Paul Frew
Assassin's Creed - Altair's Chronicles
July 23rd 2009 23:31
- Todd Cooper
For fans of the original Assassin’s Creed on the PS3 or Xbox 360 there is little here on offer that will impress to any degree.
Free-running through the streets of the Holy Land, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and stealthily executing guards and soldiers: i.e. the base gameplay elements of Assassin’s Creed are reduced to the most basic level of running down what, for all intents and purposes could be called a corridor, to reach your target then hoofing it away from the scene of your crime as quickly as possible- a feat which would be a lot easier if your character didn’t come to a grinding halt every time a guard is close to you, forcing you into the repetitive grind of mashing the two attack buttons (medium and heavy sword attacks) your hidden blade will only come into play as a kind of quicktime event, if a target is unaware of your presence.
You are also given a grappling hook, which will be used to reach and swing from higher beams and rooftops, this is the extent of your climbing ability, even the roof of the squattest house in the Holy Land is strangely too high for Altïar to grab, which means his free climbing escapades are primarily limited to where ever you find ladders.
The story revolves around the first few killings Altïar commits, though it lacks the polish of the console’s story depth and we don’t even see or hear of Desmond Miles. The game lacks the drive of it’s console predecessor, in which there is driving a point to the killings you commit, a religious fervour, the need to rid the Holy Land of war and obtain the mysterious artefact at the centre of a conspiracy.
This game has a plot device- something about a chalice or something, but it is never spoken of as something you need to retrieve whatever the cost- meaning all your work slaughtering enemies feels a little pointless, less like a holy mission more like the terrifying rampage of a sociopathic serial killer.
The other gameplay mechanics; pickpocketing and gathering information are presented as minigames with well timed screen touches resulting in success or untimed or clumsy actions resulting in failure, these are actually quite enjoyable, but not very engrossing and few and far between. The voice acting is possibly the most disappointing part of the game, with most characters sounding like caricatures of Middle Eastern stereotypes; this is especially prevalent in the character of Al Mualim.
Levels are littered with glowing blue orbs which are used to enhance or buy new combat moves and lengthen your life bar, you are also rewarded with red orbs after defeating an enemy which refills your life meter.
Overall, the game is an interesting one with some highlights and some amazing lowlights. If you can disassociate the game from its next gen platform big brother then you can probably enjoy it for what it is, but I expected a little more from the main character especially when it came to the athletic abilities and free running, and once that was taken out it lost a lot of depth.
Finishing the game won’t take too long, but also won’t fill you with any sense of accomplishment. If you have six bucks lying around on your iTunes account and really have to have all the Assassin’s Creed material you can get your hands on then give it a go, but you should probably get the free trial first..
Not really recommended
Assassin's Creed - Altair's Chronicles is availabe on the iTunes App Store for $AU5.99
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