4 years ago
Assassin's Creed Bloodlines is a game released by Ubisoft for the PlayStation Portable in 2009, directly following the events of the first Assassin's Creed game as the protagonist Altair Ibn'la Ahad goes to the templars-ruled cyprus in the search of yet another piece of eden.
The first and only PSP game, Assassin's Creed Bloodlines is an attempt to continue the first game in a way more compact environment, where it does not fail, but the limitations of the hardware cause visible shortcomings in the structure of the game. Not many people know it, and it does not stand out to help itself, making for a forgotten secondary title.
The story is linear, following Altair to the island of Cyprus to find out why the Templars bought the entire place, slowly unraveling the mystery of a secret library with the aid of the local resistance whom he offers his services in return. He travels with a prisoner he took back in the Holy Land, the female knight Templar we met in the first game, Maria Thorpe. Maria will be a troublesome companion, and a major reason why the entire game even happens in the first place, but on the other hand, she grows as a character during the course of the game, and offers some explanation to events later in the series, and in Altair's life.
The game actually plays like the first Assassin's Creed game, obviously in a very low-poly environment, with limited sections of the map being separated by loading screens, and the streets being pretty much unpopulated (the way blending works making even less sense as now there aren't even any larger bunches of people to get lost amidst. The writers did their best to explain the general rarity of pedestrians by declaring that the people of Cyprus live in constant fear of the new templar overlords, as their overreacting soldiers and cruel officers oppress and punish everyone on the slightest hint of suspicion. This change of limiting down the explorable area to separate "slices" makes the open-world feeling of the first game stunted.
Combat is not very different from the first game, the attacks and counterattacks remaining as they were, and belive it or not, I have had fun trying my entire arsenal (your hidden blade, your shortsword, your longsword, your fists and the throwing knives), removing templars wherever I could. The game also has some actual boss fights, into which your main targets (the higher ranking templars) were now turned, and they all feel distinct and fight in their own different ways.
Aside from the fun combat, tolerable story and enjoyable boss fights, the game does get repetitive in mission designs, the way every "chapter" (denominated "Memory Block") is structured, the three types of collectibles (all of which are templar coins, bronze, silver and gold, that in return give you points to spend on upgrades in the animus menu) and all three kinds of side missions (which are assassinations, delivery, and the protection of civilians).
Overall, if you have a mobile phone that can run PPSSPP, this filler episode can be a rather fun way for an Assassin's Creed fan to kill some time, but I feel like Bloodlines does not earn a place among the "true" AC titles, offering a rather reptitive, often bland experience, spiced up by the first game's combat mechanics, and the interesting boss fights. The story, by itself, does not add too much, but it is there when it is needed, and with the occasional (foreseeable) twist, and the dynamic between Altair and Maria's characters can help the game chug along.
