by:	March 07, 2008

Assassins Creed was billed as the first true next gen game. UBI Soft pulled out all the stops to promote this game. The amount of times we saw Jade Raymond (UBI’s resident cutie) promote this game you would think she was some kind of Royalty. Gamers were fawning over her more than the game but she drove the concept and name so deep into our minds we just had to play. The concept is excellent but the execution leaves much to be desired.

You play as Altair, the ultimate Assassin for the Hashshashin (Assassins Guild). The Hashshashin were a group that killed for political gain. The game is set in the Middle East during the 3rd Crusade in 3 cities. Jerusalem, Damascus and the Acre. Each city has been created with exquisite detail which must have taken countless time to research. Your task as Altair is to kill 9 Men in seats of political power. Each of the 9 was in fact a real person and did in fact die or vanish in the same time frame the game takes place. UBI Soft put a lot of thought into the Historical accuracy of the game and it shows. Story is very important here and while it looks like a straight up action game it’s the story the will draw most in. There is a single major twist in the story line and unfortunately it is revealed to the player right at the start of the game. This is an odd choice and it does detract from the overall enjoyment of the story but if you stick through it you should come away happy by the end.

The game is about 12 hours long for the average gamer. My first play through was around 20-30 hours. I made sure to do anything and everything possible in the game. I also spent many hours just walking around not really doing anything but stabbing random people. The main game play is compromised of investigatory missions. You can spy on conversations, pickpocket a clue or piece of evidence, stop citizens from being harassed by guards, interrogate someone, and speak with informants.

Each of these side tasks happens with every single mission you are given. You do not have to complete them all but they do offer clues to make your job easier. You typical mission would go as follows. You sneak into a city. You have three ways to accomplish this task. Either find some scholars and blend in with them to walk through the gate. Climb and jump your way past the gate out of sight of any guards, or you could just kill all the guards blocking your way. Once in the city you will look for a tower to climb. Once you ascend to the top the camera will pan around and side missions will be placed on your map. Each city has multiple towers to climb per investigation and each is as fun as the next. After the missions have been placed on your map you can tackle them in any order you please. I always just went to the closest mission first and then made my way to the furthest away.