everynerd.net

As an avid user of GameSpot at the very least to read reviews, previews, and watch exclusive trailers for upcoming games, I’ve reviewed a handful of games there as well. The following review is one that I posted there and will cross-post here for the readers of everynerd.

Altair looking over one of the beautiful ancient cities of the Holy Land.

Like many other people prior to the November release of Assassin’s Creed for the major consoles, I was completely caught up in the hype surrounding this game. Not being an owner of any of the consoles, I was forced to watch tech demos and reviews as they spilled out after its release just before Christmas.

I’m patient, however, and after a few disconcerting delays for the official release on computer, the game was unleashed for us PC enthusiasts and those of us with hefty rigs were drooling at the thought of a game like this sink our time into.

The wait was worth it.

Initially when the game takes you through a tutorial, the controls and the explanations seem overwhelming and difficult, but as you get comfortable in this new dynamic it all becomes second nature.

One of the most attractive aspects of the game in trailers and previews was the ability to interact with all environments through climbing, jumping, hanging, and of course the intense interaction with the crowds of people. And the game surely delivers. The ease at which you are able to scale gigantic buildings and leap from rooftop-to-rooftop, beam-to-beam is highly engaging and never gets dull.

The combat system is simple but effective and addictive.

The fighting system is also a real treat. Unlike some other actions games, when you find yourself locked into a battle with 2 or 3 enemies, it can be pretty intense. When 4 or 5 more walk by and get drawn in by the chaos, however, it’s usually game over - but not in this game.

There’s a certain sense of confidence and fluidity in the fighting system that makes these battles a massive pleasure to be a part of. And as the game progresses you keep acquiring more and more tools for your arsenal, including new techniques for defense and offense.

As Altair, the main character (or rather the main character’s ancestor — it’s a little complicted, you’ll see), its your mission to utilize all of these abilities to gather information, complete tasks, save civilians from pushy guards, and eventually assassinate your mission’s target. Although it requires only 3 out of 6 investigations to be completed to get to the assassination phase of a mission, it’s more than acceptable to get them all (and obviously a huge amount of fun, as some are very challenging later in the game).

Blend into a group of monks to evade the guards.

As well, save as many civilians as you can. In return, the more you save, the better your reputation among the citizens will be and in turn rewarded with vigilantes which will block pursuing guards, or groups of monks in which you can blend in to.

Graphically this game allows a sliding scale and can run just fine on a mid-range computer on medium settings, but if you have the horsepower it’s a treat to crank everything up all the way.

The sounds are also wonderful, and change to fit your surroundings either in the marketplace, near the churches or mosques, and even if you are climbing higher up out of range of the streets and into the open air. There are some minor glitches in sound on the PC that might result in lowered conversations between some characters but there are workarounds in the help files.

The keyboard controls for this fit like a glove, the typical wasd and mouse interaction while a little unorthodox at first (key combinations mostly) will become almost involuntary after playing for a while.

Some quick hits on the best parts and the not-so-best parts:

What I love:
- Climbing, you can climb anything as long as there’s a hand/foot hold.
- Fighting system, never gets boring and by the end you will crave even more.
- Voice acting - Altair is the weakest link, but the supporting cast is brilliant, I’ve found myself craving more.
- Graphics/Sound - If your PC can support it, rock this game on the highest settings - you won’t be disappointed.

What could change:
- Explicit ability to skip “cut scenes” - even though the cut scenes are real-time and even a little interactive, replay value grinds to a halt under the realisation that you can’t escape out of monologues or events that you’ve already watched.
- Travel system - after you’ve been to the cities you are given the chance to quick travel to these locations once you hit a certain spot in Masyaf (your home city), either out of the fortress or out of the village. But for the life of me I could not find any other way to trigger this menu, and bombing through the city to try to trigger it again was a little cumbersome.
- Travel system part 2: Once I was able to quick travel, I decided to forgo any other long distance travel - even to get more eagle towers and flags. Even the first time to these places, I pushed the horse to a sprint and gave zero attention to the guards ready to chop me to pieces. A “blended” trot through this much land was far too time-consuming when all the real fun is in the cities and not the outskirts and in betweens.

*** Please note: these criticisms are very low on the “how it affects your gameplay” list, just to put it into perspective. They are merely afterthoughts that prevented a game from achieving perfection.

Overall let me put it this way: It’s been a very long time since a single player game has pulled me in and kept me immersed into a storyline and a game play dynamic such as this, to this degree. I can only pray that there is a sequel to this game as there’s no doubt it’s deserving of one.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars