Mass Effect:Mass Effect is basically Knights of the Old Republic, save without lightsabers, Jedi, or the Force. I mean, it looks great (don't get me wrong), but it's still just a copy - they even have Force-esque powers that are called Biotics, which give you a range of abilities from lifting, throwing and barriers, etc.
Also, I wasn't impressed with how crappy the custom model face is; it seems to be lacking in detail, whereas if you use their default male (or female) model (as depicted on the front, with the shaved head), it looks quite good. It's almost like they added the additional facial palette just for show, without really putting a lot of effort into it.
Game-play is standard, though the 3rd person angle with weaponry (namely guns, no blades) is pretty good. I thought it could have been made into a stand-alone shooter, personally; but the RP element, and the unoriginal character development (not too far removed from KotoR) just makes it bland. As well as that, a lot of the characters can be associated with Knights of the Republic stereotypes, and they even use Carth Onassi's voice actor again - why? Heh.
All in all, I'm just trying to stick to the main storyline, in an effort to pass it and then return it. I tried to bother with sub-plots, but in the end I just became frustrated with how little pay off there is for the completion of them.
Oh, and things are very overpriced in the shops - don't bother buying anything, especially when you find those same items (almost literally) the next plot step following for free.
Over all, it's a nice game, but isn't deverse enough from Knights of the Old Republic to me... I just keep waiting for Darth Nihilus to step out and take a stab at me.
Ratings:
[*]Story (5/10): Seems pretty straight-forward. You've got your main plot, to stop a bad guy from bringing back a race of deadly robot machines, and your sub-plots, where you explore the (sadly unoriginal) personas of your crew and friends. But... been there, done that - only with the Star Wars license.
[*]Graphics (9/10): Impressive character models, at least facially - until you start creating your own, to which they start to warp and look weird (around the eyes and such). The grain effect is a good addition, and makes it more movie-like, which is nice. Some of the body models are a little odd... especially the lack of detail in some of the cutscenes on the hero's arms and such.
[*]Replayability (7/10): Options during character creation add a nice touch, as your decisions determine how people react to you; such as being a 'War Hero' who held of an 'Entire Army Invasion Single-handedly', people will respect and admire you, whereas being a ruthless SOB who led his entire platoon into an ambush and was the only one to survive, makes people question your ability to lead, but respect that you can live through mostly anything, etc, etc.
[*]Innovation (4/10): A step up on KotoR, but sadly not enough to make it a stand alone game; the overall gameplay dynamics just seem to have changed the galaxy, and the character's names.
Assassin's Creed:Assassin's Creed is fun. I enjoy running around the city, helping citizens and punishing bad men; though, I'm not so sure about only doing that, with a big assassination being the only pay off. I've started to find myself getting bored and just wanting to find out what the hell the plot twist is going to be - it seems to be taking a long time to unravel, and I'm becoming annoyed with how little is being revealed at a time.
Also, I don't enjoy the city sections - namely there are three that make up a full city, and as you assassinate your first two big targets you get the full map to reach the third (of the city - with 9 main targets in total, 3 to a city, with 3 cities). So you're limited to the poor district, then you kill the first guy, then the middle district, then you kill the second guy, and 'then' you can go anywhere.
It's not as free roaming as they said, assassination wise; I was led to believe that you could start anywhere on the target list - even start with the head honcho (whoever that is, as I have yet to find out) - but, alas, you simply get to choose which of the three cities to work through in which order, to unlock the next round of assassinations. I would have been happy working through an entire city's worth of main assassinations, before moving on to the next - but, instead, you are required to visit each one in turn, to kill the lowly first rung targets, before moving through all three cities again to kill the second rung, etc, etc.
But... on a whole, I think it's well done, and somewhat impressive when Altair is climbing. Clearly they've put a lot of development into the climbing engine, and he even puts his individual limbs on varying out-croppings and ledges, depending on which path you take - and his placement looks 'solid' (no weird feet being out of kink with ladder steps, for example), which is very impressive!
The horse riding around the countryside is nice, too, and the horse controls well, unlike other games with the same element. And it's a nice addition to see that your horse, whichever one you choose and/or get on, decides to follow you - so no more looking for that damn source of travel that keeps disappearing, yay!
I bought it, simply because I enjoy the premise and assassins are my thing; but if you're not going to bother trying to unlock everything (such as sub-plots like helping innocents), then don't bother buying it, as the whole is what makes it worth it.
Ratings:
[*]Story (7/10): A tad confusing to begin with, and seemingly slow to develop - then bam, out of nowhere, a bunch of plot points are thrown into your face. The genetic feel seemed odd, but began to grow on me - and by genetic feel, I mean a group of scientists using the strands in DNA to reconstruct the past memories of a 19th century assassin through the study of his ancestor (who is being held against his will, and is forced to cooperate). I can't wait to see how the end reveals itself, and depending on how it finishes, I may alter this rating up - but so far it seems solid and intriguing enough to make me think of various potential plot twists and secrets that might come.
[*]Graphics (8/10): They look impressive, especially when you watch the climbing animations with a critical eye - I couldn't help but sit back and nod, mentioning how every footstep and hand grasp is basically spot on. Facial wise, the models are average, though better than recent games - I think they've gone for a more streamlined design look, with clumps of high detail throughout the environment, as opposed to the characters themselves - though the chainmail on the templars is impressive at close range, as you can see the rings when you move the camera just right. Overall they look pretty good, I'd say nearing the top of the line in current game markets.
[*]Replayability (6/10): Might be nice to play around and just kill all of the guards, templars and what-have-yours, though I hope there's a 'continued play' option, so you don't have to reset all of your weaponry and abilities.
[*]Innovation (7/10): It's like Prince of Persia on steroids, which is fine by me, as I enjoyed that series. But, it's also added a new flavour with 'hiding in plain sight', though I still don't understand how guards can mistake you for a scholar when you're carrying a small armory on your person... Hmm.
