Quite possibly the biggest disappointment I've experienced in the world of gaming.
Now, all three of these games feature an agile, sword-wielding warrior who will flip around you 17 times and quickly butcher you as opposed to tearing your face off a la Kratos which just so happens to be my favorite kind of bad-ass warrior.
So when I hear that the same company is making a game set in 1191 during the Third Crusade where you play an acrobatic assassin with all kinds of amazing weapons, I'm pumped. I'm even more pumped when I hear about the rooftop shenanigans and the ability to climb out any wall. The graphics were amazing, and the animation is quite possibly the best I have ever seen, but the game fell flat on its face for me.
Where did this excellent idea go horribly, horribly wrong? First of all, the one button combat system. Who in their right mind decided it would be smart to map EVERY attack to the X button? That is unforgivably shallow in a modern action/adventure game. I mean, God of War gets some flack for its occasional button mashing combat, and it has a two-button system. And then there's the likes of Devil May Cry, which yes, you can get through the game with a few buttons, but to truly take advantage of the system and actually be "good," you have to consistently use every button that the controller offers.
Horrible system aside, what else went wrong? The game is repetitive. Obnoxiously repetitive. "You need information! Beat him up, pickpocket her, and listen to their conversation." "Got it." 900 TIMES. Why? It is absolutely unnecessary, and there needed to be more variance. It's almost as pathetic as a one-button combat system.
The plot, I can't say much on because the game didn't keep my interest for more than a couple hours. Although the thing about you reliving your ancestor's memory or whatever? Who the hell cares? And then the actual plot of the assassin part of this game? Nigh worthless to me. And I love myself a good 1200 AD swordfest. It's hard to give me a barely sensible plot in that period and me dislike it, so, kudos to Ubisoft.
Those are my three main problems with the game which are more than enough for me to keep it from being worth a damn, because what the game does right are mostly cosmetic.
The most worthwhile positive to the game are that the controls are very thorough and responsive, it's never frustrating to try and shove some guy because Altair shoves them every single time. Also, as I mentioned, the graphics and the animations were very impressive. Albeit the "leap of faith" wasn't that exciting the first time and lost its allure immediately.
Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot to this game. My favorite thing about it? Running on rooftops. When you have more fun running on rooftops than leaping on a random dude and stabbing your hidden blade into his throat, the game is a mess.
This is one of the biggest disappointments of all time in the video game industry.
Hopefully Prince of Persia will bring back Ubisoft's integrity.