by I thought Ubisoft had only been making the same game for 10 years. It turns out it is closer to 15. Originally, I gave a pass to the original Assassin’s Creed because it was a novel concept – a freerunning game set in an open world with climbing puzzles. It was pretty neat. The sequels were terrible since as Chezni just mentioned, they haven’t changed the game in years – just better graphics and a different story. It turns out I was mistaken for even giving the original a pass, since the mechanics were already present in another game series by Ubisoft: Prince of Persia.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
As I played my hour, I started giggling. Then laughing. Then crying a bit, because this is just Assassin’s Creed in a more primitive engine. Since this game, Ubisoft has just remade this exact game over and over again. It has freerunning. It has the exact same buggy “no, I didn’t want to run up that wall, I wanted to run through the door” problems that haven’t been fixed in any of the AC games. It has the exact same weird bars you swing around on. It has the exact same horrible, horrible action camera. It has the exact same dagger stun locks. The only improvement brought by the original Assassin’s Creed was the open world (which, granted, is fairly significant), but at the cost of wallrunning and reversing time (which was actually fun). This game is forever tainted because of my experience with Assassin’s Creed, which affects my tiering. I can’t play it because it just reminds me of all the things I hate about Assassin’s Creed and what that series stands for. I could almost see myself playing it at some point because the time reversal seems fun and the characters/story interesting – though the dramatic cutscenes every time you sheath your sword or drink water (no, I’m not kidding) is more hilariously bad than fun. To Tier Three it goes – play Lara Croft’s Tomb Raider Legend or Anniversary instead.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
See above, only the composer played Doom in between. Add heavy metal, angst, sexism, and a worse camera…somehow.
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Though the camera is still terrible, it’s less terrible than the previous two. The combat is more fluid, and the angst seems to be gone from the previous game. This one goes to Tier Two for me – I’m not sure I’ll play it soon, but it’s probably worth picking up at some point.
Prince of Persia
Ah, of course. The eighth game of the Prince of Persia series: Prince of Persia. Naming conventions are apparently no longer in vogue in the gaming industry. Ah well. At least it’s a fun game. The combat is a little simplistic and honestly a bit frustrating at times – they could really have used some sort of stamina mechanic – but overall the freerunning and attacking does feel more fluid. There does seem to be a bit of “collect all these things” leaking in, but the chemistry between the main characters keeps up a good level of patter. I can definitely see myself playing more of this – Tier One (Two Thrones might squeak in as well, now that I’m thinking about it).
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
This goes into my “Technical Issues” category because it would require that I install Uplay. I refuse. I’m a bit disappointed since not a single one of these games actually let me take screenshots and I had hopes for the most recent one. But Uplay isn’t worth the sacrifice.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a Tier Four developer. Between their ridiculous DRM, Uplay launcher, and rehashing of the exact same game over and over again, I have sworn off buying any of their future games (and playing any of their Uplay games). The soul of the company was slowly drained ever since the Sands of Time. I have considered doing an Assassin’s Creed series review, but there is too much pain (and the Uplay launcher, which is kinda the same thing) down that path. I have learned my lesson the hard way – they just don’t make good games any more.