Before I get some things off my chest I want to make it clear that I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time. It looked amazing and playing as an Assassin set during the Crusades had my mouth watering.
Now, if I had to sum up my feelings of Assassin’s Creed in one word; disappointing would be up there, as would repetitive and even flawed. I could also throw in gutted just to mix things up.
SLAP ME IN THE FACE PLEASE
I borrowed this game off my friend yesterday upon it’s release in the UK and despite some mixed reviews I was eager to start running about rooftops and scaling some of the great architecture that I’ve seen in the various videos.
Then came the almighty slap in the face. The first hour of the game is spent doing nothing more than an incredibly boring tutorial. How to walk, how to push people, how to throw them, how to move your head, how to counter etc etc. This would be great if the controls were complicated but the opposite is true. They are incredibly simplified.
Whether this is a bad thing or not is down to your gaming experience but as somebody that has been gaming for just over 20 years, I felt insulted with the way the game held my hand throughout the opening stages of the game.
The main selling point of this game was Altair’s ability to climb around any part of the environment that sticks out, in an incredibly cool fashion. Great, a game combining free running and assassination! The thing is though, you don’t really feel fully in control when you climb up buildings or move across beams. The controls are too simplified.
You hold R1 to go into free running mode, then you press the right stick in whichever direction you want to move in, while pressing X makes Altair jump over gaps. Simple, too simple. You don’t feel like you’re in any danger while your scaling up massive heights using the smallest grips imaginable. You can’t really make a mistake and fall great heights to your ‘death’ unless you press X by accident and jump off.
By making the controls so simple it’s taken away some of the excitement and seat of your pants gameplay moments that come from being chased around rooftops by guards. It feels as if a lot of the work is done for you. All you need to do is hold R1 and move the right stick in whichever direction you want to move in.
I’m not saying that the free running side of the game doesn’t look great because it does. The animation is fantastic but you never feel like you’re doing the movements. You don’t really feel fully involved.
OH SO REPETITIVE
Another major flaw for me is the combat system. L1 targets the enemy and you can either hold R1 to constantly defend, then press square to do a lethal counter attack just as the enemy attacks you or you can bash square repeatedly, in-between holding R1 when other guards attack you. Repeat constantly for every single battle you have with multiple guards, and there’s plenty, it soon gets repetitive fast!
It may look cool pulling of lethal counter attacks but they are so easy to do it’s not even challenging.
Assassinations are nothing more than staying in low profile and pressing square when you’re near your target to plunge you hidden knife into their neck. Then you leg it until the guards lose sight of you.
You can also revert to high profile and attack your target and any nearby guards that are alerted, by using the above repetitive combat techniques.
Oh yeah and you can grab people and throw them.
It is initially cool when you first plunge your blade into your victim’s neck and they hit the floor but the novelty soon wears off.
Then there’s the poor AI. There’s been times where I’ve killed a guard right in front of another guard and he looks around as if he has no idea how his mate suddenly hits the floor dead, while a mysterious figure walks away wearing THE SAME TYPE OF CLOTHING AS ALL OF THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ASSASSINS GUILD! Come on man!
Why can I walk past guards on foot and they barely blink at me but if I ride past on a horse I’m suddenly the Crusades Most Wanted! There’s probably a reasonable explanation for this but it hasn’t been explained to me during the game, other than being told that it’s better to walk past guards on foot. 
SIDE QUESTS SUCK!
To mix things up you can help certain civilians that are being attacked by guards. Your reward for this is a thank you and the help of some renegades that will hinder pursuing guards. You don’t actually gain anything for saving civilians and you don’t need much help in evading guards. All rather pointless and repetitive.
There’s no variation, every single civilian being confronted by guards involves the same process: Target guards, kill them and receive a thank you and off you go. There’s no worthwhile gain in doing it and it soon gets boring after you’ve saved the 8th civilian.
You also have to gather information about your next target by either sitting on a bench and listening in on a conversation, then pickpocketing or beating up somebody to get some info.
Repeat over and over and over…
LACKS IMMERSION
Despite the cities being heavily populated, you can’t actually talk to anybody that isn’t directly involved in the story or part of the crappy side quests. Yes some people make remarks about why you’re climbing up buildings and roof tops or make surprised noises when you drop down from a great height, but generally they just potter about doing what amounts to nothing more than making up the numbers.
You feel like the people around you are emotionless mutes walking around in a set pattern that doesn’t change.
It really does effect the levels of immersion that you feel in the game.
SPOILER ALERT
One of the biggest mistakes for me though is the story and how it’s revealed to you. I think anybody that’s followed this game knows there’s a time travel element to the story. To say the story is completely ruined in the beginning is a big understatement.
Why the hell couldn’t they have led you to believe that you are actually Altair during the Crusades, then revealed the time traveling twist at or near the end?!? To do it near the beginning is just stupid!
It ranks up there with the ludicrous twist in Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy for NA readers) for stupidity!
On top of that, the lead character isn’t even like-able. He’s an irritating arrogant ponce with the personality of a lamp post.
POSITIVES?
The only things that have kept me playing are the excellent designs of the cities (especially the rooftops and climbable buildings that tower over parts of each city, resulting in some truly spectacular views) and the free running side of the game.
It’s also breathtaking watching Altair take a leap of faith down into a pile of hay. It turns my stomach every time (mainly because I’m scared of heights 
)
The problem is though it just isn’t much fun to do it all the stuff that seemed so cool in the preview videos. You plod along from rubbish side quest to rubbish side quest then kill your target, run off, hide and move on to the next target.
There are also some flaws in the graphics department. During some in-game cut scenes, body parts and scenery like curtains and swords can be seen passing through each other. Then there’s parts of the scenery like grass that suddenly changes in colour and density the closer you get to it. Marvellous.
STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE
I’m very disappointed in Assassin’s Creed. The game had so much potential to be a true AAA title but I feel Ubisoft has made some monumental errors in the story line, combat and controls that leaves Assassin’s Creed no better than an average game at best.
Maybe this game is a ‘grower’ and I may end up liking it the further I go into the game. I just feel there are better games available on the PS3 than Assassin’s Creed that warrant people’s attention like Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted and CoD4.
If you’re interested in this game then I’d recommend renting it first and see if you’re still interested in it after you get past the first couple of hours, which are definitely the worst part of the game that I’ve played and I’m around 10hrs in. It really doesn’t improve much though.
I must be a sucker for punishment…
Written by: Gary
To access the Live Chat please
#1 by Stephen on November 17th, 2007
I played the game for about 8 hour so far.
I enjoy it but I can also see the issues you are addressing
The AI could use some improvement, but I don’t think they are that bad.
I think one thing the game really needs is character customization, like the ability to use more weapons. Maybe even new fighting technqiues/moves.
I still have a lot of fun with this game though.
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#2 by Emrah on November 17th, 2007
Any issues with framerate?
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#3 by Darrin on November 17th, 2007
Great impressions, Gary.
I feared that this game would turn out like this. Some great technology and ideas, but ultimately falls short as an overall game.
So, it sounds like the PS3 ends up with four real top-tier titles for the holiday: R&C, CoD4, Uncharted, and Rock Band.
I never understood how the expectations for this game got built so high in the first place.
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#4 by Pc on November 18th, 2007
Doesn’t Haze come out this year too ?? Cuz if so you can’t leave it out of the “big” titles list !!
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#5 by Sporty on November 18th, 2007
Ya Haze and possibly UT3 are december.
But personally, I’m really loving AC. I didn’t get into it till Acre, Damascus I only did the minimum investigations then the assassination. But on Acre I’m doing all the open investigations and side missions before talking to the Bureau.
It does seem like a Love or hate type game. I started just thinking it’s boring but the more I play the more I like it
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#6 by Rjcc on November 18th, 2007
you’re either going to love AC or hate it, I love it. I’ve only done my first assassination in damascus so far, I did all the side missions and got all the view points beforehand. I can see how it gets tedious since all the missions are very similar, but the gameplay on the whole is far enough outside the box that I dig it. it would be nice if there were more crackdown-ish elements where you could do things your own way and skill up in different areas, and get rewarded for it, but I still like it.
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#7 by gmiga on November 18th, 2007
Pretty agree, I have played for 8 -10 hours, sub quests are identicals, and find the action quite boring.
Go to town kill man kill the next one…. all missions are similar ? …. what a disappointment … .
Once again amazing graphics are not enough , frame rate is variable also …. .
This title is over rated . Definitely. Nice landscape when you play and a scenario with a few surprises … well…. sad . Hope I will found more fun for Unchartered Drake’s fortune …. .
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#8 by Gary on November 18th, 2007
Emrah, the framerate has been fine for me so far but there is some pop up in the distance and the draw distance isn’t great in some parts of the game. I’ve mentioned about the grass being drawn the closer you get to it when you travel between cities.
Darrin, the reasons why this game received so much hype was because of the free running element to the game, combined with being an Assassin set during the Crusades.
It looked awesome but a lot of stuff is too simplified and the game is really repetitive. Such a disappointment, I’m just glad I didn’t pay for it.
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#9 by Rjcc on November 18th, 2007
“This title is over rated” over rated by who exactly? some people like it a lot and some don’t. overrated is the single worst thing you can say when allegedly judging a game.
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#10 by Gary on November 18th, 2007
Overrated by Gamesradar who gave it a 10?
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#11 by Lars on November 18th, 2007
Man so right. Really I bought this game with great expectations (maybe I got tricked by the beautiful jade raymond). But man oh man how the **** can they do this. They totally got me bored in the first hour, what a stupid storyline. I almost put off my ps3, I had some friends hanging around so I actually finished the first hour by chatting to my friends and playing at the same time, because it was so simple.
Well, then after climbing on some buildings I got annoyed by the fact that you can’t really lock on civilians. I felt like I got stuck in some zombie game. You don’t really get chased by guards, they just scream a little bit and then you put turbo running mode on and climb on some towers and dive into a pile of shit.
I would not suggest to buy this game, you get more perspective with Pacman.
Thank god I also have COD 4 that pays of every euro.
Greets,
Lars
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#12 by Sporty on November 18th, 2007
Looks like me and Rjcc are alone in our opinions here.
But for me you get out what you put in it. I thought it was boring at first also. But once I started clearing all missions, view points, flags, citizens saved etc it was fun. It does seem to get progressively harder the more you do. So if you only to the minimum investigations then assassinate it can be easy.
For instance my 13th citizen saved on Arce I was fighting 6 guards from the start with about 4-7 more jumping in before the fight was done.
Guards chasing me aren’t a walk in the cake anymore since they are at every turn and on the root tops and can run faster then me. Climbing to get away is getting harder since they shoot arrows, throw knives and rocks at you to knock you down. It’s getting harder to break sight of them before I can hide. But I have a lot of vigilantes unlocked to help get away now.
The informant missions are at least a bit different.
Anyways, you either love or hate. It’s only overrated if you bought into the hype I guess. I went in excepting to be disappointed and surprisingly I wasn’t, so far. I don’t really care for review scores since one persons opinion wont be the same as mine. Games like Star ocean, Devil May Cry, Halo, Gears of War and burnout revenge were all highly rated but I didn’t like them that much, yet games like Dark Cloud, Motorstorm, Maximo and I guess AC are considered average but I enjoy them more.
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#13 by Emrah on November 18th, 2007
I’ll give it a pass, for now. Maybe if it gets cheaper. (And before anyone suggests, we have no rentals)
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#14 by Pc on November 18th, 2007
I don’t like it right now…im in the beginning stages and it’s very boring and different than i thought it would be. Right now it’s all about CoD4 and Uncharted
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#15 by JS on November 18th, 2007
I guess I might not buy it then
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#16 by gmiga76 on November 18th, 2007
I have progressed a little bit in the game one or two more kills after my first post .
Well …..my feelings are still the same . I mean missions are soooo similars. Historical/fiction background could have been use in a smarter way . I start to be fed up to jump from one roof to another, to climb to a tower and jump from the top of it … .
Ways to enter to cities : only one for the moment …. same actions to enter to every town ? . Well it s a little bit light… .Please I HOPE there an another way to get inside town in next missions …. .
My god how can you imagine in a next gen game to have in each town the same ,exactly the same, area where to collect information for assassination … it’s so sad …. , not enough room on the blue ray disc, come on dev guys ? (/ironic mode)
fed up to save civilians … always sames sentences …. fed up to pick up those flags…. fed up to kills those guys
The only reason I am still playing is for the scenario and hope a nice conclusion … and riding this horse is pretty cool.
So much potential in this title … .
Sorry I have to start again Drake’s Demo.
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#17 by Barandum on November 19th, 2007
Sorry guys but I think you overact a bit. We have the same discussion here and do see the problems (especially the bugs)… but come-on… the game has delivered on what it has promissed. The scenario is great, the story is (as far as I can tell) well told, the controls are fine and assassin the targets is fun.
The real problem with this game is that there was too much fuzz and praise about it in the previews and commercials. This game has to be disappointing because everybody expected it to be THE GAME of the year. With this ambtion level set it is very hard to surprise.
And regarding the link to uncharted… just stop now raising the ambition level or it will has the same doom as assassin’s creed.
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#18 by Paranoimia on November 19th, 2007
The description of the simplified controls made me think, “Uh-oh… next-gen Dragon’s Lair!”
Is it really that bad?
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#19 by Barandum on November 19th, 2007
no its not… the controls are simple meaning no complicated click-staccato on the pad to perform a jump, kill or climp.
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#20 by Eddie on November 19th, 2007
I agree with overrated. I’m enjoying the game, however its nowhere near the quality they promised us.
I’m definetly enjoying Uncharted over this game right now.
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#21 by Gary on November 19th, 2007
The controls are too simplified. There’s no real sense of danger or achievement when you climb around the cities as it’s too easy.
The combat is the same but more repetitive. The counters are cool and plunging a knife into your target’s neck is satisfying but overall the combat is pretty poor.
The game could’ve been so much better which is why I’m so disappointed.
Why couldn’t you have killed a guard then took his clothes so that you blend in more?
Why couldn’t they have varied the side missions so that you actually cared about saving the civilians?
The informant missions are a joke. What has running about capturing flags within a time limit got to do with gathering info about your target?
Then there’s the bugs. It’s froze my PS3 5 times so far. 4 times when you are in that matrix style place before you go back to the past and once during the game where it just suddenly froze.
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#22 by jwspiker on November 19th, 2007
the freezes are happening in other games as well, i can’t play the demo of skate as of right now, i’ve heard it’s the news ticker or being signed into the PSN will cause it.
chill down a bit, it is who what we thought it was.
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#23 by Trieloth on November 19th, 2007
Agreed this game is flawed and weak, what a waste of money. Thegame is maybe average a best. There are some many problems ( vanishing floors, dumn AI, etc) and the controls SUCK..hold this button then do that then hold that other button to do this and that while your doing that. Nuff said
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