Video Game Review: Assassin's Creed

I got this game used for $5. I really fell in love with Assassin's Creed II, and this is it's Platinum Edition prequel. Chris warned me against the game, saying that #2 was far better, and the beggars were intolerably annoying. And I was warned that water would insta-kill me and that assassinations are only a small part of the real game thanks to this review.

But for $5 and to keep me happy while I wait for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood to become reasonably priced, it was worth my time.

I was off to a rocky start at first. The glean and polish given to the 2nd game clearly wasn't here. Which makes complete sense, but it's just hard to think that way when you're playing the original game after playing it's rather well polished sequel. Also, my character is an asshole.

That's right. You start the game as an assassin who's all "I don't care about the 'creed', just let me kill templars". Which, admittedly, is how I sometimes go about in all these cities, but that's not the point. The point is that I didn't like what my main character was doing. And neither did any of the NPCs. And then they would all tell me in very stodgy dialog that I was a bad person. I would totally agree with them, but instead my character was on some kind of asshole cruise control and would just shrug them off, insult them, or kill them. Sometimes all 3.

And then at this one point I was killed, but not actually killed, which wasn't actually explained very well. Sigh.

But the story is deep, once it gets going, and the free running and swordplay mechanics are great. Once I got a few hours in and the "it's not Assassin's Creed II" voice inside me quieted down I actually began enjoying myself. And I'm glad I finally got some frame of reference for what the animus was and why I was in it; the sequel just sort of dropped me off without much explanation.

All in all, it was a good game. And remarkably impressive considering it came out in 2007.