About the game
Assassin's Creed is a 2007 action-adventure stealth game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first game in the Assassin's Creed series. It came out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007, and for Windows in April 2008.
It is a third-person game in an open world set around the Holy Land. You control Altair through the memories of Desmond Miles, who relives them in a machine called the Animus. The game is built around counter-based combat, social stealth, where you blend into crowds or hide, parkour across rooftops and walls, and a view called Eagle Vision. To win back his rank as Master Assassin, Altair has to kill nine Templar targets.
The story runs in two eras: 2012, where Desmond is held by Abstergo Industries, and 1191 during the Third Crusade, where Altair hunts Templars who conspired to use a powerful artifact called the Apple of Eden. The assassin leader Al Mualim turns out to be the last conspirator.
Work began around 2003 and 2004 as a Prince of Persia spinoff called Prince of Persia: Assassin(s), first for PlayStation 2. Jade Raymond joined as producer in late 2004, and the Assassin's Creed name came from Ubisoft's marketing team before the 2006 Game Developers Conference. Development reportedly cost between US$15 and 20 million, with another US$10 million for marketing. The side quests were added about five days before the deadline to start mass production, after a request from Ubisoft's CEO.
Reviews were generally favourable. The Xbox 360 version holds 81 out of 100 on Metacritic. It entered the UK chart at number one, and the Xbox 360 version accounted for 67 percent of its first week sales there. Ubisoft reported 8 million copies sold by 16 April 2009.
It was followed by Assassin's Creed II in November 2009 and went on to start one of the biggest franchises in gaming. The Windows release was a Director's Cut with four extra missions, which the console versions did not get.
The text above is adapted from Wikipedia and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What critics said
Metacritic 81 out of 100 from 77 reviews (Xbox 360). Individual reviews: Eurogamer 7/10, Famitsu 37/40, Game Informer 9.5/10, GameSpot 9/10, GamesRadar+ 5/5, IGN 7.5/10, Official Xbox Magazine (US) 8.5/10.
Extra content
There was no downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version.
Good to know
- The game started life around 2003 as Prince of Persia: Assassin(s), planned for PlayStation 2.
- The Windows Director's Cut added four missions (an archer assassination, a rooftop race, a merchant stand destruction and an escort). The Xbox 360 disc does not have them.
- The side quests were added about five days before the deadline to start mass production, at the request of Ubisoft's CEO.
- The Xbox 360 version made up 67 percent of the game's first week sales in the UK.
- The achievement list has 44 entries and 1,000 gamerscore, and none of it needs online play.
- The Xbox 360 disc has no downloadable content and no online play, so everything on it is available offline.
Made by
Director Patrice Desilets, Producer Jade Raymond, Designer Maxime Beland, Programmer Mathieu Mazerolle, Artist Raphael Lacoste, Writer Corey May, Composer Jesper Kyd.
