Assassin's Creed
Developer/Publisher: UbisoftReviewed Platform: XBox 360
Release Date: November 16th, 2007
Posted: April 1, 2008
I heard many things about Assassin’s Creed before I got my hands on it. I have experienced the range of preemptive feelings that someone can have for a video game: excitement, which turns to doubt, doubt to disappointment and anger; of course we all know where anger leads. Fortunately, the game was better than I had expected, although that alone cannot say much.
The game opened with a “teaser introduction” which was an enjoyable way to start. The player controls Desmond a present-day former assassin who is currently a laboratory rat. Through him and his forced use of the Animus, a machine that allows the user to tap into their genetic memories, the player becomes Altaïr, an assassin in past-time Jerusalem during the Crusades.
During the “tutorial” section, Altaïr is equipped with a decent selection of blades including a long sword, hidden blade, and a short blade. After the game's introduction however, the player is stripped of all of his wonderful toys. The various weapons each come with their own slew of animations for chain hits, knock downs, and killing blows. Very cool, very painful-looking, very fun. Until you realize that most of the
The various weapons each come with their own slew of animations for chain hits, knock downs, and killing blows. fighting you do in the game is face-to-face melee. Wait a minute; I thought that I was supposed to be an assassin…
On top of that, once Altaïr learns counterattack, the player will never have to perform another combat move again, no matter how many enemies are around. To partially negate this, I noticed that near the end of the game the enemies are seldom killed by a counter, instead it knocks them down, sometimes making the player break out of the monotonous counter spam. Additionally, assassination targets are unable to be hit while knocked down; at least Ubisoft attempted to force the player to use more than one combat technique. Still, Altaïr should not be meleeing assassination targets; instead they should die by his hidden blade or his crossbow bolt after all of that pre-planning mission crap. Of which, what is the point if the player is just going to run up and face half of the town’s guards in the middle of public anyway? That is definitely not the most strategic plan I have ever heard of.
Wait, what do you mean there is no crossbow? What is up with that?
What is the point if the player is just going to run up and face half of the town’s guards in the middle of public anyway?The missions, most of which you are not required to fulfill, never change. Pickpocket this guy, listen to that conversation, beat-up the preacher… it gets old quite quickly. Talk about taking a good idea and beating it with a dead horse. Perhaps the designers just assumed that no one would bother to complete each mission before assassinating their target. After all, little of the information Altaïr gathers is actually useful.
The so-called “story” is predictable to a fault. By your third assassination, if you have not yet realized where your “assassinations” are inevitably going to take you, then you must be skipping most of the dialogue. However, Altaïr’s initial egotism, slow reintegration into the clan, and then realization that he being arrogantly defiant was actually helpful in the end was not so bad. The story in present time with Desmond leaves much to be desired; and I do not mean in the exciting cliffhanger, cannot wait for the sequel sort of way. The laboratory feels dull and unfinished; it is missing, well, something.
I have determined that there are three stages of Assassin’s Creed. The
Once Altaïr learns counterattack, the player will never have to perform another combat move again. first, when the player has just begun and he maneuvers through the city in the streets, taking it all in, and enjoying the first bit of game play. In the next stage, the player moves to running on the rooftops to avoid people below. The traveling time is faster, and leaping about jump-killing archers is devilishly fun. In the last stage, he may still use rooftops, but should he fall and return to the streets, the player will merely run and tackle through peasants, guards, and shops. It is just easier to be lazier.
After playing this game through, I feel my initial reaction to it has been realized. The impression that Ubisoft's main goal with Assassin's Creed was to open this story about the present, not the past, is quite obvious. But why put all of that effort and time into making such a sub-par game when what they really want to work on is the sequel? Oh right, money. With the lack-luster present time and cliché past time stories, and rather elementary combat elements it just makes me wonder; what exactly did Ubisoft do with all that time they spent making this game?
TLDR: Assassin's Creed? More like The Disappointing Fighter’s Academy for the Strategically Impaired. Too long to be marketable, I know.
