So we all know by now, the consensus is that Assassin's Creed simply didn't measure up to the almighty hype it enjoyed pre-release, leaving many mourning the loss of their 50 bucks. For anyone who has been hiding out in a bale of hay, the story is as follows: set in 1191 in the Holy Land, amidst the backdrop of war between King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen ruler Saladin, you take the role of Altair, a member of the Assassin's Guild and all round arrogant bastard.
But here comes your first problem. You do not actually play as Altair. You play as Desmond, a distant descendant of Altair, whom as you might suspect from his name, is somewhat less interesting. Desmond has been kidnapped by evil scientists and is being forced to relive his ancestor's memories in the hope of finding an ancient artefact the scientists want. And this is where you finally come in, playing as Altair as you play as Desmond reliving the memories of Altair. Nonsense.
If you are still with me you will be pleased to know that while this odd and unnecessary plot device does not affect the gameplay at all (other than occasionally forcing you to endure some sterile dialogue in an equally sterile modern environment before being thrust back into 12th century action), it does provide a contrast to the stunning visuals you have been exposed to so far. But this does not appear as good as it sounds. While your actions as Desmond are frustratingly limited to only walking and talking and the odd bit of cyber-voyeurism (do not get excited, it is just reading emails), thankfully these sections only occur between chapters and serve to progress the story. Lest we forget how unruly we gamers get when developers force us to watch lengthy cut-scenes to achieve the same end, it is only fair to give Ubisoft the credit for having bothered making it interactive at all.
As for the actual gameplay, it comes as no surprise that during a typical day an assassin will spend his time doing his homework and thoroughly researching a target by beating up informers, pickpocketing, eavesdropping and other activities generally frowned upon in polite society. If that all sounds pretty dull, and after a while it really is, you'd better get over it as this makes up the bulk of the game, unfortunately making it massively repetitive and tough to immerse yourself in. Each assassination finally takes place after enough information has been gathered, often very little input from the player (e.g. eavesdropping simply requires you to watch a cutscene). While the added depth of the assassinations themselves can be interesting, including nicely cinematic scenes where the crowd melts away as each victim justifies his actions to Altair personally, they inevitably come as a decidedly welcome break from the aforementioned monotony of planning and preparation, so much sp that you simply cannot wait to get in there and do the deed, which is hardly very assassin-like.
Speaking personally, on the one occasion where I made the effort to remove all my target's personal guard in advance, thereby leaving him unattended for me to work my sneaky magic, my efforts were rewarded by an annoying mass resurrection of said guards prior to my arrival (which was apparently expected and firmly put all attempts at sneakiness right out the window). Alas. Sadly, the AI generally behaves in this rigid and unforgiving manner throughout. Guards will become aware of you if you behave out of the ordinary, like scaling buildings. Fair enough. But as you reach later levels, the whole idea of creating distractions is sadly lost as diligent guards seem able to immediately pinpoint you even amongst a hysterical crowd if you just look at them funny.
While it is possible to manage most of the game on foot, you would miss the point of Assassin’s Creed spectacularly. One of the game's greatest achievements and yet most fundamental flaws is Altair's climbing and free-running ability, which perfectly showcases the awesome effort that has gone into the appearance of this project. Whenever you scale a tower or leap from a rooftop to a tiny ledge, you are treated to the sight of Altair making seamless physical use of his surroundings. In terms of both the appearance and the mechanics of control, nothing is ever out of place, which sadly brings us to the next problem. No matter how high the tower you climb, or how quickly you hop along an unending sequence of small things that nobody should rightly fit on, there is an inherent lack of danger that just does not feel the way it should. While the designers should be commended for creating a simple and intuitive control system that rarely gets it wrong, they seem to have managed to achieve this by removing the player from the equation. Mistakes cannot be made – provided you keep the correct button held down you will NEVER fall.
And as goes free-running, so goes combat. Another system for which it seems the learning curve has been developed with a few lobotomised chimps in mind. It is beautifully straightforward to pick up and the difficulty level remains the same throughout. Again, hold down a certain button and you will always block, another and you will counter successfully, one button and a throwing knife will hit and kill a target every time. Before long, fights are just another routine that you must endure as, barring unforeseen hand spasms mid-fight, you will probably never have to face the humiliation of getting your arse kicked across the Holy Land.
Similarly, while the soundtrack, from Jesper Kyd of Hitman 2, does not negatively affect your immersion in the world, it adds nothing to the experience, barely registering at all. While sound effects are only really a problem when they are noticeably bad, which is not the case here, as with cinema, the right music composition can really add another level to a game.
Rather than focusing on the negative aspects, let us look at what is on offer here. Some things that we really have not seen that much of before come in the form of a genuinely intriguing idea based in territory not previously explored by games. Assassin’s Creed offers a scope of gaming that questions the direction of its genre. Additionally, no matter how much it is mentioned, any description really cannot do justice to the genuinely beautiful visuals in this game. From the stunningly designed cities stretching out before you, right down to the perfectly animated swish of your cloak behind you, it could be argued that this is the best looking game to date.
And just like good little assassins, the folks at Ubisoft have done their homework. While some aspects of history have been embellished to be more entertaining, by and large the information is accurate. This is never more apparent than at the very end (after the final credits) when the full truth of what is going on is revealed in the form of symbols marked on the surfaces of the lab. Impressively, the placement of each symbol is not random and each has a full and relevant explanation if you can be bothered to investigate. However these nuggets of information are actually clues to the events of the forthcoming sequels, of which two are currently planned, and serve merely as a knowing wink to forthcoming events.
Unfortunately, both Ubisoft Montreal and the gaming community at large are equally guilty of believing the hype that has led to this game's generally poor reception. Four years in the making and they knew they were building a masterpiece. It is almost as if, when they got closer to perfecting their work of art, they cut the player out more and more, for fear of tarnishing the result. Ultimately, the Mona Lisa might look amazing but it is probably not much fun to play with.
