Completed the game on Normal difficulty.
Pros:
+ Gameplay. The game actually manages to impress in how Gameloft tried to translate the original game experience into the limited DS hardware. It utilizes the features of DS, like using microphone to uncover chests, or stylus to precisely navigate in mini-games, and it does so in the way that I consider to be good enough. However, the key features of Assassin's Creed are there - parkour, jumping on buildings, stealth, assassin's weapons, discreet assassinations and the way Altair uses weapons in combat - all of these are reminiscent of the original game. Surely, like most modern mobile developers they could have just made a lazy and boring 2D scroller for example, but they actually made this game believable to be a spin-off of the original.
Neutral:
= Graphics. The graphics are surely dated, but they are as good as they get on DS.
Cons:
- Bugs and glitches. The game just feels rushed and unfinished, the main character does not feel responsive and often moves not in the way intended. Often times have I found myself teleporting, passing through walls, etc. The sound also is quite janky with bad cuts, noises, etc.
A good experience overall, could be played if you want to play every single Assassin's Creed game for its story, or you want to have it on your DS, but you won't miss anything if you just skip it.

Sorti sur DS en 2008, pour qu'Ubisoft puisse dire "oui ya Assassin's Creed sur DS !" sauf que le coeur du jeu est mal branlé, c'est moche, ya la même boucle sonore toutes les 12 secondes, ça se torche avec le lore de la série (oui je suis ce genre de personnes)...
Vouloir faire de la 3D sur DS ok mais du coup le gameplay est franchement raté (les sauts comme les combats).

Tout ce que vous ratez vraiment de mémorable, c'est Altaïr qui s'échappe d'un camp ennemi... dans un canon.

Le jeu a ensuite été porté sur téléphones et tablette, avec le petit sigle HD pour caler un anti-aliasing et de la 16/9ème... mais ça change rien c'est toujours aussi raté.

This is my first Assassin's Creed review on backloggd so let's do this!

This game was a very mixed bag for me. I loved how fun some of the level layouts were. I love how cheesy this game was at times (looking at the siege camp infiltration mission). I love how this game used the crossbow, the use of disguises, some of the puzzles and even the stealing and interrogating minigames. Some of the music was cool though obviously low quality.

Now the bad...
The boss fights were laughably easy. Basilisk wasn't convincing as a villain and was pretty much a little b*tch during the whole game. The depth perception of this game with it's pixelated graphics were incredibly frustrating most of the time. It's almost a third person side-scroller beat em up. It was very ambitious in it's design and I applaud that even though it failed most of the time at it's delivery.

This game felt at times like they tried to directly adapt AC1 instead of creating a prequel to it. I am referring to the plot structure and mission objectives.

The whole 3rd act was rushed and Adha's arc was the one most affected by this. And it's a true shame. None of her previous relationship with Altair is shown. Their importance to each other. Nothing. Just her needing rescuing. I think I would have cared more for her rescue and the subsequent cliffhanger ending if I knew who she was other than "The Chalice". None of this is ever explained. What her actual powers are... did she already know this?

This game would have benefitted so much from a codex or document collectibles instead of the "skills" feature.

I liked what this game tried to achieve with the little time and resources they had but I can't stop thinking that this could have been better...however let's look at the bright side: It's also more Altair...

3.5/10

Now it's time for the game that truly started it all... AC1.

Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles was an incredibly disappointing prequel to the first entry, with a lackluster story and bad gameplay.

The story takes place in 1190, a year prior to the events of the first game. Altaïr returns from a mission to be met with Al Mualim, who alerts him of a plot involving an object known as the Chalice, and the Templar's are attempting to get it. The story of the Chalice was incredibly underwhelming, and I get it, it's just a simple little platformer for the DS, but if this game serves as a canon prequel to Altaïr's mainline adventure, I hope it is near as good, and expected more. The ending was the worst part, rushing the plot of the actual Chalice and not the adventure to get it, even though they really should've spent more time with it. Altaïr's Chronicles ends with a cliffhanger, and feels so unrewarded and anti-climactic.

The gameplay is honestly so frustrating. The hardest part of the game getting the controls to work in your favor, with the imprecise controls often getting in the way of successful platforming. However, I do think that the parkour feels somewhat fine for a DS-era game if you have the controls and bugs in your favor. Combat is really boring, with enemies just being sponges for you to spam the same combo.

Altaïr's Chronicles is such a disappointing game, and doesn't deserve the right to be called a prequel to the first game. I don' think I like a single thing about this game, but it isn't the worst game I've ever played.

Assassin's Creed Franchise: Ranked

Next Review: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Previous Review: Assassin's Creed

I deeply regret wasting my time and actually fully playing through this game. It does not have a SINGULAR good thing going for it, there is nothing redeemable about this game, it is pure, utter garbage.

The platforming is garbage, extremely imprecise, controls horribly, it is actually so frustrating. This platforming makes up the majority of the game, and it's just the worst. The game punishes you for going fast, so you have to slowly finagle around, somehow it manages to be frustrating and boring at the same time.

Combat is also terrible, you mind numbingly mash one button over and over the entire game, only on some enemies where you do the exact same QTE sequence on them, such as the main boss, which you fight like 4 or 5 times, and every time it is the exact same. Combat is so fucking boring in this game.

I decided to play this game mainly cause of the story, I really liked Altair in the first game and figured I wanted more. Unfortunately this game doesn't provide that. I don't know if the creators of this game never played AC1, or just didn't care, but Altair does not act like Altair AT ALL in this game, which is just jarring. He quips like a marvel character or something, and all the enemies talk like batman goons. This and the ugly graphics create a tone that doesn't fit AC at all.

This story is also completely irrelevant to anything else in the entire franchise, and you are missing out on nothing if you skip it. It is a prequel that is completely and utterly meaningless. To make it even worse, it ends on a fucking cliffhanger! They had the audacity to end this on a cliffhanger, just absurd.

Honest to God this may be one of, if not the worst games I've played from the 2000s. It is irredeemably worthless and a waste of time. Stay away at all cost.

If you wanna see my rankings as I go through the series, click here.