XBOX 360 Wire

Assassin’s Creed Review

Ubisoft launched Assassin’s Creed in the US yesterday, and I was able to secure a copy. She’s a big girl but she’s kindof pretty. Which means she can chug a beer with ya at the bar but when you take her home you feel a little disappointed. Not to say I’m disappointed with this title, I think I may have had the wrong expectations is all.

Assassin’s Creed looks great (and she can dance). Small color palette but great textures, awesome draw distance and a great framerate. Any performance issues you may have had with other titles is not present here, did a swan dive off a high building with no chug chug at all. Movement and Combat have a bit of a learning curve, but once you know what you’re doing the game gets really smooth. Combat uses 1 button thats context sensitive, and although that may sound shallow, it’s more about balance and rhythm then how many times can you press A in 10 seconds. Killing soldiers is great fun, but once you’ve mastered the combat mechanic any stealth action is pointless, now I just walk down the street with my sword drawn looking for fights.

Mastering the combat also reveals the game’s biggest flaw : AI. If you are standing guard at a doorway with your buddy, and your buddy drops dead from my knife in his back, would you react?? Not the guards in Damascus in 1191. They are lucky to even notice me before they meet death. Sure, they can chase you up buildings(sometimes) and throw rocks/arrows when you get too high, but other then a simple chase mechanic these guys are just plain dumb. With no difficulty setting you just keep killing, serving em up like the sous chef of death.

Despite the AI I still found the game highly enjoyable, I guess I was just expecting a deeper experience. Don’t expect a whole game of Dark Brotherhood quests ala Oblivion, cause it just isn’t so. No armor or items, very little dialog with NPCs, and the game world is limited to where they want you to go. Still a sandbox, they just give you boundaries to help keep the storyline in check, almost like the Islands in GTA3.

Assassin’s Creed is worth the money for the graphics alone, killing Templar Knights after a hard days work is icing on the cake. Considerable amounts of death await, so leave the kids at your sisters unless you want them carving shivs out of toothbrushes.

Posted by Erick - November 15th, 2007 -