The beginnings of a long life in this industry.
Assassin's Creed looks like a cool game on the outside. You get to play an Assassin from hundred's of years ago in a Middle-Eastern country. Killing bad guys and being all sneaky. But Assassin's Creed is much more than that. Combine that with huge beautiful environments to explore, a gripping story that feels important, and a great soundtrack to boot, Assassin's Creed is truly the ultimate experience.
Without spoiling the story too much, you play this seemingly normal guy named Desmond. He is kidnapped by this huge organization named Abstergo and they basically force him into this machine called the Animus, which allows people to re-live the memories of their ancestors, tucked away somewhere in their DNA. For one reason or another, they want Desmond to relive the memories of his ancestor Altair, the assassin you play in this game. I would tell you more from here on out, but what you find is a conflict that can blow your mind. I want to make sure I do what I can to give you the luxury of finding out what the game is all about the way I did. Just know you are in for a great and authentic story that'll be one of the primarily reasons you'll become a fan of this series.
Without a question, the gameplay is what makes as Assassin's Creed game an Assassin's Creed game. Not only do you get to fight people with a sword, you can also assassinate targets in a stealth-like fashion with your knife. You also explore many environments, climbing buildings in crowded cities, and riding horses in the vast-open kingdom. This is an action adventure open world game. And it is a huge one. The games that come later in the series are much larger in scope, but Assassin's Creed still sports a well-sized playground.
There are a variety of missions you can take on, most of them involving the assassinations of different targets. In each sequence, you will usually be given an assignment guiding you towards your victim. But first, you'll have to gather information on your target by completely other tasks throughout the town. Once you do, you can assassinate your target in a variety of ways, only to escape the scene right after from a plethora of guards. This is Assassin's Creed strongest point, and is what makes the series so great in the first place. You can also just explore the environments, climbing up to Eagle Points and collecting many collectibles. It's a very well-wounded game.
If there was anything to critique about the gameplay, it is the fact that it may get a bit repetitive after awhile if you are following strictly the campaign. Each sequence is basically set up in the same manner, with little variety. You're gonna find that you'll constantly be following the same pattern of gathering information and then performing assassinations. There's other things you can do to add some variety including the breaks you get from the animus when you're back in the real world, but these aren't too numerous and you'll find yourself back in the main storyline soon enough. But, it's not like the actual campaign is terrible. It's still a fun game either way.
The graphics are beautiful, and they are especially important to an Assassin's Creed game when part of the appeal comes from going back in time and visiting some of the great landmarks you hear about in history class. The cities are beautifully detailed, and the kingdom is elegant. The soundtrack is also both epic and cultural. A highlight for me is the music that plays after you complete an assassination and have to escape the area. That music is tense, and epic. Everything about it is perfect. Once you play the game, you'll see what I mean. Everything about the game looks and feels great.
Compared to other titles, Assassin's Creed is the shortest game of the bunch. There's not nearly as many side tasks here as there are in the future sequels, but there is stuff there. You can climb up all the viewpoints, collect flags in each region, find and kill templars, etc. But the main appeal is going to be in the storyline no matter how you look at it, especially in this game.
Assassin's Creed is the first game in the series, so it is bound to have its faults especially when you get into the other titles. But still, I would not recommend someone skip out on this one. It is the perfect way to really immerse yourself in this fictional universe and really get a feel of what an Assassin's Creed game is. It has plenty to offer including one of the strongest stories in the series, in my opinion. The ending is one of the best game endings I feel I will ever play especially. There's no real way to describe it. It is an experience you should let yourself in on.