common barriers in the gaming series and to respond directly to qualms that players have had with Unity’s predecessors.
There’s been a lot of anger surrounding Ubisoft’s latest offering from the world of the Assassin’s Creed. It’s gotten more than a few of us here at IWG vexed that we’ll be unable to play as a female assassin, even though this choice has been given to us time and again before, meaning that not only was it possible but they made a conscious decision not to include it (and their bogus excuse for not including half the world’s population is ridiculous at best.) Gameplay-wise though the studio aims to break through common barriers in the gaming series and to respond directly to qualms that players have had with Unity’s predecessors.
Among these new features, and apparently most polarising is the drastic change that the counter button has gone through. In days of old a player would be able to press a button, or press a button while holding another, and, if timed correctly, would be able to instantly kill their attacker(s).
The main problem that many had had with this is the fact that, while fun, it did make the combat rather too easy. And in games after the second installment players would be able to instantly kill an unlimited amount of enemies by first countering and then moving onto the next enemy to perform another insta-kill. [The Dev Guy] mentioned in one of the videos that a lot of the mechanics had to be redone, and while they were doing that they decided to change some. Now the counter button works in a very similar way as Rocksteady’s Arkham games. When pressed the button will perform a non-lethal strike; a backhand, or an elbow, to stun the opponent but not kill. This way the action stays fun but not easy, providing a worthwhile challenge for the player. This decision is based off of the fact that, since the beginning, they had wanted Assassin’s Creed to be a stealth-based game. As the market called for more action titles, Ubisoft was forced to change the games core mechanics and make it into more of a fighting game.
Now that the studio is as large as it is, and with stealth heavy titles such as Dishonoured doing well financially the studio wanted to go back to its original routes. This way, for some players, being detected and engaging the enemy in a fight will be a last resort or fail state, but for others the combat will be just as much of an integral part of the game, only this time it’ll represent a much greater challenge.
The main problem that many had had with this is the fact that, while fun, it did make the combat rather too easy. And in games after the second installment players would be able to instantly kill an unlimited amount of enemies by first countering and then moving onto the next enemy to perform another insta-kill. [The Dev Guy] mentioned in one of the videos that a lot of the mechanics had to be redone, and while they were doing that they decided to change some. Now the counter button works in a very similar way as Rocksteady’s Arkham games. When pressed the button will perform a non-lethal strike; a backhand, or an elbow, to stun the opponent but not kill. This way the action stays fun but not easy, providing a worthwhile challenge for the player. This decision is based off of the fact that, since the beginning, they had wanted Assassin’s Creed to be a stealth-based game. As the market called for more action titles, Ubisoft was forced to change the games core mechanics and make it into more of a fighting game.
Now that the studio is as large as it is, and with stealth heavy titles such as Dishonoured doing well financially the studio wanted to go back to its original routes. This way, for some players, being detected and engaging the enemy in a fight will be a last resort or fail state, but for others the combat will be just as much of an integral part of the game, only this time it’ll represent a much greater challenge.
Also with this change comes the removal of the dual-instakill-counter. Previously, if two enemies were to rush the assassin at the same time and the player pressed the counter button a short cinematic would ensue depicting the assassin taking out the two attackers. While this has disheartened many a fan, I personally am pleased. I’ve put in countless hours into the swashbuckling adventures of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and after a while it becomes a little too easy to take on an entire enemy ship. On your own. With no counter icons. Now, when I take down a small contingency of enemies I’ll know that it was me who did it; not a cutscene and not, what is in essence a slightly slower QTE, and will feel a greater sense of accomplishment for it as a result. These days big game companies often try to do one of a few things. They try to be very realistic, or like for instance Dishonoured, try to create a unique style. With realism comes difficulty and the whole point of a video game, in its barest sense; you have an objective and there are thing stopping you from reaching said objective.
The first is key, there must be an objective, even if it’s just fun, but the second is also paramount to a gamer’s enjoyment, as without something to struggle against, to improve because of, to overcome, there is no achievement, no reward, no fun. And if an entire army’s worth of difficulties can be dispatched at the tap of a button or two then there goes the fun. In addition to this new stealth heavy approach the game has finally added an actual stealth mode, one which can be turned on and off, as opposed to previous game’s often infuriating anonymous system. It also allows you more control with your movements too, as now, to climb up a wall, the player will have to press X/A if they wish to ascend and O/B if they wish to descend. This way the game doesn’t have to guess what you want to do, and because of that it won’t get it wrong.
The first is key, there must be an objective, even if it’s just fun, but the second is also paramount to a gamer’s enjoyment, as without something to struggle against, to improve because of, to overcome, there is no achievement, no reward, no fun. And if an entire army’s worth of difficulties can be dispatched at the tap of a button or two then there goes the fun. In addition to this new stealth heavy approach the game has finally added an actual stealth mode, one which can be turned on and off, as opposed to previous game’s often infuriating anonymous system. It also allows you more control with your movements too, as now, to climb up a wall, the player will have to press X/A if they wish to ascend and O/B if they wish to descend. This way the game doesn’t have to guess what you want to do, and because of that it won’t get it wrong.
Assassin's Creed: Division?
How are you feeling about Unity’s drastic new change from action-adventure to stealthy-stab-em’-up? Why not check out Islam Soliman’s articleright here and drop a comment telling him how much better he is than me!
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