Assassin's Creed (PS3)

Contributed by Cawfee

When a game receives excessive hype, gamers usually brace themselves for one of two possible outcomes: Either the title will be amazing and fulfill every single expectation, going down in history as a legendary game, or it will fall pitifully short of all demands and result in what seems like a poor marketing attempt to push a broken and wholefully underwhelming flop. Let's have a look at the recently released Assassin's Creed (here reviewed for PS3, but also available for the Xbox 360) by Ubisoft and see where it will leave its long-term mark. The Game We find ourself in the year 1190, smack dab in the middle of the Crusades currently waged in Israel . The main character, who goes by the name of Altair, is a member of the original Hashshashin sect and performs a series of missions to clear his name and reputation from a previously blundered assignment. But not really. All this is introduced in a rather odd way, off in the distant future, where Desmond (one of Altairs' descendants) is being held captive by a giant research corporation. He is being used to recover certain memories from his assassin ancestor stored in Desmond's DNA through a machine called the Animus, which can read, visualize and restore memories of past generations. The player switches between these two worlds from time to time, mostly following Altair's history, but sometimes returning to Desmond to detail with his further fate in captivity, thus slowly unraveling two story lines at once. The main focus of gameplay lies in Altair's acrobatic and assassination skills, leaping through the streets and rooftops of the three historically accurate cities Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus. The game designers have put a lot of effort into the authenticity of the game's setting, insisting that all important personalities and places are carefully researched and placed within the game world. The assignments you receive range from assassinating weapons dealers over important religious and political targets, all to some greater motive that becomes clear as the story unfolds. The player has to employ a combination of stealth and direct offense to complete these tasks, utilizing the wide range of actions available to Altair. You can blend in with the crowd and mask as a passing scholar, perform a silent kill with concealed blades, use throwing knives, break into an all-out dash and clamber up even the steepest of towers and buildings. All of the movement is fluent and natural, and Altair does most of the climbing and jumping for you so you don't have to bother with pinpoint-precise hops or steps. Aside from all the killing and jumping, you may also choose to help certain citizens of each city by freeing them from the hands of ruthless guards, eavesdropping on important conversations and collecting flags in a GTA-reminiscent treasure hunt. All in all, there's plenty to do and keep you busy. When your stealth approach fails and things come down to melee combat, Altair proves he can not only run and climb like a gazelle on speed, but also pull off some of the most impressive fighting moves I've ever seen in any game. While the action itself mostly comes down to mashing the Square and L1 button to strike and defend, the timing is vital and will result in furious counterattacks and death blows that are a joy to watch. Combat, though not the main focus of the game, is very well developed and extremely enjoyable, to an extent where you find yourself attacking random guards just to get into a brawl. Travel between the major cities is done via horseback, where the player gets to see and explore the expansive countryside and several smaller villages along the roadside. There are very few loading screens in the game itself (mostly when traversing between cities), and the action feels smooth, never running into noticeable hitches or lags. The Visuals Assuming you're playing on an HDTV with HDMI cables and 1080i resolution, the game is a detail feast. There are birds flying from rooftops, capes and cloaks swaying on every single one of the many people in the street, realistic facial expressions and dramatic camera shifts during combat. All the while, you will catch visual glimpses of the futuristic science at work behind the memory reenactment via scrawling text and the HUD interface, which never truly hurts the immersion. Cutscenes can be viewed at different camera angles to see more of what's going on, and the game makes heavy use of HDR rendering, letting the sunlight fade naturally as you traverse between indoor and outdoor locations. Assassin's Creed may very well take the cake as one of the most visually impressive PS3, if not overall, titles to date and really lets the graphical performance of the console shine. The detail of the cities alone with their countless alleys, marketplaces, trade districts and hundreds of people at any given time is breathtaking, and the player will be thundering along on horseback through mountain passes and wide open valleys, right into the busy streets of the target location. A rather minor sour note is the game freezing occasionally, which forces the player to reset the console; this is a confirmed issue with both the PS3 and 360 versions, and Ubisoft will most likely deploy a patch to fix those issues soon. Nonetheless, the autosave function does its duty well and never leaves you far from where you left off. The Sound An impressive story and pretty graphics would be wasted without a good musical score, and gladly Ubisoft provides: Epic orchestral themes and thundering techno-tracks are woven seamlessly to illustrate the combat and exploration elements of the game, really helping the immersion to be more life-like. The music shifts to whatever current situation you've gotten yourself in and would perform beautifully all on its own. The Good: + immersive, giant, beautiful game world, no excessive loading times + compelling and twisted story that plays on several levels + probably the most bad-ass main character in any game ever, period, the end + smooth controls make rooftop leaping and throatcutting a snap The Ugly: - occasional freezes, confirmed for both 360 and PS3 versions - tracking between towns can be a bit monotonous - flag collection sidegame seems thrown in for good measure The Verdict If you own a 360, you'll probably want this game. If you own a PS3, you'll definitely want it, for this is one of the best current available titles for the console along with Folklore and Resistance: Fall Of Man. It plays the strengths of the console well, delivering an innovative feast for all senses and delivering gameplay enjoyable by virtually everyone, presented in a pristine theme explored in great depth. Ubisoft has created a masterpiece with Assassin's Creed that leaves little to desire, and if they can iron out the freezing glitch, we'll have a title that will go down in history as one of the best games ever along with giants like the Half Life series and GTA. Enjoy!

 
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