Assassin's Creed®: Director's Cut

It really pains me to leave a negative review of this game, especially on GOG, but this version of the game suffers from terrible controller support, a myriad of bugs that heavily affect play including being essentially unable to run above 60fps without breaking physics, and very frequent freezing caused by the game trying to contact a long dead Ubisoft server that should have been patched out when it first became available on this storefront. GOG desperately needs to make some form of patch to this title to at least remedy the server issue as it is the most egregious of the performance issues, and no game that we purchase on GOG should even be TRYING to contact servers while we're playing unless we consent to it doing so. This issue should not exist as a bare minimum for this storefront and what they stand for.

Assassin's Creed is noted within the PC Gaming community as one of the worst examples of DRM implimentation. It was tedious, and completely overbearing making the original game barely playable. Now that it is on gog without DRM is actually funny to see. However, Assassin's Creed is a decent game at best. The great graphics, wonderful atmosphere, and mesmorizing setting make way for a rather bland and sadly predictable story. While many people triumph the historicity of the story, there is everything but that. Persons from history are in the game, yet they are loosely connected and oddly 21st centruyized making the notable persons actions extremely anachronistic. The gameplay is fun at first, but becomes extremely repetitive to the end. It may be worth a try, but there is small value for gamers and historians alike.

This is one of my favorite games of all time, but I do not think it is for everyone. I love it because it is immersive. The mechanics force players to observe the world and not to rush through it, as a result, mission mechanics repeat themselves, but this clears away any learning curve that might take you out of the experience. Also, this is why many feel the the gameplay is slow or even boring. If you like fast and relflex intensive games, I do not think you will like this one. If you like getting lost in an immersive an highly detailed world (LA Noire fan?), you will have a wonderful time.

The critical reviews I've seen on here and elsewhere make me very sad, because this game doesn't deserve it at all. Ubisoft's focus on creating the atmosphere, not the game itself, sets Assassin's Creed apart from other games, as developing the reality of the experience and atmosphere took priority over the gamers' enjoyment. Strangely enough, because they forgot to think much about whether the game is enjoyable, they made it extremely fun. This, of all games, is among the easiest to completely forget reality, or even the fact that you're playing a game, as the atmosphere is so engrossing and beautiful. Yes, there is repetition, but it was executed perfectly as to promote the reality of an assassin's life, without losing the player's interest. Imagine yourself being in the holy lands during the third crusade as a tourist, spy, warrior, assassin, rock climber, and parkourist all at once, while enjoying a highly riveting plot and an astoundingly beautiful atmosphere, coupled with perfectly executed music. That, is the essence of Assassin's creed.

I played this game on Xbox 360 and loved the concept of the game and to be honest I don't recognise any differences between the base game on console and this supposed "Director's Cut". So don't go in expecting an extended experience as I did. The story is quite fascinating and that's what kept me playing, although the missions lack some variation. This is a common critique, but given that this was the first entry of a new IP, I understand they had a more limited budget (~$20million). However, excessive grind is a common feature even in recent AC entries, so to give AC1 a bad repuation for it seems unfair to me. For me, the limited sandbox is a bigger issue; there's not much freedom to execute your assassinations. Additionally, a certain class of NPC has a very limited dialogue library, so be prepared for some greatest hits to be featured multiple times. I also find the controls quite clunky, although that may be due to my own skills, or lack therof. Regardless, I find movement much smoother in more recent entries. If you have never played AC1, I won't spoil the story for you, but you get a game which I played through in 12 hours. The play time can be extended if you don't ignore the plethora of collectibles. I recommend you leave these alone at first and purely focus on the story. You don't really get anything extra for finding them all, except for a sense of pride and accoplishment. Oh wait, wrong company. But seriously, don't bother with all the flags and stuff that are "hidden" in the game, because you'll lose interest very soon. I adopted both playstyles, so take my word for it. Anyhow, the game's very affordable during the many sales and if you buy on GOG you don't have to worry about DRM. Now, the description on GOG Galaxy mentions that the game is non-linear, which is quite a stretch. Occasionally you can choose which mission you'll do first, but in the end the order doesn't really matter. I suppose this comes back to my point about the limited sandbox.