After all the hype that AC got ever since its first announcement, does it really live it up? AC promised free roaming environments based in the Crusades era Middle-East, climbing rooftops with great acrobatic prowess, fluid swordplay, and daring assassinations. Thats exactly what the game offers, and aside from great gameplay, the game also boasts amazing graphics. As you jump from roof to roof, you can see the citizens going about with daily life, and the guards ever watchful of the city. Sometimes you bump into the occasional citizen in distress, or just want to take the high road and get view points of the city. The story of the game is confusing at first because it takes place in two time periods, the near future, and the past. In the future, you control Desmond who is being held captive in some sort of science facility and is forced to use the Animus, a machine that acquires the DNA data of a person and allows him to see the lives of their anscestors. That's when you control Altair, Desmond's anscestor, who happens to be a proffessional assassin. Most of the game's story is shrouded in mystery, but as you progress through Altair's life, you consistently go back to the present, where parts of the story are given in snippets. As Altair, you are tasked with assassinating nine templars, as a trial to regain his honor after nearly endagering his order of assassins. The problem with the game is that, as the story starts to make sense and you feel like your getting somewhere, the credits suddenly start rolling. Especially the last part of the game, you start to understand the connection between the past and present events and then the cliffhanger ending comes out of nowhere. Aside from the cliffhanger ending, parts of the game tend to get repetitive. Like for example, each of AC's 3 cities (Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre) are divided into 3 districts, poor, middle, and rich. So for each assasination, you go to each city and you find view points, save citizens, eavsedrop, steal, and interrogate. After getting the info you need, you go back to the assassins bureau located in the city and get your mission to assassinate your target. After a successful assassination, you go back to your headquarters and speak with your master, then you get sent out to the next city and repeat the process. Though your tasks are the same, the way that you can approach your target is entirely up to you and helps somewhat to alleviate the feeling of repetitiveness. Overall, the game is great, especially the combat. Though I have to admit, for an assassin, Altair really likes getting up close and personal. Especially near the last parts of the game, I felt like I was playing Streets of Rage or TMNT in the arcade. With all the up's and down's, AC is a great game that is just screaming for a sequel.
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