Bad Moon Rising
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
If you pay any attention to the internet, and I’m sure you’re all more than aware what a risky proposition that is, you’ll find a number of people throwing the word “disappointment” around like it’s the very hottest of hot potatoes. Put an ear to the ground and you’ll hear the rumbling of claims that November was the month that tore the rug of eager anticipation from beneath the feet of gamers and sent them clattering on to the unforgiving floorboards of malcontent and querulousness (pretentious? Moi?). While there were more than a few games contributing to last month’s reputation by failing to live up to popular expectation, there’s one alleged offender that I’ve wanted to write about for some time and that’s “Assassin’s Creed” on the X-Box 360.
Slipping off topic for a moment, I read a couple of days ago (in the wholly reliable Metro newspaper) that Dougray Scott narrowly missed out on the part of James Bond to Daniel Craig, and while Mr. Craig has now cemented himself as the new 007, Dougray has had to settle for playing opposite a bald man in the film adaptation of Hitman. That is disappointment. What we have in the case of Assassin’s Creed is nothing of the sort. It has its flaws, and its frustrations, but the experience of playing it is as far away from disappointment as 47 is from Bond.