Hey guys,

Bought Bloodlines yesterday, finished it today. Total play time: 8 hours.

My verdict: Nothing that couldn't be explained through a comic. In fact, NOTHING is explained. The three question we all ahd about this game were.

1. How do Altaïr's descendents get to Italy?

2. Who's the mother of his children?

3. What about the other pieces of Eden and the rest of the Assassins?

These are the answers the game gives:

1. No answer at all. He says to Maria he'll travel EASTWARDS with her (which Maria said is towards India). Everyone knows Italy lies WEST of Cyprus. If anything, that'd mean he's going back HOME to Syria! Even if this was a mistake by the creators, it is NOT an excuse: it takes only five minutes to google a map of Europe!

2. Maria appears next to him in the final scene putting a hand on his shoulder and watching how he scribbles the Codex. Not very conclusive. That could also mean she's his traveling companion or friend and doesn't neccesarily have to mean she's the mother of his children. It's too subtle to conclude anything. Also, there isn't ANY development that suggests romantic interest between the two.
Still, since it apparently appears in the Codex pages in ACII that he had a child with her, I'm willing to let this one slide. But I do think it has kind of cheapened Maria's character.

3. The new Templar grandmaster says new pieces of Eden are shipped FROM Cyprus. Altaïr never even goes after them. And if he decides to travel the freaking world, what of the other Assassins? The manual says he's a leading figure there now. So why would he be so irresponsible to leave them behind?

In other words, the questions for which we bought the game are never answered and often not even hinted at, which very disappointing!

And then the game itself: a lot of the moves work fine and are still the same, but moving the camera is horrendous and enemies just freaking "spawn" behind you and in between missions and will react even if you jump from a roof and they were in calm mode.

You have challenging games and frustrating games: this is a frustrating one at times. So I suggest you play it once to have some idea what happened to Altaïr (because all that happens is some half-hearted hinting) and then never again. Then play Assassin's Creed II and focus all your attention on that!

I'm now off to play Assassin's Creed II, which I think will be heaps better.

Ve.