While not as amazing as its cousins on consoles, Bloodlines is a fairly competent game on its own.
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines takes place after the events of the first Assassin's Creed and revolves around Altair, the first AC's protagonist. The story takes Altair to Cyprus, where he continues the fight against the Templar. Unfortunately, the plot is not very interesting and does not reveal much about the overall story of the Assassin's Creed universe. Also, the story is supposedly being told through a person who is using a machine known as the animus to relive his ancestor's memories. There are no explanations or allusions to this fact, so if this is your first foray into the Assassin's Creed games, prepare to be confused. The story for Bloodlines is here merely to have a reason for gameplay.
The gameplay focuses heavily on combat, which is simple and initially entertaining. You have access to a sword, dagger, hidden blade, and throwing knives. When you engage in combat, you hit the attack button with rhythm to perform combos. Other moves include counter-attacking, throwing, dodging, and blocking. Choosing the stealthy route to assassinate targets is also an option, though the game's dumb AI hinders the experience a bit. For example, it's possible to assassinate a guard unnoticed while another guard stands directly in front of you. There is some fun to be had fighting enemies, but after a while the combat becomes monotonous and tedious.
This is an open-world game, so you're able to roam the streets of Cyprus. This is sometimes fun, but the areas are mostly barren, with only a few people and guards in an area at one time. Often I found myself asking, "Where is everyone?" But even with the lack of NPC's, moving through the world can still be amusing.
The visuals of Bloodlines are quite good. Character animations and environments look smooth, though there isn't much variety to be seen in the areas. When you look into the game's fine details, however, things start to get a little rough. The sound effects are also pretty good, but they can become repetitive.
Control-wise, Bloodlines feels a bit clunky. To control the camera, you need to hold down the left shoulder button and use the triangle, X, square, and O buttons to move the camera up, down, left, and right. This means that in order to direct the camera, you need to stop and change the direction of it, which creates a problem with the game's fluidity. A second analog stick on the PSP could have easily resolved this issue, but the developer did the best they could with the system's limitations.
There is a feature in Bloodlines that allows you to connect your PSP to the PS3 and transfer game data between Bloodlines and Assassin's Creed II. Doing so will unlock 6 unique weapons in your villa in ACII and also reward you with some extra cash, and in Bloodlines you will be rewarded with extra health in addition to some new moves with the Hidden Blade.
The Good:
-Good graphics
-Combat is occasionally fun
-Traversing the streets is enjoyable, albeit lonely
-Nice sound
-PSP/PS3 connectivity is a cool feature
The Bad:
-Mediocre story
-Sound effects get repetitive
-Combat becomes boring
-Areas are mostly empty
-Clunky controls
-Short
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines is a good looking, nice sounding game. Big fans of Assassin's Creed may be able to ignore its flaws and have some fun with this experience, but it isn't for everyone. If you were looking to buy this game, you may want to think about renting it instead.