Gamertell Review: Assassin’s Creed

Title: Assassin’s Creed
Price:$69.99* and $59.99
System(s): Xbox360 and PlayStation 3
Release Date:November 14, 2007
Publisher (Developer):UbiSoft (UbiSoft)
ESRB Rating: “M” for Mature
Pros: Amazing CGI graphics, strong story line, challenging missions, fantastic action-packed fight sequences, believable sites and sounds of a thriving city.
Cons: A tendency to stick in certain situations, city inhabitants are too sensitive, stupid horse follows you everywhere when you dismount, soldiers often revealing your hiding spot, only two locations and less weapons than you see in the TV commercials.
Overall Score: 10/10

Since the game’s release on November 14, 2007, the commercials alone piqued the interest of potential PS3 buyers. On November 20, 2007, it became the highest selling new IP since 2002, beyond anyone’s expectations. Set in the streets of 1191 AD Jerusalem, you play as the Holy Land’s most notorious Assassin, Altair Ibn La-Ahad, who is a member of a sect known only as the Brotherhood.

As you play this game, you get a glimpse of how an ancient society must have lived in those days. For all you history buffs out there, if you do some research on the character’s in the game you’ll learn they all existed in the real world and that the guild of assassins. Their targets were primarily political figures. Based on the time line in the game and what I’ve found in history books, Altair is a member of the Hashshashin sect, the original Assassins often called the Holy Killers, once driven out of Egypt in 1090 after the fall of the Fatimid dynasty. They’re primary targets are political influences deemed enemies of the Arab nations.

The graphics were so mesmerizing that at times I had forgotten I was playing a game and sat there watching the people of Acre, Jerusalem and Damascas go about their daily lives. Everything you do in the game changes how you are able to hide within the city and it’s no walk in the park. If you’re too aggressive, hit or kill anyone in public, especially innocent civilians, they will scream, run and alert the guards to your presence. The Holy War is already stressing them out and the guards are already paranoid. So to make life simple in this game, protecting the civilians will help Altair accomplish his missions. Rescuing victims will help gain allies who can block the guards from chasing you or help you get into heavily guarded buildings and close to your targets. It also buys their silence as you take out a few troublesome guards taking advantaged of the war stressed towns.

Gameplay – 10/10

The storyline begins during King Richard the Lionheart’s third crusade. The templars, whom Richard trusts, is plotting to set Richard up for failure and take the holy land for themselves. That is until your character’s cocky attitude and aggressive behavior resulted in one of your own “brothers” end up getting killed and the other having his arm amputated in public as an example to the brotherhood to let them know exactly who they are messing with. Robert de Sable, an ambitious knight with one thing on his mind, control of the Holy Land and all it’s riches. But as you assassinate the Templars key leaders, you foil their plans and soon they attempt to start a war between the Templars and Muslims against the Assassins.

Nothing is what it’s seems as you’re jerked from the past to the future between missions. From 1191 AD to September 2010 as Desmond Miles, a 25-year old bartender who has been kidnapped and is being held prisoner by a wealthy corporation called Abstergo Industries, where researchers are working on the Animus project. Forced to retrace his ancestor’s life in a virtual reality simulator until the corporation gets the information they want from your DNA’s genetic memory.

The controls are easy to figure out, instead of trying to remember which weapon is assigned to which button, you can equip the weapon of choice using the D-Pad and using a series of shoulder buttons and panel buttons to block, attack, dodge and grab your enemies. You can even escape the virtual world by pressing the start button to exit the Animus and interact with the anal retentive doctor or his shy assistant hiding information from you. You can also enter the Animus and replay certain memories or unlock more of the historical data by finding flags and climbing view points you may have missed.

Design – 10/10

From the street urchins to the thugs and lepers roaming the city Altair, Desmond and even the nonplayable characters you meet throughout the games was astonishing. I’ve found a video below to share that displays the design, graphics and movement of the game better than words can describe it. This is absolutely one of the most stunning visual cinematic action adventure game I’ve played in a long time. A definite front runner to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. The game is totally captivating as it keeps you on the edge of your seat like a roller coaster ride through time and keeps you playing throughout all hours of the night if you let it. “Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.” is the motto of the Assassins and if you think about it and use that theory as you play. It opens your eyes and makes you rethink about what the targets say to you during their virtual afterlife when they try to persuade you to see their ideas and opinion of the Crusade. As you play Assassin’s Creed it no longer becomes a game, instead its now a story you can’t put down and walk away with the same outlook of history.

Features – 10/10

Everything in the game is interactive and everything you do changes the outcome of your mission. You can leap from building to building, climb up the buildings and push people aside. Especially those street urchins who pester you for coins regularly. Your shadow can attract the citizen’s attention so can your actions and if you happen to have been caught trying to climb up the side of a building one or two will throw rocks at you as they shout “You shouldn’t be doing that! What are you? Crazy?”

You can escape the guards by making sharp turns and hiding in hay bales or tents until they pass and the Animus resets itself. Which is sometimes frustrating when you have just targeted infidels in a part of the city that is inaccessible at the moment. But I do like the idea of doing what I deem is necessary to complete each mission rather than follow a set path or watch the assassination through a movie scene. The rule is simple, you find the target and its up to you to assassinate the target. The game won’t do it for you. If the target escapes, you do it over again until you achieve your objective.

You play two separate characters able to interact with his environment. As Altair, you can climb the walls using window frames, loose stones or bricks and ladders to access the roof of chapels and castle towers to get a better view of the city and locate your targets. You can leap from rooftop to rooftops, ledges and beams to access heavily guarded buildings or recruit the aid of scholars who seem to have some leniency with the guards. You can travel between cities by horseback, jump over gates and short walls. There are many tents and hay stacks you can hide in which if you leap from the top of a roof makes a soft landing pad when Altair takes his “leap of faith.” If the town’s people get in your way you can gently push them aside or ram them out of your way. You can secretly walk up behind them and assassinate them if needed. How you treat these people can mean the difference in them helping you or running through the streets screaming. Each time you prove yourself to the Assassin Sect you recover a weapon stripped from you when you got sloppy on your first assignment. If you’re unsure of how to use the new weapon there’s a fighting arena just outside of the Assassin’s headquarters. Once all your targets have been eliminated you will have all your weapons back: throwing knives (which replaces the crossbow seen in the commercial), long sword, short sword and hidden wrist knives (which seems to be his favorite method of assassinating his target.)

There is no “easy” mode or setting for this game. It’s kill or be killed and above all protect the innocent and never reveal the brotherhood. You move among the people and blend to hide from the political gluttons taking advantage of a war torn town with iron fists and the cold steel blades of the Templars. Each mission will take more time to unveil and even harder to accomplish. Each battle you fight is unique, every Templar and Soldier has their own way of fighting. A few will attack you at the same time, a few will grow squeamish and throw up and may even run away for help. Even the civilians wandering through the towns have their own personalities. Merchants were pushy as usual, the street urchins running through the streets begging for coins and a few will even get an attitude with you for ignoring them or if you happen to grab or push one of them will even go as far as report you to the guards. If you push them too many times, the whole area will ban together to teach you a lesson or two. Annoying lepers and drunken sailors will shove, hit and scream at you. Ah… sounds kinda like my neighborhood … without the guns, mullets and chewing tobacco.

If I had anything negative to say about the performance of this game, it would have to be about the glitches you experience in certain areas of the game. If you happen to leap from boat to boat to find the ever paranoid Meister Sibrand of the Teutonic Knights, finding one of drunken little trolls will end your career as an assassin. As you might have guessed it. You can leap from building to building, scale walls and battle with sword wielding knights but you can’t swim to save your life.

Overall – 10/10

I believe this is a remarkable game that’s not only fun to play but so compelling to continue playing just to figure out what’s going to happen to Desmond Miles. I spent hours on the weekends riding through the countryside, scaling towers and steeples just to get to the bottom of the conspiracy that unfolds with every assignment you complete. I truly didn’t want to end the game, I wanted to keep playing for the sheer beauty of the story and graphics. This game covers all aspects of a really enjoyable game from the strong story lines to the challenges of simply surviving the third crusade. I would much rather play this game than sit for hours on eternal hold with my credit card company just to pay a bill. I feel this game will only get better should a sequel or a prequel is inspired from this game.

NOTE* This review is based on the PlayStation 3 release of Assassin’s Creed.

Editor’s Note: The overall score is not necessarily an average. Sections might have been weighted to reflect the importance of some features over others.