Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles Review
Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles, as well as being a DS game, is a prequel to the game Assassin's Creed for the consoles.
I'd awaited this since I heard of it's soon-to-come release back in January, or some time around there. I have to say... I was pretty dissapointed. While it is a quite fun and OK game, it's just not what I expected. I don't actually own it yet, I rented it from Gamefly for the moment. Before I list my dissapointments, I might as well tell of what was a plus to the game.
First, so far the story is quite nice, although currently... I have to say I'm a bit lost. Also, weapon upgrades, you obtain blue orbs as... basically money to upgrade your weapons and lifebar. I found the fact that your sword changes appearance each upgrade pretty cool, unlike some games which tell you it's upgraded but it's still the puny-looking weapon you first had only with more damage.
Also, just the first upgrade to your sword looks awesome. The combat is quite good and well-balanced, and it doesn't take long to get new combos and attacks. There are 2 mini-games you come across multiple times throughout the game. One that, although I've never played Elite Beat Agents, evidently is like something on that. A game of torture in which you apply pressure to different parts of your victim's body and eventually force his/her arm in an unnatural way to make them cooperate. Also a game where you pickpocket out of the targets purse, trying to take a needed item without bumping it into the other items in the bag or the inside of the bag. Both games are a little fun.
There are 5 cities in the game you may explore, and although it seems like a sidescroller at an aerial view, the environment of the cities are very creative, even when just not exploring and just going to areas you need to go to.
The graphics are very good for a DS game, and although not as good as a game like Metroid Prime Hunters, they are still above adequate. There is a bit more to the game than these above, I'm sure, but they are what stood out to me the most.
Now for the dissapointments, first off, there is nothing but options and the story mode, no Wi-Fi, not even single-card or multi-card play, that is one of the big reasons for every sucky DS game to suck, even though this isn't sucky. The mini-games have no leaderboard for fastest played or anything like that, further decreasing the meaning and challenge to them. I don't want it to sound like crap, but this game had some flaws, and it is not at all gonna be a big hit like the original.
It's fun, but I'm not gonna say it's a must-have for all DS owners. It is a must-have for Assassin's Creed fans, and it's a pretty good game, but if your looking for a very fun game that you will get ALOT of satisfaction out of... I don't suggest buying it.
This review was written by Crazasta of the DS Ultimate forums. He is the owner of a small review site called Goodz and Badz at http://freewebs.com/goodzandbadz and is a major fan of Metroid Prime Hunters and similar games.