Looking at websites - Assassin's Creed

There are such things as websites that try too hard. I catagorise the Assassin's Creed website as one of these. It almost gets away with it, too, apart from the constant buffering screens during peak internet time due to the high quality video.

Once the video's given itself a bit of a head start with buffering (speed depends on the time of day and type of connection), and it starts playing a fully rendered video which I assume is from the game. Either that, or they really went all out to create a unique website experience.

Your first bit of interaction is signing your name on a piece of paper, a contract or something like that. To be honest, I was too busy taking in all the detail in the video to pay attention to what was being said. I'm assuming it's something to do with being an assassin, since that's the main point of the actual game.

The video keeps playing, showing footage of Altair as he dives across rooftops and other parts of a scenery. The only thing you can actually do is press certain arrow keys that appear every now and again within the time limit it gives you to unlock hidden goodies.

The only actual bit of choice comes here, where Altair has to decide whether to leave the guards or attack them. I always pick the attacking option, 'cause they were mean to you, so why just walk away? He fights them in a well animated fight scene, but a bit of interaction would've been nice. Maybe something that shows something of the combat gameplay. Instead, I'm just sat there watching, occassionally looking away to unlock more extras.

Now, at the end of the experience, you get to reap your rewards, which are only only wallpapers, really. It gives you the option to start again, but after pressing all the keys and still not unlocking everything, I got bored at the idea of sitting through it all again. I'm wondering if the walking away option was the best choice, afterall...


Overall, I think this site. The graphics are taken straight from the game, which is naturally going to make it consistantly reassuring when trying to decide whether to buy the game or not, but it could've done with the bit more choice. Sure it would've killed my internet connection, but it wouldn't of made me feel like a lemon as I sat watching him kill people. I know the graphics are great, but it doesn't give me a sense of gameplay, and that's one hell of an important aspect of a game.

So yeah, the whole interactive video sounds like a great idea. Might be something I try out over the summer. But for now, it's a bit too much considering how long we have 'til the deadline.