Visit the Crusades and kill a few days in the gorgeous Assassin's Creed.
by Giles Bird
WATCH ASSASSIN'S CREED VIDEOS
Overall Score: 4.5 out of 5
Pros:
- Absolutely awesome graphics and animation
- Open accessible gameplay
- Spectacular swordfighting
Cons:
- Contrived, Baffling storyline
Move over, games of 2007! The best looking game of the year just arrived and it's called Assassin's Creed. This historical epic is set in the Middle East during the Middle Ages, but there's nothing middling about the way it looks and plays.
Assassin's Creed is a heady cocktail of stuff you've seen in other games. Take one part Grand Theft Auto's open city, one part Crackdown's crazy acrobatic antics, and one part Hitman's painstakingly engineered assassination missions. Now top it off with a spicy historical Middle Eastern setting and serve it up in some of the most jaw-droppingly amazing graphics you've ever seen. The result is another masterpiece from Ubisoft Montreal.
You begin the game as a haughty member of a secret society of assassins. After a fall from grace, you have to work your way back up the ranks of your sect by taking out nine targets for your master. These targets are spread among three cities, which are separated by a "kingdom" area you can cross on horseback. Once you reach a city, you have to explore it in order to gather information about your target.
You'll engage in side activities like picking pockets to snatch maps, running courses in a set amount of time, bullying public speakers when they retire down dark alleys, or doing a little freelance assassinating. All the while, you're trying to keep a low profile in the context of Assassin's Creed's system of socially acceptable actions vs. socially unacceptable actions. If you don't behave yourself, the city guards will be on you faster than a SWAT team from San Andreas.
These cities have to be seen to be believed. There are open marketplaces, courtyards, mosques, castles, villas, barracks, harbors, and more. And it's all actually in the game. If you can see it, you can reach it. It's amazing that Ubisoft was able to combine so much photorealistic details and elaborate architecture with such a ridiculously long viewing range.
When you consider that it's not uncommon to have 50 characters milling around in an open marketplace, this is a stunning achievement. And it's not simply cosmetic. You'll learn to hate those stupid beggars who get in your way, and you'll find yourself looking for thugs from whom to steal more throwing knives. The crowds also offer plenty of commentary if you break away and start climbing walls. They'll panic when a fight breaks out. If you save persecuted citizens, you can even recruit vigilantes who will help you during a fight.
The animation for the characters is every bit as good as it was in Prince of Persia. But instead of that game's dungeons, your acrobatics are now an option for moving around an entire city, from steeples to alleyways to balconies to castle walls. At first, it's easy to get stuck on ladders and ledges, but once you get used to the simple control system, you'll be nimble beyond your wildest dreams.
The animation and simple controls really come into their own during the swordfights, which are a spectacle in their own right. This isn't one of those stealth games where you're too weak to put up a fight. Here you'll engage in some of the most detailed swordfighting we've ever seen in a game, and we can't get enough of it. Which is a good thing, because there's a lot of it in Assassin's Creed.
The storyline is a bit bizarre, and by the time it's over, it's hard to figure out what just happened. It doesn't help that the game flashes back and forth between specific timeframes (to avoid spoilers, we won't say any more).
But Assassin's Creed is a solid enough game to overcome its awkward plot device. It doesn't much matter why you're in the situation you're in. What matters are those wonderful moments when you're sitting on a tower overlooking one of the most gorgeous cities you've ever seen in a game, and you know it's all yours to play in.
Posted: 12 Nov 2007
