OVERVIEW:
So who, asides me, wanted a game akin to Assassin's Creed or even a sequel, just on the PSP?... No one? Ah, you there, yes you! You who thinks just like me, who's title should deserve a portable addition FAITHFUL to the main game's franchise (I'm looking at you Assassin's Creed Altair's Chronicles >:/)
My prayers were answered, and I got this:
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines is an exclusive title for the PlayStation Portable. It's events situated between those of Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II (Though that's not really at all important and I'll explain why later~). It was developed by both Ubisoft Montreal studios and Griptonite Games, being the publisher, Ubisoft, being released on both November 17 for America, and 23 for Europe, of course, in 2009.
GAMEPLAY:
Things I liked:- Action-Adventure'ish type of game.
- Open World and non-linear gameplay.
- Mostly all of the original's game mechanics ported nicely into the PSP. (Hiding in haystacks~ Counters, etc~).
- The hidden blade in combat, 1 hit kill if countered with right.
- Hidden coins to collect (which you can spend on upgrades) and achievements to unlock (number of stealth kills, combo kills, etc~).
Things I didn't like:- Awkward controlling at certain points~ Running around most of the times against a building accidently and run up against it only to fall down when running away from my 5+ pursuers isn't my idea of fun.
- The hidden blade. Sure, I liked it, but also didn't like it, you see, you 1 hit kill (except bosses) with the hidden blade in combat if you counter correctly, which is very easy to do, other weapons require some effort in countering until the oponent dies.
- No horse roaming around. There isn't any horse riding in this game, instead, you travel cities by "boat", which you don't control either.
- Too easy with the "stealth" concept. You can silently kill an enemy right next to eachother and the other won't even notice his partner's dead.
- Running around felt like a chore.
- Way too much combat~ There's a lot of fighting in this game, fortunatly, you can cheap it out if your reflexes are up to date.
As for the story, it's nothing really special, there's a good argument there, but unless you played you won't really understand what's happening~. Though that's what makes this game special, even if you're completly new to the series, it doesn't matter if you've played the first or not, most things are still explained, who is and isn't and the script's actually pretty darn good~.
Voice acting's another good thing in here, I especially liked Altair more than others, everyone else felt secondary, but still pretty good~.
Graphics wise, it's a good game on the PSP, for the system, graphics are gorgeous, though the towns do look a little bland.. But that's to be expected of course. The animations are fluid and feel just right, even though there tend to exist graphical glitches in some cases. One thing I noticed was how less crowded the streets were, or how empty some rooms felt. Again, I question the PSP hardware's capability.
Other features include Ps3 connectivity. By connecting a PSP to the Ps3, six exclusive weapons can be unlocked on Assassin's Creed II and Bloodlines.
Final thoughts? It's a good game, enjoyed it, felt long though, fortunatly not as repetitive as the first one, which was one of the main issues. The extra missions aren't hard at all, and are downright simple.
(This is my first review ever, how did it go?)
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
it made free running so much more enjoyable.
Linear Mode
