Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China
Overview -
'Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China' is the first in a planned trilogy of 2.5D side-scroller stealth titles. They are significantly shorter and less expensive than the annual big-budget 'Assassin’s Creeds'. In fact, 'China' is free to owners of the short-lived 'Unity' season pass, and $10 for everyone else.
Video Review
'Chronicles: China' doesn’t have the best in textures or modeling, but it does have beautiful art design. Much of the environment looks like an ancient Chinese watercolor painting. Trees, stone, water, even blood is rendered in a heavily stylized paintbrush format. To add further to the lack of difficulty is the presence of a red streak highlighting anything remotely interactive, cutting down on the exploration. The game runs smoothly and never stutters, and the load times are quick.
Audio Review
To further add to the period authenticity, the soundtrack is made up of traditional mainland Chinese music. Expect lots of meditative dizi and plucky percussion, along with heavier drum sequences during chases and boss fights. Cutscenes have voice acting in English, but all of the guards speak in Mandarin with subtitles. Most of the voice acting is solid, as are the sound effects.
Final Thoughts
'Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China' is a mixture of classic 'Assassin’s Creed' gameplay, the stealthy 2D success of 'Mark of the Ninja', and sharp art design. It’s rather short, but also rather cheap, and has more replayability than most games in this category. It’s probably the most fun I've had playing an Assassin’s Creed since 'Black Flag'.
