Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines Review for PSP

Altair, the protagonist of the first Assassin's Creed, is back in his newest adventure, Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines. While it is a bold attempt at capturing the experience of it's big brother on the consoles, hopping around from building to building on the PSP may leave you wanting to leave this adventure behind for the console sequel to the original.

Story

The story revolves around Altair a while after defeating his former master. This time, he is after the remainder of the Knights Templar, as well as finding out what powers the Apple of Eden holds. He journeys out to Cyprus, where he is sent to kill his enemies, while remaining in the shadows. If this is your first time playing the Assassin's Creed series, you will be confused as to why Altair is going after the Templars, because of the boring story as told through poor voice acting and cutscenes. Even the use of the Animus, which is used only as a way of saving your mission progress this time around, is not explained as it was in the original.

Graphics

The graphics themselves go from nice to down right drab. The motions of the characters are smooth. The detail in the areas you explore is great and the character's graphics are superb. However, once you play around for a couple of minutes, you'll notice that every place in the two islands look the same. They are a boring grey throughout town. Part of the draw to this series was the beautiful structures and areas you were free to roam around. This is not so in this version. I know this is on the PSP, but it could have been more polished.

Gameplay

The gameplay is also lacking. This is because of the PSP's controller limitations. The manual controls of the camera that plague many games on the PSP is back on this one. You can't move as swiftly around the cities as you can on the consoles. You may find yourself bumping in the corners and other objects for no reason, or missing a jump because the camera is not facing in the right direction. There is an option to reposition the camera right behind Altair, but it swings around too quickly and doesn't really help. As a result of this, you may bump into people or guards, starting fights that will waste your time while completing a mission. It is just a sluggish experience that just isn't acceptable for this type of game.

Conclusion

Assassins Creed: Bloodlines attempts in recreating the experience you would come to expect from the original. Fans of this series will like certain gameplay features such as hiding in haystacks and roof gardens to get away from pursuers, making leaps of faith from the tops of steeples and of course, the return of Altair. However the result is a "lite" version of it's console brothers. This shortened version can be completed in about five to six hours of gameplay. Not really worth the time and money you put into this game.

Game Price: $39.99