Assassin’s Creed is quite a game. It’s a rare experience when I enjoy playing a game because I enjoy ‘being’ the character that I’m manipulating. That was the case for me with Assassin’s Creed. While the environments were incredible, the story intriguing and the action top-notch the biggest thrill I got from the game was just being in Altiar’s shoes.

Silently and unassumingly walking down bustling streets as I stalked my targets, filled me with a bit of an uber ‘bad-ass’ feeling. It was so much so that I continued to walk those very streets, hiding right out in the open, long after I had dispatched my assassination target.

For the first half of the game I played as intended, remaining in a low profile as to not draw attention – but eventually, the dark side of the force took over and I fearlessly walked with my head held high and at most times my sword drawn.

Crowds would scatter at my feet, guards called in reinforcements and I smirked as I stepped over their lifeless bodies as I continued on my quest. It was quite a rush.

I wasn’t a heartless killer mind you, I assisted every citizen in distress and would’ve done more for them had only the game allowed it. The few times my blade accidentally found an innocent victim left me feeling truly sorry.

I can understand complaints that the game is too repetitive. While some tasks flow along with the storyline others are just pure filler. They were all fun to tackle, but I would’ve liked to have seen a better integration between the story and the events that you were charged with during your missions.

While I enjoyed the story at it’s most intriguing parts, there were a few too many elements that I could do without. I’ll spare mentioning those there as not to ruin the game for anyone. Lets just say when Altiar wasn’t on my screen my enjoyment of the game would take a bit of a dive.

The ending also left me a bit disappointed, but I suppose it’s somewhat IP-suicide for a game company to give a complete experience in a title these days.

Assassin’s Creed is a difficult game to rate. Assigning a number score to it feels arbitrary. The game exceeded in some areas while being only really good in others. On a personal satisfaction scale, I’d give the game a 10. I got an incredible experience from being able to step into a very unusual pair of shoes, one that I highly recommend.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Goozex, Video Games, review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.