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66 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing new but entertaining., 18 Nov 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Ubisoft seem to have promoted Assassin's Creed as a stealth game, which would make a lot of sense seeing as the main character is a medieval assassin but let's get this straight, the stealth elements are underwhelming and what you have instead is a beautiful, quirky action/platform game with a compelling story.
The majority of assassin's Creed puts you in control of Altair, moody badass and Hashshashin extraordinaire. Altair fumbles an important job for the guild and is stripped of his rank/ability faster than you can say `Super Metroid' and from there on must prove his worth by assassinating nine of the key figures responsible for prolonging the crusades. Controlling Altair is pretty intuitive and it only takes a few minutes to get to grips with the controls. Expect to have as much fun climbing up buildings as in `Crackdown', running across rooftops is very rewarding and gives an impressive feeling of speed and Fighting plays a lot like a rhythm-action mini game.
Each assassination is made up of a few steps, first you must travel to the city on horseback. These over-world sections feel a little bit under developed and whereas the horse riding mechanics are fun, they don't really add much to the game. It would have been nice to see a few secrets around the map but as they are these sections resemble those in `Shadow of the Colossus' or `Gun' more than they do `The Legend of Zelda'. Once you arrive at the city you will have a few tasks to complete, firstly you need to seek out tall structures, ascend them and survey the land. This will allow you to see more of the map and cause side missions to show up on you HUD. The side missions are undertaken in order to gain information about your mark and in some cases to make the job easier.
These side missions take the form of assassinating guards, eavesdropping, pick pocketing, rescuing citizens from guard brutality and oddly, hopping above the city in timed flag collecting races. They seem to have come under a lot of fire from reviewers but the repetition didn't really bother me a lot. I'll be honest, this isn't `Oblivion', you can expect to hear the same lines over and over again and the challenge or variety never really increases as the game progresses. It would have been nice to see some real depth and variety here but they are what they are and most have some aspect which is fun. My favourite were probably the flag races which reminded me of Ubisoft's other Fall platformer `Naruto: Rise of a Ninja'. There are precious few of these races, largely due to the problems of implementing them into the game narrative. There are only a few times that you can use `Erm... I lost a bunch of flags, can you get them for me before... a generic event happens'.
I found the actual assassinations to be a lot of fun, most only really involve going to point A, watching a cut-scene, running up and putting a blade through the target's face then legging it back to the Assassin's Bureau. This will obviously annoy those anticipating a more cerebral take on killing. I'm sure that it's possible to put more thought into the kills but the game doesn't really encourage or reward it and `Hitman' it aint.
Graphically the game looks amazing; it renders huge densely populated areas without really struggling. Just climb to the top of one of the towers and you'll feel overwhelmed by what the developers have managed to pull off. I noticed a handful of small glitches as I played such as texture pop-in, and screen ripping but nothing that hindered my enjoyment of the game. Similarly I experienced a couple of stutters while loading areas but I can count the number of times on one hand.
The voice work was largely professional, Altair sounds a bit too much like Troy McLure and a few of the NPCs are a tad on the `wacky' side but it's entertaining rather than aggravating. There was music there but I can't really remember it which is usually a good thing in soundtracks. Presumably it supported the action rather than intrude upon it. All in all the sound was adequately done with a couple of stellar moments such as Kirsten Bell's performance as Lucy.
Without spoiling what is an admittedly poorly kept secret there are some small adventure chapters that link the sections of the main game and add a twist to the story. I strongly advise players to make the most of these sections as they provide likeable rounded characters, an interesting mystery and hint at the direction of future installments of the franchise. Depending on how much work you put in these sections will either be slow paced and boring or fascinating and you can't skip them so it's up to you to make the most of them. Explore the rooms, use the computers and rummage through emails, I think that fans of TV shows like `Lost' will be well pleased with the overall direction of the story.
Overall Assassin's Creed is a solid action-platformer with next-gen looks and last-gen gameplay. I personally enjoyed it a lot but it doesn't really bring anything new to the table and reminds me of a number of existing games. It also leans a little bit to the easy side and offers little immediate replay value. There are numerous flags to collect but Ubisoft have taken the cheap option and bagging each set will only unlock an achievement. Gamers expecting a world changing experience will be disappointed but I suggest that anybody interested in the genre, setting or those frustrated by a lack of complexity in Video Game narrative pick this one up.
7/10
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22 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, yet awful, 14 Dec 2007
Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
First of all I'd like to say that the whole concept and idea of this game is absolutley brilliant. However now for the bad points, and believe me there are tonnes of them. First of all the trailers and the hype from the creators is rubbish. It is virtually impossibnle to assassinate your targets stealthly. I have tired every target at least 3 times but everytime i get spotted by the guards or byt he target for doing nothing but standing in the crowd plotting my means of attack. When taking out your target you cant go where you like becuase to activate the targhet you have to stand in a certain area to activate a cut scene etc etc which then allwos you access to the target. So thats the first down point. the second down point is the as everyone says repetitive information aquiring missions which to be frank are rather dull. The dullest part is riding to the different towns, but that is ok later on as you can quick travel.
The free running and how they have created the controls for it is brilliant however at times you find yourself screaming at the screen say I didnt want to jump that way or something those lines.
My last moan and probably the most irritating thing, as it usually is the cause of the failure to stealth assassinate a target, is the fact the guards are permenatly suspisious of you when you have done anything...why arent they suspicisous of the bloke next to you who is also "doing nothing"
This game has potential and I hear they are making a number 2. Personnally I would wait for that and hopefully they would have sorted out the stupid things.
Overall the game has potential but dont waste your pocket on it. Wait for number 2 if it comes!
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16 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The two Ass's in the title is not the only repetitive thing...., 25 Jan 2008
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Right, so this is how this plays out; firstly you see the advert for this on the telly, awesome lifelike images of this hooded assassin wandering amongst a crowd, climbing up a building, picking people off with a `Taxidriver-esqe' weapon that comes from his sleeve - all in sexy slo-mo, you could be forgiven for thinking it was John Woo's next movie....Massive Attacks haunting `Teardrop' playing in the background...so far so good. Then you realise it's a game and a little disclaimer at the bottom of the screen says "Actual game footage" and you think "I'm gunna get me a piece of that!" and so you do.
This is how it probably carries on; you buy the game, probably second hand from here or eBay - there seems to be millions of them for sale for some reason? ;-)... and you start to play it. Then tomorrow you're part-ex-ing it back in at your local Blockbuster for a second hand DVD copy of American Ninja 3: Bloodhunt!
Why? Well that's real simple. Much like movie trailers these days, this games best bits are revealed to you in the clips shown and pretty much leave you with nothing to do when you get the game.
Now don't get me wrong, I realise I may be contradicting a lot of the reviews here but I feel the need to tell people what this game really comprises of.
If you are the sort of person who is satisfied by heading out for a one hour drive on a lovely sunny day, through windy country roads with beautiful scenery and catching the occasional glimpse of your pretty reflection in the windscreen...then turning around and coming straight back without so much as leaving your seat, then this may well be for you, go get a copy.
If by chance, you are the sort of person who actually wants to DO something when you've been driving for an hour then it's probably best you try a different game. Let me explain.
For a start the people who created this are trying to be far too clever for there own good, see it's not just a case of you are a medieval assassin bumping people off left and right, no, that's not `deep' enough, they've devised this complex story where you are infact a guy in the modern day who is in a lab somewhere with these two guys who are trying to tap you into an old stream of DNA history within your memory where you used to be an assassin and they keep jumping you forward and back to different dates, you learn skills, then you've lost them in the next scene, you wake up on the bed, then you're on a building somewhere...it goes on, I'm confusing myself just trying to explain what the hell is going on. The surprising thing is all this is just the tutorial stage, what the point of this actually within the game it's anyone's guess?
Once you get past this annoying part of the game and you start to complete quests, you enter another annoying part - now I'm not a psychologist or anything, well not full time anyway, but I'm sure games by their very nature are meant to be fun for people, and not annoying or repetitive? I mean, that's why we go to work right? You see, the game is a sort of stealth based fare, you wander around with your hood up trying to blend into the crowd and act inconspicuous whilst you drop people for whatever reason (I mean for a start if you see a youth walking up to you in the street in town with a hoody, you instinctively hold your wallet tighter anyway). Once you do clip someone you become recognisable to guards who are everywhere and they take it upon themselves to chase you down at any chance they get. You can get away from them nee bother by running or riding your steed to a nearby haystack and then hiding inside till they pass, but a piece of advice, get used to this technique mind you, because this run and hide move will pester you for the duration of the game whilst you're trying to complete other things. Honestly it is a nuisance that the game could just do without.
There are other parts to this game, of course there are, but are they any different or better than other games out there? Apart from the great graphics, probably not, well unless like I say you are blown away so much by the attention to detail in floating pollen, bugs, grains of sand on your boots and other atmospheric touches to justify the 40 notes this bad boy will cost.
FYI, I was aiming for a two and a half star rating but couldn't...
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