Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (PSP)

Game: Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
Platform: PSP
Publisher:  Ubisoft
Developer: Griptonite Games
Genre: Action/Adventure
Release Date: November 17, 2009
Score: 6.5 out of 10

 

After playing through Altair’s Chronicles for the DS, I was scared to give this game a try. While its not perfect, at least the developers attempted to make an Assassin’s Creed game and not just use the name on a glitch-filled platformer. Its a stripped down Assassin’s Creed, but its still recognizable as part of the series. The game had some issues like camera control, spotty AI, and bland cities, but none of these problems was enough to make the game truly terrible. Its not going to be Game of the Year, but its fun and I have played a lot worse.  It felt like a good addition, albeit a short one, to the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Story: While much better than the Assassin’s Creed for the DS, this wasn’t a bright spot for the game. Players are back in control of Altair, the 12th century protagonist from the first console Assassin’s Creed. He sets off for the island of Cyprus to finish off the Templars as they retreat from the holy land. Altair ends up taking Maria, the Templar woman who’s life he spared in AC1, and meeting up with a group of citizen resistance members fighting against tyrannical Templar rule in Cyprus. Along the way there are the typical side missions involving saving and aiding the local citizens but for the most part, it felt very generic. I didn’t really care if Altair bested the Templar invasion of Cyprus, I just wanted to stab people. With no great mystery and very little motivation, the story lagged and I found myself surprised when characters were reintroduced to the plot as I had mostly forgotten everyone and their role immediately after encountering them.

Sound: I’m going to venture a guess and say there was music in this title, but it clearly didn’t make any sort of impression. I do, however, remember the music associated with the Griptonite Games logo, oddly enough. I don’t remember the music being bad, so I guess it could be worse. One bright spot in the sound was the voice work. Altair sounds much better in this than he did in the console game. The voice actor should be commended. While the story wasn’t great, he did a good job with the dialog he had. Who ever voiced Maria takes top honors, though. She had some of the best lines in the script and she delivered them perfectly.

Graphics: I was pleasantly surprised by the graphics in this game. No, it wasn’t as expansive as the console version, but they did a good job of making an open world game with exploration options without sacrificing beauty. My only complaint was that the world was so sparsely populated. I wanted to assassinate guards and then blend in with the citizens but there were usually no citizens around. Also, the buildings seemed too far apart to get a good rhythm going for rooftop navigation. Just as I would be bounding over buildings I would get to an impassible gap and fall to the ground. My favorite graphical feature of the game was the combat animations. It was nice to successfully pull off a combat move such as a counter or combo and get to see a neat cut scene. This was something I enjoyed in AC1 and I was particularly glad to see it could be accomplished on the PSP.

Controls and Gameplay: Generally the game controls so smoothly it makes the times it doesn’t that much more painful.  Altair still controls with a puppeteer scheme and still gracefully scales walls and leaps buildings, but without a second analog stick for camera control it just doesn’t always happen the way you plan for it to. Sometimes the camera changes angles awkwardly, forcing the player to stop moving and adjust it using the shoulder button and face keys in tandem. Not a big deal, but it interrupts the flow of the game more than you would think. Its not enough to deter one from playing but it will get frustrating. The gameplay, though open world, follows a linear progression. There is no choosing certain missions of the main story or the order in which to do them. The game still has Altair investigating and assassinating minor targets for information about larger ones, but now it prompts you on where to go and who to kill next. There are a few side missions in the districts and a few viewpoints to climb but for the most part they seem like an afterthought. I did them all and it didn’t seem to add anything. The main target assassinations also were not so much assassinations as boss fights. I freely admit I’m not great at the combat in these games, but I am one hell of an assassin. I did not enjoy having to fight bosses in combat when I would have much preferred to find a way to secretly assassinate them. This game is titled Assassin’s Creed, right? One of the new features I did enjoy was the upgrade system. Instead of flags, each district contains Templar coins scattered about which can be used to purchase upgrades for Altair, such as extra throwing knives or a larger health bar.  It sucks that you have to exit the game to buy your upgrades, or wait until the end of a memory block, but I liked the idea behind it. I also liked the achievements. Oh, I’m sorry, I mean accomplishments. This list of tasks to do in game, such as collecting all the coins in a given area or killing a set number of guards, also nets the player coins with which to purchase upgrades.

Replayability: The game definitely tries to give players a reason to keep playing this game. With upgrades to max out and accomplishments to complete, the developers seemed to give players more than just a single story to focus on. I was able to do everything in one playthough, however, but  I was making a conscious effort to do everything. If I hadn’t accomplished everything I definitely would have gone back and replayed some memories.

Score: The developers might not have made a game as great as the first Assassin’s Creed, but they certainly made a good game. They managed to capture the spirit of the series while including the most important features from the original game. I may have been disappointed with some of the choices made, but I still enjoyed playing through the game. It rates a 6.5 our of 10 for me.  The developers are on the right track with this game, and the next one could easily be even better!