Assassin's Creed

This is Assassin's Creed at its most simple. But simplicity isn't bad, mind you. In fact, it's this game's rawness that still makes it feel a bit different than what followed.

As the very first game of its kind and the first entry to one of the largest gaming franchises, it definitely feels like its goal was to set the foundation of what was to come. In other words, setting up an ambitious and promising framework. As a result, AC1 takes some risks. It's avant-garde in nature, but it's that very nature that makes the subsequent titles seem so sanitized and accessible in comparison.

AC1's story is daring and thought-provoking, questioning life on Earth and religion. It's very much a game that prioritizes its themes over a deep character arc and a nuanced plot. Altaïr's character arc is still good, just not as prominent as one would expect. The plot is straight forward, but leaves enough room for the mysterious and thematically-driven narrative to flex its muscles. The storytelling feels very akin to Ghost in the Shell (1995) at times, with lots of dialogue and philosophical discussions. But the arguments presented here are genuinely well thought-out, and that is partly due to the strong script. Then there's also the suspensefully mysterious worldbuilding that makes the story much more expansive than it already is. The ability to leave the player with more questions than answers, but in a fair and compelling way, is the story's greatest strength.

The gameplay may seem simple on the surface (because it is), but there's more going on when you actually engage and experiment with it. The parkour may seem slow when you engage with it in a casual way, but when you add a bit of tactic, you'll realize that there's a deeper system behind it than you originally thought (even with special animations that you wouldn't see via casual play). The combat sees a similar level of depth, but to a lesser extent. Another interesting layer to the gameplay is the marriage of narrative exposition and how it can open up opportunities during gameplay. Doing certain missions will inform you about secret pathways for assassinating targets - granted, the player remembers that information.

Lastly, there's the atmosphere and art direction. AC1 has a bleak and gritty look, but the atmosphere and art direction go hand-in-hand very well. Certain environments are characterized by particular color schemes and the soundtrack informs the player of what kind of culture and history settles in these environments. A lot of the time, during story moments, this game has a very eerie vibe to it. The mix of ominous sci-fi and dark history only makes the atmosphere even more unsettling.

AC1, despite being the most simplistic game in the mainline series, still feels like the most unique entry. Its ideas are presented in ways that have been trivialized in later games. Its much more niche because of that. The series would go on to be a much more accessible historical/sci-fi epic, but this first entry is what Assassin's Creed could've been. An eerie and challenging series that analyses philosophy and questions conspiracies.

Let's start with the good... - The game is smooth and looks very good - The Parkour is very good - The combat is great - The story is great - It was very innovative at the time

Now the bad... - Incredibly repetitive - Ridiculously frustrating at times - Often boring

Not a great game, but it's playable. The main reason for playing would be the story. I'm just getting into the series, and I wanted to start from the very beginning, which is basically the only reason anyone would ever have to play it.

Compared to some of the other additions in the franchise, this game is horrible. But compared to E.T. The Video Game, this game is The Shawshank Redemption. It's all about perspective.

Assassin's Creed is basically a cross between Grand Theft Auto and the Hit-man series set during the Third Crusades. The game has a strange premise, it is both set in 2012 and 1191 and you play two characters. In 2012 the main character is Desmond a former assassin who is kidnapped by a company called Abstergo who wanted to access the memories of one of his ancestor. Abstergo place him in a machine called the Animas and the theory behind it was that DNA also contends the memories of out ancestors. In 1191 the playable character is Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad, an assassin. He is a young skilled assassin, but also an argonant man. After a mission to Solomon's temple which led to death of one of his companions Altair was demoted and had to work his way back to ranks (its all an excuse to teach you new skills). The master of the creed sends Altair on missions to assassin leading Knight Templars who had taken control of key cities.

The game is action packed and takes you the cities of Jersulaum, Damasacus and Arce and it does take a little getting use to. But once you master it then the gameplay is pretty easy. It is also very cinematic in it approach and violence with the sword play. The plot is weak, but it doesn't matter so much with games.

However I did find two major problems with the games. First I found it too easy and repetitive; the games doesn't challenge you as much as GTA and Hit-man do and you are just repeating yourself with your actions. Secondly the games is too short and ends too quickly.

It is a decent game a sequel is one its way.

A rare beauty of this game just tickled the inner thigh of my brain when I first saw the trailer for this game. First I thought I can't play this, I don't have a proper machine for this. But, years later I bought a new, proper machine, and I got this game. And fu*k me sideways that was a brutal experience. That was definitely one of the most beautiful games I have ever played.

Perhaps, the best thing I like, is the FACT that the game is based upon some historical events. Finally, an educational video game, that makes you want to read a book. To do a little research yourself. So, we are going to talk about this special stuff here. First of all graphics - holy sh*t! They are awesome! Greatly done graphics. The sound effects are great. Visually, the game is very, very beautiful. The landscapes, the characters (characters visually and their personality, also), the way they created Damascus and Jerusalem, that was impressive! Music score was good, very atmospheric, fits perfectly in the game.

The story is good, I don't know how precise is, when it comes to the historical events, but it's up to you to do a research. Now, you are an assassin (a word that comes from Arabic 'hashashin', the killer sect that used to assassinate specific people, war leaders, religious leaders, politicians, etc ) named Altair. The name 'hashashin' constantly reminded me of Eddie Izzard's famous joke about hashish and Arab assassins. Altair makes a mistake in the first mission which is actually a tutorial, but after that, his leader strips away his skills and weapons, so that you can go and start the game properly, and to upgrade yourself sh*t But, before that you realize that the gameplay is actually an virtual memory image from a guy named Desmond Miles, who is a descendant of Altair. And he is kidnapped and persuaded to take place in an scientific experiment to discover deepest memories of ancestors via machine called Amnibus. Sounds pretty cool, right? Now, every time you lay down on amnibus, you become Altair. And then, you take various missions, assassinations primarily, pickpocket, spying on people, interrogation and other minor challenges. The gameplay is decent, not that hard, you just need to adapt to these kind of controls, and to a fact that this is an third person, adventure stealth game. I don't like stealth games, I prefer first person shooters, where I can enter the But, after this game, I learn to love stealth in video games more. You really need patience for this game, for every moment of it, because, here's the thing that makes me angry. The cut scenes are pretty long, it takes a pretty long time to enter the game, it takes a hell of a lot more to exit the damn thing so just give patience and everything will be just fine. And get use to the controls, sometimes Altair can be clumsy in battle and sometimes it happens that he can't grab onto a building, but you need to get use to it. So, that's about it, take your console, and go ride assassinate, survive, adapt, hide and defile evil and traitorous enemies.

Assassin's Creed delivers a new generation of game play. A bit of how the grand theft auto games are set up; you can do the missions, but you can just free-roam as you please! This game also had a great storyline that had everyone questioning. This game has four awesome weapons at your disposal (well sort of 5 as throwing knives and the short sword are of the same block) the sword, the hidden blade (my favorite), the short sword and throwing knives, and the legitimate weapon for thugs, fists. A great buy EPIC! (great price as well)I think anyone can enjoy it, and it being on a wide variety of platforms makes it one of the greatest games of all time.