Assassin's Creed

The Assassin's Creed universe is expanding pretty quickly lately- this year will mark the third in a row with a full console game coming out for the holiday season. I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed 2 when I played it nearly 2 years ago, but if I have any hopes of catching up by the time Assassin's Creed 3 rolls around, I had to get the original Assassin's Creed out of the way quickly. For those who don't know, the background behind the series isn't to simply play as an assassin in a few different time periods, although that is the real meat of the game. The actual protagonist isn't simply Altair during the Crusades in Assassin's Creed or Ezio in 2, but Desmond Miles- a modern day supposed last living descendant of an order of assassins stretching back throughout history, who is being hunted down by the Knights Templar and forced to relive 'genetic memories' in a machine called the Animus to aid in their nefarious schemes. This provides an interesting framework for the game- for instance, the player doesn't have a health bar, but a 'syncing' bar- the better he follows along with Desmond's genetic memory of Altair, the better he syncs, but messing up (getting hurt, killing innocents) can deplete the bar to a point where Desmond literally needs to 'reset' the Animus. I found it an interesting way of tackling certain video game tropes- Desmond doesn't die, he 'resets.' Don't want Altair to reach a certain part of the city? That section of memory is 'locked.' Of course it all revolves around an interesting but completely bananas storyline about the end of the world in 2012, but it's told in such a fresh way that it manages to overshadow the innovative core gameplay. So many third-person adventure games tack on unnecessary stealth missions that break up the flow of the game, but Assassin's Creed manages to make the stealth angle feel so natural that normal combat begins to feel out of place- the high points of the game involve running undetected across rooftops and swooping in for a one-shot kill, while the low points involve long-winded counter-heavy battles that really only come about after the player has made a mistake and finish with little payoff. The game certainly had a bit more structure here than 2, it reminded me of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes's ability to make some sense out of a giant environment compared with Metroid Primes's freewheeling exploration- there may be a little less sense of wonder, but it provides you with an easy way of keeping track of progress, which becomes more important with more backlogging. The scenic viewpoints I liked in 2 were handled better here too- although there was less variation of towers to climb, they actually played an important and fun factor in the gameplay rather than being a slightly more interesting collectible for OCD completionists. That said, there are just so many huge improvements made between here and Assassin's Creed 2 for me to call it the better game- some fun platforming sub-levels, a fantastic economic system, and frankly 2 ran a lot faster and smoother. So while Assassin's Creed has a few things going for it, it wasn't until its sequel that things really kicked into high gear and became must-play.