Preview: Assassin's Creed (Page 2 of 2)
Mean Streets
That's all much easier said than done. Ordinary citizens might not know you, and many soldiers might mess with you only if you're causing trouble-slicing open innocent pedestrians is a no-no-but others will recognize you on sight, and they tend to be pretty vocal about it. Altair can climb almost anything, but rooftop archers stand watch, and you don't have a bottomless supply of throwing daggers.
Even civilians can cause no end of grief: nudge the wrong peasant and he might drop a package and cause a scene; deal too savagely with an irritating beggar and someone with a sword might rush to investigate.
Nudge the wrong civilian and you could be in a heap of trouble.
Altair's not made of tissue paper-he's a skilled swordsman, and blessed with an effective countering system-but taking on an army of armored goons with adaptive AI isn't practical, and escaping is no mean feat, even with hay piles and rooftop hideaways. Luckily, human obstacles can be turned to your advantage. Save a beleaguered monk, and his buddies will let you blend with them and ride the "Monk Express" past guards. Slice through the jerks harassing a peasant woman, and her grateful husband might gather a group of vigilantes.
A Man in Full
What's most alluring about Assassin's Creed is the seamless way these disparate elements gel together. You'll pick pockets, leap between rooftops, and fight or outrun guards, without any jarring break between. Similarly, Altair feels fully developed precisely because his range extends from the subtlety of pushing a bystander aside to the uncorked violence of dispatching a corrupt official. The often sudden juxtaposition of quiet blending and high-profile bloodshed is remarkably effective.
Assassin's Creed bears all the hallmarks of a top tier next-generation experience, from high dynamic range lighting and detailed textures to a view distance you're unlikely to enjoy in any modern city. The shrewdly constructed narrative maintains a sense of purpose, but it'll likely be the deep interactivity of the world itself-and the remarkable range of encounters it enables-that drives gamers to it in droves. Even if Assassin's Creed does somehow stumble as it approaches the release date finish line, it certainly won't be for lack of thoughtful design and inspired ambition.
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