Review: Assassin's Creed

Assassin’s Creed is an action game with some stealth elements. It was developed by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PC.

Altair, after the player had just completed a sidequest in Acre.

Assassin’s Creed has two stories, a framing device and a regular story. In the framing device, Desmond Miles has been kidnapped by Abstergo Industries and strapped to a machine, which, using Desmond’s genetic memory will help Abstergo locate something that has been lost. In the regular story which takes place in 1191 AD, Altair is an assassin who has to assassinate nine prominent people throughout the Holy Land in the hopes of putting an end to the Third Crusade.

The game is broken up into the nine assassinations Altair has to perform. Altair is told which city his target is located in, Damascus, Jerusalem, or Acre, and travels there. Once he arrives, climbs a tower to get a view of the city, and checks in with the local assassin’s bureau, Altair has to gather information on his target. He does this either by listening in on a person’s conversation, pick-pocketing someone, or beating up someone for information.

Once he has enough information, Altair has to carry out the assassination. With the information he has collected, Altair has to sneak into wherever the target is hiding, possibly assassinating the guards beforehand, and kill the target without being seen. Or he could run in, hack through the guards, and swordfight the target. Either way, once the assassination is completed Altair must run back to the assassin’s bureau while avoiding the guards.

Killing someone stealthily is the ideal way to kill anyone. But to do that the player has to move Altair slowly towards the target, and then quickly use the stealth kill button before the target notices Altair. It is an effective way to kill guards, and pulling off a stealth kill does feel like an accomplishment. But the process can feel so tedious at times, especially when the target can easily spot Altair anyway, that sometimes it is just more fun to run in stabbing.

Sword fighting is a simple process. Altair will lock onto one person. There is one button to attack, one button to block, and one button to dodge. Pressing the attack button will sometimes land a successful attack, or else it will be blocked. If the player can press the attack button at the correct time though, it will result in a much more powerful attack. It requires a bit of luck, but the fighting overall feels like it requires some skill.

When the player does not feel like fighting the guards, Altair can lose them by running away and hiding somewhere, like sitting on a bench or walking among some similarly dressed philosophers. It is also a simple procedure, though it does feel funny when the guards immediately give up the moment Altair sits on a bench.

With only nine assassinations total the main game can be completed very quickly. But there are many side missions that can be completed that reward Altair with a bit of assistance. Whether or not the extra help is needed or whether the missions are fun is debatable. For example, Altair only has to climb one tower and get the icons to appear on the map, but if he climbs more towers more of the map is revealed. Likewise if Altair gets more information on his target, the easier it is to plan the assassination, but it is not necessary and can get a bit boring doing all that work.

The other big activity Altair can do is saving citizens. This involves fighting off a couple of guards that are harassing a person. Doing so rewards Altair with mobs stationed throughout the city that will slow down any guards that are chasing Altair. The rescues are at best mildly tedious and the mobs are never really helpful.

Overall the game can feel repetitive, as Altair follows the same pattern with each assassination assignment. Since the assassinations take place in different parts or the city though, and because the guards do become more difficult as the game progresses, it is rather easy to fall into an entertained lull instead of finding the game repetitive.

The framing story and the regular story are somewhat interesting. Both involve ancient conspiracy stories and both have bland protagonists. The only really interesting part is the central mystery that ties the two storylines together.

Assassin’s Creed is a fun game that fails is some respects but still manages to be entertaining enough that it evens out. Anyone who can stand the occasional repetitiveness and some of the more boring parts should have fun.