Assassins Creed Odyssey (PS4)

Huge, gorgeous but gets a bit repetitive
This was the first AC game I had played. I knew nothing at all about the previous episodes or the wider story. It doesn’t really matter. There’s the odd cut scene that suggests I am actually in the present day and somehow going back through time to inhabit the hero of this game, but I don’t fully understand that bit.

The game itself is great. You assume the role of Alexio or, in my case, Kassandra. A spartan mercenary (or misthios) who travels round Ancient Greece carrying out a series of tasks. You’re trying to find your mother mostly, and bring down a secret cult that is taking over the world.

It is huge, and looks gorgeous. It’s not as good looking as Red Dead Redemption 2, but it’s not a million miles off. I have currently spent 45 hours playing the game, and I am maybe halfway through. There is loads and loads and loads to do. Perhaps too much, as you have so many quests that it can get a bit hard to keep track of them all.

But it’s very enjoyable to play. The control system is a bit flawed (I keep pressing the wrong buttons at times) but basically works well. Combat is easy to do, but harder to do well. So you learn different styles with different weapons. You need to learn to sneak around, to dodge, to parry and, at times, just to run away. As well as learning how to use swords, spears, bows, daggers and special attacks. Your skills and gear improve over time as you get better.

Difficulty feels about right. If you try to take on enemies who are many levels above you, they will kill you very quickly. If you take on enemies who are levels below you, you will kill them easily. If you take on lots of enemies about your level, you need to be sensible and careful. It’s all good fun.

Greece is obviously a country with lots of islands, and you travel from island to island on your ship – sometimes fighting pirates, sometimes fighting Sparta, sometimes fighting Athens. But the missions do get a bit repetitive. In each island, you need to weaken the enemy through destroying their supplies, stealing their money and killing the leader. This opens up the conquest battle which is a large scale battle. It’s good fun, but each one is pretty much the same. A bit more variety wouldn’t have gone amiss.

But overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing it. I’m not bored yet and it does look lovely. I think it’s regarded as quite an accurate rendering of how ancient greece would have looked, and it looked lovely.

So this is a four star review – it’s great, but not perfect. You definitely get your money’s worth, though.