Game Spotlight: Assassin’s Creed + Assassin’s Creed II

Isn’t it great when a game is released that has a great imaginative and interesting story that is made even better with very well handled gameplay? When it happens, the game will either become very popular due to the right kind of exposure given to it, or it will end up becoming what some people like to call a “cult hit.”

Ubisoft knew that they had something special brewing with Assassin’s Creed, and anyone who has played the game will know first hand that they have set it up to be a trilogy or possibly a long running series. But not even Ubisoft themselves were prepared for the high sales that the first game saw. Their efforts had struck an extremely good nerve with gamers, and their surprise is very understandable too since the first game of a new IP never does anywhere near as well as Assassin’s Creed did.

Even better than that, Assassin’s Creed II blew everyone away, from reviewers to the gamers themselves. I know I was blown away by the improvements they made and… some other things…

I had played a few hours of Assassin’s Creed when it was first released and liked what I played, but I hadn’t actually finished the first game until very recently. In fact, I got to experience both games in a very interesting way. Over the Christmas weekend, I happened to play Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed II back to back in one big epic marathon run. I finished the first game for the first time and got to start the second then and there… those who have started the second game know how PERFECT that situation is, though the transition from the first game to the second was a pretty big hit in terms of the visuals.

Minor spoilers ahead…

The very first second of Assassin’s Creed II takes place the very second after the credits roll for the first game. It was a bit of a shock to the system when the room you were looking at in the first game and the characters suddenly look so different because of the upgraded visuals and effects… even more so when you have just finished the first game and immediately started the second. It would’ve been nice if Ubisoft had have kept the visual style of the first game exactly the same way how it was for the first game in that one area you were familiar with, then did a cowboy switch when you escape from the building and are in those darker corridors… but that’s just me.

/ End spoilers.

Anyway, let’s have a look at the two games separately…

Assassin’s Creed

When you start Assassin’s Creed, you don’t really know where it will lead you. Despite what many people saw in the promotional material and trailers of a medieval environment, you find yourself in a near present day setting playing as Desmond Miles, a seemingly average guy who has been abducted by members of a global corporation. The events that you see in those trailers are experienced by Desmond using the Animus, a device that essentially allows a user to go back in time and experience moments of their own ancestor’s life through memories recorded in their own genes.

Desmond finds himself in the memories of Altaïr, a member of the Order of Assassins at around 1191AD. The events of his ancestor’s life are slowly revealed to him as well as the realisation of who his abductors are and what they are searching for.

An intriguing concept… it certainly made me want to find out where it was all going to lead…

Once you master it, the gameplay for Assassin’s Creed is a pleasure everyone must experience. When you first play you’ll be unsure of yourself and attempt to over compensate for many of the actions you’re trying to perform. The key is to let yourself go and trust that you’ll be able to do all of the amazing things you’re seeing happening on screen. Once you do, you’ll find that you’ll be running across rooftops at great speed, outwitting guards and climbing towers with great ease.

The environments and general presentation is well done and there’s much to do in the game with plenty of exploration. The game itself is set in a way that allows you to do as much as you want or as little as you want depending on how much you enjoy collection-fests or not. I personally loved climbing up every building I could find and finding the highest places in each area… though, personally I couldn’t care less about collecting all of those various different flags. But don’t worry, collecting stuff isn’t really that important to the main story of the game, it’s just really there for those who like to explore game environments in their own time.

Most players will happily stick with the main story as I did, which is fine, even if the game gets you to do practically the same thing over and over, if you’re clever you can figure out ways of doing things differently. I think that’s really the key to the game, it’s easy just to pull out a sword and start carving up your enemies, but it’s more fun to act as a true assassin, stalk your target and kill them without anyone realising you were even there… those moments are made of pure awesomeness if you’re prepared to go through the work to pull them off.

Ubisoft has put together a nicely polished game, though it does suffer from some very obvious and sometimes frequent AI glitches. I’m sure if you searched through YouTube, you’d be able to find plenty of videos of some of the funnier/stupid AI glitches that occur during the game.

One of my own experiences in the game was when the guards protecting the target I was meant to assassinate suddenly decided that they would try to kill the target themselves for absolutely no reason. Of course, what followed was just a confusing mess. My target would jump from place to place trying to avoid the strikes of the guards and the guards would follow him, jumping around the room… this occurred for awhile until I realised that no one would catch up with each other and it would just keep on going endlessly… so I attacked a guard and they all turned their attention on me… finally.

Despite that, the game is a must play… and if you’ve played the first, you MUST play the second…

Assassin’s Creed II

After their success with the first game, Ubisoft had a lot to prove with Assassin’s Creed II. The first one took people by surprise at the amount of quality this new IP had, the second one had better follow suit or heads would roll. From what I’ve been hearing on the net, people are very pleased with the second game and the review scores seem to favour it above the first.

The second game continues on directly where the first left off and without going into too much detail and spoiling things, Desmond is going to find that he’s going to end up playing a much bigger role in the events to shape the future. To that end, he needs to be trained as a true assassin. To achieve this he will learn from the beginning as his Italian ancestor, Ezio, had learned.

Of course, just like the first game, there’s more to it than just that, and you’ll get to find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes the further along in the story you get.

Gameplay has certainly been improved in this second coming of Assassin’s Creed. I particularly like how streamlined things have gotten and that all of the good aspects are still intact. Free-running and climbing have been greatly improved, even though they were pretty slick in the first game to begin with. I didn’t notice any really stupid AI glitches plaguing this game like I did with the first which is a big plus. One of the best additions I love though is the ability to hide among the regular people as just another face in the crowd… even though you’re wearing flowing robes and some pretty decorative armour lol. Oh, and the chicks are great *winks*…

The different weapons and the ability to buy and upgrade and also to use your enemies weapons is a nice feature, though doesn’t seem to have that big an effect on overall gameplay to make things seem strategic. Either way, I like the effort that has been put into the customisation options for Ezio. Though, when it comes right down to it, once you get that special someone’s armour, there’s no looking back.

I did find that there was a bit of a down side with fetch quests integrated directly into the main story. It gets a little annoying having to carry stuff back and forth and act as a courier… but overall, this isn’t a big deal unless you’re just impatient and want to kill things right away.

Minor spoilers ahead…

I did mention that the first game had some pretty interesting things in it, but Assassin’s Creed II takes the cake when it comes to complete mindfucks… for this series and probably for 99% of other games out there. I mean, going into the series, you know it’s not going to be your average stab and slaughter your enemies type thing. Ubi decided they’d try and screw with your head too… which is always fun.

/ End of spoilers.

I do have one problem with the release of this game though… I hate how they release different versions of the damn thing. What I hate even more is that people who don’t buy those extra special versions end up missing out on some extra stuff, as unimportant as they may be, it’s the principle of the matter.

Either way, I can’t wait for the next instalment of this trilogy or series depending on how far they want to take it. Anyone who has played it knows it’s got the potential to go into some pretty wild and out there places…