REVIEW: Assassin’s Creed

This much-hyped about game has finally hit store shelves, and has been getting mixed reviews. Some mainstream publications give Assassin’s Creed 9 to 9.5 out of 10 scores, while others declare it a disappointment that is flying off the Ishtar scale. How does one insignificant gamer with a website find it? Pretty darn good.

I picked this game up on a whim, mainly because I had a few extra bucks to spare for Blockbuster, and wanted to check the game out. To be honest, I wasn’t in the best position to play the game, since I’m back home and hundreds of miles away from my beloved HDTV. And playing Assassin’s Creed in Standard Definition sucks rhino balls. This played a minor part in my initial frustration with the game, coupled with the really kooky way the developers chose to open the game’s first few moments. It makes absolutely no sense when you’re involved in it, but once you’re past it, you really enjoy the new take on the standard “tutorial level”. Plus, trying to read text in SD may put me back into glasses.

The gamer assumes the role of Altaïr, a skilled assassin during the time of the Third Crusade, who must assassinate nine key members perpetrating the Crusades in the Middle East. (Supposedly, these targets actually existed around the time of the game’s setting, and either died or mysteriously disappeared. None of them were actually assassinated, though.) The gameplay is a free-explore variety, allowing the player to chose the manner in which to complete the game’s objectives: slow, thorough, and stealthy, or fast, sloppy, and high-profile. Stealth is a key aspect, with the game’s AI rigged to become alert if you do something out of the ordinary, such as scale a building or cause too much of a ruckus, and send you running for cover. Logically, you’re best off infiltrating the crowd surreptitiously, waiting for the right moment, and killing only when necessary, or when no one’s watching. Combat is re-tooled as well, making flashy sword kills easy, yet not quite as easy as single-button. Apart from all of this Assassin’s Creed is almost breaking the fourth wall by making the player well aware that what they’re doing is controlling a virtual reality representation of life. In truth, our main character is not Altaïr, but Desmond Miles, a bartender who is a direct descendent of Altaïr’s, and is forced to undergo a VR regressive memory therapy for some shady scientists. Throughout the game, little “glitches” occur in the memory, giving the player a new point-of-view on the action in front of them.

While playing the game, I couldn’t help feeling the influences of the Metal Gear Solid series on Assassin’s Creed. The main idea is almost exactly the same as in MGS: stay hidden and strike quick. Although, Assassin’s Creed gives you much more lenience, since you aren’t totally relegated to the shadows and can walk freely without much hassle, provided you don’t hassle anybody else. Apart from this stealth element, there is a definite RPG side of the game, with sidequests the gamer can either take part in or ignore for the sake of the bigger mission. This helps expand the playtime, and makes Assassin’s Creed play much like Knights of the Old Republic, another game I could spend days with.

The best part of Assassin’s Creed is, I hate to say it, killing people. Assassinations have been sanded down and polished to a clear shine, making every time you stick your hidden knife into anyone, even someone as insignificant as a rooftop archer, a joy to experience. Regular sword combat is okay, too, but I’d much rather take someone out silently than try to tango with five guards at once. The interactivity with your environment will also keep the gamer involved with the experience, making it one of the best 3rd Person games I’ve played since Gears of War. It’s easy to lose yourself in the world of Assassin’s Creed, and spend way too much time playing it.

There are some downsides, though. If you stick to one strategy, the gameplay becomes rather formulaic as time goes on. Run up the towers to survey the land, rescue some citizens, perform some pickpockets, kill your target, repeat. After the first few assassinations, you realize that the gameplay isn’t going to vary much, but the storytelling aspect of the game makes you not care that killing people hasn’t evolved. Sure, you gain some new abilities as you go on, but really, all you’re doing is playing through a section to get to the next part of the story. It doesn’t bother me personally, because I enjoyed the gameplay so much that I went through almost all the sidequests I could before actually attempting the assassination. And the great thing about the game is that you can play it as fast or as slow as you want, as long as you’re good at getting away from the guards. I also found the “free-step” and “scaling” mechanisms a bit awkward, which can definitely cause trouble in escape situations and later stages, where finesse is what keeps you alive.

Final Verdict: 5 amputated ring fingers out of 5*

Assassin’s Creed should be in every gamer’s library, and I’m so glad that it was opened up to the Xbox 360 as well as the PS3 (even though I purchased a PS3 version in order to keep me from playing it) so more gamers can share the fun of its gameplay. In fact, a little birdie on the grapevine told me that a DS version was in the works, and I welcome that as well**. Assassin’s Creed is meant to be the first part of a trilogy, as most game franchises are, so we can only hope that there is more bloody goodness to come courtesy of Altaïr.

* If you look at the picture above, you can see that Altaïr is missing his ring finger in order to properly use the hidden blade. While you don’t actually see that done, it’s damn cool.

** I’m back. After a few months of this review being out, I came across a review of Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles. Hoo boy, does it suck…