Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed is one of the most ambitious, interactive, seamless, and intriguing titles in the next-generation lineup to date, boasting absolutely stunning visuals, superb voice acting, amazing historical thrills with a firm basis in an accurate presentation of this alternative past, and a curious storyline that will pull you in if you know what you're looking for. The game is beautiful and enjoyable, an experience you won't forget, and a gem for anyone with an appreciation of this era of history or gameplay style.

However, ambitious and astounding as it is, there are elements that feel forced, gameplay that becomes redundant, and bits of the plot that fail to make sense to the average player. The combat does become a chore (especially toward the end), a save-anywhere option is missing, and some variety is sorely needed (how come a third of all the civilians I save say exactly the same thing, be it in a different accent?), but while the gameplay does have its faults it's still impressive and well-done as far as mechanics go, plus you play an assassin - that's an automatic bonus in cool points. If Ubisoft Montreal had made some adjustments - switched up the missions, tossed in some variety in investigation objectives, upped the enemy AI some, and freshened the combat - this would have been a stellar title for the general public.

As it stands, its amazing qualities are somewhat overshadowed by gameplay design that failed to implement everything Assassin's Creed exceeds at as well as it should have, and while a five star game isn't perfect this failure knocks it down a notch. For those who appreciate its finer details, however, the game is worth its weight in gold and will be something you return to over the years and look back on and say, "I played that game and loved every minute of it" with pride.



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There are two things that game critics hate when it comes to writing actual reviews, these being RPGs (devastating time-suckers) and really amazing games (trust me when I say that reviewing a piece of crap is always easier than something so good it inspires you and tugs at your heart). There is also a secret third item that critics hate to pin-down to a definite numerical figure, and this is the open-ended, highly ambitious interactive experience. Anything that doesn't amount to a functioning targeting system, an online mode, or saving the world from invading aliens/nuclear bombs is a lot more subtle and difficult to translate into a mathematical recommendation. I'm going to be blunt: Creed is not like the vast majority of games on the market, no matter the genre, and I think that explains at least some of the outlier scores (both negative and positive).

But I am not here to lecture on the reviewer's standard rating system or explain every intricacy and every moment of Creed that reminded me of why I'm a gamer or what I'm looking for (or not) in a game. I am here to address what I enjoyed and what I didn't quite so much, what the game excels at and what Ubisoft should have spent more time on, delays or not.


And I'm going to start with the title's amazingly beautiful visual experience. Creed's presentation is superb and its graphics will boggle your mind; every fine aspect, from the movement of Altair's robe in the wind as he rests atop the highest steeple to the whole of a city that is viewable from a distance as the player trots up on horseback, Creed astounds. The lighting is amazing and you can clearly see the patchwork of light filtering through a lattice structure casting shadows upon a wall. Horses are perfectly mimicked and feel more realistic than any animal I've encountered in any of my virtual wanderings. Buildings are rendered incredibly sharp with every decorative item - from window bars and other convenient climbing protrusions to gorgeous mosaics and the golden sheen of the Dome of the Rock - catching the eye and inviting the player to explore.

Character models are next-generation quality, with every texture and style of pattern viewable in each person's clothing in impressive detail. Character movements are, dare I say it, natural, and this amounts to a seamless quality that almost convinces the player that he's walking the streets of a real world. Characters step aside for Altair as he gently pushes them away, drop objects they're carrying if he walks by carelessly, reacquaint Altair with the ground if he runs through too many civilians, or take no notice of him at all as he slyly slips through a large crowd, terminates a target, and inconspicuously melts into another batch of civilians before the body even hits the ground. This is the sheer genius of Creed, this smooth interaction that pulls the player into an assassin's life rather than having her assume a character's mere role.

The acoustic elements add to this inviting ambiance just as impressively, marked by your horse's hoof beats as you gallop across the countryside, the clatter of soldiers in their mess of gear, the bustling of the local marketplace, and so on. Creed's voice acting is what you'd expect from a big-budget title, with some very entertaining and intriguing performances from the primary cast, all nicely accented and featuring correct, realistic pronunciation. The linguistics might not seem like much, but they're vital for convincing the player that Altair's world is a living, breathing, and distinctly different thing, for which I give Ubisoft credit. It would have been even more persuading if civilians didn't quip the same lines all the time.


The immersion continues as the player explores the environs of Damascus, Acre, Masayaf, Jerusalem, and their surrounding grasslands, cliff-sides, small ruins and villages. While walking amongst the people is always a "socially acceptable" option, it's much faster and much more fun to take to the rooftops, where you can climb said amazingly detailed buildings, leap across giant chasms, dispatch foes away from the throng beneath your feet, and speedily maneuver from ledge to ledge, ladder to pole, synagogue to haystack at your leisure. The actual height of these obstacles is magnificent and damn near awe-inspiring as you activate view points and the camera spins around your perch. This life-like and free maneuvering off the ground is another aspect of the game's genius that invites the player to spend hours investigating every inch of Altair's world.

As much fun as exploring and rooftop-leaping are, the bulk of the gameplay is centered around performing successful assassinations, but these target assassinations can't be triggered without completing investigations first. Investigations are comprised of eavesdropping, pick-pocketing, killing the targets of fellow (lazy) assassins, interrogating propagandists, and collecting flags (the locked content is only reachable via collecting the flags of various cities/sects and killing knights templar). This is where part of that redundancy seeps through and breaks some of the game's immersion, as the investigation objectives become more like a chore to unlock the whole picture than a fun and varied assignment that progresses the plot. Ubisoft should have spent some time on increasing the mission variety and implementing that seamless interaction that makes Altair's universe so appealing; it's as if the team abandoned the natural feeling of the gameplay by having you routinely collect flags and pick-pocket letters. The only objectives that get interesting are the target assassinations, which - while entertaining and great fun - can't mask the redundancy of the typical mission. The "bonus" objectives - save the civilian and get to the view point - are nice inclusions - nice being that they're entirely optional - but don't add to the gameplay experience at all. They're just as redundant and will be skipped by players rushing through, making the core missions more difficult and frustrating.

Combat is another double-edged blade for Creed. The system is functional and beautiful in its bloody, seamless presentation if you perform the correct maneuvers at the right time, again convincing you that you've stepped into Altair's world and are fending off bad guys harassing harmless old men and damsels, but it gets repetitive when civilians scurrying from the scene attract the attention of additional guards who join the fray. Counter-killing foes, grabbing and pushing them into their allies, or exchanging swipes and blocking maneuvers is a treat, but it can be slow and tiresome when you're surrounded by ten guards with five more on the way and all you want to do is scale a building and hide in a bush. Or rather, a haystack/shady retreat/bench/group of scholars, as these are your only hiding or blending options. Again, the repetitiveness breaks the immersion level; Ubisoft Montreal definitely needed to increase hiding spots as well as variety between them.

The enemy AI, though appropriate and again, functional for the basic gameplay mechanics, also could have used some improvement. It's a tad unrealistic and less challenging when Altair can dispatch a civilian and stand there in blend mode while guard after guard approaches the body and speculates before meeting his doom. Again and again. At some point there should be a guard who determines that he is definitely not approaching the giant heap of bodies without significant backup. Maybe he's perpetually off-duty?

As an aside, elements of the gameplay that tend to frustrate players (those redundancy issues again) become more upsetting due to the lack of a save-anywhere system. You're entirely at the mercy of checkpoints and the good doctors who pull you from the animus (usually right when all you'd rather do is play). A save-anywhere system is sorely needed as well as an option to skip the dialogue you've heard before (as when you fail an informer's mission and have to hear the full assassin song and dance before you're told what you already know, again). Some gamers are also questioning why Altair and anyone else can't swim (there you go, Michael Smith).

I could write countless paragraphs on Creed's historical accuracy, twisting storyline, or all the amazing little subtle details that made me unable to put it down from beginning to end, or warn against rushing through it - this is a game in which your level of enjoyment directly correlates to time you're willing to spend doing things other than the primary missions. I could also go on and on about Ubisoft's failure to fully incorporate everything the game does well (and what it does well it does astoundingly so) into the actual gameplay mechanics, or remind you that there are portions that needed some additional work. Instead I'll end with a simple summation. Assassin's Creed is a rewarding, thought-provoking, amazing experience, fun in aspects utilized to their full potential, but the redundancy, the lack of variety in some of the smallest aspects, and forced segments may push some gamers away. If you're on the fence, spend some time with Altair and he'll "persuade" you that Creed is one of the most unique games you'll play all year, even with some caveats. Here's hoping Ubisoft hears the criticism and corrects the issues for the next one.

Also available on: PS3 | 360 | DS
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Release: Nov 14, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Mature
Winner of GameBump's Best Action Game of 2007

Edit: if you've played through and are just as confused by the ending as the rest of us were, here's a detailed explanation.

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