Platform: Xbox 360
Release Date: November 14 2007
As for many this was my first experience with any of the games in Ubisoft's renowned Assassin's Creed series. Unlike many I began playing it nearly 4 years after its release. Upon beginning my adventure into the third crusade I was skeptical as to how much fun my experience would be based on what I have heard from others, but for the sake of this review I will attempt to keep preconceived notions absent. When I began my first play through of Assassin's Creed it was met with some surprise to find out that Altair (The Protagonist) and the "Holy Land" of 1191 were no where to be found. Instead you are introduced to another lead character from the modern day named Desmond Miles. Aside from providing some background story these portions of the game turn out to be quite slow and personally ineffective in holding my attention. Fortunately that is a short portion of the game and serves as a good stopping point to take a break between play sessions.
Desmond Miles
For the majority of the game I took the role of Desmond Mile's ancestor from the third crusade "Altair." Altair is an assassin (as you could have deduced from the title) draped in a white robe with a matching white hood. He's equipped with a sword, throwing knives, and best of all a concealed sleeve blade. The amount of detail on his character model is phenomenal. From the way he walks, the shading in his clothing, all the way down to his missing finger on his left hand to enable easy access to his concealed blade. I was surprised by the amount of detail put into this title overall considering it is nearing it's 4th birthday. The environments look amazing and the way Altair interacts with it is seamless. There is the occasional miss step by Altair while traversing through the roofs of the Holy Land that can lead to some frustration, but that is usually avoidable. In order to move through the world the player can either simply move the joystick to walk, hold down the right trigger to jog, or hold down the right trigger and "A" button to run/interact. The par-core type moves are executed by holding the right trigger, "A" button, and moving in the direction of the wall or object you wish to interact with. In my opinion this is the best part of the game. It turned out to be extremely satisfying to run atop the roofs in Jerusalem and jumping on top of guards while sticking Altair's concealed blade in there neck, then walking away as if nothing happened.
Assassin's Creed's depiction of Jerusalem
The combat system is equally as simple as traversing. If Altair is undetected he can walk up behind an enemy and by pressing "X" he will kill his prey (Different animations depending upon where Altair is positioned in relation to the enemy) using his concealed blade. If Altair becomes detected the player can lock on to their enemy with the left trigger which will also pull out his sword, then hold the right trigger and time his counters with the swing of an enemy's blade by pressing "X". Once again different animations will be triggered depending upon location and when the player times the counter. Initially I thought the combat was fairly dull and slow paced but it ended up growing on me after I got the timing right. Sometimes there are periods in a fight in which the enemy almost refuses to swing their sword so you're forced to swing an ill advised attack that usually ends up being blocked or countered. These instances are fairly common but can also be avoided by grabbing the enemy (By pressing "B") and throwing them. Another form of attack is by using throwing knives which I opted not to use much. They seem extremely underpowered and tend to just tip off the guards to the players position. The fourth and final form of attack is with Altair's fists. This is obviously the least powerful of the four and is only used for a certain task in the game.
Probably the most disappointing part of the game for me was the tasks Altair needs to complete in order to attain more information for his next assassination. The tasks consist of climbing to the top of tall buildings to unveil more map, pick pocketing individuals, intimidating individuals by winning a fist fight with them, and completing a timed mission (usually about 5 min) for a fellow assassin. These tasks turned out to be very tedious and repetitive. Unfortunately they occur through the entire game and are completely unavoidable. But after you complete these tasks the assassination portions are actually quite fun and engaging. Usually precluded with a sword fight and concluded with a sword fight these story filled action moments carry the game through and do it quite well.
The Assassin's Creed world itself is very vibrant and very crowded. The ideas behind the people are very interesting and I can see what they were going for, but unfortunately it seems like they used the same 10 character models and threw them in the world. It is almost as if they made all the homeless people, rebels, crazy people, etc look exactly the same. Just because they act similar doesn't mean they have to look just alike. And while walking through the streets minding my own business I found myself being harassed by every possible beggar or crazy person in the city. There would be 20 other people around me and it seemed as if they made it a point to seek ME out and bother me which got extremely frustrating, especially if I was in the middle of a timed mission.
With all it's faults I found Assassin's Creed to be a very satisfying experience. Being that it's the first installment of the game I could imagine they improve on many of the aspects mentioned for a more well rounded 2nd game. If the price is right I would definitely give a 2nd AC game a go. If you want to pick up Assassin's Creed, it's listed at $7.99 from Gamestop and as low as $6.00 from Amazon. I would highly recommend this title at that price point if you're looking for a fun 12 hour experience give or take.
