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I am not your average gamer. I am 60 years old and have been playing video games of all vintages (starting with Pong)for over 30 years. This game is simply fantastic. The story line is interesting, the game objectives are challenging but not impossible to attain and the graphics are simply amazing. I have always found this period of history (the Crusades) to be fascinating. Assasin's Creed allows you to immerse yourself in this virtual world of the Middle East where at times you feel you are really there. I don't recommend this game at all for younger children or even immature teens. There is a significant amount of blood and violence, as there would have been during the historic period virtualized in the game. I had just purchased my PS3 to replace a broken PS2 and have not been able to bring myself to play other games I purchased. If you are a gamer who likes role playing games, I highly recommend Assasin's Creed.
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Ok I've been reading up on all the five star reviews on this game and I'm sorry, It's just not as innovative and mesmerizing as most people are saying and certainly not as good as us gamers had hoped for. (there's alot to cover so sorry for the length of the review)
Let me start out by saying this is a good game. When I started playing as Alteir the assasin, I thought it was the most amazing thing ever just because the scale of the amazingly designed cities and towns. Just walking around and looking at the scenery and people is fun but unfortunately, after eight hours of gameplay, (which is where I am at) it truly fails to stay fresh, you start noticing alot of the games problems and glitches and at this point, I'm almost forcing myself to continue on.
After the game starts, you see the scale and technological advances this game carries, you walk around and anxiously wait to run the streets freely and start killing people. When I first rode into Damascus on a white horse by means of a beautiful mountain pass that I had to go through, i thought this had to be the greatest game ever. It looks so great and going to locations such as Jerusalem and Damascus is just awesome.
But unfortunately, the scenery just isn't enough. To start, one thing that really makes this game get old fast is that everytime you go to a city, you do the same routine over and over and over again: You sneak into a city, you find some really high towers or "view points" which fill up your map and shows you the places to go. You go to the assasin's headquarters (there's one in every city) and they give you tedious little quests you must do before you can assasinate a target.
Your regular routine of tedious objectives consists of pitpocketing guys for information, interrogation, which consists of finding your target, following him until he reaches a secluded spot, then punching him until he gives you what you want. You can also meet informants who give you little chores (such as killing guys and doing the same crap you already have to do for the assasin's headquarters) and in exchange for your hard work, they give you information so as you can see, everything you do is for information on your next target. These little quests get EXTREMELY old after hours and hours of gameplay. They really arent challenging, they don't change or get harder and are only really fun the first five times you do them. You do the same crap over and over and over again in every city. (and not to knock on the the awesome looking cities or aything but truth is, apart from some bigger buildings and smaller buildings, the cities don't look THAT much different.)
When walking the cities and doing your quests, of course you are challeneged by the city guards who are constantly on the lookout for you. You have some pretty cool weapons to take care of them, such as thowing knives, a sword ( the swordfighting looks really cool), and a cool sharp spike which you can pull out or retract from just under Alteir's left hand. This weapon is used for stealth kills. Of course you also have moves and counterattacks you get as you progress.
In the upper left hand corner of the screen, you have your health bar and little meter that changes color depending on the guards: White for the guards are "unaware", Yellow for "Suspicious" and Red for "alerted".... The meter is almost always yellow which means you are supposed to hold the X button and walk EXTREMELY slow until the meeter changes to white. When you actually do that, (which takes forever) all it takes is ten seconds and the meter goes back to yellow... So naturally you're always on yellow but the enemy AI is not the best. You can silently kill a guy with your spike right in front of a guard and although it is a "silent kill", the guy will scream and fall to the ground and the guards will walk right past... but if you're just walking on the street, they might get alerted for no evident reason.
Another low point, which is kind of funny to watch is the guards amazing ability to keep up with you which is really ridiculous. To get away, you can climb up walls, get to the top of tall buildings and very unrealistically jump across rooftops... and the guards will keep up with you... You are a trained assasin but regular guys in heavy armor will climb up walls and pursue you across the largest of rooftop jumps... Just as ridiculous, you can run from one side of the city to the other, the meter will stay red and you can try to blend in but the guards on the other side of the city somehow just know you are the guy being chased 1-2miles away on the other side of the city and they will attack you... Did they have radios during the crusades so people on the other side of the city could warn others of you presence? As for hiding from the guards, this I felt was another low point. The cities are huge but you really have only three spots to hide: hay stacks, little square garden houses on rooftops and if you are being chased, you can just sit down on a bench and the guards will run right past you and you will be safe... There are trees everywhere but you cant climb or hide in them. There are barrels, crates, doors and shops you think you would be able to jump into but no... you have to sit on the bench... There are no disguises or such froms of deception that you can use. The idea of vast and creative options is just absent.
Now for the actual assasinations. (sorry. i know this review is long) The assasinations, while still fail to remain something mouth-dropping and new do have a bit of newness to them. You have to assasinate nine specific guys in the game and each pose a different challenge. Now don't misunderstand, you are still doing the same crap to kill the nine guys as you would be doing to kill anyone else but without spoiling anything, you will find each main assasination a bit different from the last, followed by a cinemeatic while the target dies. After each assasination, you return to the boss and he gives you the next target.
Believe it or not, although this is a very mission based game, (you just get one mission after the next) it does have a bit of story in the mix. The main character can think for himself (but unfortunately has some of the worst voice acting i have ever heard) and there are other characters but there aren't really any other "real" characters. Sure there are guys that you speak to for a mission but there aren't any real new characters that pop up and the game just doesn't really have alot of character such as a game like Metal Gear beacuse the game just remains the same. But, without spoiling anything, there is a major story twist... which you actually discover at the beginning of the game... which is kinda weird but you can determine for yourself whether it's a good twist or a bad twist.
Finally, i have to include some of the horrible glitches i have come across. Are these glitches a cause of the ps3 or the game? I can't really say for sure but I'm pretty sure its the game for my ps3 has worked great with every other game. Whenever you pass a crowd of people on the streets, every once in a while, if you turn the camera around quickly to look back, the people will have ALL dissapeared randomely, then if you look back again, they will be back in place... This has happened to me the other way around as well. Ontop of that, while i'm ruinning around, my character has just frozen in midair. Now the game itself didn't freeze, just my character. It looked like something in the matrix. My character was in midair while everything else was moving and i had to restart my ps3. Weird.
In conclusion (finally, i know this is a long one) Assasin's creed is a good game and I am still enjoying it but this was supposed to be one of the greatest games of this generation and it could have been but the only thing that really makes this a cool game now, i beleive will be a common thing in all next gen gaming titles and in a year, this game won't be remembered as anything. Now the question is: should i trade in Assasin's Creed for Uncharted which comes out next week??
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I was a little skeptical this game would live up to the hype. Then some diminished reviews came around and I was already feeling a let down. Where could they go wrong? Was my thoughts. Well that didn't stop me from purchasing this game. After 30 minutes I was blown away. All skepticism was gone and I was in Gamer Heaven.
Let me start off from the beginning. Yes there is a plot twist and it's pretty bizarre. Just think that your watching a Michael Crichton movie and it will make sense. Playing in the Middle East several hundred years ago is a different idea. It's hard to say what you could expect with this concept.
So what makes this game amazing. Lets start off with the landscape. It's brilliant and beautiful...Really majestic. You don't understand the scope of this game until you start playing. The world is surrounded by several small villages and three large cities. The only way to travese this open terrain with a horse. Fortunately they are about as easy to find as a car in todays society.
What also sets this game apart is the ability to do what you want when you want. There is no clock on you and your not stuck going into a mission. Everything is open based. The character is amazingly fun to control you can scale tall buildings and make amazing leaps of faith. Climbing up a building that is several stories and then leaping to certain doom is breathtaking excitement. This is what games should be about.
Beyond that is a mission based game. Similiar to Grand Theft Auto in style. You can accept simple missions like pickpocketing and protecting citizens to the more main based assasin missions. You can battle soldiers if you want as you have many enemies but it's not really advised. Following the assasin missions can be complex and involve several steps that make the story very intresting. Obviously a lot of time was put into making this top notch.
For anyone who likes open based games with large environments then Assassins Creed is for you. From the majestic peaks to the clustered cities. This is trully a next gen experience. The storyline and incentive program will keep you playing for many hours. Definately a worthwhile gameplay experience. If you want something to keep you busy that doesn't involve guns go out and get Assasins Creed.
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I just purchased this game a few days ago (finally got that PS3 for Christmas) and thought I would do a review of my own. Many people here have been concentrating on all the cons this game has, or just saying that it's awesome. Here's what I have seen so far. Also, this is going to be a long review. Bear with me, but I hope that it is informative and not boring or useless.
*May contain spoilers, depending on how much you know about the game*
Pros:
1) The cities are huge and beautifully detailed. Walking around looking and listening is very fun (at least for a while, I admit it does get a little old). There are some interesting characters to interact with (I've started punching the beggar women and the drunks who have shoved me into the water at Acre's port too many times for me not to retaliate). You can climb virtually any building, too, and near the end of the game, all areas are open to you.
2) The music is great. Each city has its own signature song, but it isn't long and overly played. The instruments and melodies used are also what you would expect for a game set in the Middle East, but there are also times when you will experience a full Latin chorus. The song for Damascus reminded me of The Mummy, and Masyaf's signature song is just great.
3) Maybe it's just because I like horses, but riding through the Kingdom on my way to the quests was a lot of fun. Altair is as good on a horse as he is on his feet.
4) Sidequests: There are hundreds of flags to find (100 in each of the following three cities) in Damascus, Jerusalem, and the Kingdom, as well as a significant amount in Acre and Masyaf (63 [?] for Acre and 20 for Masyaf). And don't forget about those Templar Knights. There are 60 to find; I've only managed to take care of 22 so far, and I'm at a high enough level where I feel confident to actually go searching for them. They can be difficult enemies, too, especially in the beginning stages of the game.
5) The fighting. Oh, the fight sequences are so much fun. I've started provoking guards just to practice my moves. It's so realistic, and I think the game gives the player so much control over Altair and what he does. You have to be quick, too, in order to react, and you have to know which move to perform, as well as getting the right timing. Mashing buttons isn't going to work with this game; in fact, it can get you killed.
Altair is an extremely good fighter. He is skilled and proficient, as the mini cutscenes show when he performs a counter attack or combo kill. These are fun and awe-inspiring to watch if you're a nerd like me...make sure to try out counters and combos with all weapons to see Altair's different moves. (Also pay attention to the guards' faces and what they say when/after he performs them, too.)
His weapons are what you would expect for a 12th century fighter, too. He has a sword; a short, curved blade he keeps on his back; five or ten throwing knives, depending on your level (EDIT: I was just upgraded to 15 knives); his fists; and, of course, that really awesome blade in place of his ring finger that is retractable and is used for stealth kills. (FYI, the throwing knives are also good for stealth kills, and almost preferable, in my opinion.) He doesn't have med packs that save his health, and he doesn't have unlimited ammo for the knives. Adds a little difficulty to the game.
Along those same lines, the way the game handles "death" is innovative and interesting. Desmond is a character who is Altair's descendant; he is experiencing Altair's story as a "genetic memory". The sheer fact that Altair is his ancestor means that Altair could not have died during the time the game takes place (unless he had some kids beforehand). So each hit Altair takes is seen as a deviation from the actual memory of what happened, and when the memory is too far deviated, the memory is lost and must begin again. Pretty cool.
6) The freedom the player has. You pretty much get to choose what order you want to complete assassinations in. You decide if you want to use stealth and the roofs to sneak up on your target, or if you want to go in for a full-frontal assault. If you want to go straight back to Masyaf after completing an assassination, the game gives you that option, but you can also say "No" and take a horse ride through the Kingdom instead. If you want to go find some flags or Templars before completing a side-quest, knock yourself out. The game doesn't force you to do anything.
Cons:
1) Repetitive. This is something that I'm sure everyone who has played this game has noticed. In each city, there are tall buildings called "view points" that Altair must climb, and from there he is able to pinpoint some necessary sidequests. Saving civilians from guards is a lot of fun. Not only does it give you a reason to fight some guards, but your reward is either a group of men who will literally restrain guards who chase you, or a group of scholars you can blend with. You can also interrogate (follow someone into a secluded area, beat him for information, and then kill him), eavesdrop, and pickpocket letters and maps from people. Assassination missions never change, either. You have your target, you find him and kill him, and return to the bureau. It is never changed with time of day, weather, or anything. As much fun as it is to carry out these missions, they do get old after a while.
2) The guards. Altair is supposed to be this crazy awesome skilled assassin. He can climb up buildings, run easily over rooftops, dodge through big crowds...so it was really disappointing (and shocking) when I was chased for the first time and realized that the guards were keeping up with me and could catch up if I made even the smallest mistake. Also, the AI of the guards can be obnoxious at times. Even when they're in yellow mode (I believe this is called "Suspicious"), they won't react if you climb a building right in front of them, even though they are supposed to be on the lookout for an assassin (especially true during the later missions where the assassination targets are well aware they are being hunted). If they did react, it would limit the player's ability to do whatever he/she wants, but it takes away from the game a little bit. Also, in the Kingdom the rival guards (basically any that aren't a part of the Brotherhood) are always on "Alert" which means they will attack if you show the smallest indiscretion. This includes jogging on foot or trotting the horse. So it gets really frustrating to have to walk very slowly by all those guards when I'm pretty sure they would already have noticed the guy in the white robe carrying weapons who is the only one they will ever encounter in that region riding a horse. (Everyone else is on foot).
3) Altair's voice acting. It lacks emotion at all times. Plus, he speaks with an American accent. Everyone else around him has an accent from a Middle Eastern region, or one from England and France (Acre) and some sort of Germanic language I've also noticed. Someone told me this is because the machine Desmond uses to experience Altair's memories translates all languages into English...but I'm not sure if that even explains it. If anyone has any theories or knows the actual answer, please comment on this review and tell me!
4) Some of the sidequests you have to do for informers can be ridiculously hard, especially when you have a time limit. Stealth killing five soldiers in a crowded street in five minutes is almost unfeasible (and I thought I was getting good at the game).
Well, that's what I can come up with. Sorry it was long, but I hope it was helpful. Maybe I'm hyping the game because it's my first one for PS3, but I really enjoy it. The repetition of the gameplay will undoubtedly turn many people off, but when you think about it, there's not a whole lot more for Altair to do. He's an assassin. He has jobs to do. He's not going to take a vacation to an oasis somewhere and be sucked into missions there. If you're a history lover, a gamer who likes combat better than storyline, or someone who has always wanted (secretly or not) to be a kicka$$ sword-wielding, death-dealing assassin, you will probably enjoy this game. Luckily it's a greatest hit now and is a little cheaper than new PS3 releases, too.
And hopefully the sequel that will supposedly be released in 2010 will fix this game's "cons".
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There was alot of hype surrounding this game when it came out and I bought into it. I watched the trailer and read reviews and was just blown away because the graphics, the gameplay, and the whole concept just looked so awesome. People were saying this was going to be a freeform game like Grand Theft Auto, a "medieval Grand Theft Auto". Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Basically the game consists of going from town to town, finding the target you need to assassinate, killing him, and then repeat. Even though the towns appear to be bustling with life and activity, there is actually nothing to do in the towns, except side missions of finding flags and saving citizens from the guards. Yep, that's it. No money to collect, nothing to buy, no extra abilities to attain. You can "pickpocket" but you can only pickpocket certain guards and the only items you can steal are....throwing knives.
Watching the trailer I was under the impression there would be beautiful cutscene videos explaining the story. Well, there are none. The story is explained by the characters in ingame graphics talking through long, boring monologues. Also, you find out that you're not actually playing the assassin, but his modern day "ancestor" who is living his past memories. I'm still wondering why they did this, since it contributes nothing to the story or the game, and I found myself sighing in boredom every time they cut back to the assassin's modern counterpart since I knew I was in for another 5-10 minutes of talking that has nothing to do with the game.
I have to say that the graphics are amazing, but the "wow" factor wears off after about 10 minutes and all that's left is the gameplay, and I have to say that the gameplay sucks. You're supposed to sneak around and assassinate your target, but you find out that the easiest way to kill them is to just rush in and start hacking and slashing and then run away from the guards, and that's what you're going to be doing most of the time.
I just feel really disapointed after buying and playing this game because I feel like it has so much potential. If only there was more stuff to do in the game. Before I got this game I envisioned being able to steal horses in towns and run off with them, stealing money from people, buying new and different weapons in towns, having a bunch of side missions to do in every town. Well, within the first 10 minutes of playing I realized this wasn't going to be the case. I'm still scratching my head as to why this game got such good reviews.
