I really tried to like this game, but overall it was so repetitive it started to feel like a chore to finish. Go here, view here, complete objectives, and return to Masyaf. Aside from the historic holy land cities you visit (where you wash, rinse and repeat) the story is interesting and the visuals are great. The repetition leaves a bad after taste in your mouth, but this game also helps to setup the Assassin's Creed franchise. Not all is bad here, but it just wasn't well thought out and executed.… Expand

I'm a huge fan of the Assassin's creed series, but this one i could not get into at all. At first i loved it because I could run around and collect things but that grew old and repetitive just like the story missions. Near the end it gets less repetitive but you have to grind through many same-thing different-story missions to get there. The only reason this gets a 4 from me is because the story that it lays down for the rest of the series.… Expand

A GAME WITH BIG "BUTS" +++
I'm a huge fan of medieval games and a huge fan of stealth games, so Assassin's Creed was my game of choice the moment I played it for five minutes on a friends PS3. Graphics are well done, no doubt about that, assets, clothes, armour and architecture put you back into the time of crusades without too many fantasy like touches -- as an upcoming reenactor I found this very inspiring!
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Game controls are a joy to play with. While many jump'n'run games fail to guide you along thin beam or on critical jumps, you really have to force your character off, which can be done quite well after a little practice. As mentioned before this sometimes gets into your way when your character automatically grabs ladders or beams to climb, while you actually want to run/fall/whatever.
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The fighting system is nice in terms of animations and feeling, but it is way too easy. While you are able to draw attention at you by an entire crusaders encampment you may get surrounded by 20 knights in a "circle of death", meaning you only fight one enemy at a time. Despite the honor of your enemies you will never get attacked when lying on the ground after you made a bad turn. You can use instant kill counterattacks efficiently after the first few fight leaving no challenge to such situations!
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As an assassin your job is to kill hits (people of influence, nobles, etc.) and nothing is more useful but having some clues on your hit before you strike. The game does not only offer clues, it forces you to collect them by playing repeating mini games. Even failing at those mini games is not a loss as you may retry as many times as you like -- so no pressure. After all clues you get are not only things you already know or you get to know -- at least while you try to find your "contacts" for the clues -- but they also have no impact on how you will strike! There usually is only one way in, no way to really prepare your strike and no way to strike silently. It always ends in a "honorable" fight (mentioned above) so you could rush right through if you didn't had to do those (now) pointless mini games....
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As mentioned before AI behavior only focuses on the player and gets really annoying as you -- the one in a robe wandering with the monks -- are literally attacked by beggars in a place crawling with nobles wearing silk more worth than half of the city.
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The story of Assassin's Creed has a nice idea inside. In good story telling characters called "shapeshifter" are the ones who betray you, fooling you to have worked for the wrong side after a long way, but still leaving you -- the player -- fooled as well when done well. Assassin's Creed tries that as well, leaving hints by each hit that you are fooled and if you have an IQ greater than a stone you will get it at least after the 3rd hit. This would not be the problem if there were not 6-7 more! From this point on I was not that motivated very much as I -- the character -- had to do things I -- the player -- didn't really want to do.
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I kept playing until the final punch in the face: You finally know what the master plan was behind everything in this game, but then suddenly be left alone in solitary, able to walk around, use "the machine" or literally find "the game's credits on a wall". The game has no satisfying ending, keeping you -- the player -- eager to continue right there. You may call it "cliffhanger" but it felt like someone ran off with the bag of money two month before the game was finished....
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CONCLUSION: The game is fun for one or two hours with so many ideas BUT looses depth quickly, like a teaser shooting all golden moments of a movie. As a "pilot" of a series it failed to get me....… Expand

Good springboard for later games, but the pure receptivity shows story and innovation incompotence. Interesting setup, but seven or eight hours in, I realised I was doing the same thing I was doing last missions, and before that too. Character models are frequently repeated and have sticky animations, added to which, Altair looks exactly like Desmond. So many cut corners here it's a wonder Ubisoft kept going with the franchise, but I'm glad they did.… Expand

I have nothing bad to say about the graphics or the control system in this game. The graphics are brilliant, especially with DX10 supported card. It took a few minutes to get to grips with the controls, but once you've got the hang of it, it's fine. I enjoyed the game for the first couple of cities, but then it became very clear that there was little variety and that the gameplay for each city was going to be the same: save a civilian, climb a few watch points, eaves drop, assassins challenge, go take on the main assassination target, escape. I finished the first 3 "memory blocks" and then uninstalled it. I just couldn't face wasting any more of my life playing it, and would quite like those few hours back please. If only game developers spent a bit more time on making a good game than trying to wow us with pretty graphics.… Expand

Yet another half-arsed attempt to milk the pc market on money. It's a port at its worst, a growing trend.

Virtually everything about this game is bad. The only thing that stands out is the graphics, it certainly isn't crysis but not all that terrible.
But everything else is, as said, terrible. The controls or inhumane, it's almost as if they randomly assigned key bindings.
Now I said it's a bad port and it first shows when moving the camera, it's a standard console camera, not suitable for the PC-market since it get stuck, it's not really a idealistic viewpoint.
The second proof that no work was put in porting this game whatsoever is the fact that you have to lock onto a target in order to fight it, it simply doesn't work and isn't needed on a computer.

Even if the controls and the game handled like a regular PC game the story is meagre -- at best.
It's a very cliché game, I won't go into details but I can think of several books and films that have already pulled that thing off. It's not interesting any more. For the younger and casual audience this isn't perhaps an issue at all, but for a gamer like me that view games like art it certainly isn't impressive.

This game isn't worthwhile playing, regardless of the price, heck even if you got it for free!… Expand

Great graphics. Other than that... A control set, and control system, totally unsuited to PC gaming. Just awful. Imprecise, unpredictable, and frustrating. An average plot with even some semi original elements that, once you have seen it the first time, is unskipable on later re-plays. Unforgivable. Very restricted gameplay in the modern sections of the game. It totally breaks my suspension of disbelief that this guy just mutely goes along with everything. As a professed former assassin himself he doesn't grab the fire extinguisher off the wall and try to brain his captors with it before using their biometrics to escape... No, he just mutely does everything he is told to do like a sheep. Speaking of suspension of disbelief, as the game opens you have a character that is capable of amazing feats. Then he is demoted in his order, and suddenly can't do half of that stuff anymore. Cos that makes absolute sense. No. This whole thing screams "LAZY CONSOLE PORT" at the top of its lungs and is sadly representative of the disaster that is PC gaming these days.… Expand

This is typical ubisoft, good graphics but the gameplay and interface are very linear and not well documented and the control interface sucks. As is very typical, they consistently require various combination's of keystrokes to do various actions and yet allow the character to get locked up in surroundings or people, this preventing any action from taking place. Avoid this fetid design unless you thrive on frustration. Oh, and Ubi, fix your friggin interfaces first, then worry about graphics.… Expand

This game is seriously lacking in gameplay and design, which good graphics just can't make up for. Gameplay is annoying, lacking in depth, confusing, and has the appearance of a game that poured all resources into sells and graphics rather then make it actually entertaining for the customer. Ubisoft really let me down on this one, I expected much better.

- only work is done on the graphism and riding the horse is nice
- the story is simple: follow the doth, only one route to the end and no multiple route for the character.
- it means no decision making
- the last fight using the mouse has a bug and the support team was not able to solve the problem, they give and all-made answer of updating drivers although the rest of the game works well the system.
- Who is the stupid game developper who did not bother programming the function "Quit", "Save and Quit" ??????… Expand

Why this game has earned the respect of so many people? It seems very repetitive. The only thing acceptable was that the story engages, the rest is always the same Even the dialogues of the characters in the cities are repeated over and over again, not to mention the damn beggars and madmen that you pull to one side... PC is also very hard to play with keyboard, since I tried to play with it but it's impossible to configure it, because each time I enter the game again is dropped and buttons are misplaced. I put it a 1 for the story...… Expand

Worst Game Ever. Okay first off, after playing Prince Of Persia The Two Thrones i was Pumped for this game Assassin's Creed. Why? Because the producers of the games are Same---Ubisoft. Prince Of Persia was an Epic Series and it is considered by many as the Best Action Adventure on the PC. So there, i bought the ORIGINAL DVD for Assassin's Creed Confident of the fact that it will be like Prince Of Persia and won't disappoint. Okay first off, the starting was very confusing and my friends near me Puked and ran away. But i wasn't gonna let this slip so easily. Being next-gen i knew Ubisoft were trying something different. After the first three assassinations i was FLAT. Yes i believed i had played the Best Game Ever. After the third however, things started to get a little repetitive and a lot till the 9th assassination. There are only three cities. Same Beggars and retards everywhere make the game so depressing. Also since this is the PC version the Side Missions are so Painfully Horrible. Two advantages you get playing this game is that it is Open World and it has the Best Graphics Ever by any Ubisoft Game. The ending for this game was pathetic and i was so disappointed that i felt like Tearing my Hair apart. I had wasted 50$s on this piece of SHIT. All in all, if you like Realism do play this game. But if you are a God Of War or a Prince Of Persia fan or a Fan of Fantasy games don't ever try this game. Prince Of Persia may be low in sales but it is a MUCH BETTER game than this Crappy Prince Of Persia Rip Off. If there is an Assassin's Creed 2, they better make it absolutely ZERO Repetitive and with no Side Quests then only i will rate it above or even in the league of Prince Of Persia or God Of War.… Expand