The Assassin's Creed franchise is an action adventure game par excellence. It's slick, looks beautiful, handles brilliantly and is polished to a high sheen. What I was originally expecting, on the other hand (spurred on by some over-the-top previews and early footage) was something slightly different, something closer to a 'medieval assassin simulation'. Previews boasted of living medieval cities populated by people going about their business, of 'hiding in plain sight', blending in, observing your target. Stalking, predating, killing your mark with some flair and creativity. What, in the end I think we got, was a game which actually emphasized story, free running, acrobatics and combat over and above any deep and meaningful assassination mechanics. Each of the main kills in the original game I accomplished merely by running up to my target, stabbing them, and running off. Indeed, the game seems to go out of it's way to encourage you to kill by this method, given that it's the path of least resistance by an enormous margin.
Contrast this with the Hitman series. In these games, such a direct approach will get you killed fast. Each level must be treated as a puzzle. Observation and exploration is key, before you engage in any hostile act. Once you have fully explored the level a number of approaches will present themselves. You'll have opportunities for all kinds of creative kills - poisonings, sabotaging the environment, sniper kills, misdirection of guards, hiding yourself in a quiet spot along your targets path. Assassin's Creed and it's sequel offer none of this. That's not to say they don't offer a lot, they most certainly do. However, they fail to meet the burden of my expectations, which is as probably more my fault than the game's.
There are several other issues I have that exacerbate the problems:
- The game offers a variety of semi-scripted sequences clearly designed to offer a cinematic, exciting set piece - a guard chase through a catacomb to prevent other guards being warned, for instance. The problem with these is the same as the problem of attempting stealthy kills on the main targets - it's too easy to fail, and to survive if you fail by spamming combat counters. You get the immersion-breaking double whammy of not managing to maintain your low profile (i.e. you're as stealthy as a humpback whale) and yet there's little incentive to try again because you can simply fight your way out of most corners via the combat system. In some ways, games in which stealth is your only recourse achieve better immersion, because you die repeatedly until you learn to play. Here, stealth is the poor cousin to agility and combat.
- Little creativity is required for the main boss kills. In some missions, it's even possible to sneak up on the boss completely undetected, only for him to magically turn around and spot you instantly when you hit his detection radius, or worse, the game activates a cut scene to begin a set piece as you're moving in for the kill. This, frankly, is bullshit. If I'm able to sneak up behind a boss, let me stealth kill him please.
That said, Assassin's Creed 2 does improve on its predecessor in a number of ways:
- We no longer have the 'monk conveyor belt' as the only way of blending with a group. It's now a lot more organic, you can blend with any group of people, moving or standing, and they don't have to be wearing the same costume as you.
- The game breaks you out of the main world far, far less. This was intensely irritating about the original game, which most people purchased on the basis that you were a medieval assassin, and so generally wanted to spend their time doing that, rather than spend their time as lesser man Desmond in the present.
- Far more variety in general. There are foot races, feather and loot collections, glyph and treasure hunts. You can observe other thieves commit crimes, chase them and steal their loot. There's a notoriety system that controls how infamous and recognizable you are to the guard population. You have numerous ways of distracting and killing guards. There's multiple armour and weapon sets to collect and own. You can change costume. You have a stronghold of your own, which can be upgraded and improved, generating an income for you.
