Why There's Less Hope to Be Found in "Immortals Fenyx Rising" Today
Why Ubisoft's Latest Information on "Immortals Fenyx Rising" Makes Me Slightly Disappointed
9/12/20
DISCLAIMER: The fourth link in the "Image sources" section takes you to a page where people say part of what I'm saying here but maybe a little better. It's mainly nice to know people agree with me and you all should check out their thoughts. Also I sound kinda harsh in this review, but know this game still looks cool and interesting to me, and you can see my other points about it. Finally, I'm aware that the Xbox Series X release date and price were revealed the afternoon of when the Series S was revealed. Regardless, I think it was stupid for Microsoft to not post a YouTube video about it at the same time.
Some might say that the September Ubisoft Forward was fine, but nothing to write home about. Personally, I thought it was a little on the dull side, with very little interesting or captivating about it. Though, if I hadn't already seen the trailers for the Scott Pilgrim game coming to modern platforms, and especially the new trailer for "Immortals Fenyx Rising", then I would be much happier with it. Of course, the Scott Pilgrim game is amazing, but there's a hell of a lot more to unpack with "Immortals Fenyx Rising". The game was first revealed as Ubisoft's latest open-world adventure made in an attempt to break off from the repetition and mediocrity seen in the last couple of "Assassin's Creed" games. The game was announced as "Gods and Monsters" at E3 2019, and revealed with a pretty and interesting cinematic trailer. The game's release date was set for February 25th, 2020, but this was obviously delayed due to recent world events seeing as the game hasn't yet released. It was eventually delayed until some point in 2021, and was seeming like yet another game to face repeated delays. Perhaps a game that might span years between reveal and release. In this new Ubisoft Forward, the game has instead been pushed up to a certain release date of December 3rd, 2020. It's hard to say what this means, but at this time, it's fair to speculate.
First, it was somewhat popular opinion that this game looked like yet another "Assassin's Creed" game, with this one being based around Greek mythology. Though now that we've seen a lot of gameplay, we see it's much different. From the looks of it, this seems like Ubisoft's shot at a semi-unique "Breath of the Wild" clone. From the style of the landscape, characters, open-world, terrain design, and certain themes, it's clear there was quite a lot of inspiration here. Knowing Ubisoft, maybe them seeing "Breath of the Wild"'s critical acclaim, but especially sales, they figured games like this would sell no matter what. "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", though, is undoubtably one of the most stunning and beautiful games of all time. Its way of storytelling, visuals, gameplay, and progression should stun any gamer used to any different system. Personally, I think this game looks much different. Not at all bad, but far different than "Breath of the Wild".
The one thing separating "Immortals Fenyx Rising" from "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" seems to be care. I wholeheartedly believe the true care and passion of everyone who worked on this game shows in its gameplay, but it still doesn't seem like they poured in as much. Perhaps this is because "The Legend of Zelda" has been a continuing franchise spanning decades and generations. So naturally the team working on such a project were selected because they had such a deep understanding of what makes these games work. Which means this could certainly be a thing with new IPs; the team hasn't yet established what they want this series to be. From the looks of it, this game has ripped off many games like it in the points where it would otherwise matter. Which brings me to my next point: this game needed more time in the oven. Many new games take so long to create because their creators are stressed out about starting a new franchise that could span decades. First impressions are everything in so many industries, including video games. Every new game should spend years in development tweaking its story, gameplay, and world meticulously so it can spawn a following that could last for said decades. In other words, everything should be perfect, which is why this game needed more time. Being pushed into 2021 may have just been because the team didn't know how hard working from home would be, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. It feels like either Ubisoft knew when Xbox would reveal the Series X and S, or they crammed this new trailer that had been ready to go into this forward because of the surprise.
This game is obviously trying its hardest to be ready for the launch of both new consoles, which is a very smart and profitable move on Ubisofts part. Though, if a game, especially the first in any new franchise, is not ready, keep holding onto it and wait until it is. Strangely enough, Xbox actually set their own bar of what to do about a new and important video game with the delay of "Halo: Infinite". This game was the big launch title for their big new system, and while this won't kill the system, it will certainly hurt it. It forces them to rely on monthly subscriptions to sell your consoles that people can already get on their Xbox Ones, which tarnishes their brand. Though this shows Xbox taking initiative and truly caring about their games, which is something Ubisoft needs to learn. Not with just "Immortals Fenyx Rising" if it does end up being unfinished, but a few of their other games as well. Namely "Assassin's Creed"; a series that has been in a notorious steep recent decline in quality. Granted, "Assassin's Creed" needs to meet a quota of one game every year. Then again, that still doesn't mean you should sell a generally bad game to your fans. Ubisoft is clearly capable of more, and have proven so with many of their games in the past. There is no better way to show your audience that you still care about them and the content they're experiencing with a brand new franchise. This proves even further that Ubisoft might just secretly be the slightly money-hungry pigs none of us want them to become.
Of course comparing this new random Ubisoft game to "The Legend of Zelda", one of the greatest known and most widely praised franchises of all time, seems very unfair. This brings me to my final point: this game will cost sixty dollars. This arouses no problem; I think it's totally fair to charge sixty dollars for such a big budget and interesting game. Though, games like "Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey" are both sixty dollar games. These games set the bar for this generation, and it's unfair to say these games set the bar too high. Sixty dollars is a hefty price tag to slap on a video game regardless, and if I'm paying for something this big and important, I deserve to get my money's worth. In this discussion, I've made the game seem far worse than it actually looks. Though by my very personal and opinionated standards, this just doesn't meet an overall worth of sixty dollars, regardless how many hours I get out of it. Though I do believe this game could be a lot of fun, and it is still way too early to tell for sure. In conclusion, what I am doing is holding off a bit until I go throwing my money at a game until I see reviews and more gameplay. Naturally, due to the wild amount of hype I had about this game's initial announcement, I was ready to pre-order the day they went up. Now though, in case this game is unfinished or not fun enough, then I'd rather stay safe about giving money to a company and promoting what might not be worth it.
Image sources (in order):
Comments
Post a Comment