Recent reviews by untmdsprt

I got this game for free because of Ubisoft's apology for the Assassin's Creed Unity game. After about 100 hours of playing The Crew, I like the game except for a few issues below:

1. Being an MMO, and I use this term loosely, you have random people either in your way when you're trying to do a skill and have to do it over again, or some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ who feels the need to play bumper cars with yours and theirs. Luckily, you only have to deal with eight people at any given time and since the map is huge, you don't run into that many people. You can also fast travel to get rid of the bumper car asses.

2. Having to use real money to buy crew credits instead of being able to earn more after the first initial 100K. My advice, save the CC for when you want to buy perks as you'll start earning enough money with the faction missions and sending friends to buy the cars or parts you want.

3. The missions in which you have a time limit to knock down coolers in a RAID car. Highly annoying to drive those things let alone trying to get one to knock down something. You'll miss more often than not.

4. Random freezes that require a force quit.


For the good points, lots of cars to choose from and you might find your favorite. I got the Shelby GT500 which is my second favorite after the GT350 version. Unfortunately, the GT350 wasn't included in the game. :( That and the Shelby Cobra would have been a nice addition.

Free roam driving is actually nice and you can see a lot of sites. Viewing the landmarks will give you a lot of real world landmarks. Even had a viewing of the space shuttle taking off. Major cities include New York, Chicago, Miami and LA and Ivory Tower seems to have reproduced these cities fairly accurately.

My PC:

i7 3770
GTX 770
32GB RAM
Win 7 Pro
Avg FPS: high 40s


Game is absolutely stunning in detail. Paris is HUGE and will take days if not weeks to cover every single part of it. The fluid movement of going from outside to inside with no cutscenes or loading times is also a major improvement over the other AC games. It will be nice to take the time aside from the main missions just to go exploring. I've only been to the Paris airport but would love to have gone to the actual city.

• Different outfits that show off Arno's butt. Finally nice to have more eye candy us ladies can view while playing.
  
  
• Stealth mode is nice, but currently not on par with Splinter Cell Blacklist. Hopefully once you raise that skill in this game then it will be better.
  
  
• Drug induced "Alice in Wonderland" trip during a part of the game. Where can I get some of those drugs?
  
  
• Lockpicking is a new element and worth seeing if it does enhance the overall experience or if it's just another gadget Ubisoft throws in to see if anyone uses it. Think AC:Revelations and all the bombs you could craft. Most were pointless.

I've not had many major issues, just a few annoyances like "friends" who can't take no for an answer as why you don't want to play co-op in the game. I at the time had just started the game and wasn't far enough in the story to even bother with playing co-op. I actually have to work for a living to pay my bills and I'm also on US central standard time, so my time is different. I'm glad that mics aren't used in this game.

Walking too close to a co-op mission and then getting stuck with having to view cutscenes, etc. until you can finally cancel out of it.

Having to accumulate points to upgrade skills. How exactly do you get these points and how many do you need to finish the game? Will you be able to max out everything or have to pick and choose how you want to play?

Controls are still awful but having gotten better than the other AC games. Free running is nice until the character climbs up something and then gets stuck. :(

I'm going to assume my PC specs should be the minimum requirements as I'm still having to adjust what works and what doesn't. Nvidia has posted a guideline for their cards, but I'm taking it as a place to start. Even doing the very minimums don't improve framerate.


If your computer has similar specs to mine, then you should be able to play it. I've not had major issues with anything but a few occassional hiccups. I am hoping that if Ubisoft does patch it then I should be able to run it better than I am now.


Pros: a wild twist to add a more modern Paris to the game, and a more manageable way to make money.

Cons: "cover to cover" doesn't work at all, but "swap cover" while in a doorway does work. Recommended settings for my GPU have now been downgraded to "low". This means that anything less that a GTX 770 will probably choke on the game. Sword fighting in this game is highly annoying, as is being accurately shot at. I may have to switch clothes and just go for the health instead of stealth.

Shooting with the phantom blade/guns is also annoying as you have to line up the shot instead of highlighting the enemy and shooting.

Men ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ at you if you come within 3m of their precious chest even when you're minding your own business.

When I first started playing this game I thought the keyboard controls were horrendous and progressing through the story was confusing at best. Since I've gotten back into the game, I've progressed to the point where I'm now playing as Connor. I've also switched over to using a controller as it's not as horrendous to use, but still bad.

I'm finding that if I do the side missions along with the main story, that Connor is actually a good guy, his father is a ♥♥♥♥ and seemed to switch sides, and both the redcoats and Patriots need to be put down for good. Too bad the natives didn't have enough power to get rid of these loser Europeans.

This Assassin's Creed is good if you like Native American culture, and if you want to know something about how the USA got started. While the game has taken liberties with the real history, for the most part it is fairly accurate to say that NA, blacks and any other people that weren't white were treated terribly. Both voice actors for Connor and his mother are actual Native Americans.

Don't expect common sense and logic with this game. Crashing into a fairly good sized tree shouldn't knock the tree down. Even driving a motorcycle into a bus stop shouldn't shatter the stop. As far as the cops go, I can only assume they're working for the Chicago mafia as they tend to shoot you when someone calls. O.o

As for the rest of the game:

Can't say that my driving skills were the best with the keyboard. I actually grab my controller when I need to drive and the keyboard for most other things. The plot line, if there is one, is weak and really not the main thing in my opinion. I'm having fun just driving around Chicago and sightseeing.

The characters are very boring in personality and looks. Isn't there any stud hackers? What's with the long leather coat, sweater, and underclothes? Nobody else is wearing that many layers and from what I can tell, it's fall in Chicago.

My computer has an Intel i7 3770, GTX 770, both fairly overclocked and I can get around 50 - 60 fps. This is only when my settings are on high. If they're on ultra like Nvidia thinks they should be, then all hell breaks loose. The video driver will crash the first time, then runs fine after a restart. Driving is extremely slow on ultra, but decent on high. If Ubisoft would get their act together and start optimizing this game, then I'm sure I'll be getting better framerates. Stuttering isn't really a problem on high.

FYI, I've turned off the online gaming part because I don't play multiplayer, and even if I did, I'd rather have known friends instead of a random stranger.

I personally like the game but I do think the idea could have been executed better. I also don't like being forced into a third person view when other games allow you to have a first person when you want.

Update: I've finished the game and thought I would have been sad for Aiden, but in the end it seems like he got what he deserved. I know it sounds harsh and you want to root for the character you're playing, but not this time. Also after finishing the game, you can go back and get all the stuff you've missed or just drive around for the siteseeing.

Update (March 2015): After playing the Bad Blood DLC, I found that T-bone had a better personality than Aiden as he didn't want revenge on anyone but just wanted to get out of town. It also wrapped up a few things from the main story line. Aiden could be in St. Louis, but I doubt it as he'd probably want to cover his tracks and lead everyone on a wild goose chase. The part about Claire and Aiden being a couple, I didn't see it going any further than she having a crush on him or possible friends with benefits. As far as Aiden was concerned, she was a much needed help to get info.

This game is quite fun if you want something that will challenge you intellectually instead of shooting random things.