Assassins Creed.

[Captain Beefheart]

Everything I've read touts it as probable game of the year and savior of videogame story telling.

The more I think about this, the more crazy it becomes. Storytelling is so underrated these days most developers don't seem to care the least about innovative or interesting ways to use the medium of videogames and instead focus on artistic direction, gameplay, design first and foremost.

This leaves us with a great deal of really uninteresting games past the visual aspect of it. Once you're used to the visual aspect, fuggit, throw the game in the trash. Another game has better graphics? PFFFT...get rid of this piece of junk.

But why does a game like Civilization have such a cult following dedicated to even the first release of the game? It's because the "story" is very open ended and the engine is such that it dynamically reacts to the input it is given.

What we have now with games is STILL a completely static world. I understand why that was the case with cartridges. From a technical standpoint you could only hard code so many possibilities. I get why CD-ROM based machines with only 8mb memory cards couldn't do much better but I can't understabd for the life of me why games aren't tapping into the dynamic power of multiple plotlines, dynamic reaction and far more interactive environments in order to bring players more into the game.

Have you seen the "spoiler" vids on youTube? I had a feeling the premise would be as it is. I still plan to buy it, still don't know which console to choose.

[Captain Beefheart]

I am loving this game.

The evolving relationship between Desmond and Altair would lend itself perfectly to a more episodic packaging, and I could very well see the sequels going in that direction: five more memory blocks on the DVD, with downloadable content released every couple of months one memory block at a time. Because the game plays around with the nature of memory (and hints at false memories, alternate timelines, etc), nothing needs to be chronological, but everything can be tied back into the original story.

The oppressive corporation at the center of the game is perfect for an ARG or some other marketing tie-in to the sequels.

I've read sum criticism so far, mostly centering around stealth. "How are you anonymous in a bright white robe with a sword strapped to your back free-running up the side of a building in medieval Jerusalem? The pile of hay does it?"

The idea isn't that you remain stealthy, it's that you remain anonymous. Escape is a matter of breaking their line of sight, then disappearing from view long enough to become anonymous again.

Of course there are areas to be improved. Once we get to the point of photo-realistic, full-motion gameplay (we're not that far after seeing Mass Effect. good lord), every little hitch is amplified just because our brains are trained to seek out stutters and non-human movements.

So I assume you have the game already in your possession?

[mr.mark]

that is the best game i have had in a wile