Gameloft’s BackStab [$6.99] was released for Xperia Play a few months back as a timed exclusive, but now that it has finally arrived on iOS as a universal app, we get to take a look at the studios take of Assassin’s Creed via Pirates of the Carribbean. Which is to say, it’s an open world action adventure game with lots of jumping around and stabbing things.
The core of the game relies on the same parkour and action mechanics of the Assassin’s Creed games on consoles. That means the bulk of the game requires you to run around a somewhat open world and jump from object to object. Control wise, you’ll get a virtual thumbstick and some buttons to control sword swipes and jumping. Combat is a button mashing affair and while you get some counter moves, you don’t get a block, so most battles can be won by hitting the attack button repeatedly. Touching and scrolling anywhere on the screen moves the camera around. It’s tolerable, but there will be plenty of instances where you miss jumps, balk stealth sequences or attack thin air because you can’t quite get the camera settled properly.
The same goes for free-running, which only works in certain contextual situations. Occasionally you have to push the jump button and sometimes the game does it for you. It’s confusing at best, unpredictable and annoying at its worst and you’ll die a lot if you don’t get the hang of it.
You’ll be doing all of this dying, running, jumping and stabbing across several locales in what can only be described as one of the most insane, brain-melting stories I’ve played through in a long time. From the outset, you play as Henry Blake, an officer in England’s Royal Navy who ends up with a faux-hawk and a badass biker jacket after being double-crossed by a man who was apparently an old friend. This puts you into shackles, gives excuse for a daring escape and eventually provides the reasoning for the crux of the story, your revenge. To get your revenge, you’ll kill chickens and rabbits to make food for a buxom lady, run errands for random people and explore a few different Caribbean Islands in a series of missions only slightly related to the main story arc.
I’m wary to “spoil" the strangeness the game takes on around its mid-point, but let’s just say it pulls an Uncharted and goes off the rails of reality and spills into something totally different. This wouldn’t be a big deal if it made a lick of sense, but the game seems to push you to want revenge, not to run around caves searching out different artifacts to reverse an infection. The world simply doesn’t justify the twist, but it’s a point only a few will likely quibble with.
As far as the open-world is concerned, it’s a mix between Assassin’s Creed and Red Dead Redemption, in that you’ll be running around and taking on missions from random people, saving people from being killed by the Spanish and picking flowers. The kitchen sink approach is admirable, but the game is so buggy it’s difficult to really dig into. If you can deal with it, there is tons of content to explore, even if it’s all a bit familiar. You can play through the main storyline in about four or five hours, but if you explore the extra missions and side stuff, there is plenty of gameplay to be had.
The engine is likely the place to put the blame for the bugs. Characters will fall through the ground, get stuck in jumping loops or disappear altogether. Design wise, several of the NPCs seem pulled directly from Assassins Creed II, but the low polygon count and often humorous animation means you’ll never really mistake this for anything but a mobile game. While those are minor annoyances and are mostly expected in open world games, they happen far more than they should and even worse, happen to your own character sometimes. The game does a decent job of magically pulling you out of stuck corners, but I had to restart a few times after getting trapped on a ledge or in a wall.
That said, BackStab runs well on the iPad and only occasionally chugs on an iPhone 3GS. Control-wise, it’s far better suited for the iPad’s bigger screen and you’ll likely be accidently touching buttons far more often on an iPhone. The world looks great on all of the devices, even if the characters don’t.
The characters are fully voiced, but the dialogue isn’t particularly noteworthy and the voice acting, while an admirable inclusion, doesn’t really add to the experience. For their part, the sound effects and music do a good job of sounding like what they’re supposed to, but don’t plan on being blown away by the sound design or the acting. It’s better than previous Gameloft titles, but still has a lot of room to grow.
If you’ve been desperately craving an Assassin’s Creed game set in an 18th Century pirate wonderland to play on the go, this will do the trick, but don’t expect too much from it. If you can deal with all the bugs, you’ll certainly be taken on a bizarre ride and you’ll have a ton of stuff to do in the world.
Hopefully he leaves the whole "yay yay yay yay wahoo way-to-go" thing in the game. Cause THAT's not annoying...
Just by watching the video I feel really positive... Those yay's and woohoo's are full of charm and good feeling. The piano is very strangely haunting and seems, to me, conveys a feeling of slow motion panic.
This looks like a very interesting game/toy.
I liked it at first. Half way through the video I expected it to start using different samples but no. Yay, yay, yay, woo. All, the, way, through. I hope the developer plans to change the samples throughout the game (every ten levels or something). Otherwise I would have play it with the sound off.
There is a sound option in the pause menu to turn the Yays down or even off. ;-)
Even my scores posted shortly after launch turn our to be much lower than yours, I will not cry "bloody favoritism"
no more comments to be typed from the ipod - I really botched it.
yea this game looks annoying
Minotaur Rescue was and is ace. His 2nd iOS (foget the name) was ok, but I didn`t ever really warm to it. I`ll definitely be getting this one as it looks suitably nuts...
Ohhhh, what a magical place!
And I owe it all to the Pegasus Race
If I knew the ground had so much up its sleeve
I'd have come here sooner, and never leave!
Yes, I loooove everythiiiiiiiiiing!
Yay.
I salute you.
I really like the steady stream of gentle 'yay's.. combined with the piano it's really relaxing and hypnotic. The whole thing makes my brain feel pleasant and positive. Good vibes! Reminiscent of Electroplankton on the DS
Huge fan of Jeff's, but admittedly that was surely a what just happened moment.
deflex was one of his early titles, shouldn't be anything surprising here for a fan
This game was originally seen way back in the Vic20 days if I remember right, I like the use of the piano... seems like a great game to chill out with.
I should've mentioned that in the write-up...
jeff minter has been remaking the same game for the last 25 years. can he do something that isn't "points multipliers, rainbow LSD visuals, lol wacky" instead, just once?
zzzzzzz.
The same could be said for EA or any of the major publishers. But you my friend are an arse!
I can think of many insults people have launched at EA, but no one faults them for making the same game over again.
I'd rather see something influenced by LSD for 25 years straight than just money and greed (too many developers try to make a quick buck)!
Not enough things these days are influenced by acid. There have been so many good movies (Close Encounters! 2001!), so many good albums (late Beatles, Pink Floyd, Richard Devine, AFX), and definitely not enough games :).
"Vinyards have been remaking the same idea for the past 25+ years. Can't they produce something that isn't 'Oh, drink this, lol, it makes your brain funny,' just once? Zzzzzz."
What would you like him to do then? A text adventure? A golf game? His primary skill is in shoot em ups. He likes vivid, colourful games that stretch the senses, both visually and audibly. If you don't like his games, don't buy them. I don't like fooball games, so I don't buy them. However, I see no point in posting on a Fifa review and saying that they're all the same game and why can't they be different.
kids gonna love this
Can't wait to get this, hope it will come out very soon!
I'm still waiting for an iOS release of Tempest 2000 (or even a Tempest 3000 -- I never tried that one since I never owned an NUON). Tempest 2K is one of my all-time favourite games.
Yes, we neeeeed Tempest 2000 and Matrix/Gridrunner on iOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yak's games have always had different controls, different gameplay and different reception from people, but he carries on regardless.
More power to Yak I say as it is the likes of he (and Giles too) who keep originality and diversity in the games world today. Yes, people will say he is just remaking XYZ, but it always an evolved version bringing much new to the table, never just a pure remake.
Most Genres today repeat the same formula with newer spangly graphics and not much else added (apart from a new number at the end of the title).
Absolutely dreadful
I stopped reading after '2 of the best games on the App Store'. Deluded journalism.
I firmly stand by my assessment that Minter's previous two iOS titles are two over the very best games in the App Store. I've heard plenty who agree with that assessment, as well. You're missing out, guy.
Did Minotron ever get a review on Toucharcade as suggested in the preview of the game?
Nope. They were going to a games show and said they'd write it when they came back, but that was months ago. ;-)
Can't wait for this. Have played Minotron to death and it is such an easy and enjoyable pick up and play game. Jeff just tweeted that he hopes this will be up in the store in the next week and you can control the level of yay's; not that they bothered me. Will definitely be picking this up.
They give this game to people who are suicidal.
put it on my wishlist, waited a week. Got it, played one level, deleted it. Presentation is awful!