Assassin’s Creed, Why Am I Just Not That Into You?

I’m trying here–really trying. Since 2007, I’ve been trying to get into the critically-acclaimed franchise that has sold almost 40 million units. I want to love Assassin’s Creed, but I don’t. And much like everyone else, I think the trailers for ACIII look amazing, and ta game set during the American Revolution is something I absolutely want to play. I just wish it wasn’t an Assassin’s Creed game.

My main issue with the series has always been the controls. For a series with such richly developed worlds, intricate storylines and beautiful visuals, it surprised me that the basic mechanics are so clunky. I’ve never spent time with an Assassin’s Creed game where I did not feel like I was fighting the controls the entire time.

When I play a game like inFamous, traversing the open world feels fluid. Climbing and jumping are responsive, and if it looks like I can grab onto something or jump to a certain spot, chances are I can. Even Crackdown, a game that came out nine months before the original Assassin’s Creed, had great traversal mechanics.

But Assassin’s Creed has never felt fluid to me. Whether it’s jumping off a side of a building when I didn’t mean to, or failing to connect during combat, I rarely feel like the game is doing what I want it to, so i can never become fully immersed in the world or the storyline.

And yes, maybe the solution is that I just need to suck less at playing Assassin’s Creed games, but I don’t think that’s it. Even so, since Assassin’s Creed II recently became free for PS Plus users, I am diving back into it to try and get better. Because I am most definitely going to be playing Assassin’s Creed III. I just hope that the series takes a big leap forward in terms of mechanics, or I fear my journey into the world of ACIII will end similarly to those of the previous games–far too soon.