Missed Opportunities

One last thing about Assassin's Creed Recollections: while the game is played "in real time", that's hardly accurate. As far as I can tell (I don't own all the cards, nor have I actually timed anything), every card in the game takes half a "day" to play, and has half a "day" cool down. The only exception to this is the "Surprise" class of cards, which are effectively instantaneous.

In other words, it may be real time, but no cards take advantage of this. If you're fast with playing them and don't dally, the game basically becomes turn-based. It's a missed opportunity, really; why not have some fast attack cards? Some slow ones? That's the big advantage of a digital, real-time game, isn't it?

Collecting Assassin's Creed Recollection

I purchased Assassin’s Creed Recollections this morning, and beat it by lunchtime. For those of who you can’t tell all the Assassin’s Creed games apart (myself included), this is the Assassin’s Creed themed DIAPCTCG (Digital In App Purchases Collectible Trading Card Game) for iPad. And it’s a real tragedy.

See, the gameplay is actually really cool. I won’t bother explaining it in detail, but it’s a 1v1 card game involving trying to take control of the three “regions”. You can attack with Agent cards, take slow control using Sites, and use Actions to spice things up. Your deck (“sequence”) can be themed by various factions within the fictional Italy seen in Assassin’s Creed. Overall, I really dig the gameplay.

But then you get to deck construction. Unlike Dominion, Recollections is a collectible trading card game, which means you buy boosters of randomized digital cards. Now, playing through the story mode will earn you ‘Animus Credits’, which are used to buy boosters. Good start. And you can spend real money to earn additional Animus Credits, if you’re an Creed fiend and you need more cards now. I’m okay with this too.

But once you complete the story mode, you cannot earn any more Animus Credits without spending real money. This is a bit of a shame, especially considering the game is $3 to start playing. I sort of want to start playing online, but I’m stuck with the paltry amount of credits you earn through story mode, which I stupidly spent on an expensive booster.

Take a gander:

 I have almost no “memories” (i.e. cards), but I’ve 100% the story progression. There’s also a XP-system in place for winning story mode battles, but this seems to have zero effect, so I’ll continue to ignore it.

I’ve now won two games online, and aside from a Game Center achievement, you’d never know it. No Animus Credits, no bonus boosters, nothing.

Completing ‘Big Spender’ and ‘A Small Fortune’ require investments of $23. ‘Shrewd Shopper’ requires $4.

I’d love to play more Recollections, I really would. But I don’t feel like spending twenty bucks to try a bunch of random boosters; so aside from beating down more people online who really shouldn’t go online, the game is over.

P.S.: Yes, I’m indulging myself.

P.P.S.: Interestingly, all the card sets in the game are named ‘Renaissance’. 

Wonder if we’ll see any expansions to this game once the main series moves out of the Renaissance era?