Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed is definitely a game that can't fail to impress when it's first installed. The scale and depth of the graphics, the smoothness of the animation and the atmospheric sounds combine to create a trully impressive gaming experience and it's easy to get drawn in as you explore the environment.

The combat is fairly easy and the range of stylish kill moves will sate your bloodthirst. It's just as satisfying to stalk city guards and silently kill them in broad daylight as it is to flambouyantly launch yourself at someone and impale them with Wolverine-style abandon.

Sadly, the more you explore, the more you find to dispell the rapture. Once you've completed the missions a few times, you soon realise how repetitive the the gameplay is and how fickle some of the controls can be. I found myself simply killing the begging women so I didn't have to listen to them bleating the same few lines to me over and over again. That said, I still never tire of climbing the turrets and towers just to dive off again into one of the handy piles of straw which break your fall.

The story is good, and I'm looking forward to the next installment which is due later this year. I'm hoping that the developers have done something to increase the range of gameplay to reward those of use who come back for more.

This is a brilliant game!!!! As the name suggests, you play an assassin who has to undertake a number of assassinations in various different cities visiting some more than once. Along the way, you carry out other tasks and search for objects. Sounds simple and to be honest the whole thing is, but it is really fun. As you may guess, I am not a seasoned gamer! I like to play games that are easy to pick up and have good playablibilty which this game has. The story is pretty good, although it isn't as long as some others I've played and there is a degree of repetitiveness in searching for objects etc but that doesn't, in my opinion, detract from the enjoyment that you can get from playing this game. I love the setting and style and the graphics are awesome, felt like I was partaking in an interactive film!! I suppose if you are a swish game player and find games easy to master then this may not be challenging enough for you as the difficulty level doesn't get to stressful levels. However, if you're like me and enjoy playing games which keep you entertained and don't really like getting too tense & stressed at the extreme levels of accuracy that you need to master in some games, then this may be exactly what you are looking for. I want to see more of this style of game around, fun & playable but without raising my blood pressure sky high. Am looking forward to seeing what Assassins Creed 2 has to offer.

I was looking for a game that would engulf my mind like the Resident Evil series has. Something that wasn't just shooting anything that moves but had a story behind it when I saw the advertisements for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (PS3)) on TV. I admit that buying a game on the basis of an advertisement, no matter how flash, isn't the best way to choose a game, or a series of games, but in this case it proved to be the right choice of game for me.

This is the first "episode" of, what has become, a best selling series.

You start the story/game as an assassin called Altair who, with two others, has been sent on a mission. Altair is a high ranking assassin, but things go wrong and Altair is forced to flee. As you return to the Order's "Master" you start to discover that Altair is not very popular. Altair reports back but is surprised to discover that he is not the only survivor.

Stripped of weapons and rank, as a result of his failure, Altair must learn to use the basic weapons he had long given up for better and more advanced ones.

As he learns, you learn - and what you learn next is that you are not Altair. You are, in fact, a man (Desmond Miles) being held prisoner by an organisation called Abstergo. Abstergo are using a device called an "animus" to access the memories of Desmond's ancestor Altair. They are looking for something in the past, but Desmond doesn't know what and they aren't going to tell him. Following Altair's actions it becomes apparent that not everyone in the past was being truthful too, but who was lying to Altair and what does it have to do with Desmond. More worrying Desmond is subject 17, and there is no sign of the previous 16.

This was the first game I had on my new PS3 (Sony PlayStation 3 Slim Console (320 GB Model)) and I worried about controlling the avatar as I haven't played a PlayStation since I played the original Tomb Raider and Medieval on my sister's PS console all those years ago. I have played the Resident Evil series on Wii - Nintendo Wii Console with Wii Sports + Wii Sports Resort and Motion Plus Controller (Wii) - (using Wii-mote and Nunchuk) but I was concerned about using the Play Station controller. I needn't have been.

Controlling the characters is easy - running, jumping, climbing, fighting and assassinating are all easy actions to complete. This is both due to the game creators thinking things through with the planning of the action-to-button controls, and the easy to use PlayStation controller itself.

The game itself consists of a number of "missions" which Desmond undertakes in the animus, in the role of Altair. These missions are directed by the Master of the assassins who tells you which city to enter and which enemy is to be assassinated. This sounds simple, however, Altair's journey is fraught with danger. He will meet enemies on the road, then have to smuggle himself into the city, climbed to high points and take a leap of faith, fight his way out of (or run away from) trouble, interrogate, eavesdrop, pickpocket, and perform tasks for other assassins in order to get the information he requires to find his target.

With each mission his notoriety grows and so he is easier for the guards to spot. This means his stealth actions are more important than they were on the starter levels. His prey is better protected, and escape is harder.

There are also a number of mini games within the larger game. Several of these involves the tasks for other assassins, however there are a series of flags to be collected. They can range from 20 flags in his home city, to more than 100 in other cities. The problem is that the flags are so hard to find that the task appears to be impossible - even with the 15 in his hometown I was only able to find 19 and I have searched every square centimetre of the map. Altair has walked more miles than a charity walker in search of that missing flag.

Should you accidentally (or on purpose in the case of beggar women who repeat the same lines over and over again, or drunks who want to pick a fight with you and so attract the attention of guards) dispatch an innocent you will lose some synchronisation (part of your life bar) but this will return after a short time is; so unless you're stupid enough to assassinate several innocents in quick succession you should be okay.

Altair heals automatically so there is no need to run around searching for medical packs or herbs. If you're badly damaged just find a quiet place and wait until your health returns.

As the game progressed I became more and more involved in Altair's story, as well as Desmond's.

I will admit that I was a little perturbed when it came to an end. After Altair's final assassination Desmond is left alone in the room with the animus. For the first time he has "eagle vision" and can see a large amount of symbols and drawings all over the main room as well as his bedroom (go there last as it marks the end of the game). I waited for several minutes after looking at every symbol, puzzle, drawing expecting something to happen and nothing did. Apparently this is correct, as Assassin's Creed II starts where this one finishes - Assassins Creed 2: Game of The Year - Platinum Edition (PS3).

I would suggest that you take the time to look at the images, symbols, drawings and puzzles as their importance becomes apparent when you play ACII.

A thoroughly enjoyable game with increasing difficulty and not a great degree of game playing skill required. I can see this series easily joining Resident Evil as another of my obsessions.