Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India is the second game out of three that are to be released by developer Ubisoft. Following the lead of China, India is a stealth heavy 2.5D side-scroller that, like the name suggests, takes place in India. Being that it’s not a huge leap from the direction Ubisoft has taken with the series, expect this review to be shorter. Not much has changed, but enough has that this review is warranted.

Assassin’s Creed game without some kind of ancient artifact; that role is filled by the Koh-l-Noor Diamond. As you start the game, you’re chasing tail in the Princess Pyara. Maybe it’s because it’s an Assassin’s Creed game, or maybe I just have no interest in Indian culture (not likely), but the story was an incredible snore. Never have I wanted to get through the story driven cut scenes in a game so quickly. An artifact is being fought over by the Assassins and Templars. Templars steal/kill someone important to the main character –we’ve all been here before.

Taking place in 1841 in Amitsar India, you play as new protagonist Arbaaz Mir. This wouldn’t be an

The gameplay is good. It’s not phenomenal or ground breaking. It’s adequate, but just barely. More often than not, you feel that Arbaaz moves incredibly slow for the kind of game this is. The gameplay is standard stealth side scroller; people walk on ‘tracks’ and you have to sneak past them or kill them, hiding in the shadows in the process. So many times I would go to move past or distract a guard, and as soon as I moved in for the kill, the guard would turn around and I would be exposed. The OCD in me makes it so I can’t get past certain situations without non-lethally killing everyone (it’s one of my favorite things in stealth games, to take the harder route for a better reward). However in India, I got stuck a lot. One particular situation I was getting so pist because of how he moves I had to break this rule and kill everyone after being stuck for over an hour. There’s a way to accomplish passing those guards without killing them, I got close a few times. But the controls suck.  

Indian music has never been something I like listening to. Never has been. That being said, I feel like Ubisoft took incredible liberties to make India sound genuine. The main theme can be heard on YouTube; I highly recommend checking it out. Not only does it sound well-orchestrated, it sounds modern. They’ve emulated classic Indian style music, throwing in a guitar or two to keep things fresh. To a fault though. If you’ve played Assassin’s Creed Chronicles China, you’ll recognize the undertones. For a game set in India, it’ll start to sound a little Chinese if you listen for too long.

My biggest praise for India hands down, goes to the art style. It is gorgeously rendered in an almost cell-shaded palette. This works out great for the game. From the deep crimsons to the gold yellows, the colors just stand out. This works in your favor when you’re trying to sneak past guards in front of the light brown background, you never lose sight of your target. Even more so, the cut scenes are all told through water-color ‘paintings’. They are lightly animated for effect, but they really don’t need to be. Faces come out a little crude, but I still found these paintings to be rather exquisite. I don’t remember the last time I took so many screenshots of a game. I could honestly see myself paying for a poster or two of them. 

  Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India is not a good game. Even for the cheap $10 price for admission, it is not worth your time. The game is the most beautiful I’ve seen in years and the soundtrack is great, but the gameplay hinders. The very heart of any game -the controls- just aren’t as responsive or as fluid as they should be. I am disappointed, especially after Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China was such a breath of fresh air. China won my vote for Game of the Year, and maybe that raised the bar too high for India to ever hope to reach, but if you can’t get the gameplay right you’re just setting yourself up for failure. After a few hours into the game, it literally gives you an “Invisibility” button. That has to be the laziest choice of game design I have ever seen. There is one more Assassins Creed coming to the 2.5D style to complete the trilogy (Russia), but after the way India dropped the ball, I can’t promise you’ll see a thirdChronicles review.