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Assassin’s Creed Game Review

Assassin’s Creed is a 2007 action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for Windows among other platforms. It is an important first entry in this amazing franchise.

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“Aside from the failure and the hatred,

I envy you very much“

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The original AC game received quite strong reviews back when it was released, but upon revisiting it years later, many have proclaimed it to be one of the worst entries in the series. Honestly, I find the criticism of this game to be not only overly harsh, but simply not fair. This is the granddaddy of all AC games and it really needs to be respected for not only introducing us to the world of the assassins, but also for establishing so many gameplay conventions that have been reused countless times in the franchise afterward.

But let’s first talk about the plot, which just might be the finest aspect of this particular entry. Many later entries would definitely improve upon the gameplay, but not that many would improve on the plot as the story here truly is excellent. I disagree that the present-day sequences are boring wholeheartedly. Yes, there isn’t a lot of stuff to do there gameplay-wise, but those sections are hugely important in terms of the storyline and I loved the professor character and I also found Desmond quite memorable.

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The idea behind this entire franchise was ingenious and the animus was particularly well incorporated here. Set in 1191 in the Middle East, the game cleverly makes use of the real place and time in history by not meddling with it too heavily. The Third Crusade was an important historical era and it was gloriously recreated here and with amazing attention to detail.

What I particularly loved about the story is that it was effortlessly incorporated into the gameplay itself. For instance, you get better weapons after killing off each important assassination target and all the while you get to rebuild your reputation because Altair tarnished it during the absolutely incredible opening. That beginning was so superb that the rest of the game could never rival it.

Seeing a protagonist that was genuinely flawed in his foolish arrogance was fascinating and playing this problematic figure was quite fresh for the time. I loved Altair and I found his arc both well written and emotionally rewarding. Yes, the voice acting done on him wasn’t great, but most of the other voice actors did a great job undoubtedly.

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As for the twist in the end, I also highly appreciated it as it came as a surprise while still making sense. Al Mualim had been quite mysterious up to that point so making him an ultimate villain was not too difficult to buy. The complex treatment of the conflict between the Assassins and the Templars was also phenomenally written, though the dialogue itself could become repetitive and overly preachy and self-righteous.

The first Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment, which was groundbreaking back then. The majority of the game sees you meet your assassination target goals as set by your master Al Mualim. I get that many found these assassinations repetitive, but to me most really worked, though the killed men were almost always giving the same speeches that got old pretty quickly.

Still though, this was a true stealth game, which I highly appreciated as a big fan of this genre. My favorite sections were those where you have to kill those pesky archers. Admittedly, the A.I. on most soldiers wasn’t all that great, but the archers were quite demanding as they moved rather quickly and changed directions quite often, leading to a lot of patience required from you in order to kill them all off properly. I was particularly annoyed by these missions being aborted while bumping into some soldier while going back to report the successful mission to the other assassins, but that was so realistic, which is why I wasn’t too angry about it.

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Sometimes you will need to eavesdrop on your potential assassination targets, pickpocket or interrogate. These go in line with the profession of the assassins, so it was only natural to include them in the game. Yes, they can be dull as you just sit down and wait for your turn to strike, but the world felt so lived in that I appreciated being a real part of it. The concept of the safe houses was also terrific and Altair’s conversations with the people inhabiting them were among the best and deepest ones.

Getting better weapons after each assassination and learning how to use them was superbly executed. The weapons are varied, but I ended up mostly using the knife and the sword as those are the best realized of the bunch. The blade is perfect for assassinations and striking your opponent from his back was a very powerful feeling. The sword is fantastic and the battle mechanics are actually very interesting.

Yes, this first game made you lock into the battles, meaning that you were rather limited in your movements. It was strange at first, but once I got used to it, I got to fully appreciate how confidently and smartly realized the mechanics are. The battles basically look like ballet dances in this game. Couple those effortless movements of your protagonist with the always cool animation kills and you’ve got one hell of a good time whenever you decide to fight your way to your goal.

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If you do not want to fight, you can escape by hiding in hay or other objects scattered throughout the three cities. You can also sit on the bench, blend in with the crowd or make use of the people helping you against the soldiers. All of these elements worked and were realistically executed, but the overall A.I. left a lot to be desired. Most soldiers are too dumb to notice you before it’s too late and the lower difficulty level hurt the game. I could even win against numerous soldiers of ten or more further down the line after I got used to the controls and everything. I wished for a bigger difficulty curve without a doubt.

There are some aspects of the game that really frustrated me and those are the ones that other reviewers and players never mention when talking about the original AC. Those are the controls and the map. Yes, the controls were unique, there is no arguing that. However, by including these high and low profile elements, they ended up convoluting the whole affair to the point that it took me quite a while to master them. The use of the mouse controls on PC was particularly annoying.

As for the map, it’s almost non-existent. You see only the most important mission targets on the map and nothing else, which was highly frustrating as it made you explore way too much and just waiting to stumble upon something yourself. The fact that you need to unlock certain sections of the cities and certain missions by visiting viewpoints or finishing some other tasks was just a very unfortunate gameplay mechanic. I did appreciate the memory system as it made sense for the story, but the problem here is that after you finish the game you can never go back to the entirety of its world properly. It just wasn’t a good choice in my opinion.

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With that being said, the side missions are pretty good. After finishing the main campaign, you have the option to hunt down the remaining Templars, help citizens from sadistic soldiers and collect many flags scattered throughout the three cities and the natural landscapes in-between. These missions are repetitive, yes, but I still liked finishing them as a big OCD completionist freak that I am. Collecting the flags was particularly fun as their hiding spots were fantastic and frequently even quite creative.

And of course climbing the viewpoints is the highlight of the game. The climbing mechanic was revolutionary for its period as it was not only extensive, but also extremely realistic in the usage of holes in the walls and/or any other irregularities to climb the buildings properly. Then, seeing the landscape from each angle from the top of the viewpoint provided truly immersive thrills. The eventual jumping into the haystack while followed by the eagle scream was instantly iconic and this particular mechanic would be repeated in every subsequent game for a reason. This was the most masterful element of the game undoubtedly.

Graphically speaking, Assassin’s Creed must have been a revelation back when it came out in 2007. Yes, the colors are typically washed-out and grayish, a standard for this period in gaming history, but otherwise all three cities look incredible and all are meticulously detailed. Jerusalem was the lightest of the bunch while Acre and Damascus weren’t all that distinguished from each other. Still though, all cities looked impeccably detailed, lived in and very realistic, depicting the time period immaculately.

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And of course the iconic look of Altair himself is truly something else. Playing this immensely cool hooded figure was just so much fun while his movements are highly realistic for a game like this. The sound here is also terrific and the score is quite solid and fittingly Arabic in style. The world building obviously isn’t as epic as it would be in some future games in the future, but for 2007 this was impressive and even groundbreaking. I loved the natural landscapes between the cities and how real all of it looked. Highly admirable what the developers did here.