When Creed was first released in 2007 we were assured that the PC release would be close behind. For whatever reason (and there have been many speculated) this didn’t happen and we were left waiting for the better part of another year before it finally arrived, bringing with it a fair number of problems I might add. So it begs the question, was it worth the wait?
That, of course, is entirely a matter of personal opinion. And in my opinion I would have to say that it was. The system requirements are almost frighteningly high, being described on the Official Ubisoft forums as having been made for some mystical future computer.
Having said that, my own PC is far below even the minimum requirements in a number of areas and, apart from the now infamous random crash bug, I’ve had no trouble at all running the game smoothly on a 1024×768 resolution with all settings apart from crowd density at the highest level. This, of course, has lead to some rather poor frame rates in places, but I think it stands as a testament to just how well the game has been coded that I can even run the game at all.
It really is a joy to play. Each of the five main maps have been beautifully rendered, and whilst retaining a sense of familiarity are each distinctly unique in their own way. From the small village of Masyaf where the Assassin stronghold resides, to the bleak, utilitarian city of Acre painted in wide swaths of grey, giving the city as a whole the appearance and feel of nothing less than an huge, old English castle past it’s hey-day.
The maps themselves are also rather extensive. Even the smallest of them, Masyaf, takes a full five minutes just to walk from the gate to the entrance to the Assassin stronghold I even posted a video on YouTube to show this, using the Massive Attack single Teardrop which has so expertly been used to advertise UK. And with Altaïr’s impressive stride it can be surmised that the distance is at least somewhere akin to a mile, if not more.
Having said that, you can take a more direct route over buildings, thus cutting out much of the twisting and turning between them, but this still will take you a good two minutes. And as already said, Masyaf is an extremely small map compared to the rest of the game.
Having said that, Assassin’s Creed is not without it’s failings. The extended delay for the PC release of the game has lead to no small amount of enmity from a not insignificant number of people. And then to find that even in spite of the delay there are still a number of persistent problems has not helped the matter. Even the recently added 1.02 patch seemed to have done little to rectify the situation.
I myself am now afflicted by an occasional freeze which was not a problem before applying the patch. It has also been noted, again in the Ubi forums, that the game is extremely fragile to other programs running in the background, and since those of us who use computers extensively are all to aware of the dangers of not making use of programs such as AVG Anti-viral and Spybot – Search and Destroy (amongst a plethora of others) this, again, has caused some amount of consternation amongst the PC gaming community. Especially since the 1.02 Patch listed a fix for the Alt + Tab issue which, so it seems, has done nothing whatsoever to solve the problem.
Of course, I am not a programmer so I would advise patience as Assassin’s Creed is clearly a complicated game, containing some of the best collision physics I have seen in any game. Long gone are the days of sliding through NPCs and bumping into objects that really should not be anywhere near close enough to have any impact on the protagonist.
Of course, during some of the more action oriented sections of the game, most notably during the counter attacks, I have been known to disappear into a wall for a moment, but this is as close to perfect as I suspect we are likely to see for some time.
The game really is a true technological marvel, with an involved, if somewhat linear, plot-line and a diverse cast of characters that we are sure will be expanded on even further in the following instalments. The movements of Altaïr are fluid and extremely well rendered, as are the plethora of NPCs that you will interact with throughout the course of the game.
It has, however, been commented on by some that the number of skins in game is limited at being approximately only two-hundred. But you must consider that a lot of the skins you will see repeated are from guards and knights who, obviously, would look not at all dissimilar to one another as they are all in the employ of their respective Lords and Fiefdoms.
Another issue which has caused a lack of satisfaction for some of the PC audience is the inclusion of the four new mission types. None of which are essential to the game, and do very much feel like a last minute addition as a vain, and somewhat misguided attempt to appease the disgruntled PC users.
We would have much preferred a game that was less problematic than one which had been given a few extra tid bits purely as a “sorry it took so longâ€. However, in spite of all this, I still think the game was well worth the wait. Yes, it still has it’s persistent problems, but as the time goes by patches will be released and stability will be improved.
Also, we have to remember, this is an extremely high end game, and some of us just do not have the necessary system resources to run the game efficiently. I know we’re all sick of hearing the “it’s your system, not the game†excuse. But we have to accept that in a large number of cases this is true.
In closing, I would highly recommend the game to any, and fiercely defend my decision to do so. Most importantly we must bear in mind that this is the first game in a trilogy (and perhaps more if the game does well enough, which it certainly seems to have done so far) and the opening chapter is always the hardest to execute because you have to build everything from the ground up.
Assassins’ Creed is a year old now, and I am certain that Ubi have been taking a lot of attention of to what people have been saying about it. Both in favour and against. Come May 28th, when we get our first official announcement about Assassin’s Creed 2, I think we should be privy to some exciting news to expand on this original, and engaging franchise.
