Well I like the Mortal Kombat movie. That doesn’t make it a good movie. ^_^;;

I know loads of people enjoy Ubisoft games. Hell I even buy some of them when they’re in the bargain bin. My point is: Ubisoft, moreso that maybe even Activision, is a company. Ubi just doesn’t promote itself to be a powerhungry digital smackdealer that’ll try and stick a needle in your arm even if you’re just walking by. Ubisoft has somehow maintained the image of the little French game-developer that could, while every game reviewer commends them for their effort and gumption. Heck Ubisoft manages to make games feel culturally relevant unlike Electronic Arts (*cough*MirrorsEdge*cough*). And commending that relevants makes game reviewers feel all warm and fuzzy inside (either that or they get bribed).

With that I think I know what people like about Ubisoft games. They feel cool, empowering, and somehow you feel justified playing it. Kinda like watching the matrix! Just. You know. . . technically the Matrix isn’t a good movie either. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the first one, but even that was a mediocre film.

Back to the games! Assasins Creed. Game about a clever assasin doing parkour and killing people with cool animations in an accurate historic setting, and a twist ending. Feeling cool: check. Empowering player: check. Justified playing: check, it’s hitorically accurate afteral. Also: poor AI, no multiplayer, little replayability, simplistic gameplay, repetative gameplay, sub-par plot, sub-par characters. Then AC2. Basically the same game but they added an improved in game economy that was still broken. More replayability, if you like collecting stuff. More varied gameplay, going from toast to buttered toast is an improvement. A more fleshed out historical setting. I could go on but honestly I don’t feel like it (sorry! ^^;;). So AC2:B. Multiplayer. Google Penny Arcade Mount Doom and read comic. This is a problem noted by people who love the franchise as far as I can tell. I would like to note once again Brotherhood’s multiplayer is a good concept, and a logical step if you consider the single player. Ubi just didn’t sink in the money to make it worth your time.

The AC franchise is a good example of a generic Ubi franchise. Start with a simple (relatively) low dev-cost game and incrementally improve with little investment. Take no chances altering core mechanics or even implement technical changes that would force alteration of core mechanics. Meaning AI for the AC franchise will evolve as little as possible, crowd interation will evolve as little as possible, combat will evolve as little as possible, multiplayer will receive a limited amount of attention if they proceed down the current path. However expect expanded historical settings, more elaborate environements, attempts as varried missions, different (seemingly historically accurate) weapons, increase is scripted missions and dialogue, perhaps even some extended cover-gunplay action in the real world. Most game reviewers commend any studio that innovates and improves, that a studio would start to misuse these beliefs was only a matter of time. The only reason their franchises improve is because almost any change is an improvement. They mask corporate pragmatism with art house style and good intentions. Think about the last non-Ubi IP they developed (Avatar?). Was it any good? If you have expectations of how a franchise should be the odds are high Ubisoft will disappoint simply because of their business model.

Game development for current generation consoles takes a lot of resources. Maintaining engines and modeling is more resource intensive than ever before. Games will continue to become more expensive. I can respect that, but I like gaming. Every so often I’d like to see a big name publisher do something new (and if possible innovative) without reservation because they think it’s something the world needs to play. That way I can keep dreaming that the industry isn’t being lost to the coca-cola marketeers. As long as reviewers and consumers keep on commending Ubisoft for mediocrity they will never give me that game. Maybe I’m the only nerd that thinks so though.