Game Review: Assassin's Creed

With Assassin's Creed the creative and design teams that brought us Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Brothers in Arms, and a slew of Tom Clancy games such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon have once again changed gaming as we know it. Through their advances in both character movement and environmental interaction. Ubisoft's Xbox 360 and PS3 newesvt release (PC later this year) has raised the bar for which all future third person stealth games will be measured.

The game opens with a complex story line that finds Altair (Altair Ibn La-Ahad, Arabic, "Flying Eagle and Son of None), a shamed assassin on a quest to redeem himself. Using stealth and a blade, this Hashshashin (one of the original terms for assassins because of their regular use of hashish for initiation and other rights of passage) will fight to regain his honor and safety for the city of assassins, Masyaf. Through the course of nine high profile assassinations, Altair traverses Acre, Damascus, Jerusalem , and the surrounding countryside. Each city features a highly detailed environment populated by many people of different types, and as the player interacts with their surroundings, the people respond in logical and predictable ways.

I found Jerusalem mesmerizing; it has always been a city of interest with so much religious and political intrigue. It was neat to see it frozen in a time of such turmoil and change. The developers paid close attention to detail by using maps of the 3 rd Crusade era so the three cities are fairly accurate historical reproductions of how they looked in the 12th century. This game is set in 1191 and each of your targets is a man who died or disappeared in that year. Garnier of Nablus, Grandmaster of the Hospitallers Knights; Ibn Jubayr, traveler and poet; Meister Sibrand, Leader of the Teutonic Knights; and Robert IV de Sable, Grand Master of the Knights Templar; all historically fallen men at your mercy.

From the onset, Altair's skills and services in high demand, and "helping missions" are much to your benefit as alliances are made with helpless commoners and thugs alike. This innovative crowd dynamic adds a new dimension to game play. Whether you're hiding among scholars, running from Crusaders with the aide of your thug friends, or simply maneuvering through the crowded streets of Jerusalem; the "mob" rules. For instance, when you kill a man on a busy street in Acre, the crowd goes crazy. Everyone is running around terror stricken, making it nearly impossible to run away, leaving you to fight your way out. Or when scaling a building, people will stand around and talk about your odd behavior. Crowd dynamic affects every aspect of game play. Altair's movements are controlled by a master puppeteer type control system. Depending what situation you are in, you utilize different modes of movement.

The environments, while breathtaking, are also functional and highly accessible. One excellent feature of Assassin's Creed is its' total lack of design patches. If you can see it, you can explore it. This leads to many eagle eye views of breathtaking land and cityscapes. I really enjoyed the dismount, a well-aimed free fall that never gets old.

For each of the nine assassination missions, you must travel to and explore a location, gather information on your mark, then make your move and run away, blend in, or die trying. The main fault I have found is that it becomes repetitive as the game progresses. I mean, how many low level thugs do I have to push around just to get a snippet of information?

I am a sucker for a good third person shooter/fighting or stealth game. Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, God of War (I heart Kratos!), any of the Devil May Cry games, Tenchu: Stealth Assassin; I love getting lost in a good game. My first sitting with Assassin's Creed left my jaw on the ground. The graphics, character movement, scenery and plot twists kept me spellbound. Three and a half hours passed in the blink of an eye. Personal expression came through in the gameplay so fluidly. Each gamer is different; and Assassin's Creed is one of the best games I've played that allowed that to come across on screen. Even though there are no multiplayer settings or online play, it's still fun to take turns playing with friends. It's almost as fun to watch as to play.

The end of Assassin's Creed leaves the door open for possible sequels and if the cyclic nature is getting you down, explore! It is the interactive environment that makes Assassin's Creed completely engrossing. However, if you're bored, there are over 400 collectibles to search for and find. Not to mention, 60 additional assassinations. But, you don't get any extras for finding everything and killing everybody. You get a higher score and skill points but no cool outfits or extra levels. Maybe Ubisoft will address this in a sequel.

So if a well-meaning loved one was trying to send you a message about how you spend your free time by giving you a coffeetable book on the Crusades instead of what you really wanted, do not delay. It would be a personal disservice not to indulge in this incredible game, which is saturated with beauty, intrigue, excitement and adventure. Peace in the middle east is an age-old question, and the parallels in AC make you think. He who holds Jerusalem...

The slanted shadows of the shops and houses are quickly becoming smaller and disappearing into the bases the buildings. Time is running out. It's mid-day and the streets of Jerusalem are crowded with people selling wares and livestock, brusque bands of thugs are prowling. Crusaders are everywhere; the red crosses marking their backs make them visible and daunting. I'm traveling with a group of scholars looking for a man who knows more than I.

Oh, Jerusalem! Your splendor can be truly found only high above the rooftops. The temples, the grand buildings, the slums; all wound together for, it seems, my eyes alone. How invigorating to be out of the dust and the throngs of people. The essence of my being is held on this perch. Scanning the skyline, I see the gate. I must reach Acre by nightfall. Then with a leap of faith I am gone, only one of many on the sullied roads of Jerusalem.