Let’s Talk About Endings…

By the graces of the gods of unemployment and the fact that I ran out of job boards to peruse, I finally finished Assassin’s Creed.

Let’s talk about writing and endings for a moment, okay? Logically, as the first part of a planned trilogy, Ubisoft’s goal with this game was to hook players with a good story, innovative game play and some compelling characters. Although the Templar-Assassin War is interesting and the game play is like Prince of Persia on steroids (you know, all mad and killing people), I think that the developers may have missed their mark for story and character.

Bear with me here. We can examine these one at a time.

• The story has no ending. Seriously. Zero plot resolution. I won’t get into details in case someone reading hasn’t played yet, but let’s just say it’ll leave you unfulfilled. Even episodic pulp novels created some kind of end to the main storyline before picking things up with a cliff hanger. Sure, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty were locked in combat on a cliff side, but, damnit, we knew who had done the crime. Now it was just a matter of catching him. In the case of Assassin’s Creed, yeah, we know the Templars are bad news, but we really don’t know why? Something about free will and yadda yadda yadda, but even the assassins argue that free will isn’t quite so transparent. So what’s the crime? Hell if I know.
• The characters… Okay, sure, I care about Altair. I kinda care about the town of Masayaf. But Desmond? Nah. Kristen Bell’s character? Nope. I can’t even remember her name. If a game uses a framing technique for the entire series, we really should care about the framework. Instead, it’s a bit slapped-on. Angry doctor dude kidnaps slacker in hoodie. Hot female maybe-doctor feels kinda bad for him. Sounds about as complex and engaging as a Keanu Reeves movie, huh?
• Altair’s plot isn’t really clear. It’s very episodic, and, because it’s a game, we know it’s building toward something. But shouldn’t we know some more logistics? Shouldn’t Altair think it’s BS that his boss (again, I don’t care enough about this guy to remember his name) is sending him out like a poncy errand boy? Given his early characterization, this is a fitting train of thought, but aside from some curt conversation with Assassins Guild members, we never really see Altair–who is supposedly brash and thinks of himself as the center of the known universe–lash out.

Don’t get me wrong: the game is good. It’s just… Well… How do I put this? When things like games like the Mass Effect and Bioshock series are coming out with compelling, character-driven stories that really bring role-playing into non-RPGs, a good game coupled with an okay-at-best story is just going to get buried.

And if what my roommate and SO tell me is true, Uncharted 2 will just reinforce this opinion. More on that, though, once I finish the game.

Unemployment Day 4

I finished Mass Effect 2. That’s how bummed and bored I am. Did I gain any insight from it? Only that human-alien romantic entanglements are awkward. Aside from that… No, not really. Disappointing, isn’t it? It’s this well-written, uber-hyped game, and it really only seems to cover the same things as Star Trek.

So as to my newly minted “Unemployed” tag, well, I can honestly say it isn’t my fault, and I’ve got the references to prove it. Budget cuts suck! I mean, really, how can the state go in after a budget has already been implemented and take back 5%? Someone, please explain it to me, because I was under the impression that once money isn’t yours, it’s out of your control.

Guess it doesn’t matter anymore, though, does it? Hopefully I’ll be interviewing and getting a job soon.

Anyways, since my income is limited, it looks like I’m going to go back and beat some games I pansied out on. So far I’m planning on:

• Twilight Princess
• Uncharted and Uncharted 2
• Overlord (I love this game, but I keep halting my play every time a new game comes out.)
• Maybe some Metal Slug just because that game rocks.

I really don’t know what else. When you write for a living, you type really fast, maintain documents and it generally doesn’t take you very long to look for a job because you can write letters like no one’s business.

At any rate, should I start reviewing stuff? I’ve got so little going on right now… Would that be too uber-geek? Am I using uber too much?

This unemployment shiz is teh suck.