2. Production
I've already talked about the graphics earlier on, and about how they're not ground breaking, but a very good example of what they are. They don't push the system, but are at the top end of functional, and in many instances veer off into pretty verging on beautiful. I suppose it just depends on how important to you rendered blood and sand really is. Anyway, moving on from the look of the thing I want to talk about the story. Written by Walt Williams and Richard Pearsey, it's an ever-winding, expectation-confounding script that gets steadily more involving, more powerful, over the ten-hours or so of gameplay, but more on that later. Two words that will get those of you in the know excited, and a perfect example of how well this game is done, is the inclusion of Nolan North. He plays the protagonist Captain Martin Walker and (his appearance in the first Assassin's Creed aside, before it got, y'know, good in its sequels) is a golden stamp of acting excellence in whatever he's in. I would even go so far as to say that his portrayal of Captain Walker is on a par, if not better than, his turn as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series. It's not that Walker's more likeable than Drake, in fact it's quite the opposite. Whereas Drake is cocksure, sarcastic, and a pleasure to be around, Walker is grumpy, broken, and barely hanging onto himself. Drake is the all-American hero; Walker is what happens when that same guy has watched the world around him descend into Hell and is just trying o figure out a way to go home. And finally the music. An original score by Elia Cmiral accompanies Walker and his team through their tour of Dubai, and the composer for films such as Pulse, Piranha 3DD, and Ronin, really pulls it out of the back, dropping a series of understated, beautiful themes that really play at odds with the onscreen carnage.