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Regardless of whether your take on Assassin’s Creed is glowing or somewhat derisory, I think we can probably agree that the game has a few shortcomings. Though critics generally consent that the mechanics are fresh, it’s hard to ignore arguments claiming that Assassin’s suffers from repetitive objectives. Call it a smart business decision: give players a little too much of one thing and hopefully your competition won’t attempt to reiterate before you get the chance. Whatever the case, those never-ending investigations aren’t what irked me about Assassin’s Creed. No, in my opinion, the truly onerous design decisions had to do with cut scene camera positioning.

Naturally, these issues are far from game-breaking. But they’re still worth thinking about for a variety of reasons. First, expository elements almost always have a serious atmospheric impact. Of more particular interest, however, is the fact that cinematics have taken a lot of flack in the wake of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. While I largely concur with the folks who have argued that player interaction is what games are all about, abandoning cut scenes in favor of scripted sequences isn’t necessarily going to deliver a superior immersive experience, and, to my thinking, Assassin’s is living proof.

I found myself almost completely unable to pay even a whit of attention during most of the major plot points despite being genuinely interested in what was happening.

Spoilers to follow.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Take the scene in which Desmond Miles, Altaïr ibn La-Ahad’s present-day descendant, is asking Abstergo employee Lucy Stillman about how she came to work with her supervisor, Warren Vidic. Stillman has just defended Vidic in spite of his short temper and brusque tone, claiming that he once saved her life. “What do you mean he saved your life?” Miles asks.

Now, despite earnestly wanting to know Stillman’s answer, I zoned out and later consulted Sarranduin’s transcription at GameFAQs. This happened more than once, and, unfortunately, Sarranduin isn’t quite finished with the script. At any rate, so far as I can tell, the reason for my (rather consistent) lapses in concentration had to do with Ubisoft Montreal’s decision to deliver their storytelling tidbits via scripting rather than itsy-bitsy film. As a consequence, these segments didn’t seem separate or special — yet they were clearly intended to be. Instead of briefly taking control in order to elucidate important details, the development team left its end users an unusual amount of interpretive freedom with such a directed game.

This seems especially bizarre when one considers that Assassin’s Creed is unusually camera conscious. When ibn La-Ahad selects his pickpocket targets, for instance, the perspective shifts in something not unlike rack focus, drawing players’ attention to their quarry by leaving white-robed Altaïr looking soft and blurry. Later, when it comes time to assassinate Al Mualim, the developers choose to introduce Masyaf’s mind-controlled citizens with a rather brilliant canted angle. This is the work of a team that clearly knows a thing or two about how movies use various techniques to convey meaning. So why not take full advantage of these methods?

Moreover, the scripted portions of Assassin’s are severely limiting in terms of control. You can steer Miles and ibn La-Ahad about, but save for some point of view switches through occasional button mashing, there’s not much to do or watch; you just listen while staring at a wide shot. You can add some artificial oomph to everything by changing perspectives every time someone utters a complete sentence, though if all that’s effected are the camera angles, why bother?

Perhaps I’m drawing too hard a line. The scripted sequences in Assassin’s Creed are so restrictive they might as well be cut scenes. Nevertheless, editing your own exposition on the fly is not only distracting, it’s wholly ineffective as a narrative device. After all, given a linear experience such as this, it’s the developer who should choose which actions to underscore and which lines of dialogue to emphasize.

In any case, it’ll be fascinating to see how Ubisoft Montreal decides to fine-tune these elements in their sequel.