Assassin's Creed®: Director's Cut

This is clearly the black sheep of the franchise, being the experimental title, the other titles are FAR superior, but don't let that interrupt your interest in trying this one out, if you haven't already played this game, then don't expect one of the best games EVER, because its not, its very repetitive and that might turn you off, however the story IS decent enough to keep you interested, and you can pull off all kinds of special kill moves like in the sequels, oh, and its also important to note that this is far from an open-world game like the second game and up, this have the false impression of being an open world game, while its really not. although you can do some sort of side-mission where you kill templars, and collect flags, and... other things i think, not too sure, if you love stealth games, and semi-open world games, be sure to check this one out, because you'll love it, however, if you are a very judgmental person that can't handle too much of the same, this is a pass, personally i did love it, but i prefer the other games in the series, not a good game, nor a bad one, just a mixed bag :)

If you want to really enjoy Assassin's Creed, you have to do two things: 1. Turn off all HUD elements 2. Throw your completionist attitude out of the window There, you're now ready for a great experience. The way the game is structured makes the last-minute additions (additional missions, flag collecting, etc. which were supposedly added very late in the development after the CEO's kid complained that the game is boring... look it up) pointless and they actually hurt the game instead of making it more interesting. Cut out all the bloat, and you're suddenly presented with a cohesive, extremely gratifying experience. With no mini map (and no looking at the big map either!) you suddenly have to immerse yourself fully into the world, becoming the titular assassin. You observe your surroundings to find clues that will push your investigation forward, you're keeping notes in your head of the city's layout, landmarks and anything that can help you when running away from guards. You suddenly realize that you know the cities like your own backyard and you can easily navigate through them without having to look at the map even once. Great stuff, more games should be designed this way.

There is still DRM trying to call back home in this title and since it can't reach the Ubisoft activation servers the game will freeze constantly, making the game even on the title screen freeze for a long period of time or animations will stop working for a short bit. The only way around this is to modify the host file to block the IP address of the activation server which removes this issue entirely. I was able to complete the game after doing this. So those who want to play this game either for the first time or want to relive it, do some research on how to block the always online DRM that's still technically present even if the game works.

Let me first say that I played this game on Xbox, so I don't know how it controls on PC. I know the PC version has more features, but I feel like games like Assassin's Creed are better suited to controllers than a mouse and keyboard. Then again, you can usually use a controller pad with a PC version of a game, so I'd recommend doing that. That being said, Assassin's Creed. Looking back on this game, two things are clear. One, the sequel is far, far better, and the two spin-offs (Brotherhood and Revelations) also top the original in the gameplay department (as well as graphically, but that's obvious). And two, AC1 falls into that strange category of entertainment where you will either love it or hate it. The other Assassin's Creed titles manage to transcend this category and breach the realm of being exceptional titles, but the first is a bit odd. It has a lot going for it, but at the same time, it does not. Regardless, it is worth a try. The best part about the game (and something that allows it to stand tall with its successors) is the story. You play as Desmond Miles, a normal bartender living in NYC who gets himself kidnapped by the Abstergo Corporation. See, Desmond is (or rather, was) an assassin, and descends from a long line of assassins going back who knows how far. One of those assassins was Altair, who lived during the Third Crusade and came into contact with something Abstergo is searching for. So, Abtergo uses this machine called the Animus in order to reach into Desmond's DNA and extract genetic memories of his ancestor, allowing Desmond to take on the role of Altair and "help out" Abstergo. This sends you through a series of adventures in the Third Crusade, assassinate targets, partaking in a war between Assassins and Templars, and finding out what Abstergo is searching for. While perhaps not the best summary, the story of AC1 is very good, filled with memorable characters, sci-fi concepts, conspiracy theories, and twists and turns that you won't see coming. It also takes place in an often overlooked setting in games, and as a history buff, I appreciate the historical context of the world. I mainly said to try this game out for the story and setting because I sincerely believe it will hook you by the end and make you want to play the second game, which fixes many of the other gripes you might have with the game. Speaking of which... It's the gameplay department that will either make or break this game for you, as it has its ups and down. First, let's start with the positives. The game is a lot like an open world Prince of Persia game. You have the same parkour running ability, allowing you to scale buildings by running up or along them, and it's incredibly fun and works quite well. Not to mention that the world isn't so big that getting around takes forever; you can use horses to get between cities (of which there are three) and can easily parkour your way across a single city in no time. The combat is also simple yet diverse and overall enjoyable, and assassinations can be approached in different ways. Much like other games, the stealthier routes are often the most challenging, but also the most satisfying when you pull them off correctly. It's also quite fun to just go around assassinating random guards, maybe fighting off 20 of them, and then quickly concealing yourself on a nearby bench. It's unrealistic, I know, but then again, so are most things in video games. But the two major problems arise in the combat and the missions. While the combat is fun, it can also become incredibly easy. Once you get the counter move, the difficulty drops like a rock thrown off a cliff. As there were no guns in the Middle Ages, all you have to do is wait for a guard to attack with a sword, counter, and then kill them in one hit. Of course, you don't have to use counter, and the later games introduce elements that make countering less useful (like enemies with guns or enemies that can't be countered), but it's a prevalent difficulty crusher throughout the series. The combat can be challenging before this, but after you can counter, the game becomes much easier. The main problem though is the repetitiveness in the missions. Yes, each assassination is different and involves different people, but actually getting to the assassination is the same process. First, you climb up a viewpoint to update your map and then jump off; that last part makes for quite the rush every time, but I digress. Next, you go interact with six people; this involves pickpocketing something from two people, eavesdropping on two people, and then helping out two other people. Then, you bring your information to the local Assassin's HQ before finally going after your target. And you have to go through this process nine times. It's fun the first few times, but it does get repetitive very quickly, and it's what can really drive you away from the game. Overall, AC1 has a lot going for it. The story is great, the setting is unique and very detailed, the graphics are nice, and there are some fun elements to the gameplay. On the other hand though, combat does get way too easy and the missions do get very repetitive. But at the end of the day, I'd recommend picking this game up; it's a unique experience worth trying out and the story will suck you in. And the next few games address the main problems with AC1, adding diversity to the missions and making the combat more challenging. So pick up AC1, get a feel for the story and work past the problems, and then enjoy the hell out of AC2 and its spin-offs. Because while AC1 might be flawed genius, its successors are just genius.

The game is fun and the story is intriguing, but it's definitely one of those games where you're just playing it because you want to do the entire series. It's fun but the gameplay is very, very basic. For the most part it boils down to climbing a tower to see part of the map, do an investigation, and then do the assassination. Once you do enough assassinations then you complete a memory sequence, which then continues part of the modern story, and then you continue. I honestly did not enjoy the investigations that much. Your options were basically "follow a guy into an alley and punch him a few times", "kill a few guards on the roof", "make it to this area of the map within a certain amount of time", and "follow a guy until he's close to other people and pickpocket him". Now what I did enjoy a lot about this game was the stealth. There weren't too many actual mechanics, but it was designed in way where you really had to mentally plan ahead on how you were going to get in, take out your target, and get out as quickly as possible. And then if you failed and got caught you'd have the entire city on you. The combat was fairly simple, but the sheer amount of guards you'd have to face made it so that you wouldn't want to get caught because running around the city would eventually overwhelm you. And then once that happens, really the only way to hide is to get on the roof. Unlike Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood (and probably the rest of the games), you can't just kill your target and then quickly make your way to another section of the city and be completely fine. If you happen to fall off a building into the city then you'd immediately have guards running at you no matter what part of the city you were in. The way it was executed just made it really tense if you got caught and relieving once you managed to hide.