Comfort Gaming

Another series that I finally got around to playing last year was Assassin's Creed. Unlike Mass Effect I had a pretty good idea of what the series was like and the reviews I had read of the first one never really made me want to investigate further. But with Revelations on the horizon I thought it was worth a try and I figured I might as well start from the beginning. The reviews of the first one weren't wrong, it was incredibly repetitive and I really had to push myself through it. It didn't help that the main character was virtually unlike-able and while you are introduced to him at full power, in the time old Metroid fashion, all of your cool moves and weapons are stripped from you after the intro, to be arbitrarily dripped back to you after each mission. I traded it in soon after finishing it - safe in the knowledge that I would never want to go back and try to get all of the achievements.

And then of course the intro video to the second one pretty much told me everything I would have needed to know to get up to speed with the plot anyway... sigh. I also felt that the opening section of AC2 was what I expected to be the ending of the first one. I was pretty disappointed at the time in terms of how abruptly it ended but it was an early sign that the second one could be much better. In contrast to the original protagonist Altair, you are introduced to Ezio as a youngster (well technically at birth) and I think you're therefore more accepting that you don't have all of the assassin's skills yet. The game begins with simple tutorials but these all form part of the story and help you get to know your new character by doing rather than being told i.e. He can hold his own in a fist fight, is reasonably acrobatic, has a competitive relationship with his brother and a taste for the laydeez. Not the most original character traits in the world but I found him quite unique in terms of player controlled characters in video games and after how bland Altair was it made a refreshing change to just be playing someone instantly likeable.

So three paragraphs in I'd best actually make some kind of reference to the title of this post. I hate to use such terms but in the past I would have probably fitted into the 'Hardcore' gaming stereotype, I didn't see much point to games that didn't really take some amount of skill and effort to complete. But as I'm getting on in years and my reactions don't quite seem to be quite what they used to be, combined with less time to play games in general I'm finding it tougher and tougher to get through games. Vanquish for example I've been trying to complete for about a year and whenever I load it up I've forgotten how the controls work and spend about half an hour trying to get back up to speed, getting killed repeatedly in the same area I got stuck on last time. I'm seriously considering restarting it on easy so that I can blast through the whole thing in a much less disjointed fashion...

By contrast, aside from a few optional side missions, I don't think I've ever felt challenged much by the AC series. The free running controls, while not perfect, mean that you don't have to think about timing pixel perfect jumps and can just concentrate on where you want to get to. The fighting can be made more complicated if you want but most of the time it's enough to simply block and then reversal attacks in a very generous time frame - Street Fighter it ain't. Despite all this I'm loath to describe Assassin's Creed 2 as a 'Casual' game though as I still felt pretty invested in it, which is why I felt that 'Comfort Gaming' described it better. The whole game just has a wonderful atmosphere from top to bottom, quite literally in terms of the design of the cities from the streets to the rooftops. The music is some of the most gorgeous and relaxing I've heard in a long time, it really put me in mind of Secret of Mana on the Super Nintendo, which had probably my favourite music of the 16bit era. And on top of that you have the completionist pleasing gradual upgrading of your home villa, gaming meta humour and a storyline that keeps you interested despite some fairly outlandish twists.

I wasn't as impressed by Brotherhood, I felt that it took it just that little bit too far in terms of being a game that virtually plays itself. The characters and storyline seemed to take a back seat and the gameplay felt like it took a step back towards the formulaic repetition of the first game. While I could see myself 100% completing AC2 one day, Brotherhood would possibly send me over the edge (or into a coma). After catching up on the first three games I've actually not got around to playing Revelations yet unfortunately. I've heard mixed reviews, with most of the positive ones being from people who liked Brotherhood, which isn't exactly a positive to me. However from the trailers I have seen, Ezio at least seems to show a bit more character again, with a different feel due to his age - he really does feel like a character that you've seen grow through the series.

So while I doubt I'll completely abandon more challenging games I think for me especially it's good to chill out now and then. I'm known for having a short temper games wise and when you're playing something and stuck repeating the same section over and over, not making any progress and generally increasing your blood pressure you start to wonder why you're continuing. At the end of the day most people are playing for relaxation or entertainment and I don't think there's any shame in playing a game that caters exclusively to that (probably not something I would have said in the past). I'm not saying to give up on something as soon as it gets difficult - I guess like anything in life, a bit of variety is usually good for you.