Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles DS
User Score
6.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 25 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 25
  3. Negative: 6 out of 25

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  1. DragoonWraith
    Jun 16, 2008
    3
    Horribly short, abysmal controls, choppy framerate, boring combat, stupid minigames, weak storyline, incredibly linear - this is just a terrible game.

    Jumping puzzles abound, but depth perception with these graphics is damn near impossible. Several locations where you have to repeatedly leap blindly hoping to grab some ledge that never looked like it was within reach (or repeatedly miss    ing a ledge that looked very close).

    Controls were very poor, as well, greatly exacerbating the issue.

    Other than that, combat is hideously simple, and much like the console version, the combat AI of the the enemies is useless. Sadly, that's about all this game had in common with the console version.

    The poor controls did sometimes make battles difficult, because often Altair would do... not even remotely what you intended him to do. Multiple foes, in particular, were terrible - aiming for particular foes was nearly impossible. And while you were more or less indestructable and you could easily take on endless amounts of guards, it was very frustrating when you attempted to kill specific characters (such as the boss who is surrounded by your allies that attack you - the game lets you kill them without any comment, but I wanted to only kill the traitor - but it was nearly impossible to do).

    Rewards for progressing through the game are gimicky tricks that do little or nothing for you. Several rewards literally only open up the next area, never to be used. You can only use the crossbow in select locations designed for it (to be fair, combat would be even more stupidly easy if you could snipe everyone), the explosives and knives are generally worthless (except in those places where you NEED them... and they will always be provided for that purpose).

    The storyline was weak (and often did not make any sense in consideration of the storyline of the original), and the dialog was just awful. Abysmal, terrible, utterly lacking. And the dialog in the original was so good, too. Very sad.

    All in all, it was awful. Terrible, very sad, too, because the console version was very good. Had its flaws, but this game is full of them.

    In fact, the only impressive thing about the game is how much mediocrity they managed to stuff into such an incredibly short title.    … Expand
  2. [Anonymous]
    Mar 13, 2008
    3
    Poor frame rates, button-mashingly simple combat, and silly, afterthought mini-games make this second-rate Prince of Persia easy to skip.
  3. ChrisL.
    Feb 9, 2008
    3
    huge let down dont be swayed by the big name an marketing of this game its utter rubbish trying to cash in on the success of its next gen big brother full price for a game that lasts 3-4 hrs in its campaign it pitiful at best if you do buy it , it will leave a bitter taste in your mouth knowing your cash could have been better spent on much much better DS games in the coming months Ninja Gaiden anyone?… Collapse

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 30
  3. Negative: 8 out of 30
  1. IGN
    70
    It's not very long (probably about three hours give or take), and by the time you earn all the cool Assassin abilities, there aren't a whole lot of opportunities to use them...Even with the issues, I had a good time playing through Assassin's Creed multiple times.
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  2. Cheat Code Central
    68
    An average handheld experience. It has about eight hours of gameplay that is very conducive to the pick-up-and-play experience. Most mobile gamers looking for a portable experience will probably enjoy the fun hack n' slash gameplay along with the fun mini-games. But as a fan of the original console version, I just feel that this game lacked a little of the prowess of its predecessor.
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  3. GameShark
    58
    It’s definitely worth a rental; especially if you have enjoyed the original game as it tells the story of how the characters got to that point, and frustrations and limitations aside, the time spent playing the game is enjoyable – it’s just over way too soon.
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