Assassin's Creed

Wow - my 100th gaming post.
:)

Assassin's Creed is a game I've had my eye on for a while now. It came out a while ago and I didn't buy it at the time primarily because I was playing other games. Unfortunately, after I managed to free up some time, the game had disappeared from the shelves in HK. Despite trolling the various game stores, it just wasn't available.

Luckily for me, Microsoft recently made the game available over Xbox Live as part of its downloadable games service. Furthermore, at a price point of just under $200 bucks, it was cheap enough for me to take the plunge.

The game itself involves you playing Altair who, as you can probably guess from the name of the game, is an hashshashin. Set during the crusades, the Templar's are up to something and its your job to throw a spanner in the works by taking out key members of Templar leadership in the region.

Stuff I liked
Free running - One of the big things about this game is the free running aspect of gameplay. If you don't know what free running (or parkour) is, the best way to find out is by jumping on Youtube and searching for relevant videos as words just don't do it justice.

And the free running is done really well in this game. One minute, you're running down the street being chased by guards. Then, before you know it, you take advantage of several conveniently placed barrels and start jumping across wooden beams suspended in mid air while looking for a way to climb onto the closest rooftop. All the while, your pursuers continue chasing you on the ground.

Pretty exhilarating when it works out well.

Assassinations - Being an assassin, you naturally have a hidden blade to carry out your executions. The blade itself is a spring mounted blade hidden in a leather sheaf on your forearm and all it takes is a button press to reveal the carefully concealed blade.

Assassination itself falls into two types. The first type is a high profile assassination. In this type, you take a running leap at the target before implanting your blade deep into the targets neck. Naturally, everyone and his dog sees this and if there are any guards nearby, you can bet that they will draw their swords and come after you.

The second type of assassination is the silent kill. With the silent kill, all you need to do is get within touching distance of the target without being spotted. At this point, a quick blade into the target later, no one is the wiser as to whats happened leaving you to walk away from the scene of the crime. All a nearby guard will see is the victim falling to the ground. And as they walk over to investigate whats going on, you can serenely saunter past them and lose yourself in the crowd.

As I walk away, I can just imagine a slight smile on Altair's face as he contemplates another successful kill.

Combat - Of course, you have more options than to just run or walk away. Even if you are spotted, it's not always a problem as Altair is a master swordsman. Combat in this game is not only visceral, but it is lethal (for your opponents at any rate).

Killing someone is pretty easy in this game as you have loads of options. If you time your attack combo properly, then that is an instant kill as you bat aside his sword and turn him into a kebab with your own blade. Alternatively, you can wait until your opponent attacks before initiating a spectacularly gruesome counter kill by swaying out of the way of his sword before turning him into a kebab with your blade. Then again, you could grab him and throw him against a wall or onto the ground before quickly switching to your hidden blade and turning his neck into a kebab with your blade.

This may sound like I have some deep seated psychological issues but the combat is gruesome, spectacular and very satisfyingly fun.

Animation - Of course, all of the above would be wasted if the animation and graphics weren't up to scratch. And in this regard, Ubisoft have done a great job. Altair is beautifully animated and moves around with the skill and grace of an Olympic level athlete. All of his runs, jumps, pirouettes, dives, rolls etc etc etc are all captured extremely well and really sells you on the premise that Altair is a master swordsman and athlete...

Stuff I didn't like
Master athlete? - ... which makes it extremely surprising when you find out that our master athlete doesn't know how to swim.

One section of the game has you wandering around the docks. This section is great as you find yourself jumping between boats, wooden beams and poles sticking out of the water. However, its not so great when you accidentally fall into the water and drown even though all you have to do is reach out your hand and grab onto the boat.

Sigh...

Informers - Some of the side missions which you can complete involve helping out some informers. These informers are actually a part of your assassins guild and they have useful information regarding your target that they will impart to you if you help them collect some flags within a set time limit.

Excuse me, but wtf?

I'm on a mission from Al Mualim, the supreme leader of the assassins guild, to stop a nefarious plot by the Templars and the informer, as a member of the same guild, has been ordered to help me. However, this help (and its worth remembering at this point that the only help they give you is information) is only available if I collect some pissant little flags within 3 minutes?

I've got a better idea. Why don't I kick the shit out of you before dragging your sorry little ass to our glorious leader so you can explain exactly how much hashish you've been smoking.

To be fair, not all of the informer missions are flag collections but still...


There are a couple of other nitpicky stuff (for example, as with most open world games, a bit more variety would be nice) but overall, this is a quality game with some really nice ideas and a definite thumbs up from the Meister. Having learned from this first game, it will be really interesting to see what Ubisoft do with Assassin's Creed II.