When Assassins Creed was released in 2007, it was well received by critics and customers and left fans wanting for more. Assassins Creed II was announced much to everyone's happiness, but it was a double celebration for PSP Owners when Assassins Creed Bloodlines was also announced to be released. It was promised that the game would stick close to the series according to game play and storyline, unfortunately all Bloodlines could do was stick close to being a great game as there are many problems with this installment.
Altaïr, the protagonist of the first part, discovers the Templars are heading for Cyprus and hunts down the ascending Templars. As the Templars withdraw from the Holy Land after Altaïr kills Robert de Sable, the Assassin follows them to the island of Cyprus. Finding new allies and enemies, Altaïr helps the local resistance against the Templar occupation and strikes down the ascendant Templar commanders. Along the story Altaïr learns more about himself and the Apple of Eden, as well as the Templar's ways and means of power and peace. The Storyline is supposed to depict what happened to Altair however the story never seems to click as its mostly unclear what exactly is going on and when it becomes clear what we are supposed to do, the question of why we are supposed to be doing it arises. Players who haven't played the first part will thoroughly be bored by the story while old fans wont be sure what to make of the story.
Game play is similar to the previous installment but players will have to adjust with the controls of the PSP. Altair is given missions mostly concerning with assassinating people and to do that he will have to be taken across the city, or rather what should be called a town, by simply running or by platforming elements such as Jumping from one ledge to another, climbing on rooftops or synchronizing from the highest point of the city to locate the destination. Even though the Platforming feels like fun at the beginning it quickly becomes boring due to the very small areas and the maximum time taken to get across the city is about half a minute. Combat adds to the games woes list, the only fun part is when performing stealth kills but that experience is also ruined by the unnaturalness expressed by the environment when you kill a soldier right in front of another and he acts as if nothing even happened. One on one combat proves to be a yawn fest, basically being implemented by 2 strategies, either keep hitting a soldier for about 4 times and he will die or press the R button and counter attack the enemies moves at the precise moment to execute a swift kill. There are many mini missions scattered around for the Player but the virtually empty city, aside from one or two citizens who keep doing the same thing, it wont be appealing to anyone. The Game features a basic level-up mechanic in which you can spend the coins you find scattered about the world on upgrades like extending your synchronization bar or increasing your chances of a critical hit. But this feature is poorly implemented, forcing you to leave the game and return to the main menu if you want to spend the coins outside of the predesignated intermissions.
There are very few characters in the Game so there cant really be a judgment about that. The few characters however have been well played with Altair and Maria's acting being a cut above the rest although the others do a good job too. The Soundtrack is impressive and blends in well with the situation of the game, graphics are poor, both in game and cut scenes, there are many glitches within the game. Sometimes Altair can pass through a guard or sometimes he can just float in midair, The Cut scenes feel very shallow and incomplete with no 3D presentation and are reminiscent to the in Game graphics.
Assassins Creed Bloodlines had the potential to be a very good game if Ubisoft had polished it all up, but the game feels incomplete in every area. With a little more effort it could have been worth the money but this is not the case so Bloodlines is most likely not going to please any new Customers while old fans will also be disappointed. Its an okay game if you don't have anything better to do but is not worth the money and hopefully Ubisoft will put just as much effort for the next Assassins Creed on the PSP as on the console versions
John of GAMElitist.com - "Hasn’t it gotten old by this point? I feel like the story never moves forward because Desmond is perpetually trapped inside of that damn Animus."
the first game by itself got super old super quick, then assassins creed 2 was pretty dang good and they fixed everything, then brother hood was just AC2 with 2 more weapons, then revalations, seems more of the same but i didn't get to try it myself yet
The story is what the game is about. If you don't like it then that's why it has gotten boring.
The story is absolute garbage. The pace at which it advance is so slow that I totally forgot what it was all about.
They just need to finish the current story arch in 2012 then either take a break or start something fresh with a new story.
^ This
Hopefully by that time the next generation is here and they make a new IP, leaving Assassin's Creed on the side for a while. Maybe even for an entire generation. It's a great franchise, but Ubisoft hurt it by making it a yearly release.
That's really my only complaint, it's taken this many games to even get where we are I wanna know how it ends already.
I'm still working my way through Revelations (way too many games to play actively right now) but I'm having a blast.
I will say they missed on some new mechanics (bad tower defense) but the story is still aces and I'm enjoying it a lot
It got old half way through the first game for me. Haven't gone back to it yet. I am sure it is a good game but for me... it was more of the same thing as I played through it.
Last week Tecmo Koei Europe revealed that a new sale on their PlayStation Network line-up would be launching soon. A generous share of titles reduced significantly would surely be welcomed by the publisher’s fans, however Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has now confirmed that the “PSP Power Sale” will be going much further, offering over one hundred titles in total at a reduced price.
Hope this sale shows up in the US. I would like to have plenty of titles to throw on my Vita.
A new diorama based on the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed: Revelations has been revealed, set to launch throughout Europe shortly after the game itself. This highly detailed and hand-crafted statuette depicts Ezio Auditore da Firenze in a combative stance as he is about to commit murder.
The pose looks so stiff. I'd think that if I were an assassin, I'd probably be twisting my body as I'm about to stab someone with the blade, but here he's just kinda...not.
