The Assassin’s Creed series has seen many spin-offs on many consoles. 2D platformer, card games, Naval Combat; the series has covered quite a bit of genre and a lot of them on mobile. For the first time, however, mobile platforms get a mainstream experience. Or at least as close as possible. Assassin’s Creed Identity tries to condense the main games’ gameplay and mechanics from strong hardware consoles like Xbox One and Playstation 4 to tiny phones that fit in the palm of your hand. Streamlining is something that can be expected along with other elements that are standard practice on the mobile platforms. But does that mean Identity is a watered down version of the mainline series or does the game capitalize on the limitations set by the platform and manages to deliver a fun condensed Assassins Creed experience?
Assassin’s Creed Identity takes players back to the Renaissance era of the series. The events of the game run parallel to the events of both Assassin’s Creed 2 and Brotherhood and mentions have been made to characters who appear in the game as well as Ezio himself. However, that’s as much of a story as you will get. Players select a level and during the load screen will get a small mission description of what’s going on and that’s it. There is an overflowing narrative throughout the missions but nothing that can be categorized as an actual story. If you are interested in playing Identity because you liked the series’ story, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
In Identity, you will pick an episode consisting of ten levels. Each level takes a small section of locations visited in Assassin’s Creed 2 and Brotherhood in which the player has to do specific objectives. These objectives range from assassination missions to escort missions. There isn’t that much variety in the mission types but the combination of the different levels and objectives manage to vary things up just enough. The game plays much like the main Assassin’s Creed series but way more automated because of the platform. Players can press any place on the screen and the Assassin will automatically go over there. It works fairly well even if sometimes the character does some weird things like floating or grabbing objects from a considerable distance.
Assassin’s Creed Lite
You can also control your character with a digital control stick or even a controller. It doesn’t control that fluently as it could but it’s serviceable. A lot of gameplay elements are either removed or streamlined but enough remains for it to feel like an Assassin’s Creed game. After players created their Assassin they can equip them with gear to make them stronger. Most of these upgrades aren’t that noticeable and it’s the only “true” RPG element in the game. Forging is also an option but as has been stated before, will barely influence the game at all. There are contracts which are almost the same as the ‘story’ missions and serve as a little extra. The problem with the main story mode is that a certain level needs to be reached in order to advance. It doesn’t take long to level up but serves only to artificially pad out the game’s length. Identity offers just the story missions of the series with a lot of mechanics trimmed and while that sounds awful; it works out fairly well.
Assassin’s Creed Identity looks amazing considering its platform. The environments and character models look almost exactly like they did back in 2 and Brotherhood. It’s almost nostalgic to see these places again after so many years. There, of course, aren’t as many NPCs in the levels as in console versions but it looks fine, considering the limitations. What isn’t as fine is the frame rate which tends to drop from a wobbly 30 to 20 when the levels load in or there is a bit more going on. These drops don’t last for a few seconds. Don’t expect a lot of music however as it’s only used minimally. The UI of the game has that typical mobile clutter to it but still manages to look like an Assassins Creed UI. Identity might be one of the best looking mobile games out there.
Conclusion:
Assassin’s Creed Identity is a serviceable game for those who just want to do some missions on the go. It doesn’t have any narrative value so those who look for that will be disappointed. It looks like Ubisoft will constantly update the game with extra episodes so the game’s lack of content right now will be something that’s fixed in the future. Identity won’t set the world on fire or even make a spark but those that take the time to look at the game might get a day’s worth of Assassin’s Creed Lite.
