Yes I admit I havent played the game yet but what I saw of the videos is just incredible and has me convinced. MY bad journalism comment relates to the fact of its unappreciation of what the game (or all games in general) has brought to the table in terms of innovation. For me, that counts more than anything else.

I'd rather applaud a game that tries something new and perhaps fails than a game that brings me the same old dish but with a different decoration.

This is exactly how I look into it as well but my worry about the scores is that most gamers nowadays just SKIP to the score and ignore the rest. Hell, Ubisoft CEO has idiotically implied that the game will definately average a 90%, a stupid move by a the person that stands on top of the company which stems from the fact that people today LOOK ONLY at score!

My only concern is that based on the above, the concept will just die like other concepts have died before just because it did get 7s 6s .... and hence my comment about journalism. if you read those reviews carefully there is a huge appreciation for the concept but what people see are the scores and that doesnt reflect that ..... /I hope you understood that ... I may even be confusing myself :P

To be honest, I sometimes find myself defending games so much that it probably makes me blind to the other side of the coin. personel preference always interfers with my opinions but I do hope you get what I mean :)

Yeah I brought Crackdown up before. The only thing that kept that game fun for me was co-op. So yeah thanks deft.

Knowing that there are indeed other things in the game is helpful and encourages me to try the game out. I keep referring the 1up review cause that is the site I go to for reviews etc. While he claims that the game is repetitive he does not state that the only thing to do is kill the 9 men. He sites the other activities but says they do not change throughout the game. If that is the case I can see how the game may grow stale.

People get excited about games and when review scores don't meet their expectations they flip out. Then you come on a forum and make one negative criticism about a game and get eaten alive. I never said this game is shit or anything like that. I look forward to trying it out on a rental.

Psychonauts is the best last-gen platforming game and one of the best I've played. Platforming wasn't perfect,but it's far from being broken and it's very fun actually.

If AC's flaws are exactly like Psychonauts' in regard that they don't brake the entire game and it is just an extremely memorable experience, I'll be very happy with it. I somehow doubt it has the same kind of ingenuity like Psychonauts, though it's from people who made Sands of Time, so I might love it after all.

Trust me you don't want that job.

I got a call from GAME today that I can pick up my copy of the game tomorrow exactly when they open up, which is 10 :D

I felt the same way. But in my experience, being forced to play games you didn't want to play while games that you did want to play sat on the shelf really sucks. Writing really took the soul out of gaming for me for a while. But I guess it's better than manual labor... ;)

What's up with the Crackdown comparison?

Story wise, the objective might be extremely similar, but that's pretty much where the games are alike. And I haven't played, nor plan to really, Assassin's Creed, yet I can give my opinion.

Crackdown, like the MAJORITY of games eventually gets boring. I didn't get bored of the game as fast as Grift did for example. When the last few videos came out, I was totally excited and I didn't see any of the repetitiveness I DO see in AC videos. Just by watching videos of AC makes me go to sleep, playing it can only help so much.

But what kept Crackdown very fun for me for a long time is Orb collecting, and the fact that you can do some crazy stuff! Surely, pickpocketing people can't be incredibly fun can it? I don't know, but do you gain anything from stealing people? Anything valuable as in, you can do something fun with what you get?

In Crackdown, the main story is about 10hrs. You can then go for some of the best achievements there has yet to be in 360 games--they actually feel like PART of the game, and are generally fun and rewarding, not a pain in the ass like "kill 1 million guys online" or "Win by a gazillion points on x difficulty". So out of the achievements, let's say you get 2hrs of FUN.

So you get quite a bit out of that. Just shooting randomly, you can get some great fun too. Let's say about 2hrs out of that before it starts to get repetitive. Great, now you can try some crazy stunts with a ramp and certain cars. Shoot a few tires at high speed vehicles (which for me it rarely gets boring). Of course, you can also take time to do things to level up your character which is very rewarding. As you level up you change your appearance and gain new abilities you can put to good use on whatever you want. The rooftop races are fun too and there's plenty, and just climbing all over the place and iconic buildings in all of the cities is an achievement itself (although I guess this applies to AC too I guess)

And then there is the orb hunting, wow, is that addictive or what? Sure, it gets to be a pain when there's only a few left and you start to lose hope, but by that time you spend hrs already, and if it was fun to you (how can it NOT!!?!?) then you got some great value. Then there are the timed boss fights, not much to it, but a playthrough all of those once is fun enough.

And then you can update the game and whollah, more fun stuff to do.

And last but by no means least is the fact that the game has online co-op. Surely there must be some fun to this.

The games can't be compared directly, but for those with AC, what is there to AC's activities that make them fun and rewarding to do for extended periods.

If all the above wasn't a good example, consider this; In Crackdown, the simple act of kicking someone is fun. Why. Well, not only are the results often comical as the body slams into a passing bus, but the incentive here is that you gain more skill (strenght) which would eventually lead to some ridiculous (and thus fun) kicking. In other words, in this game doing something brings fun and rewarding results.

EDIT: I realize this is a long post, but a few were discussing how all games are repetitive by nature, etc etc. And yes that's true. But jumping itself can vary, and while the act of jumping is being repeated several times, it can still be fun if dealt with correctly. Example, there's a big difference from jumping 1 meter to jumping 10. When climbing a building, sure, it's just one more building, but the climbing itself changes by the fact that the building is entirely different and you have to apply new logic or gain necessary skills to even do it.

Rayman 2 is a N64 game. :)

But yes, Psychonauts was the best platforming game of its generation. It certainly didn't have crippled or broken as you seem to suggest - it's fully fleshed (double jump, sort of parachuting and other skills) and it works for sure. I don't know what troubles you had with controlling Raz. He might not want to go to jump on every surface, but it's certainly not as limited as, let's say, Uncharted, in that regard. Plus Psychonauts made some very clever things with 3D space. That said, it's not the area where Psychonauts truely excels.

Let's look at the competition you listed. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time? One of my favorite last-gen games and platforming was really great (almost flawless), but with its rather heavy combat focus, lack of classic bosses (Prince's father was a standard but stronger enemy, the bad vezyr was dead after 20 seconds lol :)) and not collecting any stuff make me think it's not a platformer. Jak & Daxter was a great game, but it was hardly doing anything new - it seemed like less hardcore Banjo-Kazooie without its distinct style. Ratchet & Clank is a shooter (so are Jak 2&3), I admit I haven't played Sly Cooper...

What makes Psychonauts so great as a game are its levels - each is unique and you don't have that generic "lake - desert - ice - forest - lava" crap like most platformers have. The first couple of levels in Psychonauts aren't all that great, but starting with 'Milksman Conspiracy' level I just felt I was having some of the greatest moments in gaming and because of that I don't think other last-gen platform games are in the same league as Psychonauts. Charm of these levels is a part of their appeal, many of them introduced some great game mechanics - Milksman Conspiracy had this fancy gravity thing.

I'm glad to see the reviewers agreed with my prediction, i'll rent it when available just to further the point...

Been playing the game for about 5 hours and I really like it, great graphics and the story so far has been interesting. I even like the combat, its clear that if the guards all attacked you at once(and they do sometimes) you would die pretty quick, though to be honest, you should run away if there are more than 3 or 4 attacking you anyway. The only thing I really don't like is how just riding you horse in anything but "blend" in the kingdom around guards sends them after you, so freaking annoying.

To many big posts :(

Been playing the game for 4 hours and really loving it.

The only thing that i really miss in this game are subtitels...why did they leave this out cause sometimes it is really hard for me to understand what they are saying (and because of this i am afraid of missing some important clues for the story).

I noticed that too :P

Well The store is gonna open in 1 hour so I am gonna be there when they open up then gonna rush home to play it :D

Next week Mass Effect and then I am done with purchasing games until January 2008!

Okay I came home like 2 hours ago, and I played it...so many weapon combinations...time to learn them.

So far its very very coo, just as I expected.
Combat is a learning curve so thats cool, the running and climbing as very fun.

The cutscenes of the shadowing and clipping and such are not the best, but I will avoid them and enjoy it in whole.

But kind of a shame there isn't subtitles to it.

Short in short, I am having ALOT of fun, and I thought that in this game, Altair wont have the same Desmond, but they have the same type of face, like Altair never died or whatever.

Tell me a western game that doesn't .. :P ?

I can see why this game could become repetitive, but almost any game I have played for the last god knows how long has also.All i can say is pick another site.

This site should ;)

actually ..no, i like a site that does not force its opinion on me its great :D