When I was younger, I always wanted to be an assassin. For some reason,
the thought of sneaking around in shadows and getting the drop on a
drug lord always seemed to appeal to me. When I first heard about
Assassin’s Creed, I immediately thought that my dreams were going to
become a reality. With large sweeping cities to use as my playground, I
imagined leaping from high buildings into a packed market while being
chased by my pursuers. In a way, my dreams came true, but that doesn’t
mean that everything was great from start to finish.
The story
in Assassin’s Creed focuses on taking down a group of men that are
jointly working towards a much larger goal. With each assassination you
learn a little more about the reasoning behind it all, but never is
there a time where you think you absolutely have it all figured out.
The story is represented to the player in memory blocks which are
basically just that. Blocks of a memory being repeated back in order to
solve the puzzle. Why are they memories? Well, I’m not going to give
that away. Overall the story is presented in a very mature and
cinematic way that will satisfy even the most judgemental gamers.
The
first thing you will notice about Assassin’s Creed is simply how
beautiful it looks. If you’re playing it on an HD television set,
you’ll be treated to high-definition in all its glory. Sadly, the game
doesn’t really seem to stand up on a standard tube set as it’s going to
be cutting off much of the HUD at the sides. Other than that, the
graphics hook you from the very first time you climb a building in
order to synchronize yourself with your surroundings. The character
models and movement are pretty spot on, although you do tend to run
into the odd glitches when dispatching adversaries. A great showcase if
you have a home theatre you want to show off to all your friends.
In
terms of sound quality, voice acting is where Assassin’s Creed truly
shines. From Altair’s sarcastic droll to the accents of all the
nationalities, the team over a Ubisoft hit it right on. Not once did I
cringe from uncomfortable scripting and with so many lines of dialogue
I would consider that a huge accomplishment. The soundtrack suit’s the
style of title and it never feels forced into areas of gameplay that it
doesn’t belong. The only complaint I have about the sound is how
annoying they made the homeless people, but that could be attributed to
the fact that homeless people in fact are pretty annoying.
Perhaps
the biggest flaw in Assassin’s Creed is what I feel is one of the most
important factors in any title. The lasting appeal of what you’re given
to do in the game just doesn’t really hold anyone’s attention for too
long. While the assassination investigations are great fun, you’ll
quickly find yourself getting tired of completing all of the extra
objectives they throw at you. In a city you have a handful of things to
do and when you move onto a new part of a city, you get to do the same
things all over again. A little repetitive, but definitely not needed
to progress through the game. In other words, if you want to play
through the story you can probably do it in a day, where as if you
wanted to complete the game to 100% completion, you’ll be spending a
lot more time doing the same thing over and over.
Your
mileage may vary when it comes to Assassin’s Creed. It’s an extremely
polished and fun title for those that simply enjoy running around and
completing the assassinations, but a letdown for those that are
expecting a middle eastern GTA. If you go into Assassin’s Creed, play
an hour or two every couple of days, you’ll have a better experience
than those that try squeezing every little bit of the gameplay out of
the game in an afternoon. I enjoyed it and even though I can’t
recommend it as a buy for everyone, I do recommend that everyone give
it a shot.
Kim Fidler
