Assassin’s Creed Review PS3

I have always had an interest in medieval architecture and the mysterious Templar Knights. When I first heard about Assassin’s Creed for the XBOX 360 and PS3, I was very excited. I scoured the Internet for any information and game trailers I could get my grubby hands on. The previews of the game looked amazing and the few tidbits of information led me to believe that the game was to take place entirely during the Crusades. Alas, when I finally purchased the game for the XBOX 360, I was disappointed to learn that the game would take place as a series of “genetic memories” from the ancestor of a modern day assassin. I also purchased the game for the PS3 and this review will focus on the PS3 version since I had the chance to play it recently on the console.

Graphic and sound:

The graphics in Assassin’s Creed are beautiful; the architecture resembles the style used in the days of the Crusades fairly closely. The textures though are a bit bland and muddy up close. I am not sure if they were trying to go for the old worn sandblasted look. It is easy to just climb up to the tallest tower and admire the view of the cities from up above. Outside of the cities, buildings and people are sparse. It seems like they pushed the limits when building the cities, but sacrificed the outskirts as a result. The outlying lands seem barren and thankfully the player only needs to traverse the area once for each city and then can easily teleport to locations. The crowds move realistically and react to your moves and mishaps. My only complaint would be the water; the water is static and has no interaction with objects such as splashing up against the docks.

The sound quality is average, the voices cut out sometimes and you are left in total silence. I believe this is a PS3 only issue, because I never experienced this issue when playing the XBOX 360 version. The voiceovers are well done, but the variety of speech from NPCs is very limited and becomes annoying at times.

Gameplay and controls:

The game is divided between five cities: Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus, Masiaf, and the final area. The game begins with the player, a modern day assassin, being captured by a secret society that through the use of a machine called the Animus can extract “genetic memories” from patients. The memories of ancestors are somehow genetically imprinted in the brains of their offspring. The game switches between the present and the past memories, with the majority of gameplay taking place in the past memories. The assassin in the memory is tasked with assassinating 9 Templar Knights after failing a scripted mission in the beginning. The game is played in third person perspective with a rudimentary fighting style.

Assassination missions consist of information gathering through pick pocketing, beating up informants, and timed assassinations of minor guards. After gathering the required minimum of 3 intel, the player travels to the assassins’ bureau to receive the location of the target. Once the target is assassinated, the player needs to return to the assassins’ bureau and be redirected to Masiaf for the next target. Rinse and repeat 9 times.

As one progresses through the missions, one gains abilities such as counter attacks and access to other weapons. Combat is split between assassinating targets with a concealed wrist blade, a scimitar, or a sword. After the second assassination, combating guards becomes a breeze and concealment is barely even necessary. I just plowed through towns only concealing myself to access the assassins’ bureau after assassinating my target.

Overall thoughts:

     I thought that the whole “genetic memory” fiasco was going to kill the game, but Ubisoft actually implemented it quite well and ended the game with a logical opening to the next iteration which will be released later this year and take place during the Renaissance. The combat system was too simple and monotonous. I felt no challenge in taking on mobs of guards, when in reality; an assassin should be limited in physical combat. The game should be more like the Thief series, where face-to-face encounters were not easy, especially against multiple enemies. Also, the sound drop out was a bit strange and I experienced extreme lag during my last assassination as well. When I restarted the game, the lag was gone, so I believe it was an isolated incident. The camera was a problem sometimes when foreground items blocked the view and I could not see what my character or the enemy was doing. Overall, the game was fun, but extremely repetitive, the story kept me hooked, and I await the release of Assassin’s Creed 2, with hope that the issues of this game are resolved in the next iteration. I recommend this game as a purchase as it is only $20 new and less used.