Assassin's Creed gives a great gaming experience and it's an amazing title but with unnecessarily complicated story.
graphics: 9/10
sound: 9/10
value: 9/10
reviewer's tilt: 9/10
„Nothing is true, everything is permitted", is what Al Mualim, an Assassin's master said.
Assassin's Creed is a game that I'm sure most of us have been waiting impatiently and so we have it, a huge, open-ended stealth action game with great main character Altair and veeeery complicated story, which was throughout needlessly. That's why I'm gonna tell about the story first.
So, the world where Altair lived is Israel, year 1191, a third crusade. Altair is an Assassin, he belongs to the brotherhood but the main thing is in the year 2012 (probably USA) where Miles Desmond a barkeeper, an Altair's descendant lives. In 1191 Altair failed his mission and didn't collect the Templar's treasure what was very important. Now, in 2012 a scientist build the Animus, a machine which is very similar to the Matrix connection. The Animus is able to pull out memories from the DNA of the user, allowing the user to replay those memories as if he were there himself. Miles has been kidnapped to the Abstergo Industries where is the Animus because Altair is his ancestor.
So Miles with the help of the Animus change into his ancestor Altair. Don't be afraid because Altair is not a virtual person created by Animus, he's not. He lived in 1191 in Israel, he must lived because he is Mile's ancestor and Miles is his descendant. So Altair lived in the third crusade and he has complited all the missions which Miles are compliting in Animus because Miles with Animus help changed into Altair and he complited all the missions which Altair his ancestor did 800 years ago.
So Altair lived, he is not virtual character created by Animus, he truly lived in the third crusade (of course in the game), he is Mile's ancestor, Miles changed into Altair and he is compliting the same missions like Altair did in 1191. How is it possible that Miles change into his ancestor? Animus read Desmond DNA, where was ancestors memory, synchronize it and teleport him to the year 1191. The scientist do that because he and some other people in suits want to know where is the treasure now.
Like I said, the story is complicated but it's a really huge plus that Altair truly lived in Israel in 1191 (in the game) and he complited all the missions in 1191 which Miles are doing as his ancestor. Altair must truly lived (in the game) because he is Mile's ancestor and Desmond is his descendant, Altair in 1191 was an assassin and he hasn't been created by Animus and he and his story is a true (in the game). He could't have been created by Animus because Altair lived in 1191, Animus wasn't there, the machine only read the DNA from Miles, read his memory, that's why they know about Altair, from Desmond memory. Sorry, that I'm talking about this over and over again but I want the story to be clear for all of you and I want you to know that Altair truly lived in 1191 (in the game), he had to live because he is Miles ancestor, Animus didn't create him so sorry once again guys (J). So in the game we play as Miles but he changed into Altair his ancestor, with the help of the Animus. Miles is doing the same things, the same missions just like Altair in the past 800 years ago. We can say that Animus reconstructed Altair's life and Miles as Altair is doing the same things as his ancestor.
Ok, how the world in 1191 looks like? It's huge, beautiful and open-ended. We have the whole kingdom to explore and four cities to visit. Masyaf – a small city with huge castle where the Assassins have their headquarters, Damascus – a city in the sun, Acre – a city where the war has just end and Jerusalem with lots of trees around. Each city has their own atmosphere.
As Altair we got a second chance from our master and we have to kill 9 key guys which are connected with the crusades. This is the main plot but we have also small quests. Each city except Masyaf has three districts – rich, middle and poor. In each district we can save the civilians from the guards and then they will help us. For example when guards will chase us civilians will try to stop them and etc. We can also hide in the haystacks or in the bower. It's good to help Scholars because with their help we can blend with them and nobody will see us, it's very helpful if we want to enter the city. There are also other assassins in the cities who are need our help with killing someone and collecting the hidden flags. Each city and district has point of view, these are towers where we can climb on the top and see the landscape, this will help us to find our objectives. After this we can make a "Leap of Faith", skok z wysokości wprost do stagu siana, it's really impresive. To kill one of key guy we will have to make an interogations such as eavesdropping where we are sitting na ławce and listen what for example two guys will say about our enemy, there is also pickpocket mission where we must still sakiewkę for example with the map. We can get to each city by horse and I must say that riding is exellent. We can even fight on the horse!
I should also say that after Altair failed the mission his master Al Mualim took all his equipment from him, so in the beginning we have sword, short blade and a hidden dagger. By the time playing the game we will retrieve the rest of our equipment and new abillities such as counter attack.
The battles in Assassin's Creed are awesome. They are similar to the Steven Seagal's movies.
You will mainly fight using you counter attacks, they look really impresive and brutal. Also only one opponent will attack you from the group and if you kill him then the other enemy will start the fighting, as I said it's like in Seagal's movies. This makes battles a little bit easy.
Sword and short blade are really good and when you want to kill your enemy silently you have you hidden dagger. We have also small blades that can be threw by us to the enemy what makes an instant kill.
So the cities are beautiful and really huge, they are also very crowded. There are many civilians on the streets and all of them have their own work to do. Some of them will buy things in the shops, they will talk to each other, listen to the guy who is make a speech, all those things are very realistic.
As Miles in the body of his ancestor we can blend in the crowd which will help us to avoid the guards, there is also something named gentle push which is good if we want to pass through the crowd.
People will interest if we do some strange things such as climbing on the wall and etc. They will say "What is that man doing" for example.
The character animation is the best I have ever saw in the video games. It's simply awesome and realistic, each Altair's movement are looking fantastic.
Unfortunately the biggest minus of Assassin's Creed is the fact that the gameplay is repetetive. In each city we will do the same things over and over again such as eavesdropping, pickpocketing, interrogations, looking for a view points. Too bad that there aren't any weather effects like rain for example and everything is by day, we will not see the whole kingdom by night, too bad because I'm sure it would look really amazing.
The graphics are absolutely gorgeous. The light and shadows, landscape, textures, characters, the visibility of the whole cities look superb but I don't know why the trees are not moving on the wind, it's strange, I can say: Hey guys we have next generation, what's going on, why the trees and grass don't move on the wind?. Yeah, I think it shouldn't have place in the next gen gaming.
Sound effects are really good. The music has been composed by Jesper Kyd, the same guy who did the music in Hitman series so it's very good. The soundtracks are atmospheric and suit to the cities atmosphere. The voice-over is well done.
Overall Assassin's Creed is not a revolution of gaming but it still is a gorgeous game with lots of cool things to do. The gameplay is repetetive and the story is unnecessarily complicated but the free-roaming, great hero Altair, superb fights and the main quest with those nine key guys to kill are stunning. That makes this title a must have!