An Alphabetical Approach to My Steam Games Library Post #7 - Assassin's Creed Special

In the thirteen years since I opened my Steam account, (Thanks, Half-Life 2) I've collected an enormous collection of games through various Steam sales, and bundles for sale through sites like Humble Bundle, Indie Gala, and Fanatical (formerly Bundle Stars).

The thing is, I haven't played almost any of them, but the most 'popular' titles, and I've got no idea what is good, and what is bad. Steam does have a system of user reviews; but I like to experience things for myself, without context, and to suspend judgement from what others have written.

_{Steam Stats Sourced fromSteamdb.info}

So here we go, approaching my Steam Collection with alphabetical precision. I don't know what the frequency of these posts will be, but I can tell you that there may end up being a lot of them!

Assassin's Creed

A white, cloaked figure navigates a crowd. He jostles through faceless citizens, running into a woman carrying a pot upon her head. It falls to the ground, and shatters; the pot maker's labours dispersed upon a Damascus city street. The year is 1191, and here; justice comes hard and fast.

"Kill him!", exclaims a city guard, and the cloaked figure gets mobbed by guards, surrounded. Seven of them die. Seven lives for a pot, as the cloaked figure slips back into a group of passing scholars, leaving the scene.

This is Assassin's Creed. It isn't actually 1191, and the cloaked figure is a figment of mnemonic DNA bought to life by a machine called the Animus. A man named Desmond Miles is captive here, held by Dr Warren Vidic and Lucy Stillman.

Assassins hold some deep, dark secret in the past that will make the present world a better place. The premise is this secret resides in ACGT double helix of DNA, and Miles holds the key Vidic is after.

The game shifts between Miles "going in" the Animus, to his "ancestor", Altair, who is the main playable character. Altair is an "Assa-yuuuuuun", as pronounced by many characters. This is no doubt a bid to lend some tattered threads of historical authenticity to the setting.

You're let loose in the sandbox, sand-world of Jerusalem. Welcome. A lovely spot, Jerusalem. You can choose to parkour around the environment as much as you want. Other activities on offer include pick pocketing, eavesdropping, hiding, and base jumping. Of course, there's also the titular ability to assassinate.

Hidden among the highly vertical levels which would make Lara Croft blush (and breathe heavily at the top) are thousands of flags which act as collectibles to break up the otherwise repetitive game play loop.

It goes a little like this:

1. Rock up to place / city.
2. Find Assassin Guild Master.
3. Seek Clues.
4. Produce Evidence of Clues.
5. Go Kill the bad thing
6. Escape
7. Report Back
8. Go to 1.

It isn't a particularly varied game play loop, and you get bored by about the third assassination. This is due to the fact that the voice acting for all the citizens in all the cities is the same. Also, the combat becomes easier and easier as you progress through the game.

There's little to no challenge in taking out every single guard you see, even if stealth fails you completely. It feels like Grand Theft Auto; but without the guns, drugs, and courtesans you can beat for money.

Assasssin's Creed does not hold up to any sense of modern criticism, with repetitive gameplay, poor, uninspired voice acting, and un-revolutionary gameplay.

This come from someone who has never played (or watched anyone play) any Assassin's Creed title. I didn't even know that it played out all in the head of an individual held hostage by some crazed doctor. Too bad that revelation comes about in the first ten minutes of the game.

Otherwise, that would have been an excellent plot twist. "It was all just a dream," yet the same cannot be said of Assassin's Creed; it is more like being subjected to not-quite enough anesthesia prior to major surgery.

Verdict: 4/10

_{All screenshots taken from the Steam Store page for the game.}