The Groke
hot hail/Paging Dr. Beat
...Seems to have fixed most, if not all that was wrong with the original.
Let's face it - the first game was a wonderful concept poured into a fantastic engine with smart controls and one of the best realised sandbox cities ever seen in a game.
It did however neglect to include the "game" part.
90 minutes into the original and you had pretty much seen everything it had to offer - every mechanic to be learned which you then repeated ad-nauseum until - if like me - you turned it off 5 hours in and never went back.
Now the sequel seems to have got a grip. The city is back and better than ever, but the introduction of a tighter story, stronger, narrative-based gameplay and a wealth of new mechanics, new tasks, skills to learn and upgrades to buy and earn seems to suggest that this time, the game matches up to the technology.
Much more of a slow-burner than the last one, it invests more in scene-setting and the characters and takes a while to find it's feet, but is all the better for it.
There are PoP: Sands-of-time-style challenges, more ways to stalk and actually assassinate your targets rather than just brawling with everyone, much improved hiding/crowd-blending mechanics and...you can swim. (thank fuck)
If you liked the original, this is essential. If like me you thought the original was a squandered opportunity, then I recommend you give the franchise a second chance.
...of course, I am still only 6 hours or so in and I still reserve the right to u-turn on this judgement should the game drop the ball.
Let's face it - the first game was a wonderful concept poured into a fantastic engine with smart controls and one of the best realised sandbox cities ever seen in a game.
It did however neglect to include the "game" part.
90 minutes into the original and you had pretty much seen everything it had to offer - every mechanic to be learned which you then repeated ad-nauseum until - if like me - you turned it off 5 hours in and never went back.
Now the sequel seems to have got a grip. The city is back and better than ever, but the introduction of a tighter story, stronger, narrative-based gameplay and a wealth of new mechanics, new tasks, skills to learn and upgrades to buy and earn seems to suggest that this time, the game matches up to the technology.
Much more of a slow-burner than the last one, it invests more in scene-setting and the characters and takes a while to find it's feet, but is all the better for it.
There are PoP: Sands-of-time-style challenges, more ways to stalk and actually assassinate your targets rather than just brawling with everyone, much improved hiding/crowd-blending mechanics and...you can swim. (thank fuck)
If you liked the original, this is essential. If like me you thought the original was a squandered opportunity, then I recommend you give the franchise a second chance.
...of course, I am still only 6 hours or so in and I still reserve the right to u-turn on this judgement should the game drop the ball.
