Assassin's Creed is best described as a sandbox Splinter Cell set in the Third Crusade. The majority of the game involves sneaking around, carrying out investigations that ultimately lead you to a target that you must assassinate. The game is based in reality (conspiracy theories nonwithstanding): the targets are all based on historical figures, the scenery is right out of 1191 (and is the real star of the game, if you ask me), the weaponry is accurately portrayed, and there are no magic spells available to the player.
In the game you take control of two characters: Desmond, a modern-day American, and Altair, an elite Holy Land assassin during the Crusades. The two are linked through a unique but pleasingly plausible plot device that I will not give away here. The majority of the game is from Altair's point of view.
The game looks absolutely beautiful. By far my favorite moments of the game were climbing tall towers to overlook the city (a secondary objective in the game) and seeing Jerusalem or Damascus in all its splendor below me. The character models are just as good, and retain their good looks in combat as well.
Combat is fairly intuitive. Players eventually gain access to four weapons, which along with their fists are mapped to the D-pad (throwing knives and the short sword are both mapped to the left d-pad, and which is used is determined by how far away the target is). The left trigger targets, the right blocks (and, in combination with X, counters), X attacks, A steps and B grabs.
Combat is, unfortunately, also where almost all my gripes with the game happen. Landing a combo, counter, or mid-combat assassination will usually switch the camera to a cinematic view (during which you won't be attacked) but will keep that angle when the animation ends, which can occasionally put the camera behind a tree and block your view, leading to an early death. Switching targets can be a hassle, especially when dealing with more than three opponents simultaneously, which as the game progresses becomes the norm. Switching out of combat mode to run away is sometimes a pain too.
The stealth mechanic in the game works well. People (guards included) will react based on the severity of what you do. Once discovered, players can run away, and once they break line of sight can hide in a number of fashions (like jumping into a bale of hay or blending in with a group of monks dressed similar to Altair), and after a predetermined amount of time the guards will give up pursuit and Altair can continue as normal.
Leading up to the actual assassination, players have to perform two or three investigations, which involve pickpocketing, eavesdropping, interrogating or finding a fellow assassin who acts as an informant (and will give you info in exchange for taking out their assassination targets or retrieving a series of flags within a given time limit).
The secondary objectives in the game are repetitive (save citizens and climb viewpoints) but are useful; viewpoints reveal the map and other objectives, and saving citizens gives you either a group of scholars (a handy hiding spot) or vigilantes (thugs that will defend you from pursuing guards), both of which come in handy after assassinations, since the whole city is on the lookout for you.
There is only one difficulty setting, which actually works pretty well in this game. The save feature is strictly checkpoints and autosaves, which can be frustrating. Death will take you back to the last checkpoint (not so bad), but quitting the game will take you way back sometimes, and always takes you back to the regional headquarters, which leads to a lot of traveling back to get to where you were.
As for gamerscore, there is 1000G spread over 44 achievements. All the "secret" achievements are plot-driven unlockables, and all are single-player achievable (there is no multiplayer here, and in fact no downloadable content other than themes and pictures). You will probably get 800 of those points just from playing through the entire game (about 20-40 hours of playtime, depending on your speed), and the rest are for collecting flags and eliminating Templar Knights, both of which are scattered througout all areas of the game. If you are looking for a pad to your gamerscore, this is a good choice.
A few minor things aside, Assassin's Creed is a must-have title for the 360. It looks and plays beautifully, but since there is no DLC, multiplayer or difficulty settings the replay value is a little less than some other titles.Get more detail about Assassin's Creed.
No comments:
Post a Comment