Assassin's Creed review

This setup is... intriguing, if nothing else, but provides a bit of creative freedom within the game. Not restricted to a realtime telling of events, the Animus is able to scan ahead to more recent memories when necessary. This virtual reality presentation also displays intentional 'glitches' and allows Des-... Altair to see things that would be impossible to present in an ordinary period setting. If Altair is killed, his 'synchronisation' with Desmond is lost, and the memory reverts back to an earlier one. Admittedly, this is all just a more convoluted version of the story-telling style in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.In fact, everything in Assassin's Creed is a next-generation evolution of that game. Set within four different cities (based upon their real counterparts, but placed far closer together), you must run, climb, jump and fight your way through a series of objectives and investigations before confronting your assassination target. Altair can climb with far more agility (and ability) than the Prince of Persia, grabbing onto any protruding hand-hold and running up vertical surfaces. When fights with the city guards kick off, Altair can dodge, parry and counter (if your timing is good enough) against multiple foes. Failing that, he can flee and jump across rooftops to make his escape around a free-roaming environment. It is truly beautiful to behold, too; the level of detail is jaw-droppingly rich. The lighting and atmosphere is perfect; the draw-distance is staggering when you're atop a high tower; crowds of people react as you push through them at street level; and every action is smooth and uninterrupted, seemingly pulled from a bottomless pit of animations. It is truly one of few games worthy of the 'next generation' moniker.Bigger isn't always better, though. Gamestyle is more than a little fond of The Sands of Time and its wonderful narrative, lonely exploration and addictively linear journey through big 3D chambers. It was tight and focused, whereas Assassin's Creed can be bloated and meandering. You'll usually have more than one objective at any time, and being able to climb pretty much anything removes a certain feeling of accomplishment. The fighting lacks the grace and panache of over-the-head somersaults, the narrative is very forced and the lead character is... inexplicably American. There are also too many unskippable cutscenes, many of which you'll have to watch more than once if you fail a mission.Still, Assassin's Creed gets a lot right and pushes the genre (well, a few genres) forwards in some regards. The control interface is intuitive, as each button generally corresponds to a type of action (so, the X button is your weapon arm and the B button your empty arm, with Y as your vision and A as your legs). These actions alternate between subtle and active when you hold down the right trigger, so a gentle push becomes a shove and a walk becomes a run. With the required buttons held down, Altair will jump automatically when an edge is reached, but it's up to you to direct him towards things to grab, which is very stylish and cool when it goes well. He will go where you direct him with surprisingly little input, navigating intricate ledges and corners with an intuition all of his own.Then there are the stealth elements, often a bane of many games; but here, it works on the idea of hiding in plain sight. You can blend in with your surroundings to truly hide yourself (sit on a bench or walk with some similarly-dressed scholars), but you're usually safe to just wander the streets in full view of guards, so long as you're not currently wanted and you don't cause a ruckus. Knock into someone, who then drops what they're carrying, and you might arouse suspicion. You can see how suspicious you're being from an on-screen display that changes colour. When chased, you must break line of sight and then hide to return it to normal. Long chases across rooftops are some of the standout features of the game and really show what its powerful engine is capable of.Your primary stealth weapon is the hidden blade, which is a retractable knife attached to Altair's wrist. While ineffective in open combat, it delivers death quickly to unsuspecting targets - strangely fun when stalking rooftop patrols. Your other stealth weapons are the throwing knives, which are great for taking out street-level targets from the roofs without being spotted. Then there's your standard sword, which will slice and stab in graphically brutal ways. It's probably only the lack of severance that got this release its '15' rating. It's disappointing that open brawling only gets good towards the latter half of the game, as all your counters and parries are learned one at a time as you progress through the ranks. When skillfully applied, these techniques make for some incredible battles.As the game is built around the premise of assassinating just nine targets, it has been stretched a little thinly, and naturally this means repetition. Your investigations are all very similar and these will be spaced out by optional tasks like protecting civilians from unruly guards and collecting hidden flags from each of the cities. In truth, it's such a pleasure to leap and bound around the environments, that you could go back and do this for weeks, seeking out secrets Crackdown-style, despite the lack of other activities to partake in. Repetition kicks in regardless; within an hour, you'll hear the same dialogue soundbites repeated numerous times, particularly from the beggar women who harass you (and only you) for money.Assassin's Creed is a brilliant game wrapped up in a less brilliant one. Stalking targets, delivering deathblows and making epic escapes are all highlights of this technical showcase; yet it has been bolstered with filler, tarnished with one too many interruptions and bookended by a modern day story that... doesn't end satisfactorily. If you can overlook this and embrace the game's quirks, you're in for a treat.