With Assassin’s Creed II about to the shelves, we thought it an opportune moment to revisit the original game
With so much hype surrounding the release of Assassin’s Creed II, I decided to revisit the first iteration to see what all the fuss was about.
About the only thing I new about the game before setting out to play was that the graphics were supposed to be outstanding, and that aspect did not disappoint – from the detail put into medieval cities, through to the peripheral characters, and even extras, the developers at Ubisoft Montreal certainly put in a lot of time and code into this aspect of the game.
So what’s it about? Well, you play the character Altair, who is part of the Order of Assassin’s during the Crusades of the 12th century. There is a subplot set in modern times where a descendant of Altair, Desmond Miles, has been kidnapped, with the bad guys trying to find out what information he has in his brain about his forebear to find out gen about certain a artefact called the Piece of Eden.
As the name suggests, the point of the game is to assassination people. Altair goes through three cities in the Middle East – Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem – hunting down nine important people who need to be killed at the behest of his leader in order to fulfill a greater goal.
While going through the city you can collect flags, and go on other side missions that are not critical to the game itself.
It is an easy game to control, with a lot of jumping from roof-to-roof or running through the various streets in pursuit of clues, rescuing citizens that are being harrassed by guards, or pickpocketing to get vital information.
One of the downsides, is that the game can sometimes be a little bit repetitive as you go through the different assassination levels. At the beginning of each stage you have to ride to another city in order to kil somebody, which is a bit of a drag because it takes a while. You’re supposed to go on these little side adventures, but I gave the up after a while because they didn’t appear to get me further into the game.
My only other complaint is the initial story line. There is a lot of talking at the beginning between Desmond and his nemesis, which is basically telling the story. Then I got to thinking, why did they even go that way with the story? Why not just set it in the Middle Ages and start from there?
Overall though a great game, and probably deserving of its M15 rating.
What’s To Like
Outstanding graphics; good story (if you got rid of the modern references); interactivity between players and all characters is excellent
What’s Not
Repetitive; could do with a little more instruction
As stated, I still really liked it. I’d give it 8/10. After a soft first quarter in sales (50 percent down), Ubisoft will be expecting big things from its sequel Assassin’s Creed II.
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