Assassin's Creed

For the few weeks leading up to the release of the much anticipated XBox 360 game “Assassin’s Creed” I began watching the commercials, video clips and release footage. The Gaming industry related websites and e-zines began to sizzle with much praise regarding the new game play ‘technology’ that was put into this game. I wasn’t quite sure when I would get a chance to play but apparently the game name rolled off of my lips enough to get my wife’s attention. We left for Florida (vacation) the night before it’s release for a little over a week but due to the ‘Gods’ favoring me, I had the game in hand by Monday afternoon. Being at my mother’s and not wanting to waste too much of the precious time that I get with her each year I didn’t get to play it as much as I wanted during the week I was down there but I got to taste the sweet redemption of awesomeness that I think games have been lacking for a long while. Now that I’ve been back for a week and had a chance to play through it I’ve finished it and come to one major conclusion. This is the best damned game I’ve ever played. Ever…… The story is incredible and the graphics leaving nothing wanted. (Careful possible semi-spoilers below) The story takes place in current time only to throw you into a time long ago in a land far away. A doctor has taken you prisoner and is wanting you to participate (not really optional) in a experiment to pull memories from your DNA. Haven’t really ever seen that story before. You are taken back to your great great great (etc) ancestor’s time as him…. as an… Assassin! The story walks you well through what is needed. I will say, either you need to pay attention to the story or well… you can’t help it. In order to know what to do you have to pay attention but it is well worth it. You find yourself stripped of rank immediately after breaking 2 of the 3 tenets of the Assassin’s Creed and must earn them back through successful completion of particular tasks detailed and outlined by your master. You eventually work your way back up in rank and skill and finish the tasks at hand only to find….. (well I won’t ruin that for you.) The world… The world is incredible. There are 4 or 5 major cities (depending what you count) with immeasurable detail. There is the ‘Kingdom’ which is the land between each in which you must accomplish certain tasks as well, but back to the cities. Each city has an Assassin’s Bureau in which you must converse with the leader there and get mission objectives (detail) and gather information for them. Only after you’ve done enough reconnaissance will he allow you to pursue you final goal. There are side objectives that are not needed but will gain you achievement points for your XBox profile. The buildings are said to match design and layout of what they were in the original time.You have the ability to climb and manipulate as needed on and around such structures. There are several towers in each part of these large cities in which you must scale and get a view from in order to map out the cities. There are citizens to be saved in order to gain their support when fighting off guards (if needed). There are ‘flags’ of different types in each city and these are unimportant to the storyline but are some of those achievement goals I mentioned above. You can ‘assassinate’ anyone from citizens, guards, to filler characters. Each kill does accomplish something good or bad for or against your goal. Be careful there are penalties. One of the great things about this game is i isn’t what I consider a ‘one sitting’ game. Even with 5-7 hours of sitting and playing you probably won’t be too close to beating it unless you figure it all out extremely quickly. I took my time and I think I was upwards of 10-12 hours. Maybe more…. Halo 3 which I though was a good game only took me about 6 and a half. I would like to thank the great minds of Ubi for not only creating a kick ass game but for making it part of a trilogy that we will get sucked into for time to come.