Rating: 4.5 Pulses

ESRB Rating: M

Assassin’s Creed is a very fun, beautiful and thrilling adventure that will keep players wanting more even after the ending. With its intriguing story, open environment and fluid controls, Creed comes close to being a very complete game, if it weren’t for its repetitive investigations and missions.

You start Creed off as Altair, an expert assassin in the 12th century exploring the famous Holy Land cities of Jerusalem, Damascus and Acre. Altair’s first mission from his organization, the Assassin’s Creed, is to find a hidden treasure, but Altair’s ego and ignorant motives put him and his partners in a dangerous situation, in which he loses a fellow brother of the Creed in battle. Altair is then stripped of his high rank for breaking the rules of the Creed, but is given a chance to redeem himself and become a high rank assassin once again by assassinating nine Crusaders throughout the Holy Kingdom. The story then takes a sci-fi twist when the events taking place are actually being pulled from the genetic code of a modern day bartender named Desmond by researchers using a machine called the Animus. Although the story might get a little confusing at times, it really does keep your attention and you’ll want to keep playing until you know what happens next.

For every assassination, Altair must go through a certain number of investigations to find information about his target. Investigations include: eavesdropping, pick pocketing, interrogations and using fellow assassins as informants. But it’ll be hard to find where all the investigations are in such a huge city like Damascus or Jerusalem and that’s why Altair must use viewpoints to synchronize his surroundings. Viewpoints are usually located on the tallest buildings in the city and you’ll have to find your way up there to unlock the locations of investigations on your map. Once you get enough information about your target, you’ll have to go to the Assassin’s Bureau and get permission for the assassination. All the assassinations go through this very same routine of finding the viewpoints, conducting the investigations and taking out the target. This sort of repetition gets really old and causes a loss of interest at times. Another flaw about the assassinations is that they aren’t very stealthy at all. For almost every assassination, you’ll have to chase down your target to kill him and then you’ll have to deal with swarms of guards. For a game that is supposed to focus on stealth, much of the stealth is removed from the assassinations and saved for hiding from the guards and blending in with other citizens.

Getting up to the rooftops is the easiest way to get away from guards and jumping from one rooftop to another is some of the most fun you’ll have playing this game. Creed’s “free climbing” controls are very fluid and very easy to perform. Altair will use whatever he can, whether it’s a window or a ledge, to get on top of buildings. Although the three cities in the game do have their restrictions, most of it is an open environment for Altair to use as his own playground. The superior level design and memorable world of Assassin’s Creed will amaze players, as the cities look and feel very realistic. The wonderful sound design and music also go along very well with the 12th-century cities. With traditional Middle Eastern tunes and voice acting that is flawless, you’ll be amazed at how perfect the settings and sound mix. Although the cities all look very splendid and they all have their own details to separate themselves from each other, they all play alike. It’s not that big of a deal, but a little bit of variety of how the cities are set up wouldn’t have hurt.

Overall, Assassin’s Creed is a fabulous mix of stealth, action and platforming that is one hell of a game. I can’t say enough how wonderful the game looks and how creative the story was written, until the confusing and disappointing ending, which they left open for a sequel. But if they don’t polish up some of the gameplay, such as the repetitive missions and lack of variety in cities in the next Creed, it may be much of the same game. Although there is the option of collecting all the flags in the game and unlocking all the achievements, there isn’t much more to do once you’ve finished the game, but I’m sure you’ll still want to be playing. Even with some of its flaws and missteps, Assassin’s Creed is a very addictive, beautiful and fun game that is well worth playing through again.