You are an ass(assin)! (Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360))

Name: Stunt 101

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Product:	Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)
Date:	27/05/08 (179 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing visuals, excellent sound, great assassination missions, lots of attention to detail.

Disadvantages: Repetitive, no Xbox Live support, confusing plot.

Hype can make or break a game. Some games have gotten so much hype that the game is actually worse off than it would have been had the developers reduced the hype a bit. Take Halo 3, for example. It was a fine shooter, but there was so much hype behind it that I couldn't help but be disappointed. But then if a game is good, even with lots of hype, that's good. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed has had a lot of hype since it was announced. It was meant to revolutionize the action game genre like Prince of Persia on the older PS2. Assassin's Creed actually has lots of acrobatics, like its ancestor Prince of Persia. But it also has a deeper story and combat. Does it live up to the hype, or is it swallowed up by its own mammoth?

-(The Story)-
The plot is, unfortunately, unnecessarily complicated. You don't just focus on the guy on the front box, as there is also another character involved in the game. I won't spoil that, as it's a key part of the plot. The cocky Altair screws up a mission because of his own ego, and the result is that he has broken the three main rules of his Creed, which results in him being stripped of his ranks and weapons. You now must gain these back by assassinating nine public figures that are corrupting the city. The plot is decent if slightly confusing, especially the ending, which will confuse you a lot. It has some very surprising elements during the game, which mean it's more interesting, but it's still a little confusing. It will make you think, so long as you understand it.

-(The Controls)-
The Prince of Persia series was known for its tight control, and Assassin's Creed is the same. In fact, the controls are actually quite intuitive. Each face button on the controller is like a body part of Altair. A is like your legs, Y is like your head, and the X and B buttons are like your arms. You can press Y too look around as if you were looking at something in real life. Jumping is done with the A button, as well as acrobatics involving the legs. And you attack with the X and B buttons. It's all intuitive, like you are god controlling a peasant. You can enter high profile mode by holding down the Right trigger and locking onto someone is done with the Left trigger. And the smoothness of Altair's movement means that you'll enjoy moving from rooftop to rooftop.

-(The Gameplay)-
The gameplay in Assassin's Creed is great, but it suffers from repetition. The game revolves around assassinating, which is explaining the obvious. But you can't just go and assassinate someone, as that would be both stupid and short lived as the game would last about an hour. Instead, you must find out information about the character you need to kill by doing these missions. But you can't even do these yet, as you first need to climb these high buildings and look around to see if you can find a place with info. When you discover a location for info, you can then travel to the location to get it.

Missions about getting information are usually one of three things. You must pickpocket someone for a helpful item, beat them up to get information out of them, or simply sit on the bench and eavesdrop. The last one being the easiest and boring, as that is literally all you do. Once you've gotten enough information about someone, you can then go onto the Assassination. These missions play out a bit like the Hitman games, as you can either go in and just kill everyone with your sword or try to sneak in like a proper Assassin. This means that there's some freedom, but that's pretty much where the freedom ends aside from being able to select an assassination target from a group of people.

After you've killed the target (and sat through about five minutes worth of conversation), you must then escape the somewhat angry servants of the person you killed. You may also get into encounters with the guards aside from after the Assassination, so this is important. To escape, you must first get out of sight of the guards. You can do this by getting to higher ground where the guards will have to climb to get to you. Once the line of sight is broken, you must then hide. You can blend in with scholar monks or hide in objects like haystacks. Once you've hidden for about fifteen seconds they will give up and you can go freely. It doesn't make sense why you can sit on a bench and guards won't notice you, though.

You can always try to avoid combat altogether, or not. This will depend how you act in the public eye. There are two modes you can behave in. There is the low profile mode where you behave like the public is behaving and no one will notice you. You can blend in with scholars so that they won't notice you as you try to enter a city, and you can also act like a lone scholar. Then there is high profile mode, where you will grab people's attention. You will run, you can knock people over, knock vases out of people's hands and other stuff which will alert the guards. If you want to get around quicker, you'll need to be in this mode so you can sprint. Unfortunately, this is likely the way to be spotted, meaning that you won't be able to enter the Assassin's Beau which is where you will both start and finish your missions.

There is combat if things get too messy. At the beginning of the Gamecube exclusive, Metroid Prime, the lead character lost all her weapons after about ten minutes, meaning you get a taster of the weapons, only to lose them, and Assassin's Creed also does this too. You have four weapons-your fists, a hidden dagger, a sword and throwing knives. Throwing knives and the hidden dagger are the way to go if you want to be sneaky, as a quiet stab in the neck or a thrown dagger to the back is quieter than full-on sword fights. There is the option for fist fights, but you'll only use your fights in the interrogation missions as going into a fight against swordsmen with your fists isn't ideal. So, you will use your sword mostly. When you start the game, sword fighting will just seem like a button mashing affair. You're simply hitting the X button while blocking at the odd moment.

But once you get the ability to use counter attacks, it definitely improves. Basically, you can hold down the right trigger and press the X button when enemies are about to attack you to do a brutal instant kill. Sometimes, it may just be a punch in the stomach to take them to the ground so you can finish them off while they're down. But if you manage to do a counter attack, it will be satisfying. It's a shame the A.I. is moronic. You will kill soldier after soldiers, and others will wait for their turn instead of ganging up on you. It's a shame too, as the thrill of combat is offset by this. This definitely means you should at least try to use stealth.

You can climb around a lot of the environment. What's impressive is that it seems to blend into the world so it seems real. Some climbing areas aren't actually noticeable, because they're blended into the environment so well. You can climb windows, slabs sticking out of buildings, ladders and more. You can balance on wooden slabs with ease, as you rarely see Altair fall off. If he does, he'll grab back on. Plus, if you're in low profile mode you will actually see Altair looking down before he jumps just to make sure you want to jump. While Altair can't wall run like the Prince of Persia or even wall jump, Altair has some nice acrobatic moves up his sleeve, as well as a hidden dagger.

There are also side missions and collectable objects as well. Save Citizen is when there is a damsel in distress that is being harassed by guards. You must kill all the guards harassing them and they will repay you by either bringing scholars into the area or by bringing rebels into the area which block the guards from getting to you. These are okay, but sometimes they attract more guards than you want. There are also lots of high points to find, aside from the ones needed to progress the game. Getting to these is a joy, and jumping down to a haystack is just as fun. There are also lots of higher ranked guards called Templars to kill. There are about sixty scattered around the city, and they're damn hard to find. Finally, there are special flags to find in each part of town.

The main reason I enjoyed Assassin's Creed most was because it was unique. Developers have grown a tendency to release mainly first/third-person shooters or sports games because they're easier to do. Not that I'm complaining, with excellent shooters like CoD4 and Rainbow Six Vegas, it's just the adventure/platforming genre seems to have disappeared on the system. This is probably because Microsoft has no franchises like Ratchet & Clank or Jak & Daxter. This game is unique, where adventure takes priority over violence or shooting, and it shows. It's a unique game that sadly falls short of excellence thanks to repetition. If maybe there were more side missions to complete, or had you been able to choose what missions to do, this game would be brilliance. As it is, it's a better than average game that doesn't quite fulfil it's potential.

The game is rated 15+, mostly due to violence. You'll see people being stabbed in the neck, swords going through their body and more gruesome scenes. But really, that is all there is in the game. Plus, the game won't challenge much meaning younger people can play it. Also, the acrobatic controls are great meaning they won't fall off buildings easily. I would say that maybe people over eleven years of age could play this without fear. It's certainly less violent than, say, Gears of War.

-(The Graphics)-
Graphically, the game looks stunning. What the game succeeds at most is creating a living, breathing world. We've come a long way from GTA3. The environments look incredibly organic, with rich buildings and random market places strung around the world. What's better is the attention to detail. Lots of different character models roam around the city, each animating beautifully. Random beggars will come up to you and plead for money, drunks will shove you out of the way and more. Altair moves beautiful, as he climbs wall after wall and fights in hundreds of sword fights, there are no hitches whatsoever. Obviously, the game doesn't look perfect as the draw distance isn't the best and there are some other visual blemishes like clipping. But this is all forgiven when you're looking about the city without a glitch.

-(The Sound)-
The sound is also incredible. The voice acting is top notch from across the board, even the smallest of acting parts. One thing that may surprise you is that the main character Altair is actually the weakest one here. While he doesn't sound terrible, the guy just can't hold a candle to anyone else. Plus, for some reason, he sounds American. The effects are outstanding, as there's even the smallest of details like when you hear the whoosh of wind when in a high tower or when you hear birds twitter it really impresses. The music is also excellent. It's similar to the music you heard in Prince of Persia, which are some rich Arabian themes as well as some subtle orchestral moments. The music raises up when you enter combat, and stays subtle when simply exploring.

-(The Replay Value)-
This is a weak point of Assassin's Creed. While the game is of a good length, clocking in at about twelve to fifteen hours, you will never come back to the game again unless you're desperate for achievements. There is also no Xbox Live support, as while it may be pushy asking for online play, the fact that a game that is meant to be a trilogy doesn't have downloadable content so you could download episodes is just annoying. Plus, there are some achievements that can be cheated. For example, there is an achievement for blending in with scholars twenty times. Well, if you can find a group of scholars then you could simply keep blending in with that group and get the achievement. There are too many achievements like that.

-(The Score)-
Controls=10
Gameplay=8
Graphics=9
Sound=9
Replay Value=7
Overall Score=8.6

-(The Ending Comments)-
Assassin's Creed is an ambitious game that has had a lot of hype and pressure. It's a stunning, no doubt about it. The attention to detail here is excellent, as moments when random beggars come up to you and ask for money are really excellent. It's this attention to detail that sets it apart from other games, and if the gameplay wasn't repetitive, this would be an even better game. But, despite the repetition, the game succeeds thanks to the attention to detail, amazing graphics, terrific sound, intuitive controls, great platforming and excellent assassination missions. It definitely gets bonus points for not being a first-person shooter, racing game or sports game, which pretty much dominates the system. It's not doubt a series that should be continued, with issues fixed in the sequel.

-(The Extra Info)-
This was published by Ubisoft and developed by Ubisoft Montreal
This was released on November 16th and is also on PS3. Coming to PC next year.
This is available from Amazon for £35.48

Thanks for reading. Stunt 101

Summary: A quality adventure game on a system that needs them despite repetition.