The Grass is Greener on the Other Side: Assassin’s Creed Rogue
By: Bryan Jake R. Atienza and Bea Angelu Torres
Appreciation
Both of us has always been a fan of history and how there are gaps in humanities history that are unrecorded, lost, forgotten. Games that fill those historical gaps intrigue us thus why the Assassin’s Creed series has always tingled our historical spines. But this particular one, is different, unbound by the moral code of Assassins.
When we were being taught on how to program Artificial Intelligence in our 3D games and how to build the environment, we tared in awe, as how complex it can be. We wondered how they could make the AI see you from above the trees and even on grass at times. The fact of the matter is, they got more intelligent compared to the ones from Assassin’s Creed III and IV. Not only that, they call for reinforcements now, which makes things much trickier when trying to escape. Captains of the a squad can now chase and catch you, so you are not faster than the AI as compared to other games in the series. The improvement is legit and we loved every single bit of it, especially after learning about AI Programming. Knowing the mechanics can make you appreciate even the small things.
The Lily among Thorns
What was most outstanding to us was the story line. Which featured Shay Patrick Cormac. An Assassins turned Templar. Being able to use a Templar was a bonus in Assassin’s Creed III. But to play the whole game as a Templar going against Assassins made uswonder who really is the good guy? We live in a world where the truth is not often spoken, and when it is spoken, it is not the whole truth. An idea in which our world has one saying above all: “Nothing is True Everything is Permitted” is not an ideal way for our world to thrive. It must be governed by those who are right and true. Everyone has to have a place right? Not everyone can be given an equal share when the effort of each individual is not of the same frequency. This game made me realize so much about who we’ve been rooting for all these years, and we were at the wrong side. The way of the Templar just makes more sense.
The 17th Century fiasco.
One of our favorite parts in Assassin’s Creed Rogue is that they retained the Naval Battles which also triggered our Pirates of the Caribbean feels. There is no game for us that has better naval battles than the one Assassin’s Creed III, Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed Rogue has. Rogue however put it into the next level. Rogue has 2 places to do Naval Battles which is the North Atlantic Ocean and the River Valley. It has a bigger map and makes it less boring because there is a lot more to explore. Kudos to the developers for creating such an amazing world, graphics has always been a frustration for the both of us.
Realistically it would take 2–3 hours unfurling sails, but in the game it takes one click. Its in these moments that make you realize that too much realism can’t be good. If it took 2 or 3 hours to unfurl sails, we wouldn’t even be finished with this game yet. Nonetheless, we standby what we said, the best naval battle game goes to the Assassin’s Creed series.
Familiar faces in familiar places.
What we always see in Assassin’s Creed game is how a historical figure can impact that story line of each game. We saw Da Vinci and Pope Alexander the VI (Rodrigo Borgia) come to life in Assassin’s Creed II as well as the model for the current face of Jesus Christ which is Cesare Borgia, Machiavelli in Brotherhood, George Washington in Assassin’s Creed III. Here in Rogue, we see a younger George Washington come into the mix before he was in a fight to the death against British soldiers. We also see Benjamin Franklin and how he discovered electricity, amazing how it was drawn and that a kite was not even involved on it but it made a steady point and made him a very important man for both the Assassins and Templars. Lawrence Washington, half brother of Georgie I mean George Washington also appeared as a person you have to kill stealthily. Historically, Rogue has its flaws and theories that can be debunked, but it has done something to these theories that no other thing has, it has given them life. And it the form of games? There can be nothing better.
Brief Summary
All in all, Assassin’s Creed Rogue is a 9/10 for us. It hits our historical egos just right. The gameplay is outstanding and the AI is top notch though they can still be fooled but you are an Assassin, that is your job, right? Keeping the naval battles was a good move and upgrading the AI on sea is also a pretty good addition. We can tell that they spent so much time in creating this game especially after being fully taught on how to create a 3D game, it made us realize that it is not a joke in creating these games and they deserve an empass for whatever bugs appear, just wait for the next update and hope they do better. Having knowledge in creating 3D games made us appreciate so much in these type of games, and how we wanna explore more just to gain more ideas and knowledge out of them. Learn from the best as they say.
