Assassin's Creed Review (PS3)
Story
This game takes place in the modern world. Desmond is a bartender who was kidnapped by the Abestergo, and is forced to use the Animus to explore his ancestor's past to get out. As he explored his ancestor's memories, Desmond finds out that things in the current present and the past are much more complicated than what it seems, with actual truths contradicting the written history in mankind.
As Altair, you will be experiencing his journey as a fallen Assassin and rise back to his former master rank. As he undertook the mission of killing a number of high profiled Templars, he also learned many things that will make him more wiser and experienced than before, as well as being a better man.
The past storyline is decent, with some interesting lore such as the war between Templars and Assassins. The characters are pretty much static, except for Altair who has become from a very arrogant man to a more wiser man by the end of the game. The villain Templars have decent and understandable motivations for their cause, and they are mostly misguided Templars but with questionable noble intentions.
The modern storyline is mediocre. Not many developments at the present storyline even at the end of the game, but it has a good cliffhanger ending that may keep players interested for the sequel. Characters are mostly static, and despite being a villain, Warren Vidic is a decent character in the present storyline.
Gameplay
This game is an action adventure and open-world game. Most of the time, you will control Altair and experience his journey to reclaim his honour and master rank in the Assassin brotherhood. You may walk, run, freerun, climb buildings, and even ride horses to your destinations.
The progression is simple. Each chapter is called Memory Block, and you must do certain things before completing it. First of all, you must complete a certain amount of Investigation activities before you can proceed, such as interrogating a preacher, eavesdropping on two informants' conversations, and pickpocketing someone's letter. Then, you must report to the head of an Assassin Bureau before starting your assassination mission. Different assassination missions require you to traverse or sneak around in different layouts. After assassinating a Templar target, you must escape from your hostile pursuers, then report back to the bureau. It is a simple process, but you can choose to complete every investigation in a Memory Block to obtain more information on your target, as well as increasing your Synchronisation bar (a.k.a Health bar).
You may explore freely in three different cities, as well as the countryside called Kingdom. The Kingdom links directly to different cities, where you must travel via horseback to unlock the city's location. Once you have unlocked it, you can use Fast Travel to travel between the city or your headquarters. Some things are hidden in the vast map of Kingdom, such as hidden flags and Templars. You may also synchronise with Viewpoints to unlock points of interests on your map.
You will gain new upgrades such as new combat moves as you advance the story. You may also increase your Synchronisation bar by completing side activities such as progressing the story, saving civilians from Templars and synchronising with Viewpoints.
The stealth controls are simple. You can hide from enemies by hiding in a garden shed or haystacks, sitting on a bench, or by blending it with scholars. Certain actions may also affected by your current playing mode, such as Low Profile mode allows you to kill an enemy quietly, albeit slowly. High Profile allows you to kill an enemy faster, at the expense of being discovered by enemies faster as well as increased enemy suspicion. You may also use a special ability called Eagle Vision to distinguish civilians and hostiles.
You may also take an enemy out by fighting them using a weapon like a sword. You may attack an enemy, throw them to the ground, block enemy attacks, or counter enemy attacks. Sometimes, it is best to run when fighting multiple enemies, and most of the time you will be up against in many enemies during an alert situation.
The gameplay is decent, but not great. Repetitious progression is one of the major issues of the game, with not many side activities to be done in the game. Combat is mediocre as well, with not many innovation to the combat. Regardless, the overall gameplay is actually decent, but not outstanding.
Graphics
This game has great graphics. Great looking characters, buildings, and environments. The game is a marvel to look at even after ten years. This game do still suffer minor technical issues such as slowdowns and framerate drops, but they are not gamebreaking.
Sound
The soundtrack is good, with some good themes such as the escape theme, Jerusalem theme, and others. They work well in different contexts, surprisingly. The voice acting is decent, although not many standout performances by any of the voice actors in this game. However, they did fitting job as their characters.
There are notable audio lagging issues while playing the game, such delayed voiceovers. Not gambereaking, but still notable issues.
Replay Value
Of all Assassin's Creed games, this game has the least replay value as there are only two side-activities that you can do in this game, which are collecting flags or killing every Templar knight in the game's areas. You may also repeat the game's missions, but they are not rewarding at all compared to recent Assassin's Creed games.
Conclusion
This game is good., with decent storyline, amazing atmosphere, great lore, interesting gameplay ideas, and great graphics what made this game to be a unique IP over other games in it's release year. However, the repetitive combat, progression route, lack of side activities variety, and low replay value are the real negative factors of this game. Still, any player who is interested with Assassin's Creed series should play this game first, as this game sets a solid foundation in great sequels such as Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. A worth playing game, but not without issues.
Score
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Final Score: 7.0/10 or 28/40.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting lore.
- Interesting story of Altair's past.
- Many good gameplay ideas.
- Cool assassination moves.
- Great graphics.
- Good soundtrack.
Cons
- Weak present storyline.
- Many underdeveloped characters.
- Mediocre gameplay.
- Repetitive progression route.
- Mediocre combat.
- Minor technical issues.
**Images are from official PlayStation site.
Relieve Desmond's ancestor in the Crusades Era, Altair.
As Altair, you will be experiencing his journey as a fallen Assassin and rise back to his former master rank. As he undertook the mission of killing a number of high profiled Templars, he also learned many things that will make him more wiser and experienced than before, as well as being a better man.
The past storyline is decent, with some interesting lore such as the war between Templars and Assassins. The characters are pretty much static, except for Altair who has become from a very arrogant man to a more wiser man by the end of the game. The villain Templars have decent and understandable motivations for their cause, and they are mostly misguided Templars but with questionable noble intentions.
The modern storyline is mediocre. Not many developments at the present storyline even at the end of the game, but it has a good cliffhanger ending that may keep players interested for the sequel. Characters are mostly static, and despite being a villain, Warren Vidic is a decent character in the present storyline.
Gameplay
Templars are your enemies.
This game is an action adventure and open-world game. Most of the time, you will control Altair and experience his journey to reclaim his honour and master rank in the Assassin brotherhood. You may walk, run, freerun, climb buildings, and even ride horses to your destinations.
The progression is simple. Each chapter is called Memory Block, and you must do certain things before completing it. First of all, you must complete a certain amount of Investigation activities before you can proceed, such as interrogating a preacher, eavesdropping on two informants' conversations, and pickpocketing someone's letter. Then, you must report to the head of an Assassin Bureau before starting your assassination mission. Different assassination missions require you to traverse or sneak around in different layouts. After assassinating a Templar target, you must escape from your hostile pursuers, then report back to the bureau. It is a simple process, but you can choose to complete every investigation in a Memory Block to obtain more information on your target, as well as increasing your Synchronisation bar (a.k.a Health bar).
You may explore freely in three different cities, as well as the countryside called Kingdom. The Kingdom links directly to different cities, where you must travel via horseback to unlock the city's location. Once you have unlocked it, you can use Fast Travel to travel between the city or your headquarters. Some things are hidden in the vast map of Kingdom, such as hidden flags and Templars. You may also synchronise with Viewpoints to unlock points of interests on your map.
You will gain new upgrades such as new combat moves as you advance the story. You may also increase your Synchronisation bar by completing side activities such as progressing the story, saving civilians from Templars and synchronising with Viewpoints.
The stealth controls are simple. You can hide from enemies by hiding in a garden shed or haystacks, sitting on a bench, or by blending it with scholars. Certain actions may also affected by your current playing mode, such as Low Profile mode allows you to kill an enemy quietly, albeit slowly. High Profile allows you to kill an enemy faster, at the expense of being discovered by enemies faster as well as increased enemy suspicion. You may also use a special ability called Eagle Vision to distinguish civilians and hostiles.
You may also take an enemy out by fighting them using a weapon like a sword. You may attack an enemy, throw them to the ground, block enemy attacks, or counter enemy attacks. Sometimes, it is best to run when fighting multiple enemies, and most of the time you will be up against in many enemies during an alert situation.
The gameplay is decent, but not great. Repetitious progression is one of the major issues of the game, with not many side activities to be done in the game. Combat is mediocre as well, with not many innovation to the combat. Regardless, the overall gameplay is actually decent, but not outstanding.
Graphics
Great graphics with minor technical issues.
Sound
Decent voice acting and good soundtrack.
There are notable audio lagging issues while playing the game, such delayed voiceovers. Not gambereaking, but still notable issues.
Replay Value
Low replay value.
Conclusion
Lots of great ideas, but it is only a good or decent game.
Score
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Final Score: 7.0/10 or 28/40.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting lore.
- Interesting story of Altair's past.
- Many good gameplay ideas.
- Cool assassination moves.
- Great graphics.
- Good soundtrack.
Cons
- Weak present storyline.
- Many underdeveloped characters.
- Mediocre gameplay.
- Repetitive progression route.
- Mediocre combat.
- Minor technical issues.
**Images are from official PlayStation site.
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