G4TV

So you’re just dying to play Assassin’s Creed and see for yourself what everyone has been arguing about, but you don’t have the necessary hardware to give it a spin. What to do? Why, check out the new DS version … that’s what Ubisoft is hoping for, at least. The publisher has managed to pare the experience down enough to fit within the somewhat limited confines of Nintendo’s handheld, and while Altair’s Chronicles scores a few high moments reminiscent of the home version it (literally) falls into too many classic platformer pitfalls to stay entertaining for long.

Abbreviated Storyline

The plot in Assassin’s Creed on the bigger boxes is a little convoluted and largely undisclosed until you get into the game. This means that even if you don’t necessarily enjoy all the game’s mechanics at least you have some intrigue to keep you going. Altair’s Chronicles is a prequel and you’d think would offer at least a taste of that same intrigue. Instead, all you get here is a pretty typical Crusades-era tale of Templars and underhanded dealings. There are lots of characters to meet and usually kill, but they come and go quickly and have little to add to the plot. Granted, this is a big improvement over the diatribes you’re often forced to sit through in the home console versions, but a little character development might have been nice.

Outside of the typical RPG, people rarely play handhelds to be emotionally moved. It’s the gameplay that counts, but that doesn’t deliver here, either. The home Creed features expansive dynamic worlds that offer plenty to explore and, should you get caught before or after an assassination, plenty of ways to escape. Of course that wasn’t going to work on the (relatively) lowly DS, so what’s offered here is basically a side-view platformer with some 3-D aspects thrown in.

You’ll spend much of the game running and jumping along rooftops, sliding down unexpectedly slippery slopes, or pacing along narrow catwalks. It’s all standard platforming fare, including a number of familiar and irritating elements that should have died off long ago. There are spike traps everywhere waiting to perforate your body, bottomless pits around every corner, and a ridiculous number of snakes that just sit and wait for you to try to pass. The whole thing feels far more like the classic Prince of Persia than Assassin’s Creed, and while that was a great game in its day, cheap deaths and continuous restarts don’t cut it today. At least there are checkpoints everywhere, so you don’t have to re-do too much when you do find the bottom of one of those pits.

Combat Abbreviated

Altair’s Chronicles tries to deliver the flowing combat found in its big brother, frequently surrounding you by sword-wielding guards. What’s here, however, lacks the flow and dynamics. All you really need to do is keep tapping the X button and, after a minute or two, your opponents will be dispatched. There are combos and special attacks to use but they’re rarely any more effective than plain old button mashing. You can likewise upgrade your sword by collecting orbs and will also learn new techniques as you progress, but there’s nothing that changes this game’s status as a button masher, through-and-through.

Sword-fighting and platforming sequences are broken up by the occasional touch-screen mini-game. You’ll be called to play a stylus version of Operation to pick the pockets of your adversaries and will have to make a series of precise taps on supposed pressure points to torture them into giving you the info you need. These little games feel out of place, breaking the flow of the game, especially since if you should screw up any of them you’re free to try again and again and again until you get it right. Go ahead and spend 15 minutes with your hand in the coin-purse of that guard if you like. He’ll never raise an alarm.

When it comes to the presentation this is a good looking game for the platform – if anything it’s perhaps a little too good. The system just can’t seem to keep up often enough, chugging along at a barely acceptable frame rate for the most part but slowing to a crawl when three or four opponents show up on screen at once. The audio queues and music selections meanwhile are also good, but repetitive, looping over and over again.

No Comparison

Love or hate the big brother version to this game, it was an interesting and engaging title for the most part. Altair’s Chronicles, on the other hand, seems like it is just trying to be a fancy 3-D version of an early-90’s platformer and that just doesn’t cut it today. Too many traps and too much repetitive combat with not enough challenge and fun in the mix do not make a great game.

Review by: Tim Stevens