HA2 – Unit 6 – Critical Approaches to Creative Media ProductsTask 4 - Analysis of a Game

I’ve reviewed two RPG Games over here. The basic purpose of reviewing an RPG was that and RPG makes it a lot easier and provides a huge detail to analyse. In this article, I’ve written my reviews about two major RPG’s :

Assassin’s Creed

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

These Games provided me with almost everything I wanted analyse i.e Story, Combat, Environment, literally everything that I’ve been asked to do in this particular assignment.

Developer(s): Ubisoft, Gameloft

Publisher: Ubisoft

Creators: Patrice Decilets

Composer: Lorne Balfe, Jesper Kyd

Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS

Release Date(First): November 14, 2007

Genre: Action/Adventure/Open-World/RP

Rating: Mature

Assassin's Creed puts the player in the shoes of Desmond Miles, a modern-day man who uses a machine called the Animus to relive the memories of his ancestors, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore, both of whom were assassins. In essence, this story exists to justify the "gamey" aspects and creates a framing device: you are playing Desmond, who is in turn playing the game's protagonist. This means that there are two major aspects of the game to review: the "in-universe" historical periods, and the "meta-contextual" modern conspiracy stuff. Let's start with the former.

Location/Setting Personally, Assassin's Creed's representation of historical locations and cities is one of its major redeeming factors for me, not because they're "accurate" or "detailed" or anything, but for sheer presentation value. It's one of the few games where cities feel "real"; the streets are bustling, the landscape is sprawling, and despite the eventual repetitiveness of the environments, it generally feels like stuff is going on. There's a lot of what could be called "detail" in the sense of little touches and design choices that make the world feel more natural.

Guards and CombatThe guards were another thing that I really liked about Assassin's Creed, specifically in AC1. I liked the natural progression from "low-level" to "high-level", going from light armor to heavy armor without being unrealistically flashy. I also liked the relatively simple costume design, using things like surcoats to identify allegiance without being overly flashy or colorful. The general "improvement" trend continued in Assassin's Creed 2, but the colors are much more obvious and the armor is more decorated. While this reflects changes in the environment, from the Middle East to Italy, it also feels a bit less subtle. Still, I thought the guards did a pretty good job of establishing sensible uniform concepts while still distinguishing allegiance and class.As far as their reactions and behaviors go, though, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Assassin's Creed is neat in that enemies will panic or flee from fights if things are going downhill for them. They'll chase after the protagonist if he runs away, they'll throw rocks at him if he tries to climb to safety, and a running escape will usually end with a lot more guards after them. This is balanced by the fact that they're really comically easy to kill, all the time, for the entire game. Enemies attack one at a time and telegraph their attacks in a really obvious fashion, and a patient player can just counter-kill them easily without ever really being in danger.

GameplayAssassin's Creed is a prime example of story/gameplay division. The "game" is about being a stealthy assassin who blends in with crowds to take out targets without being seen. The "story" is about a guy who tends to walk right up to his targets, kills them extravagantly, and then comforts them as they die (even in a case where you specifically have to use a ranged weapon because he's too far away to stab!). The decisions the player makes when controlling Ezio has nothing to do with what he ends up doing. This is hardly unique when it comes to games, but it's still frustrating when being sneaky is the entire point of the game.

So, To Sum Up:

1) AC does a pretty good job at conveying a world that feels populated, even if it gets a bit repetitive.

2) While the combat and free-running are stylish, the dual nature of "fight" and "flight" are undermined by how weak the enemies are in both fighting and chasing.

3) There's ways to interact with the larger world and attempt to affect the environment, but they're so simplistic that it becomes unimmersive - they're just a game mechanic.

4) The fact that Assassin's Creed can't make up its mind on whether it's "cool" or "real" does more damage to its plausibility than anything else about it.

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Distributors: Bethesda Softworks (retail), Steam (online)

Director: Todd Howard

Composer: Jeremy Soule

Engine: Creation Engine

Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Release Date: November 11, 2011

Genre: Action role-playing, Open world

Mode: Single-player

Rating: Mature

OverviewThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim approaches greatness in its full scope rather than its individual details. Unlike any game ever made, Skyrim truly instils a feeling of unpredictability that encourages players to explore as much, and as often as they can.

The player begins, as Elder Scrolls protagonists often do, as a prisoner without a past, but soon learns that they are the last in a long line of dragon-slayers, destined to save the world from Armageddon. Such forms the basis for the main quest, but to drive directly from A to Z, skipping raising your skill category or engaging in the game’s many side quests (showdowns with the lord of the underworld, is to miss much of what Skyrim has to offer.

A cleaner, more elegant game than its predecessor Oblivion, Elder Scrolls V is more austere in its design, presenting users upon the opening with a minimalistic title screen that seems to have carved its signature dragon from obsidian. Taking place, as previous Elder Scrolls installments have, in the continent of Tamriel, the game locates its hero in the northern realm of snowy, Nordic-influenced Skyrim.

EnviromentThe environment here is dominated by the cold – always gusting flurries of snow, its bodies of water littered with sheets of brittle ice, and nighttime vistas of blue and green ribbons that let players know they are far from home. The architecture of Skyrim is a combination of Nordic and Gaelic influence, which is just one of the many things separating Skyrim from Oblivion and previous Elder Scrolls titles. Many of the skills and attributes (such as Intelligence and Endurance) have been thrown out to create more of a streamlined interface.

CharactersThe presence of dragons plays a major role in Skyrim, and when they attack it’s a monumental event – circling, swooping in and slamming into the ground for exhilarating encounters. The creatures are animated beautifully, with an astounding amount of detail rendered into each colossal beast. In addition to the constant threat of dragons, civil war has divided the land in two, giving the player a choice of which side to fight for in the battle for humanity. The narrative in Skyrim is rich and dense.

Combat StructureThough the combat system still has a ways to go to make the game fully engaging on a visceral level, and some minor glitches sometimes puncture the overall sense of immersion, Skyrim offers so much more by providing the dedicated gamer with an immense world with numerous and diverse tasks to perform, all of which flesh the story out to something epic and substantial. The dragon combat is always a joy to behold, the atmospheric art design is an instant grabber, and the battles contain endless variations. As one of the finest RPG’s to date, Skyrim is a must-play.