In late 2003, after Ubisoft released “Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time,” the company begin development of a sequel to “The Prince Of Persia” series. Originally intended as a PlayStation 2 game, Ubisoft took their time constructing the game under the working title, “Prince Of Persia: Assassin.” In 2004, gameplay test footage shows an unnamed character embarking on a mission. You can look it up on YouTube. It’s pretty interesting on what could’ve been the final product.
Ubisoft ditched a proposed Prince Of Persia sequel in favor of creating an original game titled, “Assassin’s Creed.” I’ll sum it up as best as I can. The game is about a bartender named, Desmond Miles, a former member of “The Assassins” who’s kidnapped by an organization called, “The Templars.” They use him as their guinea pig for their technology known as “The Animus.” A virtual device capable of placing the subject to relive an ancestor’s life. The Templars intend to place Desmond inside The Animus by tracking down a powerful artifact called, “The Apple Of Eden” capable of unleashing ultimate power” The Templars want it to eliminate freewill and use it for evil.
Assassin’s Creed was released in 2007. (same year Code Lyoko’s final season aired) It received positive reviews from critics and gamers alike. The game spawned a franchise with sequels, merchandise, comics, novels and a film starring Michael Fassbender which is a total miscalculation.
Netflix has green-lit a live action television series based on Assassin’s Creed. “Valhalla” is the most recent installment of the series. As a fan of Assassin’s Creed, I want to share my thoughts on the first game before Netflix releases an upcoming series.
This review contains some LIGHT SPOILERS.
Positive & Negative Elements
Positive: Voice Actors such as Nolan North (my favorite voice actor) & Kristen Bell did an excellent job for their respective performances.
Graphics still hold up for a game that came out in 2007.
Running mechanic heavily relies on parkour jumping from one building to another like Jackie Chan doing his own stunts.
You have the ability to pickpocket, eavesdrop on a conversation and interrogate a specific target.
The Assassins’ motto is “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
The game is a mixture of an open world third-person stealth action-adventure sci-fi fantasy conspiracy thriller rolled in one.
Combat is alright. You can attack, block and counter attack your enemies. If you’re stealthy, you can take out an opponent using a hidden blade.
If you’re spotted by an enemy or more, you can flee from them by hiding in a haystack, sitting on a bench between two people, rooftop garden and blend in with a crowd of scholars.
You can explore three cities Damascus, Jerusalem & Acres.
“Eagle Vision” highlights specific individuals. Enemies are red, friends are blue and a target is gold.
Character Development involving Altaïr. As the game progresses, he goes from a cocky assassin full of himself to a respectful member of his organization.
We learn bits and pieces of Desmond’s background.
The Main Missions centers around Altaïr who gets heavily demoted for violating his group’s code. He loses all his equipment, gear and high rank. However, Altaïr is given a chance to redeem himself going way back to the drawing board like Adam Sandler in “Billy Madison” going back to 1st Grade. As Altaïr accepts and fulfills his missions, he eventually redeems himself regaining all his stuff and promoted back to his high rank.
Unlike the other games, you can’t swim. It’s later addressed that The Animus in the first game is not advanced like the others.
Music has some good tracks. Makes up you feel like Altaïr hunting down prey.
In 2012, you can look up e-mails related to Abstergo’s dirty secrets. Revealing they experimented on patients kidnapping Desmond.
Besides missions, Side Quests contain additional targets you can hunt, collecting flags, climbing buildings to reveal a portion of a map, saving citizens from danger. If you do any of these, you’ll be rewarded with armor or a better sword.
The game takes place in both The Third Crusade set in 1191 and The Present Day set in 2012.
Twists & turns push the game forward.
The Final Mission immediately sets up “Assassin’s Creed II.”
Negative: My only problem with the game is Altaïr’s unrealistic American accent. He doesn’t have an Arabic accent. “Revelations” fixed it by giving him an appropriate accent accurate to his roots.
The Final Verdict: A-
Assassin’s Creed still holds up. Some of the stuff I’ve listed, indicates it is a strong start for a franchise. If you want to strap on for the ride, start with the first game that started it all. Don’t forget to play the sequels if you want to continue The Assassins & The Templars never ending battle over The Apple Of Eden.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 