Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2008-04-11
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Platform: Windows XP

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It's easy to see why there was so much fighting amongst the console manufacturers to try and make this game a format exclusive. Where early launch titles may have disappointed this game not only looks like a next generation game but it plays like it too. Taken at face value the story casts you as an Arabic fighter in 1191, out to assassinate the nine Western leaders of the Third Crusade. There is more to the story than that though making it more than simple historical adventure it first seems.

Since it's developed by many of the same team behind Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, it's no surprise to find the game using many of the same ideas. With the bold claim that you can climb on or over anything in the game world that sticks out more than two inches, this allows incredible freedom of movement, with a style of acrobatics heavily influenced by Parkour/free running. The game also innovates in terms of combat, with each of the face buttons controlling a different area of the body, rather like a marionette. As such one button controls the feet, one your open hand, one your weapon hand and the other your head.

As an assassin stealth plays an important role in the game too, but here it's often a case of hiding in plain sight as you mill around inside large crowds of people. Everyone will react to you realistically though, so if you go around pushing people out of the way, or even killing them, the crowd will react and report you. With stunning graphics and genuinely innovative gameplay this is destined to be one of the most important releases of the year.
HARRISON DENT

Manufacturer's Description:
Assassin's Creed is set in 1191 AD, when the Third Crusade was tearing the Holy Land apart. Shrouded in secrecy and feared for their ruthlessness, the Assassins intend to stop the hostilities by suppressing both sides of the conflict. Players, assuming the role of the main character Altair, will have the power to throw their immediate environment into chaos and to shape events during this pivotal moment in history.

Our story follows a disgraced master Assassin (ALTAIR) who embarks on an epic quest to restore his status within the Assassin Order. After failing to assassinate the Templar Leader (ROBERT DE SABLE) and recover the legendary Templar Treasure, Altair is demoted to Uninitiated (the lowest rank in the Assassin order).

SINAN, Leader of the Assassins, offers our hero an opportunity to redeem himself. Altair must venture out into the Holy Land and assassinate men said to be exacerbating and exploiting the hostilities created by the Third Crusade. In doing so, he will stabilize the region, allowing Sinan to usher in an age of peace.

When our game begins, Richard the Lionheart has just recaptured the port city of Acre from occupying Saracens. With a base of operations established, the Crusaders prepare to march south. Their true target is JERUSALEM - which they intend to recapture in the name of the Church. However, SALADIN, leader of the Saracen Army, currently rules Jerusalem. Stinging from his army's defeat at Acre, he will now allow Richard to humiliate him again. The Saracens are massing at the ruins of Fortress Arsuf, intending to ambush the Crusaders and prevent them from reaching Jerusalem.

These war maneuvers have left the rest of the Holy Land wide open. While Richard and Saladin battle one another, the men left to govern in their stead have begun taking advantage of their newfound positions of power. Exploiting, manipulation, and provocation rule the day. It is into this chaotic mess our hero now finds himself thrust. He is ordered to assassinate those most active in their exploitation.

And so Altair begins his missions.

Along the way, however, he will begin to discover that his targets are bound by more than just a shared interest in personal gain. They seem to share membership in a secret society - a group all too familiar to the Assassins. And they are not simply looking for profit. The true goal, and how they plan to achieve it are secrets to be discovered during the course of our story.

Customer Reviews

the best and worst
Once upon a time a crack team of developers spent 50 years researching in the middle east before perfecting a believable world with cool animation, sound and the best level design ever.

Suddenly the production manager realised he hadn't bothered to commision a story!?! The game was due for release in one week! How had that been forgotten when 6 generations of families had died slaving on the graphic stuff?! Quickly he scribbled some psuedo Dan Brown conspiracy rubbish on the back of a napkin and thought of 9 unimaginative missions to send the protagonist on, hoping no one would notice cos the art was so slick...

Great Game - Lousy Disk
The game was fantastic and I spent hours working through the levels - pretty easy, but it feels so unique and engaging you don't care.

And then it broke...the disk would not load and I kept getting an error message - having researched, quite a lot of people seem to have had problems with the disk. Most of the blame has been laid at Ubisoft's feet and it seems to go deeper than compatability issues with people's computers.

Play it, enjoy it, but make sure it works!!

Yawn....
Ok. Lets get straight to the point.

The good: lovely graphics (you will need a high end pc though).

The bad:

1) Long long cutscenes that CANNOT be skipped. I dont want to sit through 10 minutes of cutscenes every 5 minutes. I dont really care too much about the story line etc, I just want to kill people (sad but true) after all this game is called assassins creed, not assassins long boring and largely uneccessary cut scenes creed. The makers didnt even allow us to use the all important ESC key to get out of them.

2) the awful control system. Ive never played a more counter-intuitive system in my life. You'll end up having to play finger-twister just to walk or run and jump.

3) the amount of time it takes you to exit the game. It literally takes 3 separate confirmations and a re-log in to just quit the game (takes about 2 minutes all in). What the hell is going on? You ever heard the old tried and trusted 'do you wish to quit' 'yes' technique?

In summary, the graphics are nice on a top end machine running dx10 and vista. However, gameplay is mono-directional (go here, do that, come back) and the cut-scenes and little annoyances really drag it down.