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0:46 Just as I'm getting close to my target, the attackers break off their invasion for some reason. I fast-forward to a new memory again. What is this, "Sliders"? "Quantum Leap," maybe?
0:48 The French guy from before has taken over our city and is laying siege to the assassins' fortress. Our leader says we don't fear death due to starvation or dehydration. Um, speak for yourself dude. I like eating and drinking, myself.
0:50 The game tells me to take a leap of faith into a pile of straw. This has the potential to be really cool, but instead it just feels scripted and phony.
0:52 The game is still teaching me how to do stuff, after more than 50 minutes of gameplay. Seems a little overcomplicated to me. Too much tutorial and too little game, thus far, for my tastes.
0:53 I like the freestyle climbing controls, but I can't help thinking that
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time did it better. More streamlined.
0:55 I climb to the pre-assigned "trap" point and drop a bunch of logs on the enemies. Feels a bit anticlimactic. "You did well to drive Robert from here," says the master. "Tell me, do you know why it is you were successful? You listened." So is the whole game going to be following linear instruction? Lord, I hope not.
0:56 The master gives me the girliest slap I've ever seen during a dressing-down. Meanwhile, he goes over the tenets of "the creed" that I've already heard during the tutorial. Repetitive, much?
0:58 "Every man we've lost today is lost because of you," says the master. He calls me a traitor. He's gonna kill me and... he does? Really? I did not see that coming. Back to the lab. The assistant wants to pull me out, the doctor wants me to stay in. "What's another hour or two," he asks. It's what I need to evaluate this game, that's what.
Would I play this game for more than an hour? Yes.
Why? I feel like I barely got through the tutorial in my first hour. So far the game shows a lot of ambition, but some problems with the execution. I'd give it another hour or so to prove its worth, then I'd probably move on.
This column was based on a copy of the game rented from GameFly.
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