Below are user reviews of Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition and on the right are links to professionally written reviews.
The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition.
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User Reviews (1 - 11 of 30)
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Better than expected
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 13 / 16
Date: April 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User
When I first saw the trailer for this game, it looked like it had potential. But then I started to see all the negative reviews when it came out on PS3 and 360. How it's repetitive and there's not much actual assassinations and you waste time doing other things. So it was pushed from my mind.
But I have to say, this game is really fun. I didn't know this type of game was possible on the PC. The last time I remember having this type of intuitive control and ability to jump and move around anywhere was Mario 64. And this game takes that fluid character control and ups the ante by 1000x and increases the graphics, adds hundreds of people and lets you kill anyone. I don't know what to say, it's just extremely fun to just run around, walk around, climb, jump across roof, fight random civilians and the guards. It's just perfect. Well, closer to perfect than any game I've played yet.
Anyways I had some concerns with people saying you'll need a gamepad for this. I have a PS3 for Blu Ray, not games, but a friend brings over AC sometimes and personally I prefer the keyboard/mouse combo. With a controller you just feel so constricted and you never forget that you're the one guiding the character on screen. With keyboard/mouse it's easier to get past that and move as if you're in the game. But I understand it's preference and if you're a console person you might feel differently.
I don't know of all the improvements made from the console versions but I noticed at least 4 new side-quests. There's one where you stealth kill archers and guards for your fellow assassins, one where you have to race to another informer within a certain amount of time, one where you "escort vip", and one where you need to throw someone into merchant stores. Adds a bit of variety while you stack up enough investigations for the main kill.
I love the fighting in this game. I thought it was a little dull but once you get Counter, oh my god. Insanely fun and engaging combat sequences. I like that Ubisoft put in a lot of variety to what kinds of moves the Counter skill can pull off. It's just satisfying to watch the incredibly cool maneuvers this guy pulls off against 20+ enemies closing in on him as he spins and ducks and slices. One of my favorite has to be the one where he gets down and stabs a foot then charges up and impales a blade into the skull. Such a pretty game.
Graphics are incredible but yeah the specs are pretty high. I'm running it at max settings with 2x anistropic, 4x anti-aliasing, at 1920x1080 resolution with great fps on a 3.2GHz C2D, 2GB DDR2 800, 8800GT 512, system.
I don't usually buy single player games because of the lack of replayability. So unless it's a great experience, I'll stick with my mutliplayer. Bioshock was a huge letdown for me, but AC was a pleasant surprise. Bioshock had an interesting story but AC has the FUN gameplay. Games I usually go for are CoD4, TF2, etc. All PC of course. Consoles are for kids or for street fighter or rock band sorts of games. Assassin's Creed on PS3 was kind of lame but the PC experience is well worth it if you've got a system to run it.
It's not a perfect game. There isn't an option to save so you'll have to sit through long speeches again if you die. There are some little things I might nitpick about. But from the games available on the market, it's definitely one of the best. I'm excited about other games with this engine because the movement and combat are just so damn fun.
The only keys I customized were the weapons(which is pretty much preference) and I made "Q" eaglevision and "E" target. Works great.
I know it's not a game I'll play again and again like CoD4 but it's a 4.5 for a single player. Downfall is the repetitiveness but the gameplay engine is just spectacular.
Great Game....but high requirements
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 8 / 11
Date: April 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows® XP (with Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista®
Processor: Dual core 2.6 GHz Intel® Pentium® D or AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 3800+
RAM: 1 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista
Video Card: 256 MB DirectX® 10.0-compliant video card or DirectX 9.0-compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (see supported list)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 or 10.0-compliant sound card
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0 or 10.0 libraries (included on disc)
DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
Hard Drive Space: 8 GB
Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, optional controller
Ifyou have a computer good enough to run Assassins Creed then I just have three words for you......
"GET THIS GAME"
Best Game played in the last five years.
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 4 / 5
Date: May 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User
This game is so life-like in its historical representation that it will emerse yourself in 1191 Crusades of the Holy Land. Here you follow the memories of Altair, the head Assassin as he conducts himself on nine missions (Not to mention a hundred side missions that you can enter freely of your own will). I can see this game engine use in other simulations, like Shinobe of Japan, or even a Bourne Supremacy game. The details are amazing, masses of people interact and the slightest mishap will draw you into an incounter. Fight or flee. Its your choice. One aspect of fascination is the computer's prediction on weather you will make a leap from one rooftop or not. Precision was taken to allow a sense of fear as the computer predicts based on your angle and speed. This changes with just a mili-second of decision. It is very real aspect to the game. Even the horses move with realism... A must have.
AWESOME!
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User
I bought this game for my husband as a gift. He's been playing it non-stop once the sun goes down and is on the computer for hours! In his words, it's just awesome!!!
Has a Few Flaws and no Ending but UBISOFT is Working on a Sequel
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User
Assassin's Creed is one of the best games I've played, but it has several flaws that I hope they correct in the sequel.
The main flaw in Assassin's Creed is that there isn't enough variety and planning in the assassinations. Most of the time it is impossible to get to your target without fighting your way through the guards so planing and stealth doesn't help much in the actual assassinations(it's a good thing that Assassin's Creed has a great combat engine). The other flaws are: The assassin can't change disguises and you would think a real assassin would, The assassin can't swim and it seams like someone so well trained in all other ways would know how to swim, and the story doesn't end but this isn't really a flaw because they are making a sequel but I don't know when it will come out except that UBISOFT has started on the sequel and it probably won't be out this year(2008)
Assassin's Creed is a good blend of action/adventure and open-world. It far longer and more open than most action games and much more story driven then most open-world games. Also it has far more realistic and detailed game Play and graphics than any game I've played: running, jumping, climbing, and fighting are all smooth, fluid and realistic. Game play is well balanced between your mastery of the controls and the difficulty of your opponents while maintaining a smooth realistic look(I never got tired of the fights even though some of the other aspects of the game got rather repetitive and dull).
I recommend a X box type controller and even though the game's tutorial isn't designed for it a PlayStation type controller also works well if you set the game on X box and press 1 when it tells you to press 0, 2 when it tells you to press 1 and so on(I used a PlayStation type controller)
Assassin's Creed worked great on my computer and the only problem I had was that it froze three times:
* Windows Vista Home Premium
* EVGA Nvidia nForce 680i SLI 775 A1 Version
* Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 2.40GHz
* Corsair Dominator 4GB PC2-8500 DDR2
* 2(SLI) EVGA Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked
* Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty with 64MB of X-RAM.
* 2 Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drives in Raid 0 Array,
TIPPING THE SCALES OF POWER WITH YOUR KNIFE
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 60 / 67
Date: April 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User
This is on of the most anticipated games to be ported to PCs. For this, the Director's Cut edition was produced, adding some content over the console versions (mostly rooftop action missions), and care was taken to make the gamepad to keyboard/mouse-transition as seamless as possible. For the most part it was successful.
This is a TREMENDOUSLY BEAUTIFULLY GAME. The first thing that grabs you is how REAL the city environments feel. The graphics are just OUT OF THIS WORLD! You will need a very good PC to enjoy their full potential (minimum requirements provided below), but real skies, dynamic shadows, facial expressions and realistically flowing robes are only beginning to describe it! Run on a roof and the other citizens will gather around and comment on your crazy behavior! Throw someone on a vendor's cart and he will come after you complaining about his ruined produce! And the city is alive well beyond your character. If only BIOWARE could take some lessons for its next BALDUR's GATE...
Adding to this is the wonderful sound! From the crowd murmurs and the NTCs cries for help, to the whistling of the wind and the well-chosen background music, a good sound-card and speakers set is recommended to truly enjoy this game. If you have a 5.1 speaker system (I do not) I can imagine the experience to become even more immersing.
As to the gameplay, you control Altaïr ibn La-Ahad ("The Flying One, Son of None"). He is a member of the Assassin Brotherhood that sides, well, with both...sides, during the 3rd Crusade. In a story twist, he is also your ancestor, the game being your/his flashback memories. This is a twist I could do without, but I would guess it lays groundwork for the sequels.
The Third person perspective works beautifully and will never loose your interest. Most missions require sneaking and murdering in the shadows. Others will have you eavesdropping for passwords or pickpocketing documents to gain access into target buildings. Some will have you sharpen those sword skills. Still, the game does not avoid its share of stupid "keep this...suicidal character from getting killed" missions. Keep in mind though that ASSASSIN's CREED is rather a strategically thinking action TPS, not a hack&slash fast-paced one.
Controlling your character with a keyboard/mouse takes a lot of getting used to as you have to manage running, climbing, fighting as well as modifying your actions from low to high visibility. The keys are remapable but their complexity will never let you forget you are playing a game. Now for some bad news.
These are the official MINIMUM Requirements:
* Pentium D 2.6GHz (YES, Dual Core!) (or AMD equivalent)
* 1GB RAM (WinXP) or 2GB (WinVISTA) (3GB RECOMMENDED!)
* nVidia 6800 (or Shader Model 3.0 compliant or ATI equivalent)
* Dual-Layer DVD-ROM (or BluRay disc)
* 12GB HDD Space (although my install folder was no larger than 7GB)
As one can see, this is worse than CRYSIS! What I cannot get is how on earth ASSASSIN works on only 512MB of RAM of the XBox, yet it is recommended to have...3GB of RAM on a PC! Sure, the extra content is nice but who did the porting, unpaid interns? Has ANY PC optimization been attempted at all?
Keep also in mind that (as with CRYSIS) in order to fully enjoy the game, barely meeting the minimum requirements means you will barely experience the game. I refuse to deal with WinVISTA so, obviously, this review pertains to DirectX-9. The game is also DirectX-10 compatible, something I cannot comment on though. And now for some good news.
UBISOFT has been recently hit with a $5million class-action suit for hardware (OK, "allegedly") damaged by StarForce bundled with its games. Since, they have announced to be abandoning its StarForce partnership - so let's all rejoice: unlike other UBISOFT games, ASSASSIN's CREED does NOT sport StarForce! Instead, a much milder SecurDisc is used.
It is a pity it took litigation to finally listen to their own customers (suing StarForce would make much more sense, but try finding them in Russia!), but let's count our blessings.
So, overall, this is a well made and beautiful, immersing (although quite short) game that needed more work in PC optimization (where it looses 1 star Overall) and character control (where it looses 1 star for Fun).
As Altair himself would have put it: "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."
Well, not everything - and certainly NOT StarForce.
Good but not Great....
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User
First, the good stuff, great graphics (when my character first rounded the curve overlooking old Jerusalem, I felt butterflies!!! Superbly done guys.) Fight scenes (graphics and action) are also enjoyable- which is the meat and potatoes of what this game is all about. And the storyline is intriguing enough to keep me interested- probably why I originally bought the "director's cut" version. Also, I have Windows Vista Ultimate for my operating system, and it doesn't have any problem with the game.
Now as far as problems with the game, I haven't played it long enough to find all the bugs, but I have some difficulty interpreting the keyboard keys to the console controller buttons (which is an annoyance since the game prompts me to use console controller buttons-I need to read the manual frequently...) Also, I thought that I had saved the game at a certain spot only to find upon reload that I had to start the quest I had almost completed from the beginning. I am learning about the save spots and the locations still as well. I have to be fair and say I haven't fully read the manual, and some of the difficulties I am having may be a result of this. But I do recommend that you get a console controller rather than try to use the keyboard commands- this is really a detractor from the immersion factor....JB
Great gameplay and graphics!
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User
First off, I have a high-end machine courtesy of pcgamer mag's dream system specs, so no problems there. Plus I have wide screen monitors which I heartily recommend. I actually was able to play this on high settings very nicely, whereas Crysis had to be lowered for it to look good on my rig.
I found using my logitech gamepad the way to go w/ this game, the keyboard/mouse was not as nice for me.
The voice acting and cut scenes are enjoyable, and in particular I really liked how you switch between the present and the past. In the present you have a meglomaniac yelling at you to get back into the machine, and once in the machine of course you take out all your anger on your targets.
The fighting is fun to play once you get a handle on the counter-moves. The sound effects during battle are excellent, and the various moves you can pull off are always fun to watch.
The cons for me are:
- can't easily exit the game
- can't skip cut scenes even after you've seen them already before
- the ending battle is ridiculously impossible! It took me something like 10 hours of attempts to finish that end battle. So the good news is you can eventually do it :)
The end of the game leaves you hanging and wanting more, so I am definitely awaiting the sequel.
Gorgeous environments, chases over rooftops and fun swordplay in this game (PC version)
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User
I bought this game on Steam.
The video game was amazing. Here are the pros and cons that I saw:
PROS:
1. The outdoor environments are huge and all beautifully detailed. You also get to ride on horseback.
2. The buildings, mosques and churches and other architecture are amazingly realistic and I think these along with #4 below "made" the game. These really made it feel like you were in Jerusalem or Damascus. FREAKING amazing. I think this game is a landmark video game just because of the quality of the graphics for the buildings. Even the golden domes on the mosques shine with the sunlight. The game should get an award for this.
3. You will have many hours of fun because of the swordfights. Every time the player levels up, he acquires new swordfighting and combat skills. This makes combat always interesting and there's always something new to try out on your targets.
4. Both the "Bourne Identity" movies and the new James Bond movies have scenes where the hero has the climb walls and jump from roof to roof all with just his bare hands. In this game, YOU are Jason Bourne doing all that stuff. This and #2 "made" this game. When you're jumping from roof to roof and you're being chased by 12 guards while archers are taking aim at you, the feeling is exhilarating.
5. When you are in a city, you have a lot of freedom about where to go and what to do. It feels like "GTA" with horses and not cars. There is even a meter that indicates how "wanted" you are by the guards.
CONS:
1. The "Save a citizen" quests feel very repetitive after you've done a hundred of them.
2. You cannot swim. If you land in the water, you die. Why? If the hero is able to pull off the roof jumping stunts, why can't he swim?
3. You have to pick the pockets of armed thugs to replenish your knives. There is no assassin's store.
4. There is not enough variety in the dialogue spoken by NPCs. It becomes irritating to hear the same thing said over and over by towncrier-type NPCs.
Note to the folks at UBISOFT:
UBISOFT, be careful that the depiction of the Christian religion in your video games is fair compared to the depiction of other religions or beliefs. There are people who seriously consider that when choosing to buy your high-quality games or high quality games from another company.
Entertaining
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User
The story is amazing. The end is a bit abupt, but there's another one coming out to continue the story.
It ran really well on my Mac Pro with 8800GT (I have the older mac pro with the newer vid card) with Vista 32.
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