Content review for this game:
Pertaining to the ESRB rating.
Content sum up: While blood can be disabled, language (devoid one use of the f-word) is scant, the killing of innocents is clearly discouraged and the enemies are undeniably corrupt, evil men; with the fact that assassinating is gameplay's main draw, thus a normalcy; the portrayal of assassination marks' acts on (the most often innocent) victims are disturbing and/or gruesome; combat is brutal; players must complete many non-optional, morally questionable objectives and can still kill civilians with relative ease; along with the fact that the narrative's ideological ambiguity and sometimes irreverent nature forces players to decide for themselves what's to be taken as right or wrong, it's simply suited to older, more discerning minds. So, I recommend this game for ages 17+. |
Blood: The blood flies in light puffs when Altaïr punches enemies and/or civilians, his throwing knives make contact or he is attacked by the enemy himself (stealth attacks are bloodless). And the blood spurts in moderate clouds as a number of large droplets visibly fly in trails when Altaïr hacks, slashes, impales (*shff*, *squish* and *crunch* sounds audible) and pulls his bladed weapons (that are then stained and dripping with blood) from the enemies' bodies during sword fights. Blood does not linger or splatter on floors, walls or bodies, but there is light, pre-existing blood smeared about certain city areas. However, blood can be disabled by entering "Options," "General," "Animus Blood" on to off, which will remove all blood effects for gameplay and cutscenes; pre- existing blood on floors, walls, combat's bloody sound effects, and bodies will remain. Bodies do linger, with bloodied bodies scattered and lined up around the cities (bloody blankets cover some, weapons still stick from others); and soldier bodies litter a later area's battlefield—crows gathered, blood pooled beneath.
Specific scenes of blood:
(Some of Altaïr's assassination marks can be completed in a different order, meaning the numbering for them below will differ for each player. And if blood is disabled, the below would instead be considered "Specific scenes of violence.")
Strong language: There's under a dozen uses of d*mn, hell, bastard and Christ, three or under uses of a**, God d*mn and God, and one use of d*ck, sh*t, Jesus, and the f- word. Other than the main script, enemies and civilians will state "D*mn fool must be out of his mind!", "What the hell is he doing?" and "What in God's name is he doing!?" as they watch you scale structures; phrases like "What the hell do you want?", "D*mn fool!" and "Out with your d*mn eyes!" are heard when you approach or bump into the enemy guards and Templars, along with the civilians that spout, "For the love of God, what is it that you want!?" or "Leave me alone for Christ's sake!"; and the enemy will infrequently spout "D*mn!" as you fight, tell civilians blocking their way to "Get out of my d*mn way!" while in pursuit (French Templars spout phrases that contain hell and d*mn, but solely in French), and, "Bastard!" when they lose you. Last of all, optional, readable emails in the Animus lab contain two uses of bastard, sh*t and hell, and one use of "jacka**" in text. There is no option to turn language off.
Suggestive themes: (The ESRB didn't mention this in their rating)
Alcohol reference: (The ESRB did not mention this in their rating) During Altaïr's hunt for his fifth mark, he sees as this mark holds a cup of wine (an oddity, since any type of alcohol consumption is against his religion) and offers his guests wine, which flows from a fountain into a large pool—a couple of them readily accept, scoop the wine out and begin to drink it. And drunks are scattered throughout the game's cities laughing, staggering and mumbling, bottles of alcohol held loosely at their sides.
Mild drug reference: (The ESRB didn't mention this in their rating, although it is very mild) During Altaïr's search for his second mark, it's mentioned this mark, a doctor of sorts, uses drug-like herbs and extracts to "cure" patients. After Altaïr kills this mark, he asks his master about this. His master replies with, "There are plants, Altaïr, herbs from distant lands that can cause a man to take leave of his senses. So great are the pleasures it brings, men may even become enslaved by it."
Violence: Desmond Miles (an ex-member of an ancient, familial assassins clan...now barkeep) awakes in the custody of two Abstergo Industries scientists, and is informed that the strange device he is interfaced with, the "Animus," reads the memories of an individual's ancestor through the genes, allowing said memories to be experienced by their holder via virtual reconstruction. Desmond learns that Abstergo needs a certain memory from his ancestor, Altaïr, but to get it, he must relive a portion of this man's life during the Third Crusade; Templar occupied Holy Land, 1191. Here, Altaïr is found on a quest to recover artifact, the "Piece of Eden," from Templars; he fails not only in retrieving the relic, but in keeping all three of the assassin creed's tenets; "Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent", "Hide in plain sight" and "Don't compromise the Brotherhood." As a result, Al Mualim (the assassin head) strips Altaïr of his rank, and tells him that to regain it, Altaïr must kill nine key men set throughout the Holy Land. Meanwhile Desmond—on breaks from Animus sessions—tries to gather what Abstergo truly wants from Altaïr's memories and most of all, him...
After Desmond becomes acclimated to the Animus, and in turn, his ancestor Altaïr, he relives Altaïr's failed mission and his ensuing protection of the assassins headquarters from enemy Templar (brought on by said failure, thus his preceding demotion), as he then sets out to regain his rank by eliminating nine key targets across the Holy Land's cities of Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus. And the base gameplay consists of traveling to a city via the overworld on Altaïr's horse, entering its guarded gates by blending in with groups of similarly dressed scholars, navigating the city rooftops to its assassins bureau and acquiring leads to the current mark. You'll then proceed to gather intel by climbing a nearby city high-point (with Altaïr's acrobatics, which can be used to jump, grab and cling onto virtually anything in sight) and using "Eagle Vision" to synchronize his map and scope out points-of-interest, which include eavesdropping, pickpocketing, interrogation and informant missions; a minimum three of the six intel missions must be performed—the more intel gathered, the more approach options and approval you have from the assassin bureau's head for your current mark...
Upon completion of intel gathering, you will return to the bureau, relay your findings, receive approval (including an eagle feather to wipe a sample of blood from the mark for proof of your kill), and then set out to locate your mark. Upon reaching the mark, you will fight those guarding him, assassinate him and escape the alerted pursuers by breaking their line-of-sight with a little help from rooftops and Altaïr's aforementioned acrobatics to seek refuge in a nearby hiding spot (piles of hay, rooftop gardens, etc). After evasion, you'll report your success to the city bureau, and finally, the assassins' leader, Al Mualim, as you then move onto the next. All the while, in between Animus sessions, Desmond will be used to hack into Animus lab emails for backstory and talk with (or overhear) the two Abstergo scientists holding him. Your sole enemies are the occupying Templar soldiers and—region specific—city guards, which you'll be fighting with Altaïr's fists; Long Blade; his retractable, wrist-mounted Hidden Blade—used for stealth assassinations; Short Blade; and Throwing Knives.
The combat system takes an up-close and personal approach, as you use Altaïr's Long Blade or Short Blade to perform a number of swift slashes to enemy necks, chest and legs, repeated stabs and/or full impalements to their throats and torsos, along with a number of stunning punches, kicks (including to the groin) and throws (into breakable objects) to knock enemies down, as you then use his brutal finishing moves to sweep the back of the knees with his blade then impale them in the stomach where they lay; cleave his blade under their armpit, and then slash them through the waist; slice their necks, spin and slash down their back; stick them through the chest and use his body weight to heave the blade in; kick enemies to their knees, cleave the blade into their shoulder near the side of their neck, and then "saw" out, etc. During all of the above, enemies react with screams of pain, grunts and gurgles (some might even hit fellows on accident during fights and stragglers may retreat at their end; you can finish them off if you wish), but while it is quite brutal, with no dismemberment (and an option to disable blood), combat never reaches a gratuitous or gory level.
You'll also use Altaïr's Hidden Blade "stealth-assassination" to finish Altaïr's nine main marks (a dramatic *RING* and pronounced *shff* can be heard on impact each time, as the victim gurgles and gags), or at any time during gameplay to quietly kill guards walking the street (with a shiv to the stomach or back) or rooftop archers (with shiv, a toss of the limited Throwing Knives or a plain shove, all of which, at the right angle, will result in them to falling off the roof), which causes a distraction as guards rush to find the culprit and the panicked (childless) crowds run screaming through the street. These options introduce a moral choice of sorts, since all this can be done to civilians, meaning you can kill anywhere, at any time with any attack in your arsenal, including punches, sword swipes, thrown knives and a less stealthy Hidden Blade attack, which has him tackle targets from the front/back and shiv the jugular. However, mixed with the Creed's first tenet and the fact that after killing several, you'll begin to lose "sync" with the memory (or "health"; full depletion sends you to the last checkpoint), civilian killing is not only discouraged, but has no real in-game benefits.
The lack of benefits in doing wrong is furthered by the fact that if you're caught in the act of killing, nearby guards will soon be alerted; you'll want to stay as low profile as possible, which brings about, to a lesser "moral" degree, navigation choice; Altaïr has two stances that can be switched to at any time during gameplay, the first, a socially acceptable "Low Profile" allows you to blend into a crowd by gently nudging your way through (which prevents, for example, pots from falling off the heads of the carriers). Or the second "High Profile" can be used to aggressively run civilians down (this goes with your horse in the overworld as well), and grab then throw them, which (although some may find it amusing, or tempting: beggars often annoyingly block your way and the grating lunatics repeatedly bowl you to the ground with flailing limbs when you're near—civilians can be punched without guard intervention), along with flinging guards off rooftops or assassinating them in the street (both of which rarely, if ever, needed; it only results in the guards finding the body and stepping up patrol), is far less useful than staying concealed—regardless, the option is still there.
However, deciding on your navigation style and whether to kill innocents is where the "choices" end, with non-optional tasks including pickpocketing for intel, and two other missions that stand out in particular; (rarely optional) "interrogation" and "informant" types. In "informant" missions, Altaïr must roam the streets and stealth assassinate a specific number of guards in a certain timespan for a fellow assassin in exchange for intel, and in "interrogation" missions Altaïr must tail mark sympathizers (despots that speak in the streets) to a secluded area, and then beat them—in gameplay—until they talk; Altaïr will promise these men their lives in exchange for info, only to recant it at the end of the conversation and (non-optionally) shiv them in the stomach. To counter these questionable acts, Altaïr does some good, and while the motivation is equally as selfish, many areas require that you save elderly scholars (to blend in with their then freed group and bypass guarded areas unnoticed), or optionally rescue women being tormented (pushed about and threatened) by corrupt guards and Templars, which will reward you with Vigilantes that temporarily hold back pursuers.
Once one of the nine assassination marks is finally reached, a cutscene will be shown in which each of the villains acts as villainous as possible before you perform the kill. Blatant attempt at giving you justification for killing them aside, said marks are (most often) undeniably in the moral black, meaning your aim is, ultimately, to assassinate twisted, dogmatic leaders, not innocents. Which brings about enemy reactions to your actions, Altaïr is not the only one watching others; during city traversal, Altaïr's every move is scrutinized and remarked on by onlookers, and aside from using the "socially acceptable" method of reaching rooftop by ladder (even here archers will attack after giving you very short leave to flee) or your "Low Profile" movements, nearly anything will set patrolling enemies off. No more is this evident than after killing a main mark, as enemies flock to your position, forcing you to ram through crowds (this risks your balance, causing you to tumble—and pursuers to catch up), jump through stalls, scale walls and leap across rooftops with a strong sense of urgency...
All the while nearby enemies join the original pursuers in their chase (and can use all of the same acrobatic moves as Altaïr), alerted archers fire arrows from the rooftops and enemies pelt you with rocks as you scale, which causes you to lose your hold and fall from any height. If you are caught, the enemy will surround you in large numbers (you're always outnumbered, including a later sequence where you must fight through waves of Templar soldiers on a bloody battlefield), as they counter your attacks, grab and push you (while in the overworld, they can topple your horse with you on it), with each of their hits causing the screen to flash and blur as Altaïr slowly loses health and struggles to his gain balance. With this, the on-edge civilians (nearby thugs will come to a despot's aid and beggars often stone you in response to your lack of generosity), and the fact that, on account of Altaïr's recent actions, even his fellow assassins have some level of disdain for him, it is made clear Altaïr is friendless (or Desmond, who's kept hostage in a big brother-style lab; cameras capture his every move), thus on his own—giving the game's atmosphere an uneasy and hostile edge.
As for the story's moral outlook (devoid its obviously fictitious nature, or a disclaimer at the opening; "Inspired by historical events and characters. This work of fiction was designed, developed and produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs") many could find some of its messages offensive and/or off-putting, from the assassins leader's mantra, "Nothing is true, everything is permitted," to the Piece of Eden, a hypnotic device that is said to have parted the red sea, cast Adam and Eve from Eden, and allowed Jesus to turn water into wine—all said to be just an illusion to witnesses brought on by a mindless, drug-like induced high by its wielders. And after Altaïr kills his main marks, he'll hold them in his arms as they use their last words to try justifying their dogmatic actions, twisting the bad into a weak semblance of good; this not only makes it tough for the player to discern the game's intended moral point (though admittedly, the assassin mantra is "Nothing is true, everything is permitted") but gives Altaïr doubt also, as he begins to question why he kills...
Specific scenes of violence:
However, these twisted men's dying speeches are ultimately used for good in Altaïr's case, as this once arrogant, brash, unfeeling and murderous character becomes more selfless, humble and willing as he begins to question his, what he finds to be mindless and purposeless, motives through his "death bed" talks with said marks; the anti-hero does act the hero in the end. As for age group, while blood can be disabled, language (devoid one use of the f-word) is scant, the killing of innocents is clearly discouraged and Altaïr's enemies are undeniably corrupt, evil men; with the fact that assassinating targets is gameplay's main draw, thus a normalcy; the portrayal of the assassination marks' acts on—their often innocent—victims are disturbing and gruesome; combat is still brutal; players must complete many non-optional, morally questionable tasks and can still kill civilians with relative ease; along with the fact that the story's ideological ambiguity and irreverent nature forces players to decide for themselves what is to be taken as right or wrong, it's just suited to older, more discerning minds.
Content re-review posted: 02/11/10
Original review date: 10/12/08
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