Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Grows on you"

ASSASSIN'S CREED REVIEW (FOR PLAYSTATION 3 AND XBOX 360):

Assassin's Creed is the very first, in what has been, a gripping series of third-person adventure games. Altair, this game's protagonist (main character), appears again as the protagonist of the next, PSP-exclusive, Assassin's Creed title, Bloodlines, that was released between Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II (2).

This game also introduces Desmond, a young man who is a descendant to Altair (and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, as it turns out) and is caught in a battle between the Assassin's (who are the "good guys") and the Templars (the bad guys). Desmond is who is reliving the memories of Altair in a machine called the 'Animus', which accesses "genetic memories" that have been passed down from the subjects' ascendants (people who are in the generations of your family that have gone before).

You play as Altair, a stoic, 13th Century Assassin on his way up the Assassin ladder. Your main enemies are the Templars, who wish to rule the world's key cities, with all their influential and/or important buildings/ landmarks, by any means necessary, including the one you and your Assassin brotherhood currently inhabit, as well as its surrounding areas.

The good:

1) This has great graphics for a game of its time (2007), and it rivals even the power horse that is (well, was): Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

2) It is extremely innovative, as it introduced, for the first time ever, the Hidden Blade.

3) It includes several, massive cities... all of which are beautiful.

4) Assassin's Creed has many great, likeable characters that you play as (Altair and Desmond), can interact with (such as bankers, blacksmiths, and doctors), and kill!.

5) You can easily and quickly get around with numerous horses.

6) The mini-map/HUD is easy to see and understand. The mini-map is easily laid out, so you can clearly see what's what and where it is.

7) Each weapon is easy to buy, access and use in a number of different and exciting ways.

8) The voice-acting and lip-syncing is amazing and very realistic, especially for 2007!

9) There numerous side-missions to play through if you ever (for some strange reason!) get tired of the main story missions.

10) You have to think about what you do because you have to earn money by completing missions, and money buys you better armour (which increases the size of your health bar, or 'Synchronization Bar') and medicine (which gives you more health.

The bad:

1) Some missions and fights can get repetitive after an hour or so of playing.

2) Glitches can occasionally break up gameplay.

3) When the screen gets packed and frantic, the frame-rate can sometimes judder and stop-and-start.

4) There is no multiplayer elements of any kind at all.

5) You can sometimes get a lot of texture pop-in, especially from hill sides and buildings.

6) Some surfaces do not look real, such as cliff edges being pointy.

7) You cannot swim at all! If you fall into water, you die by drowning... which seems very silly as you are a highly-trained assassin, so you would expect him to be able to swim!

Thank you for reading my review of Assassin's Creed, I would recommend Assassin's Creed as it is a great game; that blends third-person action and adventure, with tense, gripping and engaging missions, challenging puzzles, great characters, and a story of treachery, lies, and deceit. If you have any comments, negative and/or positive, about this, or any other of my reviews, please send me a quick message (justcool2).