A game 900 years in the making...
Assassin's Creed was one of the top selling games for Xbox 360 and PS3 this past holiday season, and with good reason. The game is a milestone of innovative game play and story-telling, but an otherwise excellent game is tarnished by a few poor decisions made by the game designers. It tells the story of Altair, a master assassin during the time of the Crusades in the Holy Land (circa 1191 A.D.) My plan for this review is to not avoid spoilers because reviewing around the plot is too difficult for a game that's been out since before Thanksgiving anyway. I'll be sure and mark spoiler filled sections ahead of time though. For now, let's forge ahead and get started with a more detailed synopsis of the plot.
Plot - **** SPOILERS AHEAD****
As I said, the game is about Altair, a skilled master assassin of the middle ages... sort of. Well, not really. Its actually about a guy named Desmond. Desmond is a bartender who lives in the near future... and is descended from Altair. Consequentially, it seems he's gotten himself kidnapped by some nefarious scientists who want to tap into the "genetic memory" of his ancestor. It turns out that we not only get hair color, skin and blood type from our predecessor's but we also receive their memories encoded into the DNA passed on to us, which helps explain instinctual behavior and feelings of déjà vu. Conveniently for said nefarious scientists, they've figured all this out and (logically) developed the technology to retrieve the memories from our genetic code. Enter the literal Deus ex Machina: The Animus. Rather than being a genetic mix-tape creator, the Animus takes it one step further. It requires the memories to be relived by the descendent. While lying down on the Animus, which looks like a souped-up Star Trek sickbay bed, the user is plunged headlong into the memory fragment and forced to relive it by playing the part of his ancestor. Its an interesting concept that's used to give you some freedom of choice in how the game is played, while still keeping the player on the rails of the plot. Desmond's great-times 10-granddaddy apparently bore witness to something that said nefarious scientists are desperately interested in. But of course when you start the game, poor Desmond is in shock, and unable to just jump to the end and see the info. He has to work up his confidence by playing through the whole mystery first. So, with a virtual gun to his head, Desmond/Altair embarks on a quest through 3 major cities of the Holy Land to fight the Templar Crusaders and discover the true purpose of their quest.
Graphics - Brilliantly displayed vistas & teeming cities.
The graphics of Assassin's Creed are utterly superlative. The three Holy Land cities of Jerusalem, Damascus and Acre (pronounced ahk-ur) are recreated in painstaking detail. The first time you approach a city, you are treated to a sweeping panorama of it laid against the desert. Its really breathtaking. Once inside the city, there are no load screens to move from one section of the city to another. Barriers prevent you from accessing "memories" before you're supposed to, but by the end of the game it is possible to move from one end of a city to another and never have to wait a second for anything to load from the disc. This is an impressive feat considering the cities are a few square miles in area. The cities are totally alive and autonomous. The quality of texturing on the models of the citizens, the soldiers/guards in town, and Altair himself is also extremely high. Fabric moves independent of its frame and looks like real cloth. and there's a lot of variety in the faces of the citizens. Top-notch effort all around for the graphics. They add to the enjoyability of the game tremendously.
Gameplay - I believe I can fly!
The character controls in this game are very good and one of the strong suits of the game. The developers take the idea of a marionette and graft it onto your Xbox controller giving you the ability to do things with Altair's head (vision), left and right hand, and his feet. Altair possesses the ability to "free-run" up the side of buildings, grasp ledges and climb to the highest points in a city. These High Places, as they are called, help you gather the lay of the land (fill in your map) and show you where you need to go to investigate your target before assassinating him. Its a fluid system that is only sometimes marred by getting stuck in an odd corner or not being able to direct exactly where Altair will leap to. When you start the game, Altair's combat and acrobatic abilities are gimped so that you can achieve new skills as you play in an effort to redeem yourself in the eyes of your Master.
Altair has a variety of cool weapons at his disposal that make being a sneaky assassin a little bit easier. He has a standard short sword for taking on multiple guards at a time (who conveniently wait their turn in combat) a dagger which I didn't find much use for, throwing knives (which are indispensable in taking out roof guards), and my personal favorite, the Hidden Blade. Its a viciously nasty metal spike that retracts into a bracer on Altair's left wrist. With a quick gesture he can implant the blade discreetly into the back or neck of unsuspecting or surprised guards and then retract it and make a getaway. Its also one of the best ways to take out your assassination targets, as the shock of suddenly being fatally stabbed leaves the victim reeling on their feet for a few seconds before collapsing giving you a good chance to get up and away before the alarm bells ring. As the game progresses, you learn new and better ways of wielding your weapons, especially the sword, by coupling them with parries, grabs and throws so as to get the upper hand on your enemy. The AI of the guards is pretty good in combat. For example, a group of 6 or 7 guards may attack, but no more than 2 will attack at once, and I understand the reason for doing this. Its dramatic and true to a sort of old Hollywood swashbuckling style. However, they do work well together. One will attempt to grab you and throw you down while you are engaged in a flurry of blows with the other, etc. Some of the larger guard fights near the end of the game are challenging and will have your cursing your foul luck.
When patrolling the streets, they will investigate bodies and seem to pay special attention, dare I say, unusual attention to you under certain circumstances. Aside from the normal citizens milling about the street, you have characters referred to as "Harassers." They get in your face or block your path and draw attention to you, which of course you want to avoid. A fine example are the beggar women in the game. They run to you when you cross their corner and beg ferociously for money that you are unable to give them. They plant themselves in front of you completely blocking your way. You have to mill and maneuver to get out of the way and if you dare to push one you'll come under the harsh scrutiny of the guards. Too many busted up beggar women and you'll have the long arm of the law coming down on you. Even more frustrating and befuddling are the drunk and/or retarded people in the street. Of course being set long before the days of mental health care, the streets are filled with babbling morons who only seem to have a problem with you. If you get too close they push you hard and can knock you down. Here's an important safety tip. If a guard witnesses a retarded person pushing you to the ground, they immediately scream "Assassin!" and proceed to chop you up into mincemeat. I guess they are specially trained assassin-detecting retarded people. Go figure. And of course, the game designers sadistically place these harassers right where they are the biggest pain.
The graphics and the fluidity of the controls come together to really make you feel like a capable assassin, however, in the end the game falters due to a handful of glaringly bad design choices that shatter your immersion into the world of Altair.
How many nits could a nitpick pick?
So we come to the tragic end. A game on the cusp of revolutionary greatness is felled (in my opinion) by some of the strangest design choices I've ever encountered in a game. Let's break them down. This might be spoilerish, but if you've made it this far, you can handle it.
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Altair is a ninja-esque lethal weapon. A free-running gymnast who can front roll out of a 20 foot fall and never miss a step. Who can soar from the rooftops and plunge his hidden blade into the necks of unsuspecting villains then disappear into the crowd. A master swordsman who can handle 10 or more guards in one sword fight and walk away. His kryptonite? Why chest deep water of course. He cant' swim!! Inadvertent plunges into wading pools are instant death sentences. And of course, one of your targets near the end of the game is holed up on his ship waiting to leave the harbor and you must leap from boat to platform to tiny posts and onto the enemy laden ship to succeed. Over and over and over again because you will fail many, many times. I can understand plunges off cliffs or falls from too high up, but this one just doesn't make sense. Its only purpose is to throw in this platform style level near the end to make it "challenging." In the end it is only frustrating.
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Cutscenes cannot be skipped. This doesn't really bother me that much except for one thing. After each assassination
you perform, you have a conversation with your victim, and not just a few gurgled words either. I mean long, protracted, complicated discussions. So let's set the stage here. Your target is on a platform, surrounded by 6 of his best guards, in front of a large crowd of citizens conducting the weekly batch of public executions. Suddenly you plunge down from the rooftops and slam an 8-inch long metal spike in his neck. Aha! Justice is served! Now I'll make my getaway before the guards... oh wait, he's talking to me.
Man... he's umm... saying a lot. This is like exposition or something... but I mean the guards are right here. I should probably go... oh but he's still talking. Can I skip this? *mash buttons* No... jeez. Oh he finally died. Well let me take proof he's dead. And now...
You stand up back in control and guess what? You've got a lot of pissed off people standing practically on top of you trying to kill you! Game on! Fight your way out and run like a drunken monkey!
Not sure what the designers were thinking, but the concept of having these downright philosophic discussions with someone I just shanked is a bit too much. I think it could've been done in some other way. Perhaps finding the ubiquitous diary or pilfered letter in their quarters after the fact? I know bad guys like to monologue, but seriously, dead people haven't said this much since Shakespeare.
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Missions are too repetitive. Every time you get a new target you follow the exact same protocol. Got to a city, speak to the local chief assassin there and get the scoop on where to find more information. Climb the high points in the newly unlocked zone of the city and scope out the land. Go do 3 missions out of a possible 6 to find out the best time to strike. Then go report back in and get permission to proceed. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. There are 10+ targets you have to take out. And each one plays out exactly the same. It would've been nice to use some more subtle methods like sniping with a bow and arrow maybe? Or poisons? Of course, that way, you don't get close enough to them in their dying breath to have those long ass conversations.
Conclusions
The game ends wide-open for a sequel, which I expect will be made, and I'm sure I will play. Despite these poor design choices, the game is fun to play. Go play it. You will have fun. I know it sounds like I'm contradicting myself, but trust me. The first time you silently kill a guard on the street or rooftop, or chuck a throwing knife into a guard from across the street, you will be giddy. The graphics are stunning and among some of the best ever put forth on the Xbox 360 and it is superbly acted by an excellent cast of voice actors. If not for the shortcomings I've laid out, this would've been a top contender for game of the year. As it is, we've got the foundations laid out for a sequel that could easily exceed the reach of its ancestor.
Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)
3.5 stars out of 5
So long, and as always, keep it intelligent...
