So, I beat Assassin’s Creed a couple days ago. Man! What a disappointing game! Instead of typing all the reasons why, I’m going to be lazy and just point you over to Chris Kohler’s review on the very good Wired Game | Life blog. I agree with pretty much every single word of it.

I will add, though, that I was a little more frustrated with the story than he was. He has issues with the presentation of it (namely the tendency for all the characters of the game to stand still and deliver their dialogue in tiny rooms with bad camera angles) and I agree with that, but I also have issues with the story itself. Or, more accurately, some of the stuff that happens at the periphery, because I totally dig the central story; it’s very entertaining and clever sci-fi goodness. What bugs me, though, is all this other shit they throw on top of it. Some of it is genuinely thought provoking, powerful stuff… but then they don’t do anything with it.

For example, when you complete one of your assassinations, Altair and the victim seamlessly transition into some out-of-time blue VR room, where the soon to be dearly departed expound on their motivations, Bond villain style. The interesting thing is most of these guys end up being sympathetic characters in some way. Maybe their methods are a little misguided sometimes, but their motivations are noble. This is cool! Morality that is not just black and white in a video game! What a concept! Unfortunately, revealing all of this after you’ve killed them makes it completely meaningless. Why not dole out this information in little bits before the assassination? The whole investigation structure is a perfect opportunity to do this. Instead, you have to eavesdrop on people talking about how your target will be here at a certain time, or someone has a letter with his address on it, or some other boring, superfluous detail.

Also: while the things the characters expound upon are interesting, and it’s certainly refreshing to have deep thoughts coming from a video game, they don’t really go anywhere with any of it. They never have any real impact on the greater story at large, or the game. They’re little self contained monologues that make no real conclusions or communicate any real message. I’m not saying I want them to spoon feed me answers, but it does not seem that there are even answers to be had. It seems almost irresponsible to deal with such heavy, powerful subjects and not use them to say something. The game just sorta dangles these things out there and says “hey, look at this!” and then it’s on to something else. The game takes place in the holy lands, for crying out loud. What an amazing setting! There’s so much you could do with that! The fact that it’s there is great, but it’s not enough. I was really disappointed to find out, about a third of the way through the game, that I was fighting for some silly magical mcguffin. At that moment, the game had effectively pulled all it’s punches. Why can’t Altair simply be fighting for something he believes in? This is a medium of choices; why can’t I decide not to assassinate someone after hearing their story? These questions are not answered or justified by the story of the game. They are answered, however, by the message that greets you upon booting the game:

“This work of fiction was designed, developed and produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs.”

Ah, ok. So, basically you’re telling me that you’re not going to talk about anything important in here for fear of offending someone. Gotcha.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all kinds of huggy hug hippy liberal, but meaningful art is never created by a committee (and what a committee, this game has one of the longest credit rolls in recent memory). Sometimes you have to step on some toes. By refusing to do so, Assassin’s Creed falls short of being truly meaningful. By trying to inject some half-assed, unoffensive deep thoughts, however, it also falls short of being successful entertainment. It ends up in the unfortunately pretentious middle ground of pulp entertainment in the guise of something deeper.

That said, I am really looking forward to the eventual sequel. Hopefully, they will learn from their gameplay design mistakes. I also hope they just concentrate on making the game a good pulp sci-fi affair, with plenty of twists and conspiracies and secret societies, and forget about the delusions of being something deeper.

Posted by nick on 27 Mar 2008 at 06:32 pm

3 Comments »

So excited!!

Posted by ryan on 27 Mar 2008 at 02:49 pm

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THIS TOO WILL BE IMPORTANT.
cancelled-flight.mp3
More HERE

Posted by ryan on 27 Mar 2008 at 01:31 pm

1 Comment »

A few weeks back before the new South Park commercials ripped off The Electric Company we took our own stab at copping some visuals from one of my fave shows as a kid. Seriously, we ripped ‘em off first. Promise.

Anyway, we have finished up a demo recording of the song which accompanies said visuals and just posted it on our MySpace page. Go have a listen and let us know what you think. Plus this one has singing! Oh and if you haven’t added us as friends yet please do!

Also mark your calendars for our FREE show at the Go Bar coming up on April 5th. If all goes as planned we will be debuting another new jam!

PLUS: Summer East Coast shows are in the works with The Sad Cobras, Ruby Isle and Spring Tigers! There is also talk of possible West Coast shows this summer but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Blowing up yo.

Posted by ryan on 27 Mar 2008 at 01:17 pm

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No Age- weirdo rippers: well you got the weirdo part right. this sounds kinda like what it would sound like if Lightning Bolt or the Liars tried to make a record that sounded like My Bloody Valentine. it’s good, i am digging it…but i wouldn’t say that it was doing much ripping.

The Kills- midnight boom: the kills continue putting out records that sound like the records i wish PJ Harvery was still making instead that fake Tori Amos shit. this record is okay…URA Fever is a good single…i don’t know if i’d recommend this to anyone who already owns an album by the Kills. that dude does fuck Kate Moss though, so that’s something.

Posted by justin on 26 Mar 2008 at 01:45 pm

1 Comment »

One of my favorite products to gaze at while I’m in the checkout line at the grocery store is Invisipins. Sadly, I don’t have a photograph of the packaging, which makes a lot of fairly outrageous claims about how incredible these colored safety pins are, mostly because I am afraid that photographing impulse buys in order to blog about them can possibly get you sent to Guantanamo and because I do not want to spend even a couple of dollars to own the package, which I would use for no other purpose than to photograph. I do have a picture of some of the pins themselves though, thanks to this website.

 Oh, ha ha. Here’s the real picture. 

They’re not particularly invisible.Here’s part of the description: “Who wants boring silver safety pins? Oversized, easy-flex pins are easier to open and see than regular pins… safer to handle; match clothing, too.” The problem with regular safety pins is that they’re always blending in with everything, especially if you are this lady.

 I do like that Invisipins uses both the camouflage and the extremely visible aspects of its product for marketing. That’s called diversifying your target audience. But they could use a new name. Jazzpins? Pinbows? Pins That You Can Either See or Not See, Depending on the Color of the Background?–HB 

Posted by teambrown on 26 Mar 2008 at 11:40 am

1 Comment »

Hello Buddies!

I just wanted to let you all know that the Buddy System (and a pile of other great bands) are playing the Gainesville Pop Mayhem fest in Gainesville, FL this May. The fest runs from May 8-10th. We play Thursday the 9th. Get tickets HERE.

Click the poster to see the complete lineup:

Posted by ryan on 21 Mar 2008 at 01:22 pm

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The Athens Banner-Herald ran a nice piece on the Buddy System in advance of our show tomorrow. Check it HERE.

Posted by ryan on 21 Mar 2008 at 01:08 pm

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Hey Buddies!

We are still shaking off the brain haze from the week-long wonderfest that was SXSW but I wanted to make a quick announcement that The Buddy System and King of Prussia will share the stage with a bunch of other talented cats this Saturday at the 40 Watt. Click the tiny poster to see the lineup for this FREE show. That’s right, I said FREE so all you cheapoz out there better come running for some funning.

Oh yeah and while you are at it, why not stop by the shoppe and pick yourself up something purty?!

Posted by ryan on 20 Mar 2008 at 02:24 pm

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You can read my SXSW Action 5 HERE and see some of my pictures at my new Flickr account. More pictures will be uploaded as time allows.

Posted by ryan on 20 Mar 2008 at 12:23 pm

1 Comment »