This game is a lot of fun. It is AC in your pocket. It is a little short, but I like how it is more action based than the original AC. A lot of professional reviewers don't like that, but with a PSP you can't really stalk your target for an hour before each kill. I originally rented this game and then bought it.

An added bonus is that you can you can connect this game to AC2 on the PSP for unique upgrades. Pick this game up and you won't be disappointed.

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I have played through AC: B finishing it for the second most recently last night and have found that the game is decent but lacks some polish. Overall this game is worthy of a 3 or even 4 star rating given the fact that it is a new story that is coherent and interesting. The visuals may be lacking but the controls are good making this game worthy of your time if you enjoyed AC on the PS3, PC or 360. However, this is not a game I would buy a PSP just to play.

Pros:

Decent controls--once you become accustomed to adjusting the camera using the X, square, circle or triangle buttons while holding down the Left shoulder button (and tapping the Left shoulder button quickly to re-center behind the character) you can move through the world with ease.

Good story--decent cut scenes keep the pace and move the story along.

Game mechanics--a hallmark of the franchise is the climbing/roof top running and stealth abilities of the game. It is safe to say that this translates well onto the PSP. While not as refined as on the bigger consoles, it is still a satisfying experience given it is on a portable system. However, there are some cons to the mechanics as well which I will discuss shortly.

Cons:

Game feels rushed--I have a feeling that the game was rushed to get it out for the holidays and to coincide closely with the release of AC: II. Notable screen tearing appears throughout the game and audio glitches such as stuttering and skipping are also present.

The camera will kill you--the place where this comes to mind the most is about halfway through when you are on your way to fight two templar boss brothers. You move from an outdoor environment to an indoor one but the camera refused to adjust allowing me to see inside. I ended up luring the guys outside so I could clear that area and then just using trial and error to get the camera to reset and let me see inside so I could find the exit to get to the boss battle.

Not difficult at all--this portable version feels "dumbed down" with little to no AI present. I could surround myself with 6-8 regular enemies or even a boss and 3-4 regular enemies and make it through without much effort. Bosses wouldn't attack you if you were engaged with their minions (although minions attacked you if you were engaged with the boss) and if you were surrounded by a bunch of regular enemies outside boss battles, they would attack you until your health was low and block all your attacks during the process but once you only had 1-2 synch bars left you would magically kill them all in rapid succession and they could block nothing. The only times I died was from falls or jumping from too high a location.

Conclusion: Overall the game is OK and fun to play, I cannot deny it, but the time has come to move on. You will enjoy the new story but after that there is little replay value unless you are a diehard AC fan.

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Bloodlines for the PSP manages to bring some of the experiences of ACII to the portable while also bringing some of ACI's hangups.

This game was created as a bridge from part I to part II with Altair now the head of the Assassins and his quest to hunt down the remaining Templars. Along with this bridge comes with the ability to transfer some of the unlockables found on the PSP to the PS3.

SOme of the pluses are like the PS3 version, you get a variety of missions to run thru as you complete your quest. Also, the climbing and combat controls handle similar to the PS3.

Some of the minuses are sometimes the AI can be overly aggressive and overly sensitive as you walk around and you can find yourself in a fight with 5 or 6 gaurds almost for no reason. Also, the colors look a bit more washed out and it makes it hard to see sometimes where to climb, on the flipside of that, for the processing power of the PSP, the game does look impressive. Lastly in quests where there is a time limit, some become almost impossible to finish with the controls and orienting yourself to your goal which seems so far away.

The voice acting is a mixed bag whereas after having a modern day accent on the first game, Altair has a middle eastern one here. Also it really helps that you have played the first one to understand that this is a simulation as the PSP version has so far made no mention of Desmond or his modern day issues as of yet.

On a scale of 1 to 5 I give it 3 stars

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Overall, this is a really fun game to play: it's Assassins Creed in your pocket!! Other than that, it's a short game and I easily unlocked everything within a few hours. The graphics and combat are good, but the free-running can easily become frustrating. If you loved Assassins Creed 1, you'll at least enjoy this.

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I got this game with the bloodlines edition psp for christmas. since there is no reason to review the psp (which shows the ds what's up) I'm reviewing the mediocre psp edition "assassin's creed bloodlines"

Graphics 3/5

the graphics are okay but altair looks a little weird in this game

sound 4/5

the sound is good but when you walk around multiple corners with baddies in a row the sound that tells you that they are suspicious repeats over and over until you reach your destination

controls 2/5

THE PSP NEEDS A SECOND ANALOG STICK! moving the camera is a pain because it's so hard to do while moving it's almost useless

Gameplay overall 3/5

Now the story was good and followable but needed to be a bit longer I beat the game within 10 hours and now have no other reason to play it so you're better off getting the xbox 360 version if you want some real AC action

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Bloodlines is a good game. Not great, but not bad.

Graphics are stunning. One of the best looking games on the PSP.

Controls are meh. The climbing feels good, but jumping is horrible. "Jump" and "Drop" are tied to the same button, so you need to have perfect timing to pull off a jump, ruining rooftop runs. Also, moving the camera disables the action buttons(not a glitch, just the way the controls were set up).

Anyone who has played AC1 knows it is crazy repetitive. Fortunately, Bloodlines (kind of) fixes this. Where you had to synchronize with maybe 10 towers in one city, now you need to do 1 in each level, every city being broken up into 3 or 4 levels.

However, there is a focus on action in this game. AC1 was about doing boring 20 pickpockets, synchronizations, eaves droppings, and interrogations to assassinate one person. Bloodlines is about hacking your way to your target. There is very little stealth, and you are forced to fight the same battles against the same enemies over and over. Even worse, nearby guards run to your fight, pitting you against many(I once had to fight 8) enemies at the same time. Counter kills are one hit kills, but require surgical precision and often make fight boring with the same exact kill done maybe 5 times in a row.

Bloodlines is like a steak that has been cooked well, but has no sauce or side orders to be eaten with. It is a basic action game, enjoyable but not worth 40 bucks.

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I was waiting months for this game to come out, since i cannot afford a PS3. when i tried it out, i was gravely disapointed. the world is ten times smaller than that on the consoles, and the fight scenes were boring, next to the gory counter attacks that got ever so redundant. the graphics were alright, but the joy of rooftop running was greatly diminished.

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Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines is a fine game. It gives you a fun journey through Cyprus, allowing you to be Altair one last time before taking on Ezio in 15th Century Italy. There were problems. The control system was difficult, and only functioned by sacrificing the eagle view. Altair had an accent that was not there in the first game. Jumping from one rooftop to the next wasn't very feasible.

That being said, the control system was easy to pick up. By the third main assassination I had completely synched my style of play to the PSP version. Hearing Altair's altered accent was annoying, but only for the sake of continuity. It had no adverse effect on the gameplay. There was always an avenue back to the rooftops to conceal yourself within a garden, and if not, then dispatching of a group of four templars/pirates was an easy matter.

All in all the PSP version was great for what it was. The PSP itself isn't a great system with the lack of a second analog stick, but it took a great console game and made it portable while still retaining most of the mechanics, feel, and graphics (minus the blocky faces) that made the first game so fun. It won't win any awards, but it's a great portable avenue of AC and a good bridge between the lost time of the two console versions.

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I just got a psp and this was my first game for it. It took my a little while to figure out how the psp system works but, once I figured it out it was awsome. I've played assassins creed altiars chronicles for the ds and, this game was 50 times better! The ds version has next to no assassinations but, this game has quite a few. Not only that but, you can assassinate random soliders with the hidden blade instead of breaking out the sword. The one thing I did not like was that it was pretty short but, you can get a few days out of it.

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this game is SICK i love it.

Pros:

stealth attack

battles

wrist blade

throwing knife

graphics

leap of faith

bosses

moves

Cons:

short

i hope my comments help you buy this cause i know youll love it! BUY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!

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I purchased Assassin's Creed - Bloodlines about two weeks ago at a warehouse store. I had looked at this game on line several times, but passed on it because I could not determine how the main character was controlled. On the PSP its important for the main character to be controlled completely by the Joystick nub, and Assassin's Creed Bloodlines does have this control setup. I took the chance when I saw it on sale, marked down to $22.

Assassin's Creed Bloodlines is an exclusive PSP only game. I have never played any of the other versions that are out for the other platforms, so I cannot comment on the story line as to where it fits in, but others say it fills in the blanks between Assassin's Creed 1 and Assassin's Creed 2 so you can take that for what its worth. As for the actual story line, in a nutshell, you play the part of the Assassin Altair of course.

Controls are fairly well laid out. The upper Left toggle activates the camera. When pressed you use the Symbol keys to look around. Pressing the Left toggle twice quickly puts the camera behind Altair. The upper Right toggle high profile movements like running. Normally the symbol keys are for attack, dodge, target, drop. On occasion these will be a special function like Talk, Jump, or Synchronization and will flash. The arrow keys are used to change weapons.

The story is broken down into Memory Blocks. Each of these Memory Blocks contains missions that you must complete to defeat the Templars. Your only weapons are your fists, some throwing knives, a sword, and a hidden daggar which is quite handy. As you move through the different areas, you can climb and jump a lot. The idea is to remain "Hidden". You do this by moving slowly, sometimes in a praying walk, so as to not draw attention to yourself. If you draw too much attention to yourself, you'll have to fight your way out of the resulting confrontation. You do have the ability to run, and there are hidden rooms and haystacks for you to jump into and hide. These in some cases can be used to hide from guards etc, but it takes forever for them to go on their way. Control of Altair is not good when you are running. The controls tend to over react a lot, and you find yourself zig zaging all over the place and drawing attention to yourself. Most of the game can be played by walking, but there are a few timed areas that you absolutely must run to beat the challenge. You can also take on odd jobs and tasks. As you approach different people, you'll see a symbol near them which indicated that you can communicate with them. They will hire you to perform special tasks for which you get paid coins if completed. There are also coins throughout the cities and towns that you can find. These are used to purchase upgrades. You do not have to get every one of them to buy all of the upgrades. The upgrades are essential for later in the game so in the early levels it's recommended that you go for the coins while the getting is easy, and do your upgrades as soon as you can. You begin in Acre Harbor Fortress which has been take by Templars.

Your first task is to rid the Fortress of the Templar's. Of course the tasks are very easy in the beginning. However, the instructions are not very comprehensive and a player can get stuck very early on and not know what to do. It is important to use the Map, and to use the Mission Parameters by pressing the Start button. This will tell you exactly what your supposed to be doing. The map usually indicates a red marker of some sort which is your goal. It can be a gate, or a safe house, or a target for assassination. They also have this one move in the game that you use a few times in the beginning then once near the end. Its called Synchronization. You will need to find the highest point in an area, usually marked by a eagle or bird like symbol on the map. You climb up this point and press triangle to synchronize. This somehow allows you to see what no one else can see in the area, like the location of safe houses. So be sure to synchronize when told to do so in the Mission Parameters.

You spend little time in the Fortress, and its quite easy to clear it out. You'll also be introduced to Limmisol, which has a cathedral area, a castle area, and a market place area. There are missions to be completed in those locations as well. You'll quickly dispatch all of the Templar's in the city and eventually find yourself on Cyprus. Again, here are several areas that you will need to complete missions in, and of course remove the Templar's. The tasks get more difficult as you play through. Most mission's are not exceedingly difficult, and a lot of fun to play. Take on a few side missions to earn extra coins. There are Boss levels in the game, starting out with an easy Princes at the beginning which isn't really a boss level if you ask me. Then getting more difficult as you get farther into the game. I believe that the most difficult Boss would be the witch. She is the first one that is a real challenge, she is fast, and deadly. This is another point I'd like to make on the game. Once you engage an opponent, its possible to break away, but you may not think so. When you are engaged to the opponent a triangle appears over their head. You must press triangle to disengage them before you can run or switch to a different opponent. Not as easy as it sounds. Altair's movements are relatively slow, and his attack method is always... slow. Swipe of the sword, back off, reset, attack again. It not a quick slash, slash, slash, which does make it harder to fight bosses and a larger number of opponents. Dodging, and blocking are therefore critical so make sure you learn how to do them. From the witch on the bosses are easier in my opinion. There are at least 3 critical timed missions in the game. The first is when the church is under siege, and you must dispatch of the rioters. That is not the problem, after you dispatch of 6 rioters, 4 archers appear on the rooftops with flaming arrows. You have 2 minutes to get to them all and take them out. The problem is three of them are fairly close to each other, but the fourth is way across the courtyard forcing you to drop back down to the streets where the rioters attack you. This was the most frustrating part of the whole game for me. This is where the running Altair control issue rear's its ugly head. Altair will get hung up on objects and you cannot get him off. Altair will automatically jump into a haystack as you pass it, taking up your time. When running he sometimes refuses to jump and instead drops and hangs and you cannot get him up again and you fail. He also refuses to climb as well making you fail. The second critical timed run is when you are assigned to talk to the monks at the church to get information. Before you can talk to the second Monk he is killed, and you are required to chase down the assassin across the rooftops. Again, the controls were again lacking. Altair would fail to jump, jump off the building, drop and hang instead of jump, and would turn wildly causing you to fail the mission. You have 30 seconds to get to the assassins lair and find an object. The third timed run is chasing an executioner. This one is the easiest of the three critical timed runs once you figure out the correct path to cut him off and take him out. There are other mini-timed runs that are very simple. At one point you have to protect the princes from detection as the resistance moves her through the city. You go ahead and take out the archers and guards. At various points the guards will approach the carriage and a cut scene shows you she is in trouble. Once you regain control, you have 30 seconds to reach the carriage and kill the first guard. Easy actually. The hardest part is taking out the archers and guards which are in odd ball locations that are not easy to get to, and you have to do this before the carriage reaches the final gate. Eventually after many missions, you will fight the leader of the Templar's, Bouchart. He is not that hard, just keep dodging and slashing and he will go down.

Over all I really enjoyed this game more than I thought I would with the exception of the 4 archers timed run. They needed another 30 seconds there. The controls are the biggest complaint. They are far too sensitive in run mode especially. Altair does not obey commands reliably in many cases. Altair gets hung up on items like a board or barrel that is only near him, and not touching him. Altair will automatically jump into haystacks, or drop and hang from buildings when you did not command that. The camera angle was lacking in some spots forcing you to use the camera adjustment keys to get a good view. Sometimes this worked against you, especially during timed runs. Graphics are really cool, I liked the medieval theme of the game. There were places where the graphics would tear, and you'd get these bright triangles or dark slivers appearing. There are a lot of people and guards going about their business. Many times you will see them standing face first into a wall and the feet moving like they are walking. Other times they will get hug up on nothing in the middle of the square or road, or you'll see them running in circles. In spite of those shortcomings I would recommend the game to others as long as they know that there are some minor issues.

Update June 15, 2010. I've just replayed the game again. This time I took more time to search the rooftops and find the coins, as well as taking more of the side jobs. I enjoyed the game much more the second time around. I think this is due to the fact that I had become more used to controlling Altair. There are still some areas where he goes in all different directions and you tend to overreact in trying to get him on the straight an narrow. But the battles were much easier as well as I had also honed my fighting skills. I was able to make it through the timed runs much better, particularly the attack on the church with the 4 archers timed sequence. The timed run with where the monk is killed before you can talk to him, and you have to chase the hooded assassin was still hard, but mostly because it was not clear at all where you had to go. Basically, when you get control back your facing a ladder. Quickly run and climb the ladder, run across the planks, jump the boxes, jump the wood beams, run up the ramp and jump off onto the roof below, run straight forward and jump over the rightmost pillar, and onto the next roof and go RIGHT to the edge of the roof. The hard part is getting Altair to jump the crates and then the beams and get onto the ramp without flipping down and hanging. Once you get to the other roof you get another 15 seconds. Your supposed to jump off near the wall onto the beams and follow the assassin from beam to beam to the alley at the end of the wide road. If you fall, do not worry, just run towards the big arch at the end of the wide road and just before you get to the side alley a cut scene will play, and you can then pick up the artifact the assassin dropped at the end of the alley. My score will still be a 4 star, but a strong four star. The key to enjoying the game more is to play it some and really get used to the controls. Knowing where to go during the times runs also helps so I gave the hint above. A very good game.

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The controls are really bad! The game is just a shell of the original. Everything is really vacant.

All levels look like a construction site. All levels look the same and pretty much are !

Almost NO color to the game, its all grey and silver. THE CONTROLS ARE THE WORST! I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH!

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