Welcome to my first video game review since I took apart Call of Duty’s (COD) WW2, which I took apart relentlessly, not for its gameplay, which was solid, I was hyper-critical for what it lacked, that was the story, which for me has always been one of the most important aspects of any good video gaming experience.
Now, this is where we get into the actual title of this blog. For those of you who have read my prior blog entry, “Assassins Creed: The Missing Order”, will know that I have been playing this franchise since the very beginning, and I am somewhat attached/invested in it as one becomes in a good story.
The promotional material for this latest entry into the Assassin's Creed franchise promised us a smaller map similar to what we saw in the series' first entry back in 2007, a return to the stealth gameplay of old that we hadn’t seen since it peaked in Syndicate and a deviation from what we saw in the past 3 titles in the style of combat.
I am happy to report that it delivers on all that Ubisoft’s PR team promised. On the gameplay side of things, the role-play gameplay mechanics are there but have massively toned down, gone are the seemingly endless branches that you can level up. This means that you can no longer become an unstoppable Spartan demi-god as you could in Odyssey, nor can you become a bloodthirsty decapitating Viking Berserker like you could in Valhalla. Combat is fairly challenging if you get into a fight with lots of enemies; death is almost certain, and you’re rewarded for playing this game in a stealthy manner utilising, your hidden blade, throwing knives, smoke bombs, traps and cover over your sword and dagger. Unless you purchased the Deluxe version with the Prince of Persia armour and weapons, these are basically pay-to-win, and once I got access to them, I didn’t use any of the other weapons in my entire playthrough.
This was most refreshing as it was a return to what made the franchise great in the first place it’s what fans like myself have been clamouring for. The map and the city of Baghdad reminded me of the map we got in Brotherhood, where the entire map was focused mainly on Rome and its surrounding areas. This felt great, and they did a typically fantastic job of creating a world that you can get lost in. Baghdad is surrounded by deserts, similar to what we saw…
