Assassin's Creed
By Ian Wilson
Tuesday. Jan 08, 12:34 PM
Cliché but still fun.

After much hype, anticipation, and secrets, we finally can see what it's like to run around Jerusalem, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and assassinating anyone we want in the process (well, at least that's what I do... I mean, those beggars are really pushy). Welcome to Assassin's Creed, a game that feels at once familiar and foreign. By now, I'm sure you all know the "big secret" about the game, and if you don't you probably live under a rock. So here goes.

This game is all in your (the protagonist's) head.

You see, Desmond (aforementioned protagonist… and bartender) has been kidnapped by a pharmaceutical company and forced to use a machine call the Animus. This machine is able to tap into genetic code to pull forth memories from the ancestors of whoever uses it. Yeah, I know... I was hoping for something more plausible and cool, too.

Anyway, once the machine has accessed Desmond’s ancestors’ memories, you then take control of Altair, an assassin living in 1191 during the Third Crusade. Altair is a great assassin, but he's also extremely cocky. This gets him stripped of his rank, and to earn it back he has to prove himself (cliché #1). To do this, he must travel to three cities (Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus) and kill nine people. Each of the targets are well known within the cities you traverse, and to gain the right to kill them you must first do your research. This includes pickpocketing information, interrogation, and good old eavesdropping (cliché #2). You could do only a handful of these "missions" if you want, but the compulsive will want to do them all, which I don't think really changes anything. If you were to get only enough info to be granted the kill, the game most likely would still play out in the same fashion. Along the way, while skulking through the streets and along the rooftops, you'll encounter peasants in need of rescue and viewpoints that allow Altair to overlook a part of the city (and also to swan dive into hay from upwards of 60 feet without a scratch. Which also ties into cliché #3 in that Altair can hide in hay, which is never searched).

Altair, upon killing his target, is given back another rank and granted a new ability or weapon, allowing him to have the upper hand on his foes. Sadly, the only thing different about the short blade and the sword is the animation. And once you learn the Counter move, all you have to do is counter your way through guard after guard, which makes the encounters with them silly. After awhile, they start to learn to counter your counter-move (I'm getting dizzy), but this seems rather rare. There are also throwing daggers (one hit kills) and the basic "swing your sword like a whirling idiot until the guard gives up and lets you kill him” move, which seems to work on just about any guard unless they counter you. The hardest people to kill are the Templars: think of them as the stronger guards, kinda like the old trick that game makers used on the NES where they recolored sprites, renamed them, and all of a sudden they take twice as many or more hits from melee weapons (cliché #4).

Your health in the game is represented by the synchronization between Desmond and Altair. So if you die, then their minds become out of sync and you have to start over at the last checkpoint. So, if you think about it, you aren't really dying at all, you're merely not remembering correctly. This is much like Prince of Persia, where upon dying, the Prince can be heard saying something along the lines of “that's not right...” and then placing the player back at the checkpoint. There is no game over, just trying again.

There is a bit of travel involved where you must traverse the land, Zelda-style, on foot or horseback to each of the cities from the assassin enclave. Along the way you can find Flags that you don't have to collect, but will probably want to due to compulsion (cliché #5). These flags are scattered throughout the cities as well, and won't all be available until you open up all of the city.

While Assassin’s Creed is extremely cliché, it's also really fun. I could see myself, sometime down the line, wanting to play through it again just for the joy of walking up behind two guards and stealth assassinating one of them, then standing back to watch as the other guard notices the body and yells “who did this?!” Or assassinating a street preacher and watching the crowd of people that were listening all walk away as if saying, “Oh, well I guess the show’s over, let's go home now.” Or the joy of jumping off buildings and going splat.

I hope that they continue with this idea, if not in a sequel then in its essence and improve upon the rather basic (if not fun) game they have created. I'd rather like to see where they go with this.

Ian Wilson

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