Assasin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles for Nintendo DS

Depending on your passion for Assasin's Creed, this game for the Nintendo DS is hit or miss.  Why?  Well, if you've already played the game for the 360 or PS3 you'll find this version of Altair's Chronicles a little boring.  While the originals are set with audio animations and unbelievable graphics, the DS style is more of making the player read through everything with Middle Eastern background music tagging close behind.

However, it really depends on the age of the player.  After discussing this game a little with your typical nine year old player, he felt as though the game is a little difficult, especially when having to deal with the area which you must cross over water.  Overall though the game was regarded as fun and entertaining.  So while older generations may find this a little "weak" with storylines, they both agree the graphics are decent enough for a DS game.

The biggest problem you will run into is the variation of play.  Roof after roof you'll sprint and jump across as guards chase you all over the land.  It actually will remind you a lot of the last couple Spiderman games, just without all the crawling and web action.  Many people feel it's more like the Prince of Persia style then anything else.  You'll be able to decide for yourself when you try it, but in the end we aren't sure how much you'll enjoy this one.

Since the Xbox 360 and PS3 have that open air wondering, you end up feeling a lot more confined in Altair's Chronicles.  Sure, you can still pick-pocket people and the torturing elements are still fun, but the styles of doing so definitely aren't up to par.  For instance if you are playing "Pick Pocket, Don't Touch The Sides" then this will be interesting.  Definitely not the first to come up with this idea, but it does the job. 

Then of course when you decide to hit the pressure points of some nobody, the difficulty is nothing more then hitting the right buttons.  Since the audio is lifeless on this game, you won't hear screams (not that there is any anyways), and find that everyone is real quick to tell you everything you need to move forward in the game.  While it would be nice to have a little challenge, you'll soon find out that other parts of the game will be only because of you.

There is one thing you will have to account for every time you jump and land on a platform.  It seems that instead of landing you end up sliding and although the game is pretty easy, you'll die more times then first thought.  Even if you actually account for the issue sometimes it won't matter, so don't expect to go an entire game without getting killed a few times in between.  There may be a secret to the madness, but we never spent the time to figure it out.

The overall idea of the game is to move around, complete boards, and ultimately increase your Assasin's skills.  You'll quickly find that you won't enjoy the simplest of pleasures, like counterattacks as you would in the console games.  Instead you must earn them as you go, but to be honest they really aren't needed.  However, if you want to add a little spice to this game it's definitely recommended that you do.  Daggers and bombs are the weapons of choice you'll be encountering and having the options to utilize.

In the end you'll find yourself getting annoyed at all the distractions that are soon to come.  Even as the game starts to feel like the real thing it ends up being over.  Sure, you can play on a more difficult level, but it won't change much.  In fact, we aren't sure you'll be wanting anymore of this game after you finish it for the first time.  It all depends on what you consider to be "beating a game."

However, for those of you that have to say you've played something and beat it, this one won't take too long.  We imagine if you go uninterrupted, you could probably finish it within four or five hours.  The second time through even on a difficult level won't boast too much longer.  When it's all said and done, if you don't have a console nearby or on a trip, this will keep you busy and pass the time.  Unfortunately, it's not near as good as the other games from 360 and PS3.