 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Publisher: | Ubisoft | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Unfortunately, actually investigating each potential assassination attempt beyond the initial survey of the land is where things get tedious. There are four different types of investigative missions, usually mixed into six total per assassination attempt, and while only a few are required for each assassination completists will grow bored of basically performing the same tasks and over and over again. After Altair has learned enough required information from the investigations, he can report back to the Assassin's Bureau and get a feather dipped in blood, signaling that the assassination is now approved by the local head honcho and can be carried out as planned. The four mission types involved in investigation include pickpocketing, eavesdropping, interrogation, and contacting informers.
Pickpocketing involves, well, pickpocketing key intel without being spotted. To successfully pickpocket a mark, the player locks onto the target and then follows carefully. When Altair is close enough, a simple press and hold of the B button will execute the pickpocket attempt. If the target stops he's become suspicious, and if he spots Altair the attempt will fail and the guards will be alerted. While Eavesdropping, Altair must spy on conversations between characters by sitting on a nearby bench. This is probably the easiest intel to gather, as it will never fail as long as Altair hasn't already alerted the guards. Interrogation involves finding a despot on the streets spouting his message to all that will hear, and then following him until the right time to strike. After a brief fistfight the despot will succumb and cough up the info, leading to his unfortunate demise. Finally, informers act as mini-games, requiring Altair to perform various tasks such as collecting flags or killing off targets the informer is too lazy to handle himself before giving up the info.
While the core mechanics involved in investigation are solid, there's virtually no variety in them during each of the game's different assassinations. Pickpocketing requires no more skill than patience, with the marks always reacting in the same basic way. Eavesdropping literally requires no skill at all, and the fist fights before an Interrogation are just basic button-mashing. The informers were really Ubisoft's opportunity to spice things up a bit, but they almost all devolve to basic flag collecting or "Kill X number of bad guys in 10 minutes" type missions that can be frustratingly difficult if the player is still new to the area.
Although Altair naturally tries to avoid unnecessary conflict, there's still plenty of opportunities to cross swords with the local guards. After a brief intro where Altair is armed to the teeth, he's then stripped of his weapons and combat talents and forced to earn them back throughout the game. As a result combat early on is pretty mundane, but just as it starts to get dull Altair earns new weapons and skills to freshen things up. By the end of the game the fighting engine is pretty complex, with a number of combo moves, and some good rock-paper-scissors type strategy in each battle. Generally however, the most effective move is usually a well-timed counterattack, which is a little over-powered once you master it as it's relatively easy to pull off.
Posted: 2008-04-30 19:54:59 PST