VampireG’s Blog

So as I mentioned before I managed to end up with two versions of Assassins Creed, one for the 360 and one for the PS3.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to compare the games side by side and share my thoughts.

Price

Well both versions cost me £39.99 from Gameplay so I this is a pretty easy one to be honest.

Tie: XBox 360 and PS3

Gameplay

In essence the games played exactly the same from what I have seen which is basically playing both games up to the first Assassination. The games played the same I could no see difference in content and gameplay at all.

Tie: Xbox 360 and PS3

Controls

Ok I think controls are something of a personal preference. The Xbox controller will suite some people and the PS3 controller will suite others. There is no Sixaxis support in Assassins Creed so be honest for me anyways out of the box I prefer the XBox 360 controller which also supports rumble. However to be fair this is really a tie.

Tie: Xbox 360 and PS3

Graphics

This is the big one then really, this is the one that most people really care about. I am not going to waffle on about how great the game looks etc, as to be honest the game does look amazing on both consoles, instead I will just get straight the point on what is actually not good about the graphics and why.

The PS3 loses out again to the 360, which I was really disappointed with to be honest. For a game that started life on the PS3, for a console with more beef than a Burger King Burger the graphics on the PS3 should be better than the 360, but they are not! Why? I noticed that on the PS3 there was a lot of frame-rate drop when the screen got busy, and lets face it most of the time you are in a busy city so the frame-rate dropped a lot. I also noticed that the textures on the PS3 did not seem as crisp as the 360 although this was only noticed under real scrutiny and would detract from playing the game. However the PS3 did suffer from a lot more pop-up than the 360. Both consoles suffer from a bit of Pop-up however the PS3 more so. I really noticed things such as textures popping-in, shadows appearing from nowhere.

Both games are great to look at, just the PS3 version lacks some polish on textures, suffers from more pop-up and poor frame-rate drop.

Winner: Xbox 360

Sound

Both games use 5.1 surround sound and to be honest they both sounded exactly the same through my Sony Surround System.

Tie: Xbox 360 and PS3

Overall

Well overall the games are pretty much the same on whatever console you choose to buy it on. The Xbox 360 really only has it’s nose slightly ahead here but alas wins this comparison for me. What with the overall better graphic performance and with the achievement system to me it would be my choice.

Overall Winner: Xbox 360

There are few games that I get excited about, Mass Effect by Bioware is one of those games. I have had Mass Effect on Pre-order for over a year now and finally this week the waiting is over. Fingers crossed it does not turn out to be a Mass Disappointment I am sure it won’t be, but there has been a couple of games recently which have been a little disappointing.

I guess I better finish Assassins Creed by Wednesday as hopefully Thursday Mass Effect will arrive on my doorstep. As sad as it sounds I even booked some days off work to play this one!

Ok a bit of a cock up took place when I ordered my Assassins Creed. I originally ordered the Xbox 360 version, and then on hearing a rumor that the PS3 version was going to be better I cancelled the Xbox 360 version and ordered the PS3 version. Well I was a little slow in my order cancellation and low and behold yesterday Assassin Creed for the XBox 360 arrived on my lap.

The interesting point is today Assassins Creed for the PS3 has also landed on my lap, so I think what I will do over the weekend is play them both and give you a honest review of both versions.

However here are my initial thoughts on the Xbox 360 version of the game:

What I like so far:

• Graphics are absolutely gorgeous
• Control system is very fluid and easy to use
• The city crowds actually seem alive
• The sheer size and scale the game portrays is amazing
• I actually like the “twist” as people are calling it

What I don’t like so far:

• The fighting mechanics are a little clunky
• The “Blend in” mode makes the game too easy as you may as well be invisible

Ok so the list of don’t likes currently is not too long, but I have only really played the game for about 3 hours. The really stand out thing for me is the graphics engine, it is amazing the level of detail you get with the distance the game draws. As for the objects that are right up close to you the textures are very detailed indeed.

The character moves very fluidly and I think is a triumph as it could easily have been complicated and impossible to get your assassin to leap from roof to roof.

So far I have arrived in Damascus and I am collecting information for my first contract so to speak. Currently this is new and pretty fun, although I can imagine having to do this over and over again is going to get a little boring but we will have to see.

Overall at present I am impressed with the game. I know you may feel these thoughts are a little thin, but I don’t want to give too much of the game away as it is so new. Lets just say I will share some more thoughts soon and also share my thoughts on how the XBox 360 and PS3 versions sit side by side.

Yup that’s right finally at the end of this week we can get our hands on Assassins Creed. A game I was not too excited about but the excitement has grown after seeing the game-play footage available on the net.

The graphics look great on both PS3 and Xbox360, there has been some rumours that the PS3 version is going to be better than the 360 version? I guess we will wait and see, I have opted to purchase my copy on the PS3.

If you have any comments on whether the graphics are better on the PS3 post them here as I would be interested to hear your opinions to why etc.

Ok heart attack moment last night, my Xbox 360 decided to display a single red light and an error message of E74! I have already had one Xbox 360 display the three red lights of death and this is the replacement. Now would you say this is sods law, I have actually had my PS3 on over the last couple of weeks and more so than the Xbox 360. I come back to the 360 and low and behold it starts to play up, my guess this is either one jealous console who is warning me that it needs to be played or it is aware that November is a good month for games.

November we have Call of Duty 4 (out in 2 days), then we have Assassins Creed (out in about a week and a bit), and then we have the game which I have had on pre-order for over a year now which is Mass Effect. Sods law would tell me that my console is bound to pack up on the month Mass Effect is out!!! So far it seems to be working… but I am watching this closely!

Incidentally the E74 error message can be displayed for one of the following reasons: 

• There is a 90% chance it’s a scaler chip problem (the “ANA” or “HANA” chip near the AV cable connection) #
• Can be caused by a faulty AV cable.
• In rare cases it is a problem with the GPU

 (The above information was found at Xbox-Scene.com)