no0b
Joined: Mar 06, 2006
Posts: 9
Location: Auburn University
Status: Offline
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Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed is an achievement in level design and exploration. An excellent story as well. As a player, you follow the story of Altair, an assassin in the 12th century A.D. during The Third Crusades led by Richard the Lionheart. Your task is simple, eliminate 9 leaders who threaten peace in the region.
Level Design - 10/10
This is where the game shines, so I'm writing about it first. There is not enough to be said about the amount of detail put into the 4 cities Altair can roam. Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus, and Masyaf are all incredibly detailed and full of life. The interaction with the people is great, and running from roof-top to roof-top is some of the best gaming I've ever done. Top marks for you, AC.
Gameplay - I'll split this up into two parts. Exploration/Mission work, and combat.
Exploration/Missions - 9/10
Here the game is great as well. If anything in the level juts out in any way, even just a few inches, odds are you can grab onto it. Ubisoft's "free-running" aspect taken from things like parkour videos and crazy free-runners in general is the major selling point of this game. Save going inside, Altair can go pretty much anywhere he pleases. There's a reason it's included too, as it's damn fun.
Missions leading up the assassinations themselves are hit or miss. Pick-pocketing can get tough, but it's satisfying somewhat. Interrogations are fun, you just beat a guy till he talks. The worst part is the informant mini-missions. These lamers can't do what they need to, so they bribe Altair to do their dirty work for them for info on the targets. These are the easiest at first, but later on become rather difficult as you have to kill so many targets in a limited time, and if you are discovered the mission ends instantly.
Combat - 6/10
Here is where the game breaks. Combat is simple. Too simple for it's own good. Attack, dodge, or counter. That's about it. Grabs are useless, and once you gain the counter ability you have one-hit kills, making combat tedious and boring. The animations are satisfying, true, but sitting through the same kick-to-the-groin-followed-by-a-sword-to-the-head over and over gets kind of boring. Thankfully, the game itself urges against head-on combat and encourages being sneaky and silent, and save 4 or 5 encounters throughout the whole game, combat is never forced on the player. My one beef with the game is the combat...
Story - 9/10
Some will complain. In fact, many complained. I read a lot of it. And I'm here to tell you that it's not true. The story is really, really good. If it weren't for my seriously wanting to finish the game and figure out everything that was going on, and pushing forward in the wee hours of the morning because of how epic the scale really is, then the combat would've had me never finishing the game. Seriously. The story is great, intertwining several real facts and events with the events that Ubisoft Montreal have written for this. I won't ruin it for anyone, unless you want me to. I'm sure half of you know what the big surprise is, but at the same time I'd like to keep that a secret to encourage people to go out and play it. Just know that it makes for quite an interesting gaming experience. Now, all I need to do is go collect everything I missed at first, and check and see if there's a hidden ending.
That's all for now.
Enjoy this game, it's excellent story and awesome exploration make up for the shoddy combat work.
AnakinTWH |
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