asssians creed

before I get started I just want to direct everyone to the humble indie bundle #3 there's only a few days left on it, it's pay what you want, a portion goes to charity (the rest goes to small independent game studios which is also a nice plus) and you get 7 great games that can run on just about any system (independent studios typically can't make games that really tax modern computers, though you might have trouble running them on a netbook).


today since I want to mostly work on homework, work on my story, or play the bundle (thank you Jennifer )  I figured I'd give some quick thoughts on the assisans creed serious,  so spoiler warning: for the first and second game, I'll try to avoid talking much about brother hood, but I still might give info about the first hour or so of play.  

now I fully admit the first game has problems, there was a lack of side missions and you were required to complete several per assassination, resulting in a lot of repetition (that being said I loved the environment so much I did all of them).  these problems were addressed in the second game.

however overall I can't help but feel that the first game was better, they may have fixed the repetition problem but I believe they lost some character in the process. at first I loved ezio, but in assassins creed two, he's content to spend his entire life searching for revenge, and never seems to appreciate the bigger picture of what's going on even after it was directly reviled that he was to play a very important part.  Altair though had a very strong arch, he starts off in the game fairly arrogant and breaching the philosophy of his brotherhood, by the end of the game, he seemed to have a deep understanding of what the assisans stood for, and knew how his actions affected those in his brotherhood.

another place they lost characterization is in the Templar themselves, I love that each target has a chance to monologue while on their death bed. it gives a great sense that the assassins aren't in this just for blood.  in the first game, most of the Templar seemed to actually want to  help the people they had power over (they did it in bad ways but their intentions seemed good) there was one exception and that made him an extremely satisfying target.  when we reach assisans creed two, the moral ambiguity is gone even though ezio's reasons for killing are are far less noble, they compensate by making the Templar unambiguously evil and greedy for power.