Sony recently announced their new Playstation 3 Greatest Hits games. Among the 10 games now available for only $29.99 is Assassin’s Creed. So now there is no excuse for you not to pick this game up with you’re a PS3 owner. It will give you hours and hours of gameplay that won’t leave you disappointed. The storyline is something you would see out of an Oscar-nominated movie.
With this move, I expect Microsoft to do the same thing in the coming weeks.

There really hasn’t been much else coming out about Assassin’s Creed over the past few weeks (or months). We’re just patiently waiting for Ubisoft to give us something!

I was browsing Flickr this morning and came across a gallery of photographs that recreated the Assassin’s Creed world with LEGOs! Kick ass! It totally reminds me of that funny Monty Python Lego video from a few years ago. Check out this work. Whoever made this is certainly creative. It would be cool to see a leap of faith recreation.

You can view them all here.

The video game expo E3 has all but come and gone. After several days of conferences and new game demos, fans of Assassin’s Creed were left with nothing. Though we really couldn’t expect to see any news on our game, there was that small glimmer of hope that we might see something about possible Downloadable Content or perhaps even an Assassin’s Creed 2 Teaser. E3 would have been the perfect platform to hype an upcoming sequel.

We know the game is in development, it’s just that Ubisoft has said that they are in no rush to release the sequel. The lack of Assassin’s Creed news at E3 confirms this. Fans don’t always get what they want. Look how long it took Blizzard to make Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2. I really hope we don’t have to wait that long for Assassin’s Creed 2.

The following is an awesome Assassin’s Creed video created to the music of System of a Down - Innervision. Let me know if you like it.

I just got done reading a recent review of Assassin’s Creed on the N95 (a Nokia mobile phone device). I haven’t come across anyone who is playing this game on a mobile device, but apparently a lot of people do. It’s being called Assassin’s Creed HD. Here’s a quick excerpt of an article on Pocket Gamer:

In Assassin’s Creed HD’s case (the ‘rich’ version of last year’s Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles – Gameloft is currently putting ‘HD’ on the end of games where once it would have said ‘3D’), the mobile in our pockets represents a time machine, shoving a sword in our hands and transporting us back to the Middle East in the time of the Crusades. It’s a journey that, perhaps surprisingly, proves that the canny mobile phone can serve up sword-slicing action with the best of them, with main character Altair’s foray onto the rooftops serving up an adventure that’s as deep as it is entertaining.

The rest of the Assassin’s Creed HD review just goes into the basic info we’ve all heard before. That the game consists of a lot of running, fleeing, jumping and escaping. But it also ends on a very positive note: “Gameloft has developed one of the few mobile games that genuinely makes you forget what format you’re playing it on, widening the scope for those that follow.”

I did not write this list. I actually found it on an Assassin’s Creed forum. Nonetheless, it’s a great list that I approve of. It gives 10 ways that Ubisoft can improve on to make Assassin’s Creed better then the first one.

Tweak the free-running

The free-running in Assassin’s Creed is good, but it’s far from perfect. To start with Ubisoft needs to figure out how to free up your right thumb in order to manually control the camera using the right analogue stick. Altair could also do with a little more upper body strength, allowing him to pull himself up over ledges a little quicker. This would make fast-paced chases all the more enjoyable.

More variety in assassinations

For a game about an assassin, the assassinations in Assassin’s Creed left a lot to be desired. They nearly all played out the same and were basically impossible to carry out without alerting all the guards in the local area. Whether it’s making your target less obvious or simply trying to spot the target based on his location and actions, it shouldn’t be as easy as walking into an area and starting a fight.

Interesting NPCs (NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTERS)

Assassin’s Creed’s cities are full with citizens. The number of people wandering the streets is truly amazing to see, but most of them are just there to make up the numbers. Why can’t they each have something to say, and more of them need to trigger side missions and objectives. A citizen who needs to be saved from guards gets old after you’ve done the same thing a handful of times, and it just makes no sense for the same thing to be happening all over each of the cities.

A real ending

There’s no denying that the end to Assassin’s Creed is interesting, but it’s certainly not what we’d call satisfying. Assassin’s Creed needs to explain a few more things without simply offering fairly cryptic clues. And at the end we need an actual conclusion. It’s fine to set up a sequel but we don’t want to be left with more questions than answers.

Improved guard AI

The guards in Assassin’s Creed have their moments, but all too often you can casually walk behind them and stealth kill them from behind. This isn’t what we’d call intelligent AI. You should have to work for your stealth kills. On the other hand, when giving chase they could do with being a little less aggressive and not quite so agile. Assassin’s Creed needs to make you feel superior to the enemies in the game, so when you’re on the run you should have a clear advantage - less being knocked off ledges by rocks please(maybe)

More stealth

Altair’s costume is superb, but could he not do a little more to blend in? Why not change into something a little more suited for the district he’s in and perhaps it’s not wise to carry a large blade on your back? While the notion of the public not being aware of such an assassin is believable for a time, given that there’s little way for the citizens to communicate other than by voice, surely by the end of the game your appearance and presence should be all too well known.

Better combat

Having a combat system that relies on counters has its merits. Fights in Assassin’s Creed look great and anyone can get good at fending off a large group of guards, but more options for skillful players would be great. An optional combat system that plays similarly to God of War would be superb, as would a willingness by the guards to attack more than one at a time.

Do more with the cities

The three main cities in Assassin’s Creed and wonderful digital creations and something Ubisoft should be proud of, but more should be made of them. There needs to be more life, random occurrences, scripted events, epic moments and more interactivity. Most of the buildings in the game are for show and can’t be entered, while there’s very little sense of the citizens actually going about their daily lives - instead simply going along pre-determined routes.

Co-op play

Stealth gameplay works in co-op, as Splinter Cell has proved. Open city games work in co-op too, as Crackdown has proved. Combine the two, along with the improvements mentioned above, and Ubisoft would have a killer game on its hands. Just imagine Player 1 causing a slight disturbance in the town centre, maybe by starting a fight with a merchant. This then calls the guards away from their post outside a building, allowing Player 2 to enter, take up a safe position and await the arrival of your target.

No water death

How this is still even in modern games is beyond us, but please Ubisoft, don’t let Altair die when he hits water in Assassin’s Creed. When playing on the dock in Assassin’s Creed, if you miss a grab breaker you’re odds on going to get thrown into the obviously toxic blue liquid that the boats are floating on - presumably crew-less due to the fumes being emitted. It’s a simple thing, but surely a hard guy like Altair should be able to take getting a little wet.