Ubisoft Assassins Creed Origins Standard Edition (PlayStation 4)

My husband likes it

The game is without a doubt on par with Assassin's Creed II. They are both quite different games but this departure from the series typical gameplay was a fantastic choice. This game does borrow heavily from several games that came before it. The combat system is similar to the Witcher 3 and the Soulsborne games.The open-world exploration bit is very similar to Skyrim. However, while this game is nothing revolutionary in the realm of open-world RPGs, it's executed well, and gives the series new life.I'll discuss some of the negatives now, as there are a lot of a positives to get through later. The combat does have some issues, specifically with the lock-on feature. Switching between enemies while locked-on can be a bit of a pain, and I hope Ubisoft patches it soon. Reviewers like IGN specifically mentioned several movement bugs as well as frame rate issues; I experienced some but not as much as the reviewers mentioned. There is a Day 1 patch, and it presumably fixes some of those things. The story looks pretty bad; I found myself instinctively trying to skip cutscenes and then had to consciously pull back from holding the circle button for long enough. The characters are bland and frankly, I just don't care about them or their problems. The game's immense size while great to some, can be a nightmare to others, specifically for those who prefer going from mission to mission in a more linear fashion. Before unlocking fast travel, there is a hell of a lot of ground to cover. That's about it on negatives.I'll start with how the game looks; immensely beautiful. I'd actually use curse words to emphasize my enthusiasm if Amazon did uncensored reviews. This literally has to be the best looking game I've ever played. The landscapes change so quickly but do so naturally. Transitions between town and desert look and feel smooth. The architecture captures the scope and differences of several of the areas. Alexandria is notably Greek because of the Library while Giza is strongly Egyptian. The massive structures look beautiful; the gold-capped Great Pyramids, and the Library of Alexandria especially. There is also a "Discovery Tour" DLC planned for the new year and it's completely free. It allows you to explore the world in a combat-free mode while getting a curated tour of Ptolemaic Egypt. The tours are supposed to be curated by historians and Egyptologists so it should be very educational.The gameplay is a lot of fun too. The climbing and parkour are even simpler now, and removes most of the frustration people might have experienced with them. You can also climb just about anything. Cliff faces off in the distance, giant fortress, rocks on a slight incline; I haven't found anything out of climbing ability yet. The gameplay focuses a lot on dynamic changes which is pretty cool. For instance, there are several stone puzzles around the world which have to do with you aligning constellations; if there is a sandstorm when you're trying to do it, you can't. The sandstorm prevents you from seeing the sky and thus solving the puzzle. There are events like rogue animal attacks such as when a croc goes berserk and you get bonus XP for saving the villagers being attacked. The RPG system means there's a lot of focus on leveling and investing into skill trees. It also borrows a lot from the Far Cry series. You can tame animals now (unlockable skill) and you use your eagle to scout out locations and tag enemies.Finally, the combat is also a plus point. While there are massive changes here, they all work well. Plain on sword-fighting is solid; there's good attention to hitboxes and weapon range. For instance, a sword can be swung fast for quick consecutive attacks but you need to be close to your enemy. A spear isn't as quick but you can keep quite a bit of distance. There's also the bow and arrow combat which can be used from anywhere; standing on a ledge, on horseback etc. This gives you a lot of flexibility in sniping your enemies. The AI are also a lot smarter and a lot more persistent. Standing anywhere in their line of sight will usually get you busted, and they will follow you for a while if you run. There is much more depth to the combat this time around and don't expect to manhandle hordes of guards like the previous games allowed you too.This game is really great for what it is, new blood for Assassin's Creed. I really focus on gameplay and exploration, so it's definitely 5 stars for me. I'd give it 3.5 stars if my focus were on story, characters, and a more linear mission flow. It's one of the best games of the year for sure, and worth getting at least on sale. If for nothing else, then just the amazing visuals and the Discovery Tour.Edit: I've been playing the game for 30hrs now and the bugs are somewhat noticeable. I've had the game crash on me exactly once but the autosaving is very good as I was placed exactly where I was before the game crashed on the subsequent starting of the game. Aside from that, there are occasional movement bugs but nothing that really ruins the flow of the game. I believe the majority of the issues are being experienced on the PC version but it's possible that some PS4 owners may see something similar. I haven't had a bad enough experience to be upset but it's within the realm of possibility.

The game mechanics take a bit of getting used to from earlier titles. Likeable protagonist.

I put this one off for a while because I saw there were realistic spiders but I finally sucked it up an bought it. The spiders are not bad, just don't look when you have to enter/exit something with webs.

good game

I'm about 30 hours in.The positive:-The graphics are gorgeous. I was especially amazed by the water graphics, the lighting, and the draw distance.-The map is huge and filled with tiny details. Exploring is fun and doesn't feel like you're checking boxes off a to-do list.-The devs have fully exploited the setting. The cultural, historical and religious aspects of Ptolemy's Egypt are weived naturally in the story: they make for a fascinating game world and the references never feel forced.The negative:- Whoever is responsible for the sound mixing and engineering should be fired. The music is much too loud and occasionally drowns out conversations.- The voice actor for minor NPCs is atrocious and the writing is cringe-worthy at times. However, Bayek's voice actor is amazing.- The side quests are repetitive. I can't count how many times I've rescued someone from a bandit camp and then assassinated the leader.-This is a problem for pretty much all AC games aside from the first: you know very little about your marks before killing them. It's hard to be emotionally engaged by the assassination of a target if you have basically no idea who they are.