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Assassin's Creed
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The general AI is fine, nothing miraculous on its own, but based on the sheer number of on-screen NPC’s it holds its own. Break into a fight and the AI crumbles. Enemy soldiers do their very best to make a fair fight of one vs. one. They basically don’t have the capacity to attack all at once, or at least two at a time to force some strategy from the player. They basically wait for death to come to them.

To not attract attention, don't bump into people. Make sure to hold down the B button to gently move them out of the way.

While this is surely appreciated, this makes combat catastrophically simple, to the point where it is dull within seconds. This may be a good thing, to force players to run and make a chase, but then what’s the point of the combat system at all?

It's bad enough enemies wait to die, the combat itself is like a supped up version of the Pirates of the Carribbean game. There is literally one attack for three of the four weapons, one counter attack with different animations, and a few abilities gained over time. Its simplicity lacks depth, only alleviating the need to make another chase.

Which, once again, wouldn’t be so bad if fighting wasn’t required. But it is. 95% of the game can be played without a single fight, but the remaining 5% is the most important. There is simply no way around it. Fighting is a necessary evil, to be done either in the game to practice or only on the rare and warranted occasions.

Scaling walls and running from armed guards also has a huge problem: insensitive controls. Because of the great use for climbing buildings and evading the enemy, making sure climbing works flawlessly is imperative. There are plenty of times, however, that Altair will run into a wall and try climbing it instead of going up a ladder inches away while, yes, pointing the thumbstick in the correct direction. If Altair gets hit and falls on the ground, he may stay floored for up to five seconds, presumably taking a break while players hit enough buttons to play a Guitar Hero encore.

With the world as amazing as it is, finding viewpoints isn't just beneficial for gameplay, it's a marvelous sight to behold as well.

Remember those dumb AI guards? Lock onto them and they’ll suddenly know you are after them and attack. Yet when you run and hide by sitting on a bench, they will walk right by you and not notice.

Assassins Creed has some of the most memorable gaming moments anyone can have. Whether it’s overlooking an entire open city, taking down an unsuspecting target in plain sight or running for dear life for minutes at a time, there is so much to do and enjoy. Tiring gameplay mechanics and a few faulty shortcomings remind us that it’s just a game and take away from the experience, but the sinister story, amazing acrobatics and monumental realm to play in is more than enough to demand our full attention. Yours as well.

Highs
Enormous maps, great animation effects, fun chase sequences.

Lows
Poor AI, tiring gameplay, poor fighting system.

Final Verdict
A great game that has lots of great features, but is also lacking in the fundamentals.

79%

Dec 3, 2007

Review by James Pikover.