With its’ latest outing in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Ubisoft makes a slick and much awaited comeback with Origins after the sloppy Unity in 2014 and a not so good enough Syndicate in 2015, where they take you to the life and times of Ptomalaic Dynasty and its’ Pharaohs
CHENNAI: A fter almost nine years of uninterrupted yearly releases, the Assassin’s Creed franchise took a break last year to refocus and go back to the drawing board. 2014’s Unity marked a low point for the series and, even though 2015’s Syndicate was well received, it felt like Assassin’s Creed was at a bit of a crossroads. Origins is the result of that extended break, but how does it play?
Origins is set in Egypt during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty in approximately 50 BC, making it comfortably the oldest setting for an Assassin’s Creed game. (The nearest is the original Assassin’s Creed, which was set in the 12th century.) Players take on the role of Bayek, a Medjay (protector of the people), and his wife Aya (an agent of Cleopatra) in their quest for vengeance against the Order of Ancients.
It’s worth pointing out that Origins, as the name suggests, actually precedes the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Templar Order — which means that this is the first game in the series to not have that established conflict at its heart. Still, there are enough similarities that you’ll find yourself on familiar grounds. The first thing that strikes you about Origins is how good it looks. Glitches and hiccups aside (standard fare for any open-world game), Origins’ vision of ancient Egypt is breathtakingly beautiful at times. The game features the largest open world in the series, by some distance, and you’ll want to explore every corner of that massive map just because it looks so damn cool and good.
Gameplay, as well, has received a significant overhaul. Combat, in particular, feels closer to games like The Witcher 3 than to previous Assassin’s Creed games; and, although it’ll take some getting used to, it’s an absolute blast once you do. Engaging enemies head-on now requires thought and precise maneuvering if you’re going to emerge unscathed. It’s a step up in difficulty, certainly, but that’s not a con at all — it’s the most satisfying combat system in the series till date. Of course, you’ve still got the patented Ubisoft list of things to do in an open world, which you may love or hate but still works as well as it always did.
Now for the one major complaint I have with Origins — the writing is hugely inconsistent. It’s frustrating more than anything, because some characters are written well enough that you can see the potential here; but then, in the very next minute, somebody will say something that just doesn’t make any sense. It genuinely feels like nobody bothered to actually read some of those lines out loud to see if they sounded believable and could pass for human speech. Once again, you also have cognitive dissonance — “I am sworn to my mission of personal vengeance but sure, I’ll help you find your missing camel, stranger!” — but that’s hard to escape.
Writing aside, however, Assassin’s Creed: Origins is a triumph. It’s a welcome return for the series and, in many ways, a blueprint for the way forward. There are lots of areas to improve in yet — dialogue, technical glitches, the need to move the modern-day storyline forward — but that can wait for another day, because Assassin’s Creed: Origins is a lot of fun to play.
If you’d like to dive headfirst into a wonderfully-realized version of ancient Egypt
your action-adventuring with a side of historical knowledge to return to one of the best franchises of the 21st century ...Assassin’s Creed Origins is what you’re looking for!
Arjun Sukumaran
http://goo.gl/uNBWN3
(Arjun is a gamer, book lover and an all-round renaissance man)