These are supposed to turn translucent when you pass behind them in order to see where Altair is. One of the few graphical missteps occurred with the structures and buildings players must navigate around. These, along with the character portraits visible during dialog, were a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect them to look as good as they did on the DS since the system is not really known for its graphical prowess. The cities start to feel a bit generic, but this is forgivable considering they at least look nice. The rooftops and city streets Altair navigates through are nicely detailed and shadowing helps players land some tricky jumps. Of course the majority of the characters are a bit blocky, particularly noticeable with the females you encounter, but overall it looks nice. Graphics: For a handheld title this game looks pretty good.
It wasn’t special enough to annoy others with or for me to lament its absence. Honestly, since its a DS game and I played many times in various waiting rooms, I kept the sound turned down most of the time. Enemies let loose a nice death scream, however, this gets old fast. The music is a generic mix of Middle Eastern feeling tracks designed to fit within the game’s setting. Sound: The sound isn’t going to win any awards in this game, but its acceptable. It seemed thrown together in a cheap attempt to cash in on the console version’s popularity. With the story in the console game so amazing, there was really no excuse for this. While I don’t expect handheld platformers to have stellar plots, when a game has Assassin’s Creed in the title I expected more than I got. It felt like there should have been more story and game left. I understand setting up a sequel, but after a boss fight with a rescue eminent, the woman sails away on a ship and a screen pops up informing you the game has been completed. Even more confusing, the game ends with no resolution. *Spoiler Alert* The chalice turns out to be a woman, and one Altair apparently knows, and knows well enough to runaway with. Frequently confusing, with no link to the other game, one is often left wondering just what exactly is going on. I’m not so sure I would call the tiny amount of exposition here a story. Story: Set before the console Assassin’s Creed, the plot of this game focuses on Altair’s quest to retrieve a relic known as the Chalice from Templar possession. I pride myself on doing everything possible in a game before reviewing it, but I had no way to play this on the highest difficulty. So ladies and gentleman, I completed this game to the best of my ability.
After starting a new game, resetting my profile, and popping the cartridge out, it became clear that the blue orbs were apparently gone forever, making me think whatever glitch caused this would keep hard mode locked like it had the previous game. I decided I’d do a quick run through on easy again to unlock it. It unlocked after I beat it on easy the first time and displayed that it had unlocked after beating medium difficulty.
Somehow though, when I went to start the game on hard difficulty, that difficulty wasn’t unlocked. No big deal, I was only on medium difficulty, I beat it just fine.
Then halfway through my second playthrough I encountered a glitch I had read about on the internet where upgrade orbs are no longer found. It didn’t break new ground, and yes, some aspects of the gameplay could get a bit annoying, but like any good platformer it seemed to control smoothly (mostly) and to have a few difficult areas where precision was a must. After the first playthrough I was excited and actually looking forward to playing it through two more times on the harder difficulties. Its a neat, if short, action platformer which plays fairly well until the glitches hit. While this game may have Assassin’s Creed in its title, it plays nothing like the console version of the game. Game: Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles