Top 50 Challenge 2014 – Assassin's Creed Rogue

I used to love Taco Bell's Gorditas (it was a strange sickness); I ate them for lunch and dinner, and then dinner again. Gorditas fueled my college education, but I eventually consumed so many of the tasty snacks that I grew tired of them. I broke my Gorditas taste buds, and even now, I can't force myself to order one. My point is that too much of a good thing can eventually grow distasteful. That's how I feel about Assassin's Creed. The sequel fatigue began to set in around AC III, but I powered through Black Flag anyway. Rogue is a completely competent game, and it follows the series' formula perfectly, but that formula has grown stale. It's time for a new menu item.

Learn more about the Game Informer Fight For The Top 50 Challenge 2014.

Admittedly, I was dreading having to play this game after Wade issued the challenge to me. But I tried to go into Assassin's Creed Rogue with a sense of optimism, reminding myself of my love for the series – I 100 percented AC II and Brotherhood. This was also the game were you played as a Templar, so it was bound to feel a bit different than last year's model, right?

To Rogue's credit, the basic story concept is strong. You jump into the boots of Assassin Shay Cormac and watch as he slowly becomes disenchanted with the ideals of his Brotherhood and eventually switches sides, joining the Templars and hunting down the people he once fought beside. The game's mechanics have been iterated on so much at this point that they are completely competent. Shay bounds to the tops of churches, trees, and forts with ease, and dispatches enemies by the baker's dozen. There is even a wealth of treasure chests to open, floating songs to chase down, and various other collectibles to fetch. When it comes to content, Assassin's Creed Rogue is stuffed tighter than the birds that sat on many dinning room tables yesterday.

While Assassin's Creed Rogue is completely competent and entirely functional, it is rarely surprising or engaging. After a few hours with the game, I was still playing for the Assassins and locked out of many of the game's meta challenges, such as building up and repairing property around the city. I had hoped that once Shay eventually did switch sides that the game would start to feel more original, but even after he donned the Templar outfit, his missions didn't look all that different: I was still trailing people through the city, beating up gang leaders to take over their forts, and activating eagle vision in order to hunt down targets. Maybe the game gets more creative later into the story, but I don't think you should have to play a game for ten hours before you start enjoying it.

My Vote
I wouldn't be surprised if Assassin's Creed Rogue actually makes it onto our Top 50 list; it seems like there are a number of supporters around here, and like I said, it's a technically sound title. However, I'd love to see us reserve this spot for a game that has a little more originality. I'm tired of playing a game that requires me to invest five hours into the story before I unlock all the systems. I'm tired of playing a game that forcefully jams a narrative into famous historical events. I'm tired of playing a game with a combat mechanic that is more efficient if you just wait and counter all your opponents' moves. I'm tired of playing a game that constantly interrupts the historical action and forces you to trot around a modern office complex and hack into computers. I may be tired of a lot of Assassin's Creed's overused mechanics, but let's be honest, many of these systems would be pretty lame even if I wasn't tired of them.