Assassin’s Creed a journey worth taking
Written by Admin on Sunday, September 7th, 2008
GAME REVIEW
‘Assassin’s Creed’ - a journey worth taking
PEE KAY
Some games have first class storylines. Some are driven by great engines. And others come with splendid gameplay. Assassin’s Creed features all these, in spades. Here is a thief-style game that breaks the mould, eliminating monotonous experiences normally associated with the genre by letting you roam free in daylight - hiding in plain sight, hopping across rooftops if necessary, instead of sneaking in the dark or in shadows. Above all, this is one game whose developers paid attention to all aspects and details, instead of just obsessing about the game’s engine.
Story-wise, Assassin’s Creed makes heavy use of historical references in expounding its two parallel plots. In the present time, you are Desmond, a bartender kidnapped by a mysterious organisation who wants access to your genetic memory. In 1191, the era of the Third Crusade, four years after the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin, you’re Altair, Desmond’s ancestor, a white-clad assassin and a member of the Assassin’s Creed based in Masyaf, Syria. While switching back and forth between the two periods, most of the highly scripted gameplay and all the action takes place in the virtual mediaeval world extracted from Desmond/Altair’s genetic memory - with you wandering the Holy Land, from Damascus, to Acre, to Jerusalem. Assassin’s Creed’s religious-based storyline is interesting and, to certain extent, authentic. However, you don’t need a historical background to enjoy this game.
During the course of the game, you are assigned to assassinate nine high-level targets, both Christian and Saracen, including a a slaver, a hospitalier, a book-burner and a couple of Knights. Besides terminating your targets, there are quite a few errands you need to accomplish in each mission, starting with exploring the sector of the city where the target is located.
Exploring in Assassin’s Creed is fun in and of itself - its cities are vast and alive. From rich to poor districts, people walk about, minding their own business - guards, thugs, drunks, beggars, merchants, orators and labourers - all with their own set of AI. Crowds notice any abnormal behaviour, like scaling a wall, gossiping that they wouldn’t help, should you fall. Drunks push you away if you cross their paths, while beggars follow you around, asking for change. Paranoid patrolling guards investigate anything suspicious. Citizens gather around bodies left on the ground and panic if they see you killing someone. Birds fly away when you run past them.
First order of business as you explore is to scale watchtowers in the vicinity to reveal points of interest - locations where you find your side quests, like rooftop racing, pick-pocketing, escorting, eaves dropping, stealth killing, flag collecting and interrogating. Some quests are required in order to gain additional information about your targets.
Other quests are optional, but equally important. Saving innocent citizens from soldiers, for example, would land you allies like thugs - who help block pursuing guards - or scholars - who can provide you with sanctuary.
Besides seeking help from allies, you are able to hide - in rooftop gardens, under haystacks, or on benches, just sitting - once you have managed to break line of sight from chasing enemies. All these tricks, plus rooftop manoeuvering are necessary for your survival, because your enemies are very smart in this game.
They become alert once they find something questionable - like a dead body. They chase and follow you everywhere (including on the rooftops), encircle you, block your escape paths and even throw rocks at you should you attempt to flee to high ground. They also run away if, during the fight, you manage to slay most of their mates. Impressive.
Fun as it may be, Assassin’s Creed’s learning curve is quite steep, thanks to complexity in game control in general, and fight control in particular. Without plunging into detail of high and low profile movement controls, I should mention that sometimes you need to use as many as four fingers - two from each hand - puppeteering your alter ego. The good news is, except for fighting, you can finally overcome these laborious controls and will be able to blend in, sprint, climb, rush across rooftops and flee with ease.
Unfortunately, fighting can still be very tough and clumsy despite the weapons that you carry (short blade, throwing knives, hidden blade and sword) and fighting styles that you possess (blocking, dodging, countering, combo attacking, etc.). Such difficulty stems from one aspect of game design that allows you to engage only with locked-on enemies. (You can perform manual locking or let the game automatically lock on to the highest threat.)
Either way, this lock-on mechanism really makes combat in Assassin’s Creed cumbersome, especially when you are surrounded and enemies take turns attacking you. Fighting is made even more arduous because most styles require precise timing on your part to obtain perfect execution.
In sum, due to the combination of laborious fighting techniques, lack of difficulty settings, and checkpoint saves, Assassin’s Creed might prove too difficult for newcomers, especially towards the end of the game where you have to plough through dozens of very tough opponents like Templars to get to your target.
In spite of all these disadvantages, assassinations are quite fulfilling, specifically when you use your hidden blade. Combat scenes are also gracefully choreographed, thanks to fluid and life-like motion capture. I could keep on praising the game’s great visual style - with the implementation of depth of field, excellent camera control, first-rate voice acting, realistic environmental sounds, solid storyline, and so on. But I think you get the idea. Here is a game that lets you become an assassin with great agility, roaming ancient cities - alive and authentic, terminating targets in combat and disappearing swiftly into the wind. Assassin’s Creed is a journey worth taking. Highly recommended.
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Title: Assassin’s Creed Director’s Cut Edition
Game rating: M (for Mature) due to blood, strong language and violence
Type: Third-person, thief-style action
Min. system requirement: CPU Intel Dual Core 2.6GHz/ AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+, Windows XP/Vista 32-bit, 1GB RAM for XP/2GB for Vista, 256MB DirectX 10.0-compliant video card or DirectX 9.0-compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher, DVD-ROM Drive, 8GB of hard disk free space, DirectX-compatible sound card, keyboard and mouse or Xbox 360 Controller for Windows.
Note for left-handed gamers: Mouse buttons and keyboard assignments are configurable in-game. Left-handed people should be able to play this game with no difficulties
Price: 799 baht (version sold in Thailand only)
Local distributor: New Era Interactive Media (www.neweragames.co.th/home.php)
Reviewer’s opinion: 4.5 out of 5 stars
