Pretty short game, this one, took around 5-6 hours to finish on the lowest difficulty (I would have played on the highest, but since out of the 3 possible difficulties two are locked, and require that you finish the game first, I'll pass.) I understand this mechanic, but personally I don't like it, because it forces you to play the game multiple times. If a game is replayable, it's not because the difficulty. Locking difficulties is just a cheap way to "improve" replayability, just stop it please...
I won't go into the story much, the game is set in the 1500s, you play as a Chinese assassin, hunting the so-called Tigers (basically Templars). When a new combat skill is unlocked, the game switches to a small tutorial part, with an old Ezio as your teacher, which I really liked. The story is presented through cinematics between and during the levels, but most of it can be found by reading the Animus Database, which is updated with entries quite often (plus you can find chests containing scrolls containing extra, story-related information). It also has entries about people / enemies you meet, as well as the skills you have unlocked so far.
I really liked the idea behind the gameplay, it's not anything like you get in the main titles of the series,where you can do pretty much everything you want, even go in guns blazing. I would even say that this was the most accurate depiction of the classic assassin-ish style of gameplay, since the Ezio series. A few times I felt a little odd, because some of the things are not very realistic, for example, talking guards are not aware of their surroundings at all, you can just go past them, and you can dash between hiding places (you CAN actually be seen while doing this, but it's still weird to see you roll super close to a guard). There is an ability called Helix Dash, which makes you invisible while dashing. I liked the fact that the enemies are talking in Chinese, but after 3-4 levels it gets boring, because they keep repeating the same dialogues. There are also elements which are supposed to make you easier to spot, such as dogs in cage (going past them will cause them to bark, and soldiers will run to your position), caged birds (same as the dog, but you can prevent it making noise by simply walking past it), wind chimes (you have to crouch under these), or creaking wooden floor (again, crouch). A small fun-fact, in one level a soldier's cough sound was the same as the one used in Project I.G.I 2 (not a problem or anything, I just noticed.)
One reason that will probably make you choose staying stealthy is because the combat is pretty damn hard. The controls are somewhat weird, not comfortable to fight enemies in open combat at all, and you'll quickly get overwhelmed, especially later in the game, where enemies can call for reinforcements, leaving you dead in no time, as most that you can take are a just a few hits. If you somehow manage to survive and cut down everybody, you'll get taxed after you finish the level. Each level in this game is split into different zones, which also mark checkpoints. At the end of each zone, you get points based on how you got through it.
There are three categories (each of them having ratings of Gold / Silver / Bronze, based on several factors, such as how many times you were seen, alerted the guards, etc.):
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Shadow - you don't kill anyone, you get the most
points playing like this
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Assassin - you kill people but are not seen (you don't alert the guards). Naturally, you get less points.
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Brawler - you alert the guards and kill them in open combat. You get the least points for this category.
At the end of each level, your points are summed up, and if you hit a certain limit, you unlock different upgrades, like an additional health bar, more damage, increased ammo size, among other things. There are some levels where all that matters is the time in which you complete them, here I felt that the controls were a little clunky, and I messed up quite a few times because of this, but it's doable.
Your arsenal looks like this:
- Whistle - Attracts enemies to your position
- Noise Dart - Works pretty much the same way as the whistle, the difference is that you can choose the area where your enemies will look.
- Throwing Knife - You can unlock different parts of the map with these, by throwing them into objects bound with red ropes. Can also be used for combat, but I don't advise that, took me three knives to take down a regular soldier.
- Firecracker - Stuns enemies in a small area.
Overall, I liked this game, it was fun, although it's rather short. You can extend the playtime by playing it again, on higher difficulties, but it doesn't really add anything to the game, aside from a few other upgrades at the end of the levels, and higher scores.However, for a single playthrough, it's certainly worth the time.
