LOOKBACK: Assassin's Creed

4:23pm Thursday 7th February 2008

You might be aware of games company Ubisoft. They are well renowned for developing the Splinter Cell and Prince Of Persia series. Splinter Cell's premier selling point is the stealth factor. It's the get-caught-and-you're-done-for element which keeps the average gamers adrenaline pumping. Prince of Persia however, sports a seamless physics engine, carrying the player across almost impossible puzzles and crazy ledges.

So you wouldn't be surprised to know that Ubisoft (Ubisoft Montreal to be exact) put two-and-two together, giving birth to a title which keeps you tip toeing through a busy market immediately followed by scaling walls to avoid any sucker who's lucky to catch you.

This title my friends, is Assasin's Creed - undoubtfully the game Ubisoft was destined to create.

It's also the behemoth which was destined to squish us gamers to a liquidy death.

You start the game as Altair, a gentleman part of the "Assassins Brotherhood" who, unsurprisingly, carry out assassinations as per request. The first thing which strikes you (well not immediately) is how darn fantastic the graphics are. A tingle which has remained dormant since the day I first played Final Fantasy VII, re-surfaced the moment I rode horseback into the first walled city. You can literally see the detail on every building as you reach a hill outside the city walls.

In recent years, next-gen game developers have been prying up the rails which unoriganally keep the gameplay on one track. In titles such as Skate, Burnout: Paradise and more importantly Grand Theft Auto, players have been able to do what they want, in the order they want and visit places where they want to go. Assassins Creed wears this medal proudly, smugly laughing in the face of its predecessors. Coupled with the fact that you can climb almost anything you can see (minus trees unfortunately) you can spend hours upon hours roaming a town, gawping at the breathtaking views which meet the eye at the top of a conquered church spire.

As the saying goes, however, nothings perfect, which almost doesn't apply to Assassin's Creed, but still does thanks to a few flaws.

Fighting a crowd of guards to save a citizen is a fantastic rush at first, but once you get over the many ways to jump out and say 'Boo!' the enemy, it gets a little repetitive. There are also issues with the camera angle, which, when mixed with an un-noticed guard, can lead to a severe case of gamers rage.

The repetition doesn't end there as well. I won't spoil it for you, but be prepared for several tasks to be performed endless times across the game.

That's not to say starting fights with a guard doesn't have its perks. A chase can eventually snowball into a kung fu movie-esque mass brawl. I've spent many an hour leading sword-clad men up to a rooftop only to throw them off again.

Also, there is nothing more satisfactory than your throwing knife meeting the unsuspecting guard on top of a roof. The same satisfaction extends further when you hear screaming citizens, who have witnessed a body descend from above.

Speaking of citizens, Ubisoft built in a vast range of inhabitants, designed to amuse and annoy you. Running away from trouble can easily be disrupted by a desperate beggar, or a juddering weirdo throwing his fists, leading to yet another case of gamers rage. Emotions aren't raised by downfalls, but by how each civilian is built to get in your way.

Another mixed bag is the voice-acting. Personally, I think the casting of ethnic actors and actresses is second to none, absolutely brilliant. Some clever clogs, however, decided to hire an American actor to play a lead-character born and bred in Asia. I'm not sure if this is to give a bit more of a spin on the english games market, but it leads to extremely bland and monotonous cut scenes.

Listening to the day-to-day voiceovers while pottering around the city is amusing, only until you realize there's a limit on how much they actually recorded. Even when you reach Acre (a British populated city), you realize the developers couldn't even be bothered to change the script for a different race of people.

Overall, this game is beautifully constructed and designed to eat into hours put aside for sleep. Kudos is due to Ubisoft for successfully merging award-winning gameplay onto one title, leaving no stone unturned.

Well, except just a couple of pebbles.

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