The Antagonist has 9 chronicles

1. Assassin’s Creed Review
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Dec 01 2007

   In the world of sequel games now-a-days it is nice to see a new IP put forth with such hype and anticipation. Assassin’s Creed, a Ubisoft Montreal production, is an action adventure game which puts you in the role of a 12th century Assassin. The game promises a great story, graphics and unlimited possibilities in the open cities. Does this game deliver of flop? The short answer, yes it does. The long answer, well that might take some explaining.
   
   
   
   Assassin’s Creed has had one of the worst kept secrets in all of video game history. It has a sci-fi twist to the story, but the secret is unveiled within the first minute of play, which kind of makes it like the kid who snuck into his parent’s room before Christmas to see his present. However, with out giving too much away about the story, the twist does set up the player for a great story telling experience. It’s just too bad that the ending of the game will leave gamers confused and without a sense of closure, leaving the door open for a possible sequel.
   
   
   
   The game play in Assassin’s Creed puts you in the shoes of a 12th century assassin, Altair, who is tasked with taking out nine men who are displeasing the order you belong to. To take out the nine men you will have to travel to three different cities. The first thing that you will notice about these cities is that they are absolutely enormous, beautiful and really create a living breathing atmosphere. Not enough can be said about these cities. The landscape is just beautiful with the city stretching as far as the eye can see. The cities really come to life with their citizens. There are actually thousands of citizens that walk the streets. Some will be having conversations about the ongoing crusades, some will be buying from merchants, some will question your actions if you make a scene, drunks will push you around, beggars will ask for coins and some will cry out for help if they are being harassed by the city guards. All of these interactions in the cities really help immerse you into the game and make you believe you are walking the streets of 1192 Jerusalem. This not only goes for the three cities but also for the area’s in-between them. The so called “Kingdom” is enormous and may actually take you 10 – 20 minutes to move from city to city, but this can also be skipped by quick traveling to any city you have previously visited. The only draw back to the cities, is that there is not a whole lot to explore in the cities themselves. All of the game takes place outdoors and there is no reason to go exploring too much in the city because there just isn’t that much too see besides the buildings themselves, which of course are beautiful.
   
   
   
   While visiting each city the first thing you must do is visit the Assassin’s Bureau. There you will receive instructions on your target. But before you can assassinate him you must gather information on him. This can be done by eaves dropping on conversations, pick pocketing special documents or beating the information out of someone. There are six Intel missions to go on for each assassination, unfortunately they rarely vary. You won’t notice it for the first four or five assassinations but after a while they will grow old on you and you will find yourself completing the minimum number of missions before you can go assassinate your target. This is a large draw back for many gamers and may even cause them not to finish the game due to its repetitiveness.
   
   
   
   While on a Intel mission or an assassination make sure you watch your step while walking through the city. Any none socially acceptable action will alert the guards, especially when you get to the last couple assassinations, and they will take offense to you and try to take you out. This is where the action part of the game takes place, after you have alerted the guards, whether it was from climbing up a wall or assassinating your target. Guards will be in plentiful supply in this game and will being trying to take you out. The main weapon you will be using is your sword. While you still have your hidden blade for assassinations and throwing knives for long range attacks, the sword is the most commonly used weapon in the game. At first when fighting the guards it will simply be a button mashing affair. But as you progress through the game you will start to unlock new moves, some of which are counter attacks. When performing a counter attacking the camera will actually zoom in and play out the move in an almost cinematic experience which makes the fights in the game a lot of fun to not only play but watch. However the combat A.I is somewhat lacking. Enemies will attack you one at a time making the fighting somewhat easy especially once you learn counter moves.
   
   
   
   What if fighting isn’t you style? If the guards attack you, there is an alternative to violence, just as there always is in real life. You can run. This may seem like the cowards way about, but the free running in Assassin’s Creed is actually one of the best parts in the whole game, thanks to the ease of use and the city’s structures. Anything in Assassin’s Creed can be climbed on, jumped across or used for an escape route from the guards. Any wall can be climbed to access the roof tops, and once there, the real fun begins. There will be wooden platforms, beams and other obstacles you can use to create some of the coolest free running you have ever seen. And the best part of it all is that it all looks organic. Nothing looks like it was set up for you to climb on, which really adds to the cities authenticity. Not only does the architecture look organic, but so do Altair’s movements. Perfectly blending animations really make Altair a great character to watch run around these worlds.
   
   
   
   When performing the actual target assassinations, a gamer would have hoped that they could have carried it out in any way they anted to. The truth is that you can’t. For every assassination there is a specific place and time where you must carry out the hit, and for the most part only one way to do it. You can try rogue methods to kill your target but usually you will just end up upsetting the guards. The assassinations are still fun to complete, especially with their cinematic introductions and ending sequences, but it would have been better to plan the hit how you wanted, instead of taking a already planned route.
   
   
   
   There are many side objectives to complete in the various cities ranging from helping a civilian in distress, collecting flags scattered throughout the city or climbing look out points to give you an eagle’s eye view of the landscape. Probably the best side missions are climbing the various building to get to the look out points. However, just like the Intel missions, the side missions do get repetitive and dull. You will also see that they civilians being harassed by guards will be in the same spot being harassed throughout the entire game, unless you save them, which takes away from the whole experience. These side quests do offer more extended game play for anyone who just can’t put this game down.
   
   
   
   So overall does this game deliver? Yes it does through the gigantic cities, citizens in the game, the story, the action, and the free running. The games feels like a great idea put to life. The only things holding this game back from true glory are the repetitive missions and the not so total control over your assassinations. With the way the story has ended, you can probably look forward to the next installment in the series, which hopefully fixes the minor problems and allows this game to truly be great. Assassin’s Creed is a great game for any gamer to have in his or her collection.
   
   
   
   OVERALL: 8.7
   
   
   
   Game Play: 8.5/10
   
   Graphics: 9.5/10
   
   Sound: 9.0/10
   
   Presentation: 9.0/10
   
   Value: 8.2/10

   
   

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The Antagonist has 4 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Joe
   Posted On Jan 03 2008

   Couldn't have been written any better .

2. Lt.Mcginn
   Posted On Dec 19 2007

   Reading this beautifully and in-depth review wet my lips for such a lucious experience. I can almost taste the awesomness that is your reviewing skills. I have complete faith in your artistically reviews that i went off pc gaming (good lord.. NOOOO) to try this gaming experince and i was completely satistified that your review covered every angle man. Props to a professional writer.

3. The Antagonist
   Posted On Dec 03 2007

   don't worry my reviews will continue to be plentiful and indepth for those hardcore gamers!

4. BEN
   Posted On Dec 03 2007

   8.7 out of 10! Love it...
   
   
   
   Once again, nice work and keep 'em coming! I haven't played this game, but I'll be sure to let ya know when I do.