Schadenfreude

I got back to playing Assasin’s Creed on the 360 over the weekend (hadn’t played since November). I really is a fantastic game. I’d forgotten how genuinely intuitive the interface is – it allowed me to pick it back up without much of a learning curve at all. It’s also visually impressive. Very visually impressive. The animation is very nice, the models are well done and the environments are convincing. The best part is how context sensitive the controls are. This is much like the Tomb Raider games, whose controls I also l really like.

Basically they make you look skilled. For example, point Altair forward with the run and sprint/jump buttons pressed and he runs, and when needed, jumps to other objects perfectly. In the same mode he will climb – you just have to make sure that there is something for him to climb on and he takes care of the rest. The movements are impressive and varied and all you really have to do is point. Like I said it, it makes you look like you are masterfully controlling him.

Tomb raider is similar, but you have to time your jumps and aim you weapons, so a bit more skill is needed. Pirates of the Caribbean has a similar contextual interface and is also pretty fun to play – too bad the story isn’t anywhere near as good as Assassin’s Creed.