app review: Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed was originally an action video game released for PlayStation and Xbox, which has led to a number of sequels on other platforms (including a just-released newer sequel on the iPhone). Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles for iPhone is a very simplified version of the original Assassin’s Creed, omitting an entire plot thread set in the present day, instead focusing on a sneaky assassin in the Holy Land during the Middle Ages. This game is essentially a port of the game of the same name for the Nintendo DS, but with different graphics and controls.

The game is rendered in nice 3D graphics, allowing the character to move in all directions while controlled by a touchscreen joystick on the left side of the screen. The right side of the screen has controls to use weapons and jump. Gameplay consists of sneaking around medieval cities while occasionally getting into a sword fight. This works well for the most part, but breaks down occasionally due to the 3D perspective. The game world is designed so that your character only has to move in 90 degree angles—up, down, left, and right. However, the camera view will often be at an angle, making it so that sliding the joystick to the right will make your character move diagonally. This isn’t a major problem, but can be annoying when you accidentally fall off a ramp or bridge and have to climb back up. Fortunately there are enough checkpoints that accidentally dying never sets you back very far. The sword-fighting aspect of the game is well-done. On Easy mode, at least, most opponents can be beat with determined button-mashing. The game does have a number of combos that can be used, as well as the ability to block an opponent’s attack, but most enemies can be dispatched without too much trouble. There are a few boss characters in the game, which are harder to defeat. These require using a combo to win, indicated by the sword buttons flashing in a certain pattern.

Perhaps the most distracting part of the game is the level design. Sneaking around the city is fun, but it would be nice if there were multiple ways to accomplish objectives. For the most part you’re just following the arrows that pop up until you reach an the end of the level—that’s fun, but not as much as it could be. Since there’s only one way to go through the game, there isn’t very much replay value to the game. It’s long (several hours), but once you finish the game all you can do is play again on a higher difficulty level. Sort of related to the level design is how some of the levels have rather ridiculous traps to avoid. During the game it’s only possible to suspend disbelief for so long before wondering who on earth would design a castle with this many spikes and swinging axes to avoid. Sure it’s just a game, but there are a couple places where it feels like the game designers decided to forget their historical setting for a bit (Spikes and spinning blades on the side of a castle tower? Sure!).

Overall this game is pretty good. If you’re looking for an action game without so many jumping puzzles then you should look somewhere else, but Assassin’s Creed excels at being a game that makes sneaking around fun. If you’re not sure whether or not the annoyances listed above will make or break the game, there is a free demo consisting of the first level available on the App Store.

Learn more about the Assassin’s Creed – Altair’s Chronicles in the App Store