Last month Wonderwallweb spent the day at Ubisoft to get hands on time with some never seen before levels of Assassin’s Creed. While there, we were privileged to meet Patrice Desilets(Creative Director), Alex Drouin(Art Animation Director) and David Chateauneuf(Level Design Director) who have been working hard on the game for the last four years.
Before we were let loose on the game, Patrice was kind enough to walk us through a mission based in 1191 in Acre with Altair’s(the games main character) objective being to assassinate Monfferrat, the cities Governor. Patrice explained that before you assassinate your target you must investigate the area, pick pockets and interrogate people to enable you to find out where your target is and what the best escape route is once the job is done. As Altair approached the area in which Monfferrat was standing, the game switched to a more cinematic mode and we were quite impressed to see that you could still move through the crowds while this was happening, as you got closer to your target you could actually hear his conversation taking place. After Patrice had moved Altair in for the kill, as Monfferrat lay dying in his arms, we were treated to another cinematic cutscene in which he tried to explain his actions by warning that there were lean times ahead and what he was doing, he was doing for the people.
After Altair had done his deed it was time to escape, there were some rather amusing things that happened during this point but the one that sticks out the most is when Altair climbed up a wall to escape, his pursuers decided that instead of chasing him they would throw rocks instead, seeing this made was quite amusing and made us realize that the developers have been thinking of every detail when creating this game. It was clear from listening to Patrice that he has put everything into this project and you had to believe him when he declared himself the best Assassin’s Creed player in the world, after all he did seem pretty handy with Altair.
Once the walkthrough was finished it was time for us to get our hands on the game, the demo we played through was based in the city of Jerusalem. Our first introduction to the level was in the Kingdom approaching the city on a horse, this seemed to be quite easy to control and it was nice to see the horse jumping over any obstacles that got in our way rather than getting stuck. After dismounting at the city gates we were told by the guards that we were not allowed in, however Altair is a master climber so scaling the city walls to get inside didn’t prove too difficult. It was at this point that it was explained to us that the only loading times were between the kingdom and the cities, although even when you are in the loading screen there is still an element of interaction with your character.
The main objectives in Jerusalem are found at the Assassin’s Bureau, from here you are given your missions and then you must find your targets, the easiest way to do this is to use the games GPS. To use the GPS you visit the in game map and you lock onto the target of your choice, this is then displayed on the GPS along with the distance and direction in which you must go. When you visit the map you will notice that some areas are blacked out, to unlock these you must visit the cities view points (these can also be found with the aid of the map) which are located at some of the highest points in the city (so it does take quite a bit of climbing to reach them), once there you can then unlock other areas of the map by synchronizing and then continue on your way with the next step being a leap of faith (a swan dive) from the view point to a cart of hay below.
The combat system in Assassin’s Creed, (like the climbing) does take a while to get used to, but once mastered you will discover that it is quite deep, weapons range from swords and throwing knifes to your trusty assassins blade. Interestingly the Assassins blades use is quite unlike the others, for example when approaching a target from behind you will be given opportunity to assassinate them, however as you only have a small window of opportunity to do this it’s best to be fast and accurate as otherwise you may get caught.
The guards in Jerusalem always seem to be on high alert, so any odd goings on from wandering Assassin’s are usually spotted, thankfully you can tell when a guard is watching you thanks to a social status icon on the screen which changes colour, if it turns yellow this means the guard is on the lookout for Assassin’s, if it is red then it is time to either face the music or run. Another way to avoid the guards gaze is by blending in with the crowd and there are many ways to do this in Assassin’s Creed, one example of this is when you spot an empty spot in a chair between two people and if you sit here quietly for a while then usually the guard will ignore you, there are more ingenious ways also, like if you have previously done someone a favour then you have the option of blending into the middle of a group of wandering monks who will keep to a certain path until the heat is off at which point you can just leave them. Blending and the social status icon work well together, so should your status be yellow and you want to keep a low profile then simply use blend and your status will return to normal, it is however not possible to blend when your status is red.
As you walk along the city you will realise that it is not only the guards who act intelligently but also the NPC’s, for example there is nothing more frustrating than when you are trying to get to your destination and a beggar stops you to ask for money and continues to hassle you until you brush them aside, the game is full of moments like this and it really makes it feel like a very unique experience. There is also a built in moral system, so if someone knows they are beaten in a fight, they will run.
Assassin’s Creed isn’t just about sticking to the script as there are over 100 side missions included, you are also pretty much free to wander the environment as you wish, so if you prefer to climb buildings instead of assassinating people then you can, just remember to watch out for the archers on the roof who will automatically fire at anyone found up there. One of the things you should be aware of about the decisions you make in the game is that if you kill civilians then you are in for a quick death, this is because each time you do you will be penalized by losing some health, therefore kill too many and it’s back to the checkpoint for you.
Graphically the game looks stunning, the environments such as the backgrounds and the buildings all look like something out of a painting, there is also a great deal of interactivity as you are able to climb up anything that sticks out from the surface, the sound compliments the game perfectly also by changing in mood when the action heats up.
Assassin’s Creed really is shaping up very well and from what we have played we left feeling very impressed, there are a few unanswered questions regarding the plot, but this is something that Ubisoft are keeping close to their chest so as not to spoil the game for the players, we can’t wait to see what this twist is, nor to get scaling the buildings of Jerusalem again.
