An astounding achievement in every sense of the word, Assassin's Creed
will please just about any gamer with it's massive open worlds, almost
seemingly open gameplay within those worlds and a real sense that you
are taking part of something bigger than yourself. Right from the get
go, players will realize that this is a different type of game from
just about anything they've ever played. However, Assassin's Creed does
have a share of small problems that, while not crippling the game do
cause it to drop points and prevent it from being that much better.
The first of many great points is contained in the story of it all. The
game (without spoiling the story line) has you taking the role of
Altair, an assassin in the year 1191 ad - who must take part in
righting some wrongs in the cities of Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre
during the times of the crusades. Taking out these "evil do-ers" as
well as uncover a plot as thick as blood are Altair's main goals. As a
nice twist to the usual straight forward story, you will also spend
some time in the more recent times as Desmond - a simple man who makes
his way through life as a bartender, and who also just happens to be a
descendant of Altair. The uniqueness of this plot, jumping back and
forth between modern times and the crusades really opens up your mind
with questions and possibilities which are thankfully fleshed out more
and more as the game goes on.
It doesn't really matter if you play in the crusades with Altair or the
modern setting with Desmond, it all looks mighty astounding,
graphically. Lighting especially is something that the team must of
spent a great deal of time concentrating on and getting right. It's
hard to believe that lighting can make such a difference, but it really
does. The lighting really only compliments the entire engine tho,
because everything looks spectacular. From the city buildings to its
citizens, your main character(s), animals such as horses and birds as
well as growth like bushes, trees and so on all look phenomenal and
error free. It really gives your a sense that you're in that world.
That world is also brought to life with spectacular audio design. Soft
to outright adrenalin pumping action tunes -composed by Jyspar Kyd -
are playing in the background almost everywhere you go which does
nicely with whatever theme you seem to be caught up in at that
particular moment. Hundreds of NPCs are chattering away in their own
world which adds really integrity to the cities as you pass through
them and their hundreds of citizens. Your main character(s) and the
ones who surround him are well voiced and none seem out or place or
cheap.
Generally all of the production values of the game seem to have top
notch care put into them. Graphics, audio, menus, presentation, it's
all fleshed out to resemble a blockbuster hit. Very good job, Ubisoft.
Where, this reviewer believes, the game has some faults is in it's
gameplay. The gameplay that is there is spot on, as it's a ton of fun
roaming these cities, going about your duties. However, after
completing the main quests that get you from one assassination to
another you're left with nothing more than fetch quests. There are a
good few hundred of flags spread over the entire game to find as well
as 100 Templars to kill, but at the end of the day you don't have a
large enough variety of side missions and other things to keep you
playing.
That said, the action you do get is intense. Whether you're taking on
12+ guards in a fight, or saving a citizen from corrupt guards, or
doing a timed collection or killing mission or running from guards
after an assassination or even just exploring the world and pissing off
the locals, you should have a great time and a smile on your face.
Controls are streamlined and after you get to play with it you should
have no problem whipping Altair around rooftops, through alley ways or
in a fight to the death. Actions are mapped to the face buttons with
such commands as blend (lets you look less obvious) and push gently
(pushes people gently out of your way), their use changing if you
decide to hold in a top button (R1 on the PS3) which puts you into more
of a "rush stance" which allows you to do more stuff such as free
running, jumping and tackling. All of which will be used in gameplay
for various situations.
At the end of the day however, you will get use to the controls, tired
of the endless missions that are all the same and getting basically no
rewards for doing so. There's really no unlockables to speak of, except
for more/better weapons and moves through out the game and without a
multiplayer component you may be able to finish the game's main story
in a few sittings and not want to play much more.
If it wasn't for the shear beauty, great story and over finesse of most
of it's parts Assassin's Creed would be left a failed game because it's
gameplay only goes so far and has trouble holding your interest. Thus a
game that could of been an amazing great... still gets a good score but
one can only wonder what could of been.
