Take a huge leap of faith
The only side-quests that are good fun are when you need to save the citizens from being beaten up by guards. This is the main chance that you’ll have, aside from assassinations, to use the fighting mechanic in Assassin’s Creed. It’s a shame that you’re not forced to use it more in quests because they it’s been executed really well.You begin each of your main missions back at the base where you learn a new skill and starting off with a sword you learn how to defend and attack. As you progress, you learn how to do combos, how to use a blade, throw knives and pull off some visually excellent counter moves where you can grab your opponent around the wrist and stick a blade right through them - amongst other grisly moves. Fighting is a great deal of fun, but I think it’s fair to say that the A.I don’t really put up a stiff enough fight and it’s fairly easy to see off half a dozen guards or so without breaking a sweat.
Before I wrap the review up it’s worth mentioning the ‘leap of faith’, which you may have seen on the trailers. Basically, you can unlock viewpoints throughout the game (high points) and once you climb to the top of the spire, castle or bell tower, you can synchronise the map, which allows you to see all of the side-objectives on the map. You’re treated to a bird’s eye view of the environment or the city, which is great in itself, but the best thing of all is being able to blindly leap off without fearing death. You jump off, arms astretch and you’ll land in a hay-cart safe and sound. It’s a nice gimmick and after the first dozen of so times it’s pretty impressive.
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageThe fact is Assassin’s Creed just ambles along without ever really gathering pace; the action is really thin on the ground. Traveling between the cities on horseback is a chore – it’s a bloody long way – and it’s made more boring by the fact that there’s nothing much to do apart from seek out the odd viewpoint, kill a couple of Templars or go hunting for the hundreds of flags dotted around.
I’ve experience loads of glitches on my travels. I’ve watched my character walk off into the distance whilst my camera remained in position, I’ve walked straight through scenery, or I've become stuck in scenery and had to reset the console. I haven’t once gone looking for glitches, so it’s quite a shock that many of these bugs haven’t been ironed out before release
Despite the game falliing short on the entertainment front, and despite some glitches, Ubisoft Montreal has really shown us what can be achieved on the Xbox 360 with Assassin’s Creed. From a technical and graphical viewpoint it’s a fantastic achievement and I’ve personally enjoyed the storyline and I’ve been mildly stimulated by the main assassination missions and the fighting, but the game just lacks that vital injection of pace and excitement.
Assassin’s Creed is still a good game; just don’t expect it to be half as good as the graphics. And…more importantly, never listen to hype, you’ll only end up being disappointed.
Pros
Looks fab
Great animation
Assassination missions are fun
Fighting is great
Cons
No need for all the bugs
Not enough variety in the missions
Not challenging
It looks incredible, just don’t expect it to blow you away in terms of gameplay.
HEXUS Awards
Assassin’s Creed - Xbox 360
