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| From: UBI Soft
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $12.85
You Save: $17.14 (57%)
New (42) Used (70) from $12.85
Rating:  231 reviews
Sales Rank: 256
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action Games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Edition: Standard
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Xbox 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 52339
UPC: 008888523390
EAN: 0008888523390
ASIN: B000P46NMK
Release Date: November 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Complete with original disc(s), case, and manual. In stock and ships right now!
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 31-35 of 231
 Good game, but way overhyped December 5, 2007
Chutzpuh (Tucson, Az United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
There seem to be two types of Assassin's Creed reviews, The "Couldn't hate it more if it bit my mother to death" and the "Greatest thing since the zipper" review. I probably fall somewhere in the middle for reasons I hope to elaborate on.
First off, I seem to be finding lately that if I hear about a game more than three months before a release date, it fails to live up to any hype. This happened with Fable and Bioshock for example. Both good games and worth the time and effort to play, but after all of the hype I almost expected them to cure cancer or something. Assassin's Creed is very much the same.
Pro's:
The game looks amazing. Given, it was made for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 as well as for pc sometime next year, but even so the smooth endless landscape looks phenomenal. Every game released recently has blown my mind graphics wise, and this game does not disappoint in that regard.
Freedom is an interesting event for this game as well, causing me to give it both good and bad marks. As for the good side, it is cool to just climb nearly anything, jump anywhere and go practically anywhere. I found it to work very much like Prince of Persia with an expanded world. The first few times you climb to the top of a tower and swan dive off are very impressive.
The control for this game also worked well. This has been another mixed review for people. Some hate the one button combat system, but then again I couldn't stand the "Dance Dance Revolution" combo timing button mashfest of God of War (Don't you have enough to keep track of in a battle?). The combat of Assassin's Creed works more on timing strikes and counters and less on the pattern of buttons. Given, battles in this game become boring beyond all redemption throughout the game, but I hesitate to blame the controls for that one.
The "Free running" system works well too. Instead of having to deal with worrying about climbing surfaces and moving over objects, you hold a button and simply move where you want. This simplifies things immensely and immediately moves you away from the annoying wall running, jumping and timed daggerstabs of Prince of Persia.
Sadly, that was about it for the pro's on this game. Let's see how many con's I can jam in here.
First, lets talk about the gameplay itself. When I heard of this game, I really expected to play a game where you immerse yourself in a world of darkness, intrigue, and cold hearted death from the shadows. In reality, you have about a baker's dozen of prominent people to kill and a bunch of worthless stuff to do. I would say I actually spent less than 6% of my playtime killing people. Most of the time is spent putzing about stealing things, questioning people or sitting on a bench. Seriously, sitting on a bench. You even have to hold down a button to overhear a conversation while you are sitting there. As if I really believed that there was interactivity at this point.
Several times you are forced into what I like to call "interactive DVD" sequences. PS2 games were well known for this. Essentially, you start the game, grab the controller and watch a movie. After about an hour or so you ask whether you bought a game or the latest movie release out there. The storyline for this game is developed and revealed through conversation, not action. Before starting a mission, you sit through way too much conversation. After killing someone you sit through yet again way too much talking with no way to skip out of it (believe me I tried really hard to make them talk faster at least).
While helping out greatly in adding dimension to this game, the freedom of adventure is also a falling point. Yes, you have the ability to go nearly anywhere, climb anything and look all over the place, there is just very little need to. I referred to the Prince of Persia games earlier so forgive this next metaphor. If the PoP games were non-linear, would the game have changed? Answer, no. Since you would have to go down that hallway, hit that button and jump that pit it wouldn't matter how much freedom you have. In the end you are trapped in a linear game. This game is very much like that. You travel from town to town, performing ridiculous tasks to further the plot, and though you have the psuedo-freedom to do anything, there is no reason to.
While I felt the combat system worked for this game, I at times questioned the purpose. In many sequences of the game, it is nearly impossible to avoid fighting. I recall several of my key plot kills happening while I was surrounded by guards and thus accidentally landing a killing blow. Not all that assassinesh if you ask me. The last few sequences of the game actually give up on the pretense of assassination altogether and simply threw you into a huge melee of a few dozen guards. It almost seemed like the developers simply didn't want to finish making this game, and thus didn't want you to finish so they simply launched everything at you.
While Assassin's Creed suffers in terms of gameplay and the ability to hold my interest for more than a few hours at a time, it does succeed in being unique and amusing as far as gaming goes. While a decent game in it own right, it fails to live up to expectations and hype, thus causing a bit of a letdown. I would say it is worth a play, but not a full price.
A perspective on the negatives December 18, 2007
Philharmagic (NH)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
After reading the different reviews, I am submitting mine to give a perspective on the negative opinions. I have completed the game and enjoyed every second of it. My recommendation, buy it. It is a similar to the stealth games, Splinter Cell and Thief, which I enjoyed.
If you play primarily FPS games and your tendency is to play fast and take the shortest path to the end, this game is probably not for you. This game is most enjoyable if it played the way the designer intended, slowly, by experiencing all the quests before the assassination. If fast is your style of gaming it will become repetitive because you are just checking off a mission to get the finish and not enjoying the scope of it all. It is only necessary to complete two investigations before permission is granted for the primary assassination.
What I liked, everything. You can read other reviews about the good stuff so I won't repeat them here. I thought BioShock was a wonder to behold, but this equals it on many levels. Some of my favorites:
- Finishing moves with the assassin's blade during fights.
- Throwing guards off rooftops and listening to the commotion below.
- Killing crusaders in low profile mode
- Knife combos
- Strolling the streets looking for trouble
- A high profile kill in a crowded street
What I disliked. I didn't dislike anything, except for tedium of collecting flags, I just think some things could have executed better. Here they are:
- The overall storyline and the unique story for each assassination are great, but there is little local story or background information for each city. This could have been an opportunity for a lot more depth.
- The 2nd to last end boss(s) fight was a little cliche, but I still enjoyed it.
- The ending could have been tidied up so I actually knew it was the end; so many comments are valid there.
- I wish there were more to do down among the streets so to spend more time there.
- There were some low res textures and character clipping, but I noticed it maybe 5-10 times throughout the whole game. That's a non-issue for me. For every visual flaw there are plenty of visual examples of beauty.
- The fighting was unique and I never got tired of it. There were good variety of moves and weapons. Try fighting with your assassin's blade and watch your counters with that. I prefer the timing method because I'm tired of playing twitch-response games. The best parts were the counter and finishing moves. The camera would frame them as you finished for your viewing pleasure and, yes, sometimes the view would end up behind a post or foliage. This happens when the fight was in a tight space with walls and the camera got irritating at times.
- Knife throwing was clunky. If you are not targeting perfectly the knife would hit something in the way. Targeting can switch to the wrong target when you are under duress and can frustrating.
- The missions before the assassination were enjoyable. The eavesdropping and pickpocket missions are easy and draw you into the game. The intimidations became more difficult as the game went alone when ruffians would join the fray. The mini-assassinations were the best. You had to try different approaches to beat the time limit. The problem I had with all the missions were that they were plotted on your map after climbing a tower and syncing. If they gave you a count or a general area so you would have to go look for these missions and get more engaged in the streets. I thought they were too easy to find. Oblivion did it the best. You had to walk around and talk to people to discover information.
- I wanted a save system. I wanted to try the 9 assassinations with different approaches and see how they worked out. I would actually die on purpose so I could try again.
You have not played a game like this before, ever. This is a stunning game. I never got tired of looking out over the cities from all the different points or fighting. It was total immersion just walking the streets. It felt like a living city with all the people walking around and the sounds that go with it. The smooth physical movements of Altair makes this game better than all others. What I liked best is that I could enjoy watching him in action without concentrating on landing or grabbing perfectly like other games. I would wander around just to create an opportunity to experience them.
The review scores swing wild because this game crosses boundaries in play style. Different players had different expectations and reacted accordingly. I highly recommend the game. I could easily suspend my disbelief and engage in the story and not be disconnected during the game because of any poor design. If you spend time looking for inconsistencies you will find them. If you compare against perfection you are going to find flaws. I forgave them all and played a great game.
 No Subtitles, Don't Buy! April 28, 2008
RPG Fan (California)
5 out of 23 found this review helpful
I'd be tempted to buy this game at the now-lowered 50% off price tag if it wasn't for one thing-- the game has no subtitles!!! I've never played it and refuse to because of the laziness of the company not to add subtitles at least during cut-scenes. There was an article on IGN stating that the developer "just didn't have time" to put them in. That's a direct quote. This is unacceptable. Video Games are becoming the next great medium, much like movies were in the 20's to 70's. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. Deaf and Hard of Hearing gamers demand equal access to media, just like mandated closed captioning on TV. This affects hearing gamers as well. Imagine you're playing at night and need to be quiet so as not to wake others in the house. You're not going to have any idea what's going on. Or maybe you have loud roommates and can't hear the game too well. Welcome to our world. Deaf and Hard of Hearing gamers(and those who can empathize) unite! Boycott this product! Show developers that this form of discrimination is unacceptable!
Average, at best... November 15, 2007
Bruno Capone
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Man, I was really looking forward to this game, Maybe Mass Effect will be better? I am just a little disappointed in this game, for the simple fact that it is just repetitive. The graphics are great, though, and it is fun for the first hour... It is no "Hitman" or "Elder Scrolls"... That is kinda what I thought it would be like... Oh well.. Mass Effect on November 20th, lets hope I can give more stars to that!
 Ubisoft delivered November 16, 2007
Hans Wahrolen (........)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
I will keep this quick and simple
Great controls that are easy and fun
The story is well written and well acted(IGN said that the twist being presented so early into the game ruined the whole story...but I believe that its about the actual story not the "twist" and its great)
Beautiful graphics the cities are huge and feel very much alive
A must own game for anyone that can appreciate other genres than shooters(unlike certain IGN staff members........)
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