Game Review: Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)

assassin's creed boxart
Ubisoft Entertainment

A videogame about human nature and free will, Assassin's Creed tells the story of Desmond Miles, a young man who finds himself reliving the memories of his assassin ancestors through the use a fancy-pants machine called the Animus. Most of the gameplay has the player spend time as Altair ibn-La'Ahad, a bad ass Assassin roaming around through the Third Crusade, stabbing people in the jugular in true assassin fashion. Every now and then I play a videogame that is so awesome that it literally hooks me like a coke habit, and Assassin's Creed is definitely one of them. Everything from the impressive voice acting to the look of the in game menus reminded me that the developer team, Ubisoft Montreal, really cared about this game.

Altair on the rooftops
Ubisoft Entertainment

In the beginning you are shoved into a beautifully styled, wide and free roaming world and are encouraged to seek your own path towards various missions and objectives. For example, if I wanted to assassinate a target by throwing a knife into his back, I could free up walls and on top of roofs to reach him, or I could be stealthy and waltz my way over to him to complete the deed. However way you choose the chances are very high that you will enjoy AC's odd yet refreshing style of gameplay as it mixes free roaming (and running), stealth, and action. Oh, and that story... I could go on forever about Assassin's Creed's story so instead I'll just say this: Name one videogame that wonderfully tackles questions of morality, human nature and free will and does so without overbearing the gamer in pretentious bullshit. Exactly, you can't do that unless you've played Assassin's Creed (If you do know of a videogame or two that can do this, let me know in the comment section below).


Altair assassination
Ubisoft Entertainment

Alas, I would be lying if I told you that this game is without flaw. For one, free running as Altair can be imprecise as he controls not-exactly-like-a-tank, but he is not as responsive as one would expect a BAMF assassin to be. Also, the missions you must complete become repetitive about midway through, and towards the later memory blocks, this game's chapters, AC's story paid dividends to keep me playing despite it's repetitive nature. All said, with Assassin's Creed, not only are you getting something genuinely fun, you are also getting a fantastic looking game with an amazing narrative wrapped around a compelling story. The entire package is without a doubt something special that I do not usually see in videogame. If you have not played this one yet then you owe it to yourself to experience what "doing things right" in videogames looks like. If you have played this game already, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below!

This videogame is available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox360 and PC.

Comments

  1. If you want thought provoking morality/philosophy stuff, check out planescape: torment. Really old PC game, but pretty good.

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    1. Hmmmmm I'll probably check it out. I'm not big on RPGs but I really haven't played one since Pokemon Diamond.

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  2. could you review call of duty mw3. I'm debating weather i should buy this game over battlefield 3. i need a 2nd opinion about this game before i make my decision. thanks

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    1. Duly noted! I actually plan on playing much of it soon so stay tuned.

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  3. I think they handled the controls a little *too* realistically, but I mean, what are we supposed to argue?

    "Nah, I think video games should fuck things I don't like, like Newton's Law of conservation of speedy things, but they should add MORE realism, like blood that sprays all over, cuz that's cool and I like it."

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    Replies
    1. I see what you mean. Though it seemed that they tried to remedy the control issue in Assassin's Creed II as, so far, controlling Enzio is far less frustrating.

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