This version fails to live up to the tremendous standards of its console brothers, but holds its own as a PSP title.
Cons: Voice acting is mostly below-par, lacks several key gameplay elements, cities have few citizens.
When Assassin's Creed was first released in 2007, it was an experience as much as a game. With a living, breathing world brought to life with a memorable story and a great control system, it truly was one of the best games of 2007. Now, in 2009, Assassin's creed has come a long way. To coincide with the release of Assassin Creed 2, Ubisoft has published a sequel of Altair's story on the PSP, and although the story itself may disappoint those hoping to hear more of Desmond or the conspiracy of the Assassin's Guild, the game still offers excellent gameplay value.
Assassin's Creed Bloodlines tells the continuing story of Altair after the events of the first game, and this time he has a love interest. Maria, Robert des Sable's impersonator whose life was spared in the first game, is now a prominent character, befriending Altair and eventually helping him reach his goals. The story may be sufficient in itself, but by the end, you may feel you've learned little about the world of the first game, and the ending lacks closure or a sense of accomplishment.
Besides the faults in the game's plot, the presentation is good for the most part. The game engine is an excellent technical feat, perfectly pulling off the original's feeling of an entire city to explore, which looks great and is completely explorable to boot. Although there is a very noticeable lack of population in the game's single island of Cyprus, and there are short load times between sections, the city as a whole feels very accessible and is quite beautiful. Two strengths about the game's interface are that it has the same control scheme as the console games, and the menu system is nearly identical. The best parts of Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines are it's similarities with the console versions, which are fairly numerous for a PSP title.
Most sounds and music were taken directly from the original game, and considering the quality of the sounds, this isn't a disadvantage. Many of the great original scores can be heard throughout the game's different settings and situations, and have a way of making the game feel more epic, the same way they did in 2007. The chase and combat music could use more variety, however this is due more to the game's excessive use of combat than the soundtrack. In Assassin's Creed, the only voice actor with any lack of expression was Altair, in this case, it's every character. Altair's voice has some expression, but the obviously fake accent removes some credibility from his character. The only character that stands out in terms of personality is Maria. Other characters such as villains sound good, but citizens in distress sound more like people reading off a sheet.
The main staple of the series has always been the exploration, the freerunning elements. Assassin's Creed has always offered players a chance to climb every building, arch, every plank of wood in the game world, and this hasn't been neglected in Bloodlines. While the models and animation may not be at the same level, the spirit of freedom hasn't been lost, and just about every building can be scaled. Another plus is that view points are still common, as well as hay bales and rooftop gardens for shaking off pursuing guards. The game still rewards exploration, though this time, Altair collects Templar coins instead of flags.
As for combat, the game still offers satisfying, gory combat, complete with combos, grabs, and counterattacks, which are well animated and tremendously rewarding. The combat is essentially the same system used in both games. The combat is great fun, and it's worth noting that Bloodlines includes a new upgrade system, using points gathered from collecting coins, killing enemies, and completing missions. This works, but is sometimes not as satisfying as getting back your weapons one by one through missions, there really isn't anything new in the upgrades either. For a game that has a fun, rewarding combat system, it's a shame it's overused. Every mission involves you in some way running somewhere and fighting something, and since guards are more easily alerted(despite a desperately stupid AI), so you will be using a lot more fighting and a lot less stealth than you may like.
The mission types are also much more limited as well, and unfortunately, all of these involve fighting at some point. Pickpocket missions are completely absent, and throwing knives are only obtained from the Assassin's bureau. This is a huge disappointment for fans of the series, and greatly limits the stealth aspect of the game. Another important missing game element is eagle vision(therefore taking away the eavesdrop mission type). In a way such cuts were necessary for the limited controls, since the lock-on button replaces eagle vision, but it is unfortunate that such important game elements are missing. The controls may put off some users, mainly the camera controls, which can be somewhat awkward for console gamers used to a dual analog system.
Even if Assassin's Creed's release on the PSP is a bit of a disappointment, the core gameplay elements still hold strong, and simply the freerunning elements make it a worthy Assassin's Creed title. The story keeps the missions moving, otherwise it doesn't offer anything more for fans of the series. Combat is still satisfying, and although the game's dimwitted AI often lets you kill guards in plain sight and get away with it, assassinations are still fun to accomplish. The game's excellent graphics and sound support its qualities nicely, creating an enjoyable experience from start to finish.