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Assassins Creed:
Does it live up to Expectations ?
By Sith Lord Jim
Update #2: 14th Nov 09:
Here it is, 36 mins of pure uninterrupted Assassin’s Creed 2: lineage Movie lovin’
Hype can be a horrible thing. It causes you to see the full potential of a title, free of flaws. The potential causes us to expect games that are merely good to be so much more than that. Then we get the final version with all its problems and we end up comparing the final game to the game we expected to be playing. In the end hype makes every flaw that much more painfully obvious. Unfortunately hype, potential, and flaws are all things Ubisoft’s Assassins Creed has in spades.
Assassins creed puts you in the rather stylish boots of Altair, a disgraced assassin who must work his way back up the ranks, researching and killing the targets the Assassins Brotherhood sets for him. The game is set in 1191 AD and with the Third Crusade raging all around, you are tasked with killing nine targets in order to bring peace to the Holy Land. You will explore three massive cities, Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre searching for information about your targets and then planning and executing their assassinations. At least that’s the general premise and I am well aware that, that all sounds very exciting. Unfortunately as you have probably guessed from my opening rant, it does not really live up to the expectations. This game is good, have no doubt about that, but it could have been great. It’s just marred by a few large problems and plagued by lots of small ones.
Game play is broken up into “memory blocks” with each block having one or more assassination in it. It’s in-between the blocks that the majority of the story is told, and a lot of it requires you to find the story yourself. The twists in this storyline make it very compelling and I actually found myself grinding through the assassin sections just to get back to the in-between sections, so I could find out more of the story. While some people may hate the way the story is delivered, I thought it was one of the best things that Assassins Creed accomplishes.
The largest problem as I am sure you have heard is the repetitiveness of the game. It really just turns into a fairly simple formula. Ride to the city. Climb something tall. Visit Assassins bureau. Climb something tall. Complete some information gathering tasks. Visit Assassins bureau. Go to target. Watch cut scene. Kill some guards and chase target. Kill some more guards and then accidentally kill target. Watch cut scene. Visit Assassins bureau. Go back to the assassin city. Wash rinse and repeat. Yes for all the claims of revolutionary game play that is what this game boils down to.
Riding into the cities is only necessary the first time you visit each city, but presents questionable guard AI. It would seem that back in the Middle Ages anyone who rode a horse or ran outside of a city was obviously a criminal. Yet once inside a city you can often run up walls beside a guard without them batting an eyelid.
Climbing tall things is a task you will spend a lot of time doing. When you are at the top of certain tall structures you can synchronize which adds information to your map letting you know where you need to go. Then you can perform a “leap of faith”, which just means jumping off and landing in a cart full of hay.
For gathering information there are four different tasks you can perform. Eavesdropping has you sitting on a bench listening in to a conversation. Pick pocketing has you taking information from people’s back pockets. Interrogation has you beating up someone. Lastly and by far my least favorite are the roof top races to gather flags. Thankfully you only need to complete three of the tasks out of a possible six. This means if there is a task you particularly don’t like you can almost completely avoid it.
The assassinations themselves can be approached a variety of ways, but because of the way the cut scene kicks in and doesn’t let you move when you get close to them, for the majority it just turns into chasing them down. They will run to a guard tower and most the time I found I just accidentally killed the target while fighting waves of guards.
The controls seem to have been designed with simplicity in mind. Y controls all head actions, so synchronization when you are on a tall building, and first person view for the rest of the time. X controls your sword arm, so if you have a knife equipped you will throw it, if you have your concealed dagger equipped you will assassinate someone, and obviously if you your sword equipped you will swing it. B controls your other hand and is used for grabbing ledges, enemies, or pushing through a crowd. A controls your legs, so sprinting, blending, and jumping.
Jumping seems to be the most pointless ability in the game as it is just a straight vertical jump, which doesn’t allow you to move at all. The left trigger is used to lock on to enemies and the right trigger is a modifier for all the other abilities. Without the right trigger pressed all your moves are ones, which will not attract much attention. With the right trigger pressed you will perform high profile moves. For example normally hold A and Altair will walk slowly and pretend to be a monk, but when you are holding the right trigger he will “free run” up structures and across rooftops and the like.
This simplicity carries over into the combat and helps make the incredibly frequent combat enjoyable. As ridiculous as it may seem at first, even though 25 or more enemies may surround you, they will only attack one at a time. All your weapons can be used in the combat including your throwing knives. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. It is the incredibly varied and pleasantly violent counters that really make the combat so enjoyable.
Visually Assassins Creed is amazing. Every animation is smooth and Altair moves with realism not often seen in a video game character. Whether he is climbing a building or stabbing a guard in the face it all looks incredibly realistic. The city themselves are very detailed and stretch far out into the distance.
The audio varied from frustrating to brilliant. Dialogue from non-main characters is incredibly repetitive and you will be ready to scream if you hear the word infidel one more time after playing through this game. Bustling marketplaces seem to be strangely quiet for the most part other than randoms ranting. The lip-syncing, voice acting, and dialogue for the main characters is very well done.
Assassins Creed really does seem to be a game you will either love or hate. Best to try it for your self, but I would highly recommend trying this one before you purchase it. With no replay value at all, it may be worth only renting it. There is a good game somewhere underneath all the flaws and the hype.
© 2007-8 James McIntyre
6.5/10 
Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 Game Reviews | Tagged: "assassin's creed review", "assassin's review", 1191 AD, Acre, Altair, Assassin's, Assassin's creed, Assassins Brotherhood, Assassins bureau, Damascus, Jerusalem, Third Crusade, Ubisoft games, Ubisoft monteral, xbox360
Well thought out post. I think that the concept behind this game was amazing and I just hope AC2 is everything that AC could have been.
Wow! Awesome and well thought out comment.
Whilst I don’t agree with Assassins being an RPG or worth a 9.5/10. I think it was well worth a solid score of 8/10 at least. I only recently completed it and as such was removed from the hype/
It was ridiculously repetitive and the story ending was cheap, but the feeling of immersion, the fluid animation, a unique & beautiful setting and the surprising subtext on religion and it’s legitimacy in society, more than made up for it.
I to hope that they continue the franchise, but that they broaden the experience and perhaps implement some RPG elements into the assassins toolkit.
In the meantime there is the new Prince of Persia which builds on Assasins Creed’s engine and acrobatic gameplay, but is fleshed out with a whole new setting and “illustrative” art style.
Can’t wait. [;)]
When I went to go buy Assassin’s Creed, I didn’t really have any hype or bias toward it because I never watched a trailer or anything for it. I just heard it was a good game and so I decided to buy it. So, needless to say, I found Assassin’s Creed to be awsome. Though the gameplay does repeat itself, I found that everything else was really enjoyable. All of the characters in the game reacted to almost any move you made, such as gasping when you suddenly decide to climb up a wall or when a dead body falls onto the ground. I also loved the rag-doll movements of when you killed a person and how Altair’s clothes flowed when he moved around.
Killing your enemies did become dull, but even after countlessly killing your foes, it was still enjoyable to a point to run around the vast cities killing guards for fun due to the simplicity and fliud movements of Altair. Such as when you do a counter kill, Altair will do different kills depending on the situaltion of the kill; he will either slap the guy in the face and then stab him, just rush in for a stab through his stomache, swoop low and break a guy’s leg, ect. (Actually, to be honest, I didn’t even realize that the gameplay repeats itself for the most part because the story was so interesting
)
Aa another note, I actually enjoyed how you could hide your sync bar, the mini-map, your controls, and weapons. Once those features were turned off, it felt like as if you watching/playing a movie where Altair was running around haking away at guards and helping the people.
The amount of detail was absolutely stunning. Sometimes I think you can actually see each and every peice of hay there was in a pile of hay. The designs on some of the buildings also blew me away when it came to detail. Especially in the palace- like areas; every wall was decoraded with even the smallest amount of detail.
The story was also pretty amazing. The sci- fi of the Desmound story mixed with the historical story of Altair was really interesting in my opinion; how they mixed the two stories together was actually done well. It does seem as if it’s chopped up into little chunks, but really I think that that was the best way to tell AC’s story. While Desmound was finding things out in the present, the Abstergo company kept digging into the past and in the end of the game we saw how they were tied together. Though I did dislike the way they just cut-off the ending, I understand why it’s that way: AC is a trilogy. They did that drop-off of an ending so that you would feel empty and like “this couldn’t possibly be the end of the game; it’s a joke right?” and hunger for some more, though that’ll take a while………
As said in some of the comments above, the kingdom area seemed to become unneeded and irrelevant throughout the course of the game. But actually, it’s not really as unneeded as you might think; the kindom area was really for the feeling of that AC really was its own world. If it wasn’t there in there first place, I feel as if the cities would just become even more like levels then a continuous playing field and it would loose it’s feeling of AC being “worldly” type of game, which was what the developers were trying to achieve to begin with. You can also ride a horse and try to kill guards, which is something probably most games like this wouldn’t do.
Though there are things that the game could use a little help with, such as the repeatativeness of scoping out the cities and such – as well as how the kingdom area does need something more to do with it, though I dunno what – I’d say that this game I an awsome 9.5/10 RPG. I can’t wait for the next games!! -n_n-
This game gave me a fungasm…
Thanks Corby. The ending was definately quite the let down after spending the entire game (SPOILER)looking foward to breaking out and roughing some people up as Desmond. Hopefully we get that at the start of the next one.
I like those crazy kind of endings! but I can see why some wouldn’t
This is one of the best reviews I have read on AC, except you may have scored it too high, I would have given a 5.
The first level was fantastic as everything was new, but from then on there was 1 new feature added per assasination, but the gameplay was exactly the same.
The game also had the worst ending I have come across to date!
I have 100% completed the game and I wish that I had done it sooner to return it for a full refund!
Great review, I am glad to see someone agrees with me on most of the issues!
With the visuals in AC: the crowd movement etc is awesome, though they have to do something about the “crap in the pants’ walk of the “extras” in games.
As for what each generation want, well I’m smack bang in the middle of two of them, I’ve discussed this issue with gamers of all ages, and the majority want a great story line first, game mechanics, then visuals.
There is so many aspects in creating a game it’s a given that there will be imperfections in one or more of them.
Two adages come to mind “too many cooks spoil the broth” and “the art of perfection is knowing when to stop”
Even us imperfect humans demand perfect products … it’s an oxymoron if you think about it really.
Anyway I loved my time with Assassins Creed; I only wished I’d collected all the flags for the achievements *sheepish face* before the game ended. I can’t be bothered going back and doing that code thingy to get back in – to many other games to play.
The demo has been available for a few week snow, especially state-side. And like many games, the last month, and especially the very last two weeks is where a great deal of the spit-n-polish comes into play . . .As prior to that, they concentrate mainly on gameplay mechanics, rather than the look and feel of it.
That’s not to say it’ll change a great deal, as some games can go backwards after a demo goes public. But generally, what we get is what previewers get months in advance, yet, for some reason, they are able to look past some obvious ‘flaws’ and see what lays beneath the game code they are playing.
It’s something that will become more obvious as we (the blog) get access to actual preview code via publishers/MS (yes, we WILL have to sign NDA’s btw, they will be coming out soon) I was amazed at how the low level vegetation reacted to my movements, and generally, that doesn’t happen in most games, but seeing it sway in the breeze, no mean feat in its self, and then move aside as I pressed forward slowly, took me by surprise.
We also have to remember, the RTurok we see here is NOT the Turok of days gone by. And if we have read all the early reports and developers write ups on it, we’d understand that it needed a change in order to make a re-appearance on new machinery such as the 360/PS3 etc . .
I never pass judgment on a game until it’s gone Gold and been pressed for release, as a LOT can change in those few weeks, and developers do keep and eye out on the various forums to see what is, and what isn’t working as far as gamers are concerned.
The new storyline could provide a completely different take to the series, but die-hard fans of the older series will be expecting something like what they had before, and that will not be forthcoming.
I think the problem is pretty much what you said OZ, in regards to “younger” gamers, yet obviously their are “younger” gamers (myself included) that really enjoy the story aspect in games, Im NOT a hack’n'slash fan at all and would much rather sit down a play a story driven RPG.
While you mentioned Turok, I have to say I’m bitterly disappointed with how the game has turned out (nearly finished product in the demo). Im a huge Turok fan, loved the first and second game, probably some of the fondest memories playing a FPS, yet the newest game just doesn’t grab me. Poor animations, bland scenery and terrible sound effects (worst sounding shotgun EVER). What do you guys honestly think of it?
I enjoyed the story, but found that I could not get into “doing all the side missions” as they were all exactly the same thing with the same outcome. The story was definitely the best element of the entire game and I enjoyed the way it was told, but I found the gameplay to be severely lacking.
Have to say I disagree with you on your final comment as the amount that is spent on developing/marketing a game is in the long run completely irrelevant and has nothing to do with the quality of the game. Why should we be happy with low quality just because it was expensive to produce?
Just my rant
I enjoy it when I pop it in, and if you take your time and look at wha tt he story is ‘actually’ about, as opposed to thinking it’s some form of hack-n-slash go-get-em affair, then you’ll enjoy it.
The following two will tie the whole thing together nicely . . but I’ve found today, many gamers, especially the younger generation, expect full-on action all the time, rather than having a relevant historical (of sorts) story dished out to them
Amanda, who works for NextByte made an interesting observation at the store/s . . all the ‘mature’ gamers there love the game, whereas, some of the younger 18yr old (up to early 20′s) find it terribly frustrating because there’s no “immediate action . . . the older ones just love getting into the whole atmosphere of it, and taking their time in actually doing all the side missions.
I’m just confused as to how some gamers can complain about what they get in the way of games these days, when if we stepped back just say 3 years, and compared the current ones with those from then, or even 5 yrs, the difference is huge . .and a game like Turok, Club, AC etc come along, and they aren’t good enough . . ??? scratches head.
The leaves are ‘real’ or the grass is too green, or the bark on the tress doesn’t look real, the list goes on. Have we really (certain generations) been spoilt that much that a 20 – 25 million $ game just doesn’t do it for us (generalizing) any more.
I still have Assassins Creed sitting on the shelf, I just have too many games to play. Like DK I think I will probably enjoy this more than most. Im looking forward to sitting down and giving it a go.
I also enjoyed it more than many. That’s not to say I was blind to the fact that the kingdom needed more relevance and that the tasks should have been more meaningful and varied.
If you look at the game from the sandbox perspective and it really does offer a lot that others like it do not and the attention to detail and the fluidity is excellent.
Sure some may cry too easy, but imo it is better than button mashing to jump around- more natural and fluid- and it helps get casual gamers in when games like Prince of Persia did not (due to fiddly difficult controls/ button pressing and jumping that only gamers would see through to the end).
Nice review Sith Lord Jim.
Of all the games being released Assassins Creed was the ONE!
I tried not to let the hype ruin it for me, but that’s like trying to block out sound while sitting on your hands. The hype infiltrated the brain and eventually took root. But I refused to be anything but optimistic – for me hype has taken on a whole new life form – say its good often enough you’d think it’d be disappointing then when it’s play-time it’s actually not that bad after all. An unintentional reverse phycology of sorts.
In the end I actually wasn’t that disappointed with the game. Assassins Creed is immersive, full of character, and even though it could have done with a final spit-an-polish (like many games); I refuse to judge anything on the hype that came before it. Difficult as this may be at times.
I actually give it 8.5 (grabbed me by the horns much more then mass effect ;p … must get back into it again, not that you could compare the two fairly) …
Way too many games to play, not enough time, nor money to spare . . . Many of them will just have to wait, thank god I don’t have to do the reviews . . . Oh, and thanks for the review Jim, your contribution is definitely welcomed . . . Oh, and btw, see if you can upload your gamerPic for inclusion in comments etc, now that you’re registered on the site . . .
Yeah I can understand that, Mass Effect is amazing. It is making Kane and Lynch take longer to play thru
I’d like to think this game will be amazing (as I haven’t played it as yet) but @ 6.5/10, I’m struggling to pull away from Mass Effect…
Nice review Jimmy