Well as it might be shocking and bizarre to some people, I don't play through games all the way after i get them. Sometimes i even get games really late after they've been out for a while. This will chronicle the adventures in gaming after hype and hottness have cooled down. Leave a game to fend for itself, with only it's legs to stand on, or not.

First off something somewhat topical in a way, given the Sequel just came out. Assassin's Creed 1.



Something about this game made everyone go Awesome when it was announced. Maybe the fresh setting? Or the alure of being a badass assassin in public. But this isn't about what made everyone love it then. This is about what makes it worth playing now.

For those not familiar with the game at all, You play as a filler character in the breaks between the real game. This really is meant to provide a plot around the plot of the main game involving one of your Assassin ancestors that somehow you can access the memories of through you dna. This part is only good for giving you another achievement that you'll have to replay the game to get because you just wanted to run around and stab people. (more on that later)

The assassin in question, Altaïr isn't really a likable guy. He's about as interesting and emotive as a box of paper. That's a problem some say, I disagree on one condition. If you care about the overarching metastory then i can see why. However I stopped caring bout 1/2way through and just set out to enjoy the game as a gameplay experience, and not some epic tale or betrayal that hearkens to shyamalanian natures at times. So if you can ignore the story and the character you're playing as for bout 90% of the game aside from our host body's glorified chapter markers.



So what now, with the flat personality-less characters out of the way, we are left with 5 sandboxes to play around in. The 4 main cities and the overworld. Which you need to ride a horse between by the way.

OK now i'm guessing if you are stil reading this you are wondering, "this sounds awfully critical" and i guess that's a point i'm making. It's not always about the entire experience with the game as a whole. AC is a perfect example of why the game does work perfectly in spite of it's many flaws i just listed.



The game is all about setup. Planning the assassination out. O Sure you could avoid getting all the intel before a kill just to speed the game up, but where's the fun in that? Nothing is more satisfying than getting a perfect kill on a target without being caught. Only way you can manage that is by getting all the info.



Sure you have similar missions to complete each time, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It provides familiarity and makes it feel like you're a badass using throwing knives to take out the *insert slightly different clothed guard here* that have shown up in town to kill some of your defensless assassin comrades.

Well aside from the planning and mission based stuff, what open world things can we do in this open world game? FLAGS!

Yes every local has flags to find. most having 100 of the buggers. Not a very fun investment of time to be honest. There's also the harder than average Templars lurking round that you can also seek out and kill. But those only really reward you with achievements for your waste of time on them.



OK well those are the things you get credit for doing. Pretty dull stuff to be honest. However it never gets old to go on a civilain killing spree. The visceral feeling of your hidden blade finger stabbing into someone who looks at you funny is a lot of fun. Not to mention the feeling of sprinting across buildings to avoid a fight. However that leads me to the guards in the game. They're always suspicious, even when you're not. Catching you when you just are trying to save a civilian from being mugged 1/2 the time.



Anyway in spite of all those nagging flaws i gave you, (mildly annoying mechanics, useless collectibles, a silly story) I loved this game. It has a lot of fun to be had if you don't take the game seriously, because the freerunning makes the game worth playing and is more than 1/2 the fun.