What happened with I Am Alive?
SteelAttack said:Assassin's Creed and AC 2 alone make this Ubisoft generation outstanding. I doubt you could say the original AC got to a rocky start when it was a multimillion seller, though.
I'm talking critically, not commercially. It was all over the place.
I am Alive is made by the Cold Fear guys, so interest -1
SteelAttack said:But the game averaged 81 in Metacritic!
Mixed impressions from users and review sources I hear. And I also hear it rode the open world wave and in retrospect isn't as impressive as the hype machine said.
Ubisoft even said that they thought poor reviews would kill sales as one point, I wish I could find the interview but all I get when searching is Ass creed 2 links.
From what others have told me, it has this great open world, but all the missions are the same so it becomes repetitive.
Assassin's Creed has received generally positive reviews, although several publications such as Eurogamer, pointed out a number of significant shortcomings. Eurogamer stated that the gameplay "never evolves and ultimately becomes a bit boring, and quite amazingly repetitive."
Famitsu criticized the one button combat, map layout, and camera problems.
G Informer expressed frustration over the "repetitive" information gathering missions.
GameTrailers cited repetitive gameplay and "moronic" AI as somewhat stifling its potential. "Assassins Creed is one of those games that breaks new ground yet fails in nailing some fundamentals", said Gametrailers.
According to GamePro, you have to be "patient" due to the lack of fast-paced action.
Hyper's Darren Wells criticises it for "some missions that don't feel right on the PC and its loopy menu system".
And these are the good reviews.
rabbids: the mini-game ones were not for me. i tried the first one at a friend's. seemed like an ok enough tech-demo for the wii-mote. i bought "...go home". i wasn't going to but gg pimped it hard enough to convince me it's a good game. i expect to enjoy it somewhat when i get to it.
red steel: first game was decent enough for a 3rd party launch title. of course it couldn't live up to the hype but it wasn't near as bad as some people liked it to be. from what i've seen so far red steel 2 is looking awesome and i'm very much looking forward to it. a lot is resting on this game, on how i will ultimately perceive ubisoft this gen.
prince: i liked the change in the graphical style but haven't played the 4th game enough to know how good it is compared to the sands trilogy. however the series on the whole may be getting a little long in the tooth.
far cry: from what i understand crysis has left the far-cry series in the dust and the sequel hasn't done much to change this.
splinter cell: never cared for it but i think even those that did haven't enjoyed the games after chaos theory all that much so it's definitely weaker this generation
tactical shooters: *blank stare*
on the whole i think ubisoft's output is a little worse this generation for me as it doesn't have wildcard games like beyond good and evil and XIII which i enjoyed immensely. maybe rabbids go home is one such game, i hope so. so ubisoft is playing it safe with sequels this gen, (and imagine this and imagine that titles)
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
bugsonglass said:
tactical shooters: *blank stare*
My thoughts exactly. Not my type of games.
bugsonglass said:
red steel: first game was decent enough for a 3rd party launch title. of course it couldn't live up to the hype but it wasn't near as bad as some people liked it to be. from what i've seen so far red steel 2 is looking awesome and i'm very much looking forward to it. a lot is resting on this game, on how i will ultimately perceive ubisoft this gen.
I respected Red Steel out of potential (more polish and better controls, HELLO) and because it wasn't as bad as the ass rape it got. In retrospect it's not great but could be, I mean if they did a New Play control version with motionplus support and actually finished the godamn textures and aiming it could be worthwhile.
I suppose because there is a thread bare connection with the sequel you could claim that Red Steel 2 was a new IP.
I really hope that there is a BGE sequel.
Oh, they have just registered a futuristic Ghost Recon so that could be okay I guess.
As I value reviews 
I will be getting Ass Creed 2 but only once it drops to £20.
gamingeek said:I will be getting Ass Creed 2 but only once it drops to £20.
You truly are...
the Hobo of Hobos.
SteelAttack said:gamingeek said:
I will be getting Ass Creed 2 but only once it drops to £20.You truly are...
the Hobo of Hobos.
£20 is $40 damnit.
gamingeek said:SteelAttack said:gamingeek said:
I will be getting Ass Creed 2 but only once it drops to £20.You truly are...
the Hobo of Hobos.
£20 is $40 damnit.
Then no. Just a regular hobo.
I thought Assassin's Creed was a kick-ass game myself. I never really got into Ubisoft much until this gen so I can't really say they have improved over last gen but the games I have played such as AC, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow Six have been very good. I plan on getting AC2 either as a gift for Christmas or I'll pick it up during Boxing Day shopping splurge.
I honestly don't think ANY company has been as creative this gen as last gen. EVERYONE has played it safe and I think the economy has a ton to do with that.
If anything, its been the smaller indie developers who have tried to be more creative, like the Platinum Games and people like that of the world.
Has Nintendo been as creative? Eh, hard to say. They've been more creative and taken more chances with casual fare over hardcore fare this gen. Where is this gen's Pikmin? Where are all the original AAA IP's Nintendo said they would make after 2002?
Capcom definitely isn't as good this gen. Konami isn't. Square....um I don't think I've bought 1 Square game yet this gen. Bungie is still in Halo mode.
Its hard to say who I even feel has been the best this gen. Bioware maybe?
Tons of great games this gen, but yeah the creative side has been lacking a bit.
The indie devs point he made got me thinking, though, perhaps they are better positioned nowadays because of digital distribution and the elimination of retailers in their particular equation?
SteelAttack said:
The indie devs point he made got me thinking, though, perhaps they are better positioned nowadays because of digital distribution and the elimination of retailers in their particular equation?
Totally. That's why we got an incredible game called Shadow Complex this year, otherwise I doubt it would have been made.
edgecrusher said:
I honestly don't think ANY company has been as creative this gen as last gen. EVERYONE has played it safe and I think the economy has a ton to do with that.If anything, its been the smaller indie developers who have tried to be more creative, like the Platinum Games and people like that of the world.
Has Nintendo been as creative? Eh, hard to say. They've been more creative and taken more chances with casual fare over hardcore fare this gen. Where is this gen's Pikmin? Where are all the original AAA IP's Nintendo said they would make after 2002?
Capcom definitely isn't as good this gen. Konami isn't. Square....um I don't think I've bought 1 Square game yet this gen. Bungie is still in Halo mode.
Its hard to say who I even feel has been the best this gen. Bioware maybe?
Tons of great games this gen, but yeah the creative side has been lacking a bit.
Nintendo has been the most creative by far this gen, but it was mostly the expanded audience and touch generation games.
SteelAttack said:Edge has it right. Everyone's playing by the book nowadays, largely because of the current economic slump. I wonder if the upcoming year will see devs/publishers taking more risks.
The indie devs point he made got me thinking, though, perhaps they are better positioned nowadays because of digital distribution and the elimination of retailers in their particular equation?
I'm not sure its the economic slump, it's been like this for ages now. I think sequels bring in money sure, but once you have a successful game there's a tendency to milk it and continue it in lieu of making new IPs. What I loved about that period in Ubisofts world was that they were all new IPs and became successes as new innovative, polished product. If they hadn't of taken that creative vision, those franchises wouldn't exist to be continued today.
edgecrusher said:
I honestly don't think ANY company has been as creative this gen as last gen. EVERYONE has played it safe and I think the economy has a ton to do with that.If anything, its been the smaller indie developers who have tried to be more creative, like the Platinum Games and people like that of the world.
Has Nintendo been as creative? Eh, hard to say. They've been more creative and taken more chances with casual fare over hardcore fare this gen. Where is this gen's Pikmin? Where are all the original AAA IP's Nintendo said they would make after 2002?
Capcom definitely isn't as good this gen. Konami isn't. Square....um I don't think I've bought 1 Square game yet this gen. Bungie is still in Halo mode.
Its hard to say who I even feel has been the best this gen. Bioware maybe?
Tons of great games this gen, but yeah the creative side has been lacking a bit.
I agree there.
Nintendo has never really been big on creating new IPs, unless you count the 80s, but they do tend to completely rework existing franchises in a big way, like Mario Galaxy or this new motionplus Zelda, hell even touch screen Zelda. And they have done a lot of new, innovative and successful IP, sadly casual stuff like you say 
Konami though, they are basically the MGS/Pro Evo guys. At least Shattered Memories looks very interesting. Shame they refuse to follow up with a more polished version of their most innovative product in the last few years - Elebits sequel please.
Capcom, well the former production studio 4 guys took a decision to make 5 original games back then, I'd like to see Capcom take a similar stand. Its western arm and outsourcing doesn't seem to be working out, Spyborgs, Bionic Commando.
Well for me I think Capcom has been near godly this gen. They've made some fantastic new games such as Dead Rising and Lost Planet and have given me other great games like Devil May Cry 4, Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, Bionic Commando, and a bunch of remixed downloadable games. I'm soooooo glad they took a chance and even made SFIV which rejuvanated the fighting game genre. While it's very unfortunate with what happened to GRIN I'm also extremely happy BC was made because I found it to be a great game as well as the excellent BC Rearmed.
To me Capcom has been B-grade since some of their best developers left and not the A-grade company they used to be.
They do still release a lot of good product though.
Last gen was their coming out party. Up until that era that had been pretty sucky IMO.
It was in this era that they established their huge brands that they now rely on. What I loved about them back then was their spirit of invention and experimentation.
They gave us Splinter cell, Prince of Persia, BGE, XIII, Far Cry.
This generation we are coming up to Splinter Cell 5 and Prince of Persia 5, Far Cry 3 (4 if you include instincts?) more and more Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6.
Rabbids 4? Three mini-games and one platformer.
So what have they given us this generation and how does it compare to last? Off the top of my head I can name Assasins Creed, Red Steel and Rabbids. All three series got off to extremely rocky starts it seems and they've waited for sequels to deliver the polished experiences they should have done the first time through.
What other new games have they done this gen and how do you feel they compare to last generation?