Monday Gaming Diary: I did say no more stealth, didn’t I?

My friends are always so quick to tell me that the Assassin’s Creed series is NOT stealth. Technically, I suppose they are correct, but the AC games contain stealth elements, and occasionally, stealth is mandatory to avoid desynchronization. Most of the time, stealth is encouraged, but there are instances where getting noticed causes an instant desynch. These requirements may not crop up often enough for the series to be considered stealth, but dammit, it’s enough stealth for me to turn my palms sweaty and get my teeth grinding.

AC3 introduces the concept of eavesdropping moving targets as well, requiring you to stay within a specific radius to overhear targets and of course, they can’t notice that you’re listening to them. When this is coupled with the requirement to not be detected, it makes things interesting and raises my blood pressure.

So much for swearing off stealth for awhile. At least I have the strategy guide, which has been an absolute blessing for me so far. The only time that it hasn’t been helpful is when I come across the lovely bugs that AC3 is littered with, and I can’t blame the guide for that at all. It’s not the guide’s fault that on occasion the game drops Connor at a checkpoint in the middle of enemies when he’s supposed to be incognito (enemies I killed before the checkpoint, no less, but that’s a different story).

At least AC3 has plenty of extraneous activities for Connor to partake in, so if the stealth gets too much for me, I can go on countless side quests for awhile.

I will be taking a break from AC3 starting tomorrow, though, when Halo 4launches tomorrow. I’m reviewing that game for Gaming Angels, so that one will have to take precedence for at least a week. Surely there’s no stealth in that game…