Bloodlines is a direct sequel to the first Assassins Creed and bridges the gap between it and AC2. You play as Altair who, in search of their archive, has tracked the Templars to Cyprus. The archive is supposedly filled with powerful artifacts similar to the Apple of Eden and the possessors of these artifacts will have the upper hand in the ongoing conflict between the Templars and the Assassins.
When you first set foot in the port of Limassol, first impressions are good. The graphics and presentation are sharp, the trademark fluid animation is present and you’re free-running in no time. The controls come naturally to anybody who has played the first AC with the intuitive but pretentiously titled “puppeteering system” in full effect. Unfortunately, after a little play you notice a few flaws continue to present an issue throughout the game. Firstly the camera hangs just a little too close to Altair which, combined with no right stick for camera control almost breaks the free-running. You will often be sprinting across rooftops and be forced to slow down and look around, cumbersomely holding the left trigger to do so, just to notice a route a meter out of camera shot. The world seems to have been designed without the camera in mind, forcing you to gamble on your route existing off screen. To add insult to injury the fall damage has also been increased dramatically so fatal falls occur far too often.. On the plus side, the combat, criticised for it’s simplicity on the consoles translates absolutely perfectly to the PSP. Timing the counter’s works brilliantly on the PSP’s simple controls. The world two cities in the game (Kyrenia and Limassol) are fairly vast but lack a real sense of identity between each other. Districts in the cities are split up by refreshingly small load times (we’re talking 3-5 seconds). The load times don’t intrude upon the flow of the game but really hurt illusion of a unified game world. The almost deserted streets, due to technical limitations also hurt the feeling of a living city. Bloodlines feels like a console game awkwardly crammed onto a PSP rather a game built from the ground up.
The plot and mission structure feels better tailored for a handheld outing however. Rather than tasking you with countless smaller missions leading up to assassinations, there is a linear line of story missions that you follow through to the end of the game’s 5 hour run time. This linear path is littered with assassinations and set pieces making it enjoyable throughout. The Assassinations themselves almost all take place outside of the main game world in castles, forts and a personal highlight prison tower. These areas allow a far more focused gameplay experience, with designed platforming and sneaking routes, the singular purpose of these areas allows them to avoid a lot of the platforming issues that the city gameplay suffers from and are the best parts of the game. The architecture in these areas is also a lot more striking and unique. Having visited Cyprus last summer I recognised one fort that I had actually visited. Unfortunately the city itself is made up mostly of recycled AC1 assets with only a handful of Cypriot styled locations thrown. This probably isn’t an issue to most players but indulging myself in the history is something I really enjoy in the AC universe and it’s lacking here.
There are also side missions but none of them are vital, they are just small diversions if you don’t have time for a more lengthy side mission. The plot itself is quite interesting if you dig all of the conspiracy stuff that AC is based around. It is also concise and keeps moving, a very good decision for a PSP title. The characters, apart from a few colourful villains are pretty drab however, and although some shit certainly goes down it is often hard to care. It also misses a trick by completley ignoring any plot outside of the Animus.
Over ambitious and under developed, Bloodlines sometimes flirts with excellence but these moments are few and far between in a game that is dragged down by controll issues and technical limitations.
John of GAMElitist.com - "Hasn’t it gotten old by this point? I feel like the story never moves forward because Desmond is perpetually trapped inside of that damn Animus."
the first game by itself got super old super quick, then assassins creed 2 was pretty dang good and they fixed everything, then brother hood was just AC2 with 2 more weapons, then revalations, seems more of the same but i didn't get to try it myself yet
The story is what the game is about. If you don't like it then that's why it has gotten boring.
The story is absolute garbage. The pace at which it advance is so slow that I totally forgot what it was all about.
They just need to finish the current story arch in 2012 then either take a break or start something fresh with a new story.
^ This
Hopefully by that time the next generation is here and they make a new IP, leaving Assassin's Creed on the side for a while. Maybe even for an entire generation. It's a great franchise, but Ubisoft hurt it by making it a yearly release.
That's really my only complaint, it's taken this many games to even get where we are I wanna know how it ends already.
I'm still working my way through Revelations (way too many games to play actively right now) but I'm having a blast.
I will say they missed on some new mechanics (bad tower defense) but the story is still aces and I'm enjoying it a lot
It got old half way through the first game for me. Haven't gone back to it yet. I am sure it is a good game but for me... it was more of the same thing as I played through it.
Last week Tecmo Koei Europe revealed that a new sale on their PlayStation Network line-up would be launching soon. A generous share of titles reduced significantly would surely be welcomed by the publisher’s fans, however Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has now confirmed that the “PSP Power Sale” will be going much further, offering over one hundred titles in total at a reduced price.
Hope this sale shows up in the US. I would like to have plenty of titles to throw on my Vita.
A new diorama based on the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed: Revelations has been revealed, set to launch throughout Europe shortly after the game itself. This highly detailed and hand-crafted statuette depicts Ezio Auditore da Firenze in a combative stance as he is about to commit murder.
The pose looks so stiff. I'd think that if I were an assassin, I'd probably be twisting my body as I'm about to stab someone with the blade, but here he's just kinda...not.
