Overall, Assassin's Creed is a one-of-a-kind game that takes the Prince of Persia formula to the extreme.
Note: Some possible spoilers!
Also note: I beat this game back in December of '07, so my memory of this game may not be as clear as it was. Please keep in mind that I may accidentally leave out some details.
Okay, okay, after a wealth of information of this game was revealed at E3 a while back, I shifted my eyes over to it and promised myself that I would buy it shortly after its release. One thing that really intrigued me about this title was its climbing mechanics that took Prince of Persia up a notch, allowing you to freely navigate your way pretty much anywhere and climb pretty much anything. After the unnerving traffic of the holidays, I headed over to Best Buy to pick up a copy of this game. I played and finished it in about a week, coming out slightly impressed, and wanting more.
So, here's a brief overview of the story. The main storyline takes place in the near future, and involves a man known as Desmond Miles who gets kidnapped by a well-known research corporation and is forced into a machine that lets him relive the memories of his ancestors. He is then taken to the time of the Third Crusade, where he assumes the role of Altair, a member of an honorable group of assassins in conflict with the Templars. Your mission is to take down the nine Templar leaders and pave the way for true peace. As the story progresses, you will come across many twists and turns that build up and add onto the enjoyment of the game. However, I will not say anything about the ending. It is something that must never be discussed in this review.
All righty, first things first: the presentation. Assassin's Creed is a beautiful game that is definitely a sight to see for the eyes. The buildings are well-modeled, highly detailed, and resemble the actual buildings of that time period quite well. As you climb these buildings, you will notice minor details that stand out and really make you appreciate the work that was put into the modeling of these buildings (courtesy of lovely bump maps). It is even more amazing to look at the cities themselves and notice the amount of detail in them as well. Everything-- I repeat, EVERYTHING-- casts a shadow in this game, whether it's a huge monastery or a puny flag.
Character models are equally impressive, showing off high polygon counts and superb animation. It's always impressive to see the main character run, jump, and climb at anything while looking completely natural.
As for the audio, it gets the job done nicely. I don't own a surround system of any sort, so I can't review on that. The voice acting is superb all-around. Altair is given a really tough American voice that, while it fits him very well (and I personally like it), seems out of place considering the game's Middle-Eastern setting. I'm guessing that this was done in order to keep Altair's voice consistent with his present-day counterpart. The music is quite good, presenting a blend of ambience and middle-eastern-inspired melodies.
Anyways, I think I've covered that enough. Let's get to the part that really matters: Gameplay. Despite what the title, "Assassin's Creed" suggests, I feel the area in which this game really excels at the most is the climbing. In this game, if you can see something, you can probably climb it. It's that simple. Climbing is nifty, fast, fun, and feels very natural. As for what the mainstream audience is probably more interested in, the combat is merely okay. It does nothing more than get the job done. The key to combat success in this game is to hold down the block button and perform counterattacks over and over. Using this ingenious combat strategy, you can take down entire armies! Ahem, anyways.
This game also emphasizes a little bit on stealth… sort-of. If you do something that's unacceptable, the whole town chases after you. Now you have two options: take down every single guard by using blocks and counterattacks, which may take a while, or run away as fast as you can, climbing up any buildings you see, and jumping into the nearest hiding spot, which may also take a while, especially since guards can climb buildings nearly as well as you can.
Overall, the core gameplay comes off as being very repetitive. For each and every assassination mission, you have to collect information of your target throughout the city in various ways. Next, you locate your target, take him down, listen to his death speech, get a weapon/health upgrade, and then head to your next target. The game is centered around doing this for about nine missions, so I suggest you play the game in short bursts for better enjoyment.
After beating the game, there are very few extras that add on to the replay value. If you're a perfectionist, and are up to the challenge, you may have a bit of fun collecting every flag in this game and killing every Templar you see. Otherwise, there isn't much else.
Overall, Assassin's Creed is a very unique game that takes the Prince of Persia formula to the extreme and produces some satisfying results. If you're into action/adventure games, I suggest you pick this one up, even after taking the somewhat repetitive gameplay into consideration.
8.4/10 (8.5 here due to strange scoring scale)