Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition

When pumped up to max settings, this new director’s cut makes the game look better than ever. Individual textures pop off the screen, making cloth and stone appear remarkably lifelike.

But the eye candy is really secondary to its amazing action. [June 2008, p.86]

If you can get past the game's mission-based structure and lack of replay value for the common gamer, you'll find an epic tale of betrayal and intrigue in Assassin's Creed that really shouldn't be missed.

Assassin's Creed on the PC has left a lasting impression more profound than its console counterparts.

The director cut missions are good, but not worth buying the game again.

Assassin's Creed is a beautiful, exciting experience that will stay with you long after you finish it.

Playing as gaming's most agile character is joyous, which outweighs the lengthy cutscenes and disappointing final hour. [Apr 2008, p.38]

Great PC conversion of a somewhat flawed game. It just feels that the actual gameplay elements got sidelined while developing all the technology used to realize the the impressive cities, the crowds and the great character animation.

Assassin's Creed is a feast for the eyes. The views are breathtaking, and Altair moves smoothly through the Orient. For all its great setting and dialogues, the game is not as good as it could be and should be -- gameplay is repetetive and rather predictable. But it's good enough to have a few hours of fun.

Assassin's Creed is graphically stunning, acoustically impressive, innovative and brilliantly staged. But one thing's definitely lacking: replay value! And a certain degree of monotony can’t be denied either. Like a colleague of mine once said: "It could have been way better then that!" Personally, I simply keep hoping for a massively improved AC2 and lots of merchandise! May Ubisoft Montreal concentrate on many, many successors and spin-offs. [May 2008]

Assassin’s Creed for the PC is a pretty compelling action game that benefits from huge environments and an interesting story. While the main campaign can get a bit repetitive, the new Director’s Cut features add some nice variety.

It's the ultimate Assassin's package and that means we love it, but thousands won't. [June 2008, p.78]

By no means perfect, but it still manages to captivate with it's marvellous interpretation of the 12th century Holy Land. It's really a pity that there's so little to do in such a beautiful world. [May 2008]

Even so, Assassin's Creed remains one of the best games of the year. It's not THE game most probably expected it to be, but it's a solid base on which Ubisoft Montreal can build the rest of the series, now that they have the solid backing of the impressive worldwide sales.

There's not much to make Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut stand out from the console release half a year ago. The graphics are still pretty; the gameplay is still simplistic but satisfying, and the information gathering missions are still quirky at first and sluggish by the end of the game. The implication that this version is superior by the movie-like suffix is mainly unfounded.

There's no reason for console players to get this version, but if you're console-less, and have the horsepower, it's still a worthy experience, if only to play something that's actually unique compared to other games out there.

Assassin's Creed has excellent production values, a wonderful story, and tons of creativity, but it's still seriously flawed. It's certainly not a bad game, but don't expect too much out of the Creed.

Stealth and free-running are jettisoned: all that is left is a constant barrage of swordfights. It's a disaster, a betrayal of everything the player has learnt so far. It abandons even the slim veneer of choice that the very best games offer us, turning into Double Dragon in a monk's robe.

Assassin's Creed should certainly be played by anyone who's got a PC capable of getting the most out of the game's superb visuals, but don't expect to be playing something that will go down in history as one of the greatest games of all time. It's ambitious and succeeds more than it fails.

The pc version of Assassin's creed is a bit better then the console version. With its extra missions the game has become less 'repeatable'. The gameplay isn't bad but also can't really blow us away. Assassin's creed is more then just a simple game, it's a game you need to experience. Assassin's Creed is also a glimpse of what we might expect from games in the future.

But while Assassin's Creed is not perfect, it is technically stunning, and the gorgeous visuals alone are almost worth the sticker price alone.

The intriguing story, breathtaking views and flawless acrobatic maneuvers are terrific, in fact, almost everything is nigh perfect, except tracking and eliminating the targets. That's right, in a game about an assassin the most boring part is his job. Well, just a part of it - the medieval parkour never gets old. [May 2008]

The AI can be forgiven because it has its occasional brilliant moments; the mission design is in worse straits, being entirely predictable, but if nothing else it gives an excuse to tour the Holy Lands, ambush a few more enemies, and clamber up a few more minarets.

The presentation of AC may feature some of the best graphics and sound effects seen in a PC game in some time.

Play this game like a hack-n-slash violence festival and it just doesn’t work. Play it according to the Creed, and it’s sublime – in the strictest sense of the word. [May 2008, p.53]

What you're left with is a repetitive side-quest requirement for completing each primary mission, though the issue is alleviated somewhat with the PC version's additional content.

The story isn't brilliant, but definitely interesting enough to make you play on. But don't forget, you'll also need a powerful PC to run the game smoothly with all the visuals maxed.

All in all, when it comes to free-running assassination games set in the Middle-East during the Crusades, Assassin's Creed is by far the best.

Alas, beautiful and fascinating though it may be, it is not substantial. There's a severe lack of depth for a game so enamored with its aspirations of an "open world." The gates may be open, but the possibilities couldn't be more limited.

The spectacuar way in which the game is presented is enough to make the most players want to overlook the deep-running problems it harbors and plaudits must be paid to a setting this original and so excellently realized. [June 2008, p.64]

Assassin's Creed was scheduled to be a trilogy from the outset, so hopefully Ubisoft will take a fresh look at some of the problems here and correct them in the future. Right now, though, this is more of an almost-there concept than a fully realized game.

There's not enough new content to justify re-buying Creed if you own it on a console, but the PC-exclusive content is a nice touch -- as are DX9 and DX10 support, and an overall solid technical quality to the port.

The real meat of this Director's Cut, however, comes in the form of new content, although sadly, there are no new storylines or assassination targets.

The cliffhanger ending promises brighter things, and although this game is unspectacular, the groundwork has been laid down for what will hopefully be a greatly improved sequel.

The designers put all of their eggs in the city-design basket and forgot about actual mission design.

As it stands it’s a highly enjoyable game for the first few hours, but whether or not you’ll get much satisfaction from it after it starts getting repetitive depends entirely on how much you like the overall gameplay mechanics.