The Good and the Bad - Assassin's Creed

After all the hype and record setting sales, I felt the need to give my honest opinion on Assassins Creed. Hopefully it will help you decide if you should buy it or rent it.
The Good -
The one thing that really stands out is the main characters movement through the game world. Never has a character climbed, scaled and jumped through his environment as well as Altair from AC. This game sets the standard for this and hopefully all games in the future will follow in AC's footsteps. The guards AI also use the same abilities as they track you down and as you run from rooftop to rooftop. This gets your pulse pounding as you try to escape from them.
Also using throwing knives to take out guards is a nice touch and jumping down from you perch is always fun and i never tired of these activities.
The graphics and art style are for the most part done very well too, the cities are detailed and interesting , the lighting is nice and the character model is well done too. The time spent polishing the game shows and overall everything works the way it should.
Thats about all the good stuff...well what about the story , combat and the assassinations ? Unfortunately they and all feel pretty average and repetitive.
The Bad-
To start nothing is really BAD or broken about this game but there are certain things that need to be pointed out.
I was pretty underwhelmed with the story in AC. The plot never really motivated me to push on to uncover the story. I wont spoil anything but basically just finishing the game was my driving force.
The developers touted how great the interaction with the enviroment would be but blending in with the crowd forces you to walk painfully slow and i got bored with it quickly. Simply running away and not caring if i was spotted was much more fun.
Another missed opportunity for the developers is that although the cities are full shops and markets all over the place, you cant interact with them. This could have added ALOT to the game but for some reason there is no "items",other than the few you get for completing missions in the game. It would have been great getting new armor, weapons and accessories. Everyone knows how addictive it can be to seek out the best items in a game like Oblivion. But you wont find anything like that here. The combat is decent and having the camera switch to a more cinematic view during fights is cool but again it is very limited with few moves to learn you will find yourself doing the same thing over and over. The missions are also very repetitive. You do the same things to gather information for every assassination. Again the lack of variety drags the game down. You may have heard there are tons of items to find through out AC....FLAGS. Hundreds of flags to find..and they are not fun to find like the orbs in crackdown because you dont gain anything relevant to your character. They dont make you stealthier or stronger or faster. I never felt i needed to find them all.
One of the worst things in the game is the crazy, drunk and poor beggar NPCs that constantly annoy you while you make your way closer to your target. Most people will just kill or punch them but i wish these were left out or given more depth. Also where are the night time levels ? Any good assassin would use the cover of darkness and sadly the horse riding segments seemed tacked on.
So should you get AC ? Yes and it is good but I would rent it first. Overall i just wish they had made Prince of Persia 4 instead.

Assassin's Creed (Limited Edition) (Xbox 360) EXCELLENT

Gameplay: 8.0
Altair’s stylish combat moves and graceful acrobatic steps make him a most formidable assassin but the missions can get a bit repetitive. The story would have been epic but it’s a bit confusing and the ending will have you scratching your head. The timeframe is well represented in the game and there’s a lot of ground to cover.

Graphics: 8.5
At times the game will make gamers drool at the carefully detailed environments and character models. Then again, the Shenmue-styled pop-in, framerate stutters and a few other graphical glitches just doesn’t fail to give the impression that the graphics could have looked better.

Sound: 9.0
You will be surrounded by sound whether it’s the various vendors, desperate beggars and outspoken scholars. There’s also a great voice-acting cast and a gorgeous soundtrack that is just so wonderfully cinematic.

Difficulty: Medium
Altair can swing a sword or dagger with the best of them so combat can be a nice challenge. Your enemies run pretty fast but thankfully Altair is acrobatic enough to jump from rooftop to rooftop to find a place to hide.

Concept: 8.0
There’s a wide open world for you to explore and the time period definitely adds a new element to the stealthy assassinations. The number of extras, secrets and side missions should offer gamers plenty to do but aside from this there’s very little to come back to when you finish the game.

Overall: 8.0
Confusing plotline and ending aside, Assassin’s Creed is still an original and profound experience that shouldn’t be missed by any gamer looking for something different. It might not be an achievement in game design either but there is way too much to love about this stealth game.

An amazing experience

Assassins Creed is, to me, one of the most amazing titles I have seen in any gaming genre in a long time. The graphics are extrordinary from the birds eyeview you can get of Acre all the way down to the tiniest character details. The gameplay engine imbues an incredibly intuitive control style, with the depth of a fully populated world, including even beggars and drunks who might interfere with your objectives.

The game sets you as Altair, an assassin from a clan based off the historical Hassassins of the Crusades. The majority of the game is set in 1191 A.D., during the 3rd Crusade, in probably as near to as possible recreations of the cities of Maysef, Jerusalim, Acre, and Damascus. You are given a mission to redeem your virtue in the cllan by slaying 9 people who propogate the holy wars in that era. These 9 are actual historical figures who died in the year 1191 and lead lives accoringly similar to the roles they actually played in history. Whether or not they were actually killed by one of the Hassassins in actual history may be debatable, but the presence of real history in this game is so large that it makes it have a very believable story, and an almost instantly immersive experience.

One of the more interesting features in the game is the ability to run, climb and jump from/to/across/up, almost every surface. You see a wall, as long as there is a loose brick or a window sill for a hand-hold, up you go.

The story mechanics used within the game make each kill raise a feeling of doubt, shame, and guilt. Altair kills not because he likes to, but because it is what he must due to help instill peace in the holy land.

Its not all ups though. The prelude to each kill involves missions that recquire you to gather information and whereabouts for your target, and optionally, help to set up the kill or procure an escape afterward. While they do imply the reality of what it may be like to successfully assassinate a person, these become increasingly repetative in nature. Save the monks, eavesdroping, pickpocketing, or intimadating your foes to find out what you want is fun the first few times, but later become only entertaining as the way to further the story. This is how most sandbox games act anyway (i.e. Grand Theft Auto: Drive here, race him, get this item, kill that guy, essentially sums it up).

The game also lacks multiplayer functionality, which really doesn't bother me, but does some people that I know.

And further, some of the things that were noticable in the early previews. Most notably missed is Altair's crossbow, unless there is some way yet unknown to me to acquire it.

The special edition comes in a tin case, and includes the game; a bonus dvd with behind the scenes footage, the trailers, and interviews; a short comic book; and a Altair figurine (cheaply made, poorly painted, but quite detailed none-the-less).

All and all, the game is extremely playable, and re-playable. The story is captivating to the point that within minutes of beating it the first time, I was already online trying to dig up information on a sequel.

One of the greatest games ever.

Assassin's Creed is a third-person stealth game in which the player assumes the role of Desmond Miles, an average bartender who is the last descendant of a long family line of assassins. Desmond has been taken to a facility where he is forced to use the Animus, a machine that traces and recreates the memories of his ancestors during the Third Crusade. Through these genetic memories, the player controls Altaïr ibn La-Ahad (الطائر ابن لا أحد , Arabic, "The Flying One, Son of None"), a member of the Hashshashin (The Assassin Brotherhood) which is allied with one of the sides during the third crusade. Altaïr's objective in the game is to slay nine historical figures propagating the Crusades in the year 1191. (According to Ubisoft developers, all of the main character's targets are historical figures who died or disappeared in 1191, although not necessarily by assassination.)

The primary goal of the game is to complete nine assassinations. To achieve this goal, the player must use stealth and a variety of intelligence gathering tactics to collect information on their target. These tactics include eavesdropping, forceful interrogation, pickpocketing, and completing tasks for Informers (other assassins who will give you information in exchange for assassinating targets or collecting flags).

The game takes place primarily in the Holy Land. It consists of four main cities: Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus and Masyaf, the assassins' stronghold; all but Masyaf contain three sections that are unlocked over the course of the game. An approximation of the land lying between these areas is present in the game as "The Kingdom." The game's developers claim the environments are all historically accurate. Each city features a highly detailed environment populated by many people of different types, and as the player interacts with his/her environment, the people around Altaïr respond in logical and predictable ways. For example, when Altaïr climbs buildings without the use of a ladder, the local citizens pause, gather round the building he is climbing and comment on his unusual behavior, or how they won't help him if he hurts himself. Certain actions, such as harming an innocent can attract the unwanted attention of nearby guards, who may then choose to attack him. Neither Richard the Lionheart's forces, nor Saladin's forces are particularly friendly towards Altaïr - If he comes into contact with any guards outside the main cities, he will be chased off, no matter which side.

Average Creed

THE STORY:
Assassin’s Creed is a two sided story that takes place in the present, but affected by the past. You play as a young character that finds himself waking up within some strange device, which at first made you think you were an assassin. You find that within you lies a great secret, which could possibly change the world. Will you be able to escape and find the secrets?

Once finishing the game, your opinion of the overall rating of the game will change and ask for a sequel.

GAMEPLAY
The game is split into different sections, but is very repititious. You will carry the same moves from beginning to end. This game starts off with missions. You travel around with missions to kill certain characters. You will get in contact and communicate at an assassin base where they will provide info for your next target.

Before making a hit on the target, they require you to go on missions to gather more information about target. Once enough information is gathered, you will be granted the assassination. You are required to gather about three pieces of information before anything.

The method and style of killing your final hits will vary. Some victims will be an easy quick kill, but some will require patience and strategic moves.

You will go through the game jumping around buildings, tackling people, and performing a variety of discrete moves.


GRAPHICS
Very sharp graphics with a great color scheme. The character models look clean. However, after playing the game for hours, the color scheme will make the game seem like everything is blending together and you will not see contrast because there are different shades of one color all throughout the game. Definitely use an HDMI Or component cable! They could have improved the AI for computer characters.


IN CONCLUSION
Assassin’s Creed does not live up to the hype, but it’s still a really great, unique game. The game includes some imperfections, but still deserves much attention due to the unique color scheme, graphics, and game play style. If Ubisoft plans to make a sequel, they better go back to the drawing bored and improve the game from being so repititious. This is Average Creed.