I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I love the Assassin’s Creed franchise. There’s really just nothing quite like it. What Ubisoft Montreal has created with these games is something unique and unlike anything else on the market. The reason it’s strange to hear myself say I love this franchise is because I tried and failed to get into both the original and the sequel when they were released. I bought the original assassins creed because of the huge amount of hype around it, and because of the freaking amazing trailer that had been shown at E3. Both times, with both games, I couldn’t get into it. It was just so boring. There was just so much talking, so much repetition and so much hiding in hay bales.
Months after it’s initial release I finally tried to play Assassins Creed 2 again, and let me tell you, that game is so incredibly awesome. I got so wrapped up in the story, the characters, the world, the setting, and the fantastic game-play. So, once I had done every single thing possible in AC2, it made sense to go back and played the first game. So I did, and let me tell you, this game is FLAWED. Everything could be better, and the fact that I played the 2nd game first means I know that it can be better, so it was a very frustrating experience to say the least. I still like it of course, but man, it’s kind of a bear to get through.
So, as I start out the game I immediately can’t help but feel that the story is a little dumb. I mean, c’mon, going into your ancestor’s memories through a machine? That makes no sense at all. Individual’s memories are their own; entering into someone else’s, even be they related to you, is just stupid and not a good plot device. If it were up to me, I would simply remove Desmond’s end of the story from the game completely. When I first started the game I kind of hated Altair, Not because the game makes him out to be a bad guy, but because he’s so incredibly flat. He’s just a rogue, who doesn’t take orders from anyone, boring… I expect more from game characters these days; I’m looking at you Master Chief. However, by the end of the game I liked Altair; In fact, I liked him a lot, the dialogue towards the end of the game is really great. Altair has some great lines, as do some of the supporting characters, and the story really wraps itself up nicely. The other reason I like him is of course because he’s a badass and is one of the most memorable looking characters in gaming. Desmond however, is boring. Plain and simple, he’s not interesting at all. We’ll see how he plays out in the 3rd game, but as far as one and two go, his side of the story is a total snooze-fest. But, whatever, it’s just something you have to deal with in order to enjoy these games. Another thing that annoys me about the Desmond’s side of the story is the fact that Nolan North, who plays Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, voices him. It annoys me every time I hear Desmond talk, because I think about poor Nolan North reading Desmond’s boring, borderline nonsense dialogue, when his dialogue and mo-cap is so perfect in Uncharted.
While were on the subject of Characters though, Ezio Auditore is way better than Altair. I applaud the guys at Ubisoft Montreal for the creation of this hero for the second game. He’s exactly what the game deserved as its hero. Sure, he’s a little whiny at times, but man, he’s just so awesome, a total badass as well by the end of the 2nd game. Ezio’s story is also better. I don’t really like the whole thing in the first game where the Assassin’s have this big castle where they all live, which gets attacked by armies. That’s not really what I think about when I think of Assassins. Doesn’t it make more sense for them not to have a centralized base of operations? Shouldn’t they more likely have like, maybe a couple underground bases, and more little meet areas throughout the city. They should be lurking in the shadows, not live on a mountainside castle, surrounding by a huge village in which it seems civilians live as well. Ezio’s adventure takes place more in the shadows; he learns to be an assassin, slowly, and through the death of his family. It’s a great setup, and it makes for a more powerful ending. Although, I think the ending of the first game was a little more epic. Although, the one part about the ending fight in the first game that annoys me, is that it’s feels a little bit too Videogame-ish. It’s just not realistic enough to be taken as a memory from an ancestor’s memory. But, I guess it just goes along with the futuristic sci-fi element of the games. Which, I still think should be changed. Seriously Ubisoft, make these games about the people in history. Leave the entire memory bit out of it.
Desmond: looking cross-eyed and stupid as usual.
The game play in the game is really what keeps this from becoming so boring that you stop playing. It is so unique, and so well implemented that it is hard to really criticize it too much. Altair does get caught on some ledges in the game where he freezes and can’t seem to climb to the next one, despite the fact that it is clearly climbable and within reaching distance. Also, it might just be me, but it seems like Altair also climbs slower than Ezio, which is kind of annoying, but altogether the climbing and fighting are really well done. This is obvious from the first mission, your climbing and jumping and fighting off hordes of guys, and you think, wow, this is gonna be so awesome. Then you get to mission 2 in which the leader of the Assassins sends you on a mission to go to the “assassins bureau”, where they in turn send you to gather information on a target, then send you again to kill said target. And you think, hm, that was pretty fun. Then Mission three begins, and the leader sends you on a mission to do the same thing from mission 2, except now you must do all the things from the first mission twice, as there are two targets now. So you think, hm, well maybe the game is just showing me the controls, and we’ll get to the really fun stuff soon. But, no, unfortunately, this is the whole game. It’s hard to really describe in text just how boring this formula becomes. Not so much the final assassinations (though I’ll get to those in a minute) but more the gathering information. It’s just not very fun at all, and so repetitive. What makes all this even more frustrating is the fact that the only way the game knows how to step up the difficulty is to throw more and more guards at you, as they seemingly become more and more aware of your existence. At a first glance the guards chasing you all the time makes sense, I mean, they’re guarding the city, and you’re an Assassin. So naturally from a reality standpoint they should come after you like they do, in full force, annoyingly stopping you for things like running, or knocking over a pot. From a game-play perspective, this doesn’t work at all. There is a reason that in GTA the cops don’t come after you for breaking traffic laws like driving on the wrong side of the road, or running through stoplights, because they would literally be chasing you all the time. Now, I’m not saying this game should be more like GTA, a free for all in which you run around killing people with reckless abandon, it just should be a little more forgiving. For me to make this rant though is a little silly, because in AC2 the guards are much, much more balanced, so Ubisoft did learn their lesson.
Like I said earlier, the final assassinations are not bad in any way, they’re definitely the best part of the game, and can be really really fun. They get a little bit annoying at the end where you don’t seem to be an Assassin at all, more like a tank, barreling through waves and waves of enemies, as they repeatedly attack you. But, altogether, they make the game worth playing. The one thing that annoys me about these sections though, is that Altair waits for the target he is sent to take out to finish killing or torturing their subjects before attacking. He just kind of stands in the crowd and lets everyone around him die. Shouldn’t his role be to stop the villain before this happens? I don’t know, a minor gripe I suppose.
Despite all I’ve said here I don’t want anyone to think that this is a bad game, because like I mentioned earlier, I really really enjoy this series. The first game is still worth a play through, just remember, it’s pretty tedious and boring at parts. However, everyone should play the 2nd game, as It is literally fantastic. Once you get into it, it takes off in a way you couldn’t possibly imagine.
Assassin’s Creed: 7/10
Assassin’s Creed II: 9/10
good ol' ezio, killin' and stuff
Still gotta play AC: Brotherhood, so once i get some money that’ll be next. OH and Dead Space 2. Oh and Mass Effect 2. Oh right, and then there’s Killzone 3. Man, i’ve got some catching up to do.
