Assassin's Creed. People have been raving about it ever since it was
first announced. The first trailer implied that you would be able to
kill anybody, and disappear into a random crowd as one of them.
Showcasing some top notch AI, and amazing crowd gameplay mechaty on just who to
trust. Is your leader really the man who should be leading? Or are the
scum of the earth lying to you? The story in Assassin's Creed is really
well told, at a pretty good pace.
Ubisoft Montreal decided to unload a big twist in the first five
minutes of the game, but for those of you who don't know yet, we won't
spoil anything for you. -SPOLIERS AHEAD- Just kidding.
The game kicks off with Altair not following the rules of the
assassin's creed, so he is punished, and is stripped of all his
rankings and equipment, and basically has to start of as a noob all
over again. The assassin town of Masyaf, is attacked by Robert de Sable
and his army. Afterwards, there are rumours of a traitor within the
city, and without anything, Altair has to go and scope this guy out,
and bring him to Al Mualim, the assassin leader. This is a tutorial
mission, and shows you the basics of everything.
nics,
Assassin's Creed was prone to become one of gaming's best. Although,
that's not particularly true, Assassin's Creed is still a refreshing,
crisp, beautiful next gen experience, and is one of the best action
games of 2007.
You play as Altair, a 12th century assassin. The holy land is being
ravaged by war during the third crusade, and is being torn apart by
corruption. As Altair, you are given a list of nine men, who really are
a bad influence on the world, and you need to pick them all off one by
one. That may sound totally shallow, but actually the story is very
deep, as each man you kill just furthers your curiosi
The controls in Creed are really inventive, as each face button is used
to control Altair tediously. One button is used for looking around, and
the two side face buttons are used to control Altair's hands. One
controls his armed hand, and one controls his unarmed hand, which is
used for gently pushing civilians out of the way. The bottom face
button is used to control the speed of Altair's walking. When not
holding down the right trigger, Altair is in low profile mode. This
means that he'll walk at a normal pace, and not bump into anybody, and
this is good for when you are trying to remain anonymous. When the
right trigger is held down, Altair will start running, bump into
people, but he will be the dangerous badass he's supposed to be. This
is great when you are running from pursuers, attacking, or chasing down
a target. There is a pretty good learning curve, but you should figure
out how to kill pretty early in the game.
Each city in AC is huge, and full of life. Damascus, Acre, and
Jerusalem are where you'll be doing all of your assassination missions.
Each mission starts off with you speaking to the assassin bureau leader
of that city about your target, and he'll tell you everything he knows
about your target. He'll tell you stuff on where you can find
witnesses, and where he thinks the target should be. He'll then give
you leave to go, and find out when and where to strike. Climbing all
the tallest areas is the best way to start, as it points out where
witnesses will be. The mini missions are necessary in completing the
mission, and these include pickpocketing, eavesdropping, and
intimidating witnesses so they'll spill some juicy info. Pickpocketing
has you following a guy for a little while, and pickpocketing at the
right moment when he isn't looking. Eavesdropping has you sitting on a
bench and listening to some guys talk it out, while intimidating has
you best the living hell out of a guy. None of the three are
particularly game sellers, but they get the job done by setting the
mood and realism of the situations.
After doing two or three of those tasks, you may return to the bureau
and let the dude know you know when and where and who to strike. Among
arrival at the target, you'll witness some events that highlight just
how twisted they are, and let you know that they need to die. After the
cutscene, there'll be a few ways to kill your target, and the fun is
picking which one to take. Either running through the crowd, or going
around the side, or leaping on him from above, the choice is yours.
After you do your biz, you'll need to run from anybody who opposes you.
The best way is booking it to the roofs, and then hiding in a roof
garden. However, if you choose to take the streets, and get caught,
Altair can really hold his own. The combat system is by far the best
part of Assassin's Creed. When you have all your abilities, you'll be
able to dodge attacks, break grabs, and counter moves defensively. The
animations are super slick during the fighting, and Altair looks like
he's been trained by the choreographer for the Matrix. Instead of
explaining, just take a look.
Graphically, Assassin's Creed is really, really, really hot. The cities
look absolutely phenomenal, the water is good, the character models are
great, and the animations in climbing, fighting, and just plain moving
are some of the best ever. Unfortunately, the frame rate in Creed is
really sub par. When running from rooftop to rooftop, sometimes it will
drop into the single digits. This is a little frustrating, since you
are trying to be quick and smooth, and here, your character on screen
is warping across the city. This only lasts a few seconds, and luckily,
the framerate is silky smooth during the fight sequences, which is the
best part of the game. Climbing is also unplagued by this issue. It's a
real shame, though, that such a pretty game is f**ked up by a
stuttering framerate.
Assassin's Creed sounds just as great as it looks, with some great
voice acting from the smallest parts. Each line is hit perfectly, and
people will talk about their daily lives to each other, and will say
things like "What the hell is he doing?" as you bump into people, and
climb up walls. The instrumental score is mostly original, and has a
unique tone to it. It's orchestral, as well as digital.
There's really nothing else to say about Assassin's Creed, other than
it's a great game with a few nagging flaws keeping it from perfection.
After beating the 12 hour game, you'll stay away from it for awhile,
and then come back when you're in the mood for killing. It's ideas are
fresh, and are pulled off pretty well. There is really nothing else
like Creed, so really give it a buy. You won't regret it.
