Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD made its console debut this week, but early reviews have the game needing a bit more than some fancy new high definition upgrades before it can cut the mustard like the rest of the console Creed games.
It's first time around on the PS Vita, before it dropped the "3" and added "HD," (it was simply Assassin's Creed III: Liberation), the game was received moderately well. Looking at the game's score on aggegrate score site Metacritic, it has an average of 70 from critics and 7.5 from gamers.
Contrast that with the scores the upgraded HD version is getting. At the time of this writing, the scores are the following:
PS3 Version - Critic score of 65, User score of 4.6
PC Version - User score of 6.2
Xbox 360 Version - Critic score of 60, User score of 4.8
The exact problems with the game that earned it such scores? While the Assassin's Creed franchise is known for sending players back in time, that's not such a good thing when the latest game in the overarcing storyline is still fresh in most gamer's mind.
According to CVG, which scored the game a 6 out of 10, "After the excess and ambition of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, playing Liberation HD is a bit like finding some change down the back of the couch after winning the lottery. Black Flag was successful because it freshened the formula, inviting players away from cities for adventure on the high seas. Liberation sends them right back in, however, repeating those stale moments though distinguishing itself for being slightly uglier."
While the game looks great, owed to its HD namesake, upgraded visuals are a poor substitution for the original game's problems, which are still present. But while they were tolerated on the handheld, they become glaringly obvious on the big screen and when held to higher standards.
To the game's credit, there are enjoyable moments of the game. As Videogamer noted, which also gave the game a 6 out of 10, " 18th century New Orleans (among other settings) is a pleasure to explore, filled with things to do and climb. Throw in shipping empires and other distractions and there's something here for series fans." That a mulittude of gamers can now get in on this is great, especially for Creed fans who never bothered with getting a Vita.
But that accessibility also means that more gamers can see the game's most obvious setback, an unfortunate irony as it's the same feature Ubisoft hoped would help set Liberation apart. Creed's assassins through the centuries have always been a fashionable bunch, letting gamers customize their outfits with different colors, gear, and more storage and hiding places for deadly doodads like smoke bombs and throwing knives. With Liberation, the developer took advantage of the lead protagonist's sex, and gave her full blown outfits for players to choose from and help her blend in that much more.
Liberation's Aveline can go southern belle with a dainty dress complete with a pretty pink parasol, don rags and tattered clothes to look like a slave, or go with the traditional Assassin garb. The only problem is that the latter is the only one that lets her retain her Assassin abilities, like freerunning and combat. The outfits are also scattered in lockers across the environment, making fetching them to wear a chore.
The time to have provided an upgraded version of Liberation would've been before the world was introduced to Black Flag. While more Creed is always better than less, this one seems to be left to the series enthusiasts. But if you still want to give the game a go, $20 isn't a terrible price.