Walk Like An Assassin - Assassin's Creed

It's not every day that you come across a new franchise with as much hype as it has scrutiny, but Assassin's Creed is just that. When the game came into the limelight at E3 2006 (previously the game was shown in quick teaser form as “Project Assassin”), the anticipation of a new kind of stealth action game in a unique universe reached a crescendo, but through the passage of time, the game lost much of that momentum...probably for good reason. Assassin's Creed is, on the surface, a work of true inspiration and creativity: great mechanics, plot, universe, and characters, hampered by numerous gameplay annoyances and other issues clearly due to the need to get the game out in time for a crucial holiday season. It worked given the insane sales of the game over the holidays, but alas, it needed probably another 6 months (or even a year) to really make it shine and stand out for things other than the game world. If anything, there's enough here to really create some excitement for Assassin's Creed 2, but there never will be as much hype for it as this game.

The Setup
Much has been made of Assassin's Creed's setting, as it takes place in an era rarely seen in gaming – the Crusades. More specifically, the Third Crusade, as the game's date is 1191. Your character is Altair, a high ranking assassin for a secret brotherhood that doesn't take either side, but instead ends the lives of people who violate the rights of others, as the brotherhood believes in free will for all. In the case of Assassin's Creed, Altair has nine targets, all of whom tie into a larger story that unfolds as each execution occurs, leading to an ultimate revelation of the ambitions of the Templar Knights. But that's just half the plot. Thanks to the loudmouthed Kristen Bell (who has a part in the game), it was revealed back in 2006 that Assassin's Creed has a modern, sci-fi aspect, which you'll see right away and over time that plays out with almost as much intrigue as the 12th century portions, and has numerous common threads that too become evident as you play through the game.

The Game
Since the sci-fi part takes up very little of the game, you can know that the bulk of activity takes place in the huge open world dubbed “The Kingdom” which is more of an overworld that ties the three major cities; Acre, Damascus, and Jerusalem. Initially, you have to walk the map all the way to the cities until you've seen them all, and then you can instantly hop. At first though, The Kingdom is a great sight – plenty of terrain peppered by little towns with a few adventures to be had. But once you see how little is really going on, and get annoyed by the constant barrage of suspicious and clearly paranoid soldiers, warping around becomes the obvious path. That is, unless you like hunting around for “King Richard” Flags, seeking out generic Templars to eliminate, or scaling tall buildings to scout the area. But since these really don't do anything important for you, there's really no point in bothering, especially on the PS3 side since it lacks the achievements which you can earn on 360 for all this busy work. Sure, we're talking the 12th century here, where there were no cars or other modern forms of entertainment, but the world seems so empty despite being so large and full of life. Maybe it's the fact that guards are more prevalent than regular NPCs, but there's no fun wandering a small area with the risk of being found so high.

The cities themselves are massive, even if they're cut into thirds with access only happening if you complete your task. Each town is bustling with people; women wandering around with pots full of water on their heads, town criers and preachers screaming their sermons, beggars harassing you for just a few coins when all you want to do is get stabbity on them, drunks trying to cause you grief, and merchants hawking their wares. It's all quite fascinating at first, until they become an annoyance in your quest. Like in The Kingdom, there's flags to collect if you're a graduate of the Rare School of 1 Million Different Collectibles Per Game, and a few Templars to whack. The important thing in each city are View Points, which aid in the investigation of each target. Altair must at least climb one to show the location of the others on your map, and climbing them shows off the different missions which are needed to advance. Also, View Points are fun to leap off just for the effect of falling into a bail of hay.

Investigating a target is necessary to actually begin the mission. The idea is simple; Altair must gather intelligence to surmise a location of the hit, and the more info he gathers, the better. In the case of Assassin's Creed, this comes from the View Points, unless you randomly stumble on the quest. In each case, Altair will discover the information needed, whether it's by pickpocketing a document, overhearing two people talking, beating up a lackey of your target, or using your informer network to discover key facts (these, unfortunately, can fall into the flag hunting business, which is a real drag. At least the quick assassination quests that sometimes pop up are fun). The more work you do, the easier it becomes to get close to your mark and assassinate them. If you just do the base investigating and go in, it's harder, but if you be sure to do everything possible, the target becomes simpler and in many cases, more rewarding.

Unfortunately, one of Assassin's Creed's biggest problems is that this is the only formula to each assassination. All nine of them follow the exact same pattern, meaning after a while you'll be hitting Repetition City. There's not even a lot going on to break up the monotony; sure you could collect flags and find Templars, but really...no. The only side-quest that can be considered vital is the “citizen saving” sort. Scattered in the city are citizens being harassed by crooked guards, and Altair can rescue them by putting the guards into their places. Do so, and depending on the citizen, you can gain allies. If you save an innocent woman, she will tell her husband of your deeds, and he'll in turn bring his friends out as a vigilante group that will get in the way of guards if you have to make an escape so you lose their line of sight. If you rescue a scholar, you gain their friendship, and Altair then can “blend” in with them to get into restricted areas or just conceal himself from guards. So while they're not necessary, they do offer an advantage; friends are better than no friends.

Assassin's Creed is a stealth game, but not the kind you're used to. In fact it's quite the opposite of Ubisoft's other stealth game, Splinter Cell; there is no darkness, instead Altair must blend in with the crowd and try not to arouse suspicion. Running around, causing grief, and killing guards obviously are trouble spots, and chances are you'll attract attention. Initially, Altair can avoid guards by just climbing rooftops and leaping around, but eventually (as you become more infamous) there's guards everywhere, even on roofs, so careful navigation and/or quick stealth kills are needed to avoid trouble. The rooftop running is like a game onto itself; especially when hunting View Points, which occasionally present some tricky puzzles trying to reach the top. Most of the flags are here making them fairly easy to collect. When caught by guards, you must lose their line of sight; once you do so it's necessary to disappear, whether it's by climbing the roofs and hiding in a gazebo (why there are so many of them on the roofs who knows) or leaping into a cart of hay, or finding the scholars to blend into. Usually though, long as you're discreet and keep an eye out, you can get around pretty easy. Until you execute your target, and then the bell goes off and if you even so much as look at a guard cross eyed, they'll give chase which can lead to some insane sequences.

Of course, at times you're going to have to fight; too bad the fighting engine is a bit weak. Aside from the fun quick assassination kills, swordfighting is a bit easy and simplistic. At first Altair can only trade blows but eventually he can reverse attacks into one hit kills and other tricks, but it's still the same repetitive button mashing all the way through. Not only that, but the AI is a bit silly. If there's an 8 on 1 fight, as happens often, you'd think the guards would all gang up at once...but they don't. Instead a couple of them go in and attack, while the others stand around and, I dunno, watch the fight or something. Sure it's done to ease the difficulty of an 8 on 1 fight, but to see guards just standing there is lame. Guards are also a suspicious lot, yet also stupid; you can assassinate someone within 5 feet of them, and they'll still stand around for a second before screaming for the killer to come forward, but by that time, long as you're cautious, Altair will be far enough away that nobody will accuse him, even if he does have weapons all over him which kinda seem to hint his direction. It does add some satisfaction, however, to pull off a quick kill without anyone knowing you actually did it. Shame it's impossible to do the same for a main target; you're always given away the second the killing blow lands.

Unfortunately, “easy” best represents the whole of the game. The investigation missions are a cinch, and usually last just a few minutes, if that...the trick is finding them, which too is easy once you get the right View Point discovered. The targeted kill usually is very easy, especially if you can get really close for the one-hit assassination – and escaping is easy long as you're cautious and can run fast enough to lose pursuers. The “save citizen” missions are hand-holding to the extreme, repeating the same instructions every time. If you die, it's by accident or just dumb luck; even the final boss is absurdly easy. To make matters worse, the ending is open-ended in a plain-as-day promotional tool for a sequel, as it solves one part of the story but leaves the next part dangling like a fruit, a fruit that we'll probably not get to eat for another couple years. That's kind of the irony of everything; Assassin's Creed is far from a great game, but the universe, plot, and characters are so interesting that even now I can't wait for a sequel. Indeed, this is a game that clearly is flawed and needs a lot of help...but I actually loved playing it to see what happened next. Just weird.

The...Bustling Towns of People Who All Say the Same Things
Though the overworld part of Assassin's Creed is a bit empty, it still looks nice and colorful, making the journey across it at least interesting. The towns though, wow. Each one is massive, as mentioned, but they come alive with the people. It's always daytime so there's no night effects, but the huge cities are full and loaded. Sure, there's constantly repetitive NPCs, and you'll probably beat up the same town crier more than once, and the guards have about 5 different designs total, but it's still something special to pull off this huge world. The star of the game though, is animations – especially Altair. I mean who knows how much time they put into the simple “gentle push” movement to ease through a crowd; the rest of his climbing, jumping, running, etc. must have taken even more time. It's really the standout here, as it should. Though each of the cities look alike, with similar buildings and landmarks, they're colored differently and have some of their own quirks, so each seems unique enough that it'll feel new. The only downside is that the game doesn't really require you to learn the streets and landmarks (unless of course you're hunting flags), since everything can be found just by using the in-game GPS. Given how large the cities are though, perhaps that's a good idea.

Assassin's Creed contains a minimalist score that's really good, but it seems to blend into the background most of the time, only really building up during a chase or escape. On the other hand, the game suffers from Oblivion-itis – not only do the NPCs all look the same, they also speak the same lines...a lot. When climbing a building they comment on your insanity, but after a while it's the same thing again and again. Same with the beggars who don't have much to say other than “omg can I has coins plz”. Even worse is to wander the streets and hear the same sermon from a different preacher in different cities with almost no variety. Thankfully the voice acting of the main characters is great; Altair sounds a bit wooden at times but it represents the detached, unemotional side of an assassin, though when things heat up he shows the human side of himself. Kristen Bell has a part too, and the way things are going she'll be back for the sequel. To my enjoyment, the same voice actor responsible for the awesome Nate Drake from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune has a huge role here too, giving him two major roles in a one-month period.

The Closing Argument
Assassin's Creed is a game that clearly is not great, but unfortunately was unable to live up to its insane potential due to likely time restrictions. Thus the ambition of the game was halted, leaving a shell that contains a compelling universe but gameplay that seems more like the means to an end, and that end being the next part of the story. Hopefully, when Assassin's Creed 2 comes around, Ubisoft will get more time to flesh out the gameplay and create something with more variety and less repetition; make each mission different from the last. At this point, AC is better suited for the movie theaters than a game console, and it shouldn't be that way. The minimalist game design choices are interesting, but when you're creating a real mythology and over-arching plot, you can't bore players to the point that they won't finish the game and thus never get the hook dropped into your mouth at the end. With any luck, Assasin's Creed 2 will be the game the original was supposed to.