I absolutely despise what this franchise has become, BUT I still have very good memories regarding this very first entry.

The sci-fi-mystery story is often being blamed as the weakest part of the earlier installments, but for me, it was the main hook. The interplay of past and present, the hints you get throughout the game and dialogues with your targets, that there is something bigger going on, were extremely intriguing and only reached the same level at the end of AC2. Sadly, after Patrice Désilets left, everything what made the title interesting, vanished as well and no one ever knew where to go with it - that's why understand the later criticism and don't think including the sci fi aspects just for the sake of including them was necessary.

And yes, the missions were quite similiar, but considering the length back then and how new everything felt from the gameplay to the vibe of the locations, it was pretty acceptable and didn't bore me as much as the newer titles with their gigantic open worlds did. Also, Altair as the main character doesn't seem very popular nowadays, but for me he is still one of the coolest of them all. The haughty master assassin who slowly starts questioning his own dogmas through the dialogues with the targets and the conenction with Desmond, were some story beats I enjoyed more than whatever came out afterwards.

Could be the bias of nostalgia, but I like this game quite a lot.

Biggest criticism I've seen is that it has repetitive gameplay. Your tasks revolve around you killing nine different targets, each one located in a different district of a city, accompanied by missions like eavesdropping, pickpocketing, flag collecting, and more. This repetition didn't faze me at all, because the end result from these missions is you get information that will help you assassinate your main target (# of guards surrounding target, how to get into the area, what the target is wearing, etc.). This level of investigation is something that I miss in the later Assassin's Creed games.

I'm also a huge fan of the story and the setting. The cities of Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus are really well crafted and still look impressive today, in fact, the whole game still looks really good for 2007. The atmosphere, created by the music and the gloomy visuals, is really well executed too. And the story is done so well here, revealing the overall narrative bit by bit, introducing new concepts until the very end of the game, while also focusing on the protagonist's character progression.

But, there are just a few issues with this game. I ran into a couple crashes, the pop-in is abysmal, you can't really play above 60 fps without the game starting to act up, you need to do some tinkering to get your controller to work, and no subtitles (seriously?). You'll also find yourself screaming "that's not what I wanted to do!" sometimes, because the parkour system isn't always solid.

I've seen a lot of people recommending newcomers to skip this game and go straight to 2. DON'T. I truly believe this is well worth your time.

This game not only managed to start one of the most, often controversial, and definitely qualitatively speaking, never consistent (to this day) well known IP around, but this is also the game that more than any other proved how we really were fascinated by literal keys jangling in front of our faces back when the 7th Gen of Consoles was just kicking off.

There's not much to say here, at least for us non nostalgia-drivern shills, as the gameplay loop in this is beyond simple and perpetually stuck in a very easy mode you cannot change, no matter what. When the novelty of the climbing system wears off (in about 15 or so minutes) you'll be left with a really easy and below average combat system, even for the time, that is vast as a puddle and shallow as a glass of water and a "find random stuff around the map with no indicators" waste of time which was never fun to begin with, not just here, but in any single Open World Game it's been featured in.

Don't think I've ever died in any of the AC games, if not by accident, while trying to fiddle around with the controls during the climbing sections, which are sometimes really clunky the moment you find yourself in corners or parts with more than one snap point during a jump. The enemies pose no challenge whatsoever, thus rendering any of the stealth mechanics in this pretty useless. I guess only the narrative saved it, more or less, as the downtimes during the modern day sections were quite annoying. Personally I stopped at AC Brotherhood as that's when I realized I was completely and utterly burned out on this Open World formula provided by UbiSoft. The sequel isn't much better either.

A solid start to the franchise but time did this game no favors. I’m sure in 2007 this would’ve felt more impressive but playing it for the first time now made all of its flaws really stand out.

Altaïr is a badass assassin, but his character lacks depth, making it hard to care about him as much as I'd hoped. However, I found the modern-day storyline with Desmond, Lucy, and Abstergo a bit more engaging.

The setting of the Holy Land is cool, though the world can feel and look a bit bland at times.

The story, while simple, is good for what it is and I liked the emphasis on the Templars in this game. The game's middle section drags with repetitive missions, but it does pick up again towards the end.

In terms of gameplay, it's still fun. The parkour, combat, and enemy AI haven't aged well and are much improved in later entries, but I still enjoyed it.

Overall, I enjoyed my playthrough, but it is definitely one of the least replayable AC games for me.

Played this when it came out and I like it.

I feel like this one gets a bit over-hated for some reason and frankly I don't know why, but I think the reason I personally liked it, and honestly still like it, is because it doesn't overstay its welcome. Nothing does. You get missions, you go to new places, explore new things, and the game ends. I don't know if it's necessarily paced well, honestly can't remember, but what I can say is that it does enough in a timely enough fashion that I never ended up getting bored.

I did not enjoy a lot of my time with this game. A lot of the activities here were cool but are not required for 100% synchronization, so why even bother? I got used to the combat and enjoyed it despite the camera often betraying you multiple times whenever you're swarmed with enemies. The story is super basic and uninteresting and I figured out the big twist within the first few hours itself. The modern-day side of the story ends on a giant cliffhanger and doesn't really get a conclusion either. Not all of it is very well-written. Altair is also not a very good character, despite having his moments. The whole game felt like a 4 hour story stretched out to 15, and would've been better if they shaved off a few targets from the list in the final product. A few mechanics are also just not functional at times. The parkour and movement is cool but gets really clunky and unresponsive at times. There's a lack of accessibility features too, so no subtitles, which is a shame because the dialogue often times gets really quiet and you can't hear a lot of it. I think the map is pretty cool though. The kingdom is kind of fun to explore despite there being a lot of barren areas, and I enjoy traversing through all of the cities. I don't like Acre much, due to the color scheme making it look really shit, but Damascus and Jerusalem get a thumbs up from me. The archer enemies in Acre and Jerusalem really get on my nerves but other than that, I enjoyed the actual design of these cities a lot. Ubisoft did establish a winning formula here that helped them and was later improved in future entries. But overall, I think this game needs a remake. The story is juggling almost everything and nothing at the same time, and Desmond and Altair seriously need to be better written. The modern-day story too, because it sucks, despite having interesting ideas. Ubisoft used too many of their cards too early into the franchise and it honestly led to the franchise's doom. Too many cool ideas with poor execution on most of them. That's this game's biggest problem. That and the pacing because holy fuck did this game drag. I would totally cop a remake though.

Assassin's Creed is a game that may feel outdated, but the story, setting, and parkour mechanics make it shine through the entire franchise.

This game has a wonderful balance between the narratives of Desmond and Altaïr. The game opens with the main character, Desmond Miles, being kidnapped by a company called Abstergo to look through his genetic memory for information that will greatly benefit them. The modern-day is honestly at it's best here, as you have no foundation of information on what's going on. The story does come through forcefully, but a majority of the modern-day is learned through emails between Warren Vidic, Lucy Stillman, and Alan Rikken, which brings you with some answers, but many more questions for the sequel. Altaïr is an arrogant Assassin who thinks himself above their faction's creed. He breaks the sacred tenets in an incredibly important mission that barely succeeds. He de-ranks from a Master Assassin to a Novice, and you climb each rank for each target killed. As you kill each target, you learn more about the organization that connects them, and what is morally right and wrong. Altaïr's growth from a blind soldier to a wise leader is one of my favorite's in the franchise. Al Mualim is such a compelling character, and challenges the ideas of both Altaïr and the Templars.

The setting taking place near the end of the Third Crusade (1191 AD) was a great choice for the game. It is the time period where you would most imagine a Templar being in, and acts as a good entry point for them. The Holy Lands are also a pretty good environment, with each city feeling pretty unique, but also pretty bland. The game really focuses it's attention on being historically accurate almost to a fault, with nothing really popping out in any city like other unique buildings in the franchise.

Due to the game being focused around you as an Assassin, the gameplay loop involves you gathering information, confirming the information with the bureau leader in the city, and then killing the target. This would've been fine if it wasn't so repetitive, and more variety was implemented. The information you gain regarding the targets is really unique, and makes them feel like like jobbers than most assassination targets in the other games feel. The parkour was the main draw of the game, and it holds up incredibly well. The animations are still great, but and it feels rewarding to climb a tall building, but the climbing feels really slow, and is quickly rectified in Assassin's Creed II.

A game that borderlines the line of underrated and just properly rated, I really enjoyed the story, time period, and parkour mechanics, but the repetitive nature of the gameplay was a huge detriment.

Assassin's Creed Franchise: Ranked

Next Review: Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles