Prince or Assassin?

You migh be wondering what The Prince of Persia and Assassins Creed have to do with each other. Not to mention that the image used with this News is Altair from Assassins Creed. Or is it?

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Assassin’s Creed

From my perch on the highest point of the synagogue, all of Jerusalem stretches out in front of me.

This is an experience that I shared with the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed countless times while I reviewed it.  Before we dive into stories and gameplay and graphics, it’s a point I want to make as clear as the developer made it to me:  Assassin’s Creed is a technically astounding game.  The sheer size of the world, and the eagle-eye view from which players take it in, is easily worth the price of the title.  If you’re thinking of picking up the game on the 360 (I reviewed the PC version), I can see it being an excellent reason to buy a monster TV as well.

As you might have guessed, Assassin’s Creed is the story of an assassin.  While that would normally be enough to pull in the gamer love, Ubisoft went the extra mile to create a story that combines both the present day and the time of the Crusades in the cradle of civilization.  I’ll not spoil the plot for our readers, suffice to say that the story didn’t appear as usual to be slapped in at the last minute by a motley group of drunk developers.

The title falls into no genre, although we imagine that Assassin’s Creed must have been meticulously cross-bred from the likes of Splinter Cell, the Grand Theft Auto series, and Heavenly Sword.  Players find themselves slinking around a large realm, making contacts with allied ne’er-do-wells and learning more about each of the nine targets the game presents for assassination.

Players are given a choice to avoid guards and ruffians with a small arsenal of sneaking techniques, or throw caution to the wind and kill every obstacle in their path.  Do you want to sneak up on your mark and dispatch him with a hidden blade, or are you feeling lucky?  Why not waltz right into his sanctuary, in front of 10 guards, and draw your blade?  Assassin’s Creed let’s you decide, and though we found stealth assassination to be more “in character”, it was a blast to usher on your opponents and leave no man standing.

The game thrusts players into the combat system when an overly anxious guard spots you or you cause a disruption in a crowd.  Galloping through a group of jar-carrying peasants will do it, as will jumping on the roof in the presence of guards.  Regardless of how it happens, once the combat system is tripped the player has two choices: fight or flight.

The combat system is a combination of swashbuckling and Jujitsu, and players deciding to shed blood are given an arsenal of fighting techniques that makes a field of dead soldiers seem commonplace.  Swords and the occasional lunge can be countered with deadly blows, all presented in theatrical angles that look great and stamp the ESRB rating M all over the landscape.

If bloodshed’s not your cup of tea, you can also bolt like the sissy-coward you probably are.  To make a clean getaway, however, takes more than skills of the foot.  Players must first break line-of-site with their pursuers, then blend into the city through a variety of hidy-holes and busy crowds.  As fun as the combat is, the real action takes place in flight.  There’s no better cardio workout than running across the roofs of Bethlehem like some sort of crazed circus performer, and I’m talking about your heart racing, not the assassin’s.

Each assassination bring players closer to unraveling the overlying plot, which spills out in modern day throughout the game.  More importantly, perhaps, is that each dead boss increases your arsenal of weapons as well as your combat repertoire.  As players approach the end sequence, they’ll have a somewhat overwhelming series of options as to how to accomplish each mission.  At the end of the day, however, these options are what make the title worth playing. In fact, the one option you don’t have is passing up this game.

Assassin’s Creed is all of the good things we’ve enjoyed in action-based sandbox games, with a measure of stealth thrown in for taste.  The immersive landscape and killer combat systems make for a great game, and the only thing to complain about (which I didn’t, I might add) was the occasional minor PC camera issues that source from the game’s origin on a console.  If you’ve got a copy of Steam running, or just want to run to Wal-Mart today, pick up Assassin’s Creed and burn up a weekend or two.  Never mind the mess afterwards, the peasants will clean it up.