Assassin's Creed offers engaging gameplay that delivers on so many front, and is accessible on so many levels.
Assassin's Creed is set in 1191 AD – around the time of the Crusaders. You play the role of an assassin – Altair – with various missions sending you on various assassinations. The outline of the story is that you are sent to track down and kill nine important figures throughout the land. You can explore three cities: Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem. While these are the main places where the missions take place, they have three sub-sections – the Poor, Middle and Rich Districts – that you can explore. This is only a memory, though, as you are actually a bartender called Desmond who is a descendant of Altair. His genetic code has stored these memories in his brain, which are accessed by a machine called the Animus.
While you can't explore all the districts from the get-go, the game has a nasty habit of keeping you entertained for long periods of time.
The world of Creed is simply outstanding. Each main city you can visit has such a high amount of detail, and depth, that you simply want to explore everything. Everything in the city - from something as small as a merchant stall to something as large as a watch tower – has an outstanding amount of detail to it. Every building, wall and pathway simply looks incredibly realistic and even the finer areas of the game don't cease to amaze. In particular is Altair himself who, in full High-Definition glory, simply looks spectacular as every area of his clothing looks incredibly rich and detailed and really brings the protagonist alive. Occasionally the frame rates do slow down a little, though otherwise there are no problems.
The population of the world in which you explore is also as wonderful, as each city is highly populated and forces you to interact with it. Even when walking the streets, you'll often see vendors trying their utmost to sell the products and trying to attract the attention of people nearby. But when reaching higher areas of the world the sound will becoming more distant, and you'll be able to hear odd words, until you reach the highest of buildings where you won't be able to hear anyone below you. All you'll really be able to hear is the wind rushing past you, and possibly the occasional screech of a bird.
Climbing is integral to Creed's gameplay, as it enables to you explore every inch of every city (or otherwise) in the game. Being as you aren't super-human, you'll have to climb and explore every surface imaginable. Here the animations are superb, as the surface – not matter how small or large – is scaled with an equal amount of realism. Altair shows a wide range of techniques to climb up almost any surface, whether this is a simple window or a formation of rocks. This is consistent throughout the game, and never lets up. There are, quite literally, no limitations as to where you go as there is so much to explore and find that you'll be looking in every place imaginable.
Aside from the climbing, there is also the aspect of free-running. This is basically being able to walk, run or jump over any kind of platform no matter what shape or size. And also, there are repercussions if you aren't careful. Jumping off a building won't mean that the game will automatically find the nearest walkway, you'll simply fall. Whether you land on solid floor or not, you're encouraged you to think about where you want to go next and not simply run in any direction thinking the rest will be done for you. Beware, though, as falling in water means that you'll have to restart from the latest checkpoint – a task that can become slightly frustrating.
The combat of Assassin's Creed is amazing, probably because how easy it is to actually do. To begin with you'll simply to be able to use the basic attack, with a quick double-tap of the attack button giving you a combo that results in a finishing move. This moves into a more cinematic camera angle, and once again the graphics cease to amaze. As you progress, you'll unlock more weapons: a Short Sword and Throwing Daggers in particular, as-well as the ability to counter and dodge. These introduce another dynamic to the game, aside from the basic Long Sword and Hidden Blade. The latter is interesting as it isn't a necessity for large parts of the game, but at the same time appeals to the playing style of the player. You have the option to simply walk up to a guard and hold the guard button while tapping, or holding, the attack button which results in a silent or lunge assassination. Again, this forces you to think about how you approach the game.
The game also has an engaging main storyline, albeit slightly repetitive, but there are also additional missions that players can do. Players can discover View Points in the three cities, and these often unlock further missions – Save Citizen missions. There are quite a lot of these in each city, and force you to use all the elements in the game to your advantage. The good things about the Save Citizen missions are that there are three elements: interrogation, eavesdrop and pickpocket. This means that the missions are constantly varied and exciting, and cause you to think how to approach each situation and what you think will work effectively.
Also, each city includes lots of flags (as-well as the main Kingdom which you can explore outside of the cities). There are a hundred of these in each city and the Kingdom, and for people who want to get everything in the game then this is a must. These flags are scattered throughout, and these flags and the main storyline will easily add up to 40 hours or more of gameplay.
Assassin's Creed is a game that is different, yet successful. It delivers on so many fronts, and provides gameplay that is accessible to players or any age and any skill level. The graphics and animations are superb, and are consistent throughout. Whatever platform you own, you have to get this game.