I think today was the wrong day for me to start Assassin's Creed. I awoke to a phlegmy disposition, I'm anticipating having a few friends over (the bashful group) for Rock Band and having to lug the 360 out to the living room and set all that crap up, and I'm quite hungry (but I'm waiting to sit down for lunch with my father). So when I was sitting through the cutscenes and the tutorials for Assassin's Creed, I kept on thinking, "ok, let's get on with it" or "why do I care?". In a word, impatience. Yeah - definitely not the right day to start playing this game.
It just feels so plodding - so ... gooey, if that makes any sense. Where the Prince from Prince of Persia is this spry fellow that responds to your every button press so very quickly, Altair is one of those game characters that seems to respond heavily to momentum - but not in the Mario way. The combat is sluggish and deliberate, and although this probably ends up being really intriguing as you get to more advanced stages, in this mood I'm in today I just hate it. As far as climbing up towers, just holding down A, R and up on the analog stick isn't grabbing me. Sorry. I'm yearning for the Prince's good ol' jump, grab pole, swivel around, jump to flagpost, swing around, fly to other flag post, wall jump, wall run, yadda yadda... and of course, it's never fair to start comparing games to one another just because you're in not in the mood for something; that's just what ended happening.
But, y'know, when I press A, I feel like Altair should jump - not prepare for a jump and then spring when you release. Altair also seems to arbitrarily stop at points, like when he comes too close to a wall without actually touching it, or when climbing a tower and randomly coming to a point where I have to jiggle around the analog stock to make him start climbing again. Altair is obviously an athletic badass, but when you're playing this game, it just doesn't feel like it - it only looks like it. Then again, this is again comparing the game to something that it's not (Prince of Persia, if you've forgotten already). I realize and accept that this is a (different type of) stealth game first and foremost that concentrates on more realistic physics, and I completely understand that there are reasons for the game to control the way it does. Again: maybe this just wasn't the right day.
On a side note, I really, really hope that I fall on the positive side of the fence. This game got wildly mixed reviews, and though as a consumer I don't often find myself necessarily agreeing with the mass of critics or at least taking their words to heart before I try a game, it's absolutely worrisome how wildly negative some of those impressions have been.