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Assassin's Creed on the PC: bad UI, bad DRM, bad port

arstechnica.com — em>Assassin's Creed /em> for the PC is here: along with bugs, crashes, bad design decisions, and what appears to be game-killing DRM.

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  • U83RMENSCH, on 04/15/2008, -7/+54I have it for PC, so far, other then it turning off every 30 min. with out any errors. it runs smoother, looks nicer, and has shorter load screens then the copy i rented for the PS3. Doesnt make the game any better though :P
    • NgrHader, on 04/15/2008, -50/+4If by 'bad' DRM you mean that you can't download a torrent online and use it w/o issues get over it....companies want to protect their product and we know the PC market is bad enough.....I'm sick and tired of hearing DRM this and DRM that...
      • xtmno3, on 04/15/2008, -1/+61DRM does not stop pirates. They find ways to release the same product stripped of its DRM. DRM only screws the honest Joe who has to now play with his DVD in the PC at all times (for no reason), and who has problems running the game because the DRM is flawed and sucks.

        People bitch about DRM because it does not fix any problem. It just makes honest people's lives hell.

        Of course, this is probably too much to ask from a person whose username is a slightly modified protestment of racial hatred.
        • Chompy, on 04/15/2008, -0/+35I'd go far as to say that DRM encourages pirates. The problem wouldn't be so bad if publishers didn't punish their customers so much.

          Personally I buy the game, then go download the cracked EXE so that I can play it without jumping through hoops or dealing with DRM-caused crashes and delays. You gotta wonder how many people start out like that and then eventually decide to just skip that first step.
        • GawtMilk, on 04/15/2008, -9/+3DRM only screws the honest Joe who has to now play with his DVD in the PC at all times (for no reason), and who has problems running the game because the DRM is flawed and sucks.

          So, it's unfair for PC's that they get the same treatment that console players get? This makes the games "bad"?

          I downloaded it for the PC. No problems. Liked it. Bought it. STILL no problems. Plus I'm running Vista Ultimate.

          If you read digg religiously, you'd probably say "He runs DRM'd games on VISTA?! lol huhuhu what a noob!". I have *NEVER* had problems with Asassins Creed for the PC. Quit taking arstechnica's word as gospel, every time a new game comes out they complain about the "crippling issues" that effect all of 1% of users until a patch is released five days later.

          Get over it.
          • MarkOfTheDead, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3Yeah well everyone else isn't you, are they? Consider yourself lucky.
        • Blandyman, on 04/15/2008, -1/+5um, its not unfair, because in the case of PC gamers, we install the game onto the hard drive, and all the same data that's not on the CD is now on a local storage medium... on a console, it's different, nothing is installed... except for a few games on PS3, but that's another story altogether.
      • Munky, on 04/15/2008, -2/+9Of course, there's always the Steam model that gets you around the "DRM = tied up CD/DVD drive" issue. Not that Steam isn't without its own issues...
        • ayeroxor, on 04/15/2008, -3/+3Yeah, then you have to have a net connection even if you choose to play a non-network game. So much for playing it on your laptop on the road without your Verizon PCMCIA card...
        • RoboHobo, on 04/15/2008, -1/+5Open Steam, choose File > Go Offline. It's not 100% perfect, but it'll let you play on your laptop without internet access.
          • diggitydoc, on 04/15/2008, -1/+1simple answers for "simple" questions, LOL.
        • Raptor007, on 04/15/2008, -1/+3I use Direct2Drive whenever possible. Activate once, never need to go online again (unless you reinstall Windows or something). I can't stand CD checks, and I crack all the disc-based games I own (with mini images when possible).
      • Abomonog, on 04/15/2008, -0/+13By bad DRM they mean the pirated copies actually runs better than the store bought version. And it does. The cracked version has none of those issues listed by ARS. It even works on Nvidia cards. Once again it takes the pirates to fix a game that the developers could not.
      • robthom, on 04/15/2008, -0/+8Thats funny because the cracked version will probably run much better after the dial-o-bot is removed or disabled. Thats why I only play games that have been cracked and "cleaned up".
    • hollismb, on 04/15/2008, -1/+43So, does that mean that you rented it on the PS3, played it long enough to determine it's not a good game, and then went and bought the PC version?
      • mattyice11, on 04/15/2008, -1/+26I'm assuming the PC version is pirated.
      • hollismb, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3Well, I figured that too, but thought I'd toss that out there, just in case.
      • wenomspitta, on 04/15/2008, -3/+1He already rented the game for X days, that means he can play it on his PC for X days as well
      • misterdrumz, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2I was truly disappointed with AC, I've got it on the PS3 - first game I got ad it kept crashing (loading textures 200m down the street) which seemed to only affect it when the ps3 was online but the patch seemed to fix (most) of these glitches. I think it was basically released before it's time (as well as Ubisoft beingnone of the laziest developers out there IMO)

        I knew straight away that AC on the PC would be pointless, Ubisoft can't even get a 360 game like Splinter Cell Double Agent to work right, so I don't hold out hope for AC.

        I don't know if anyone else thought this but the ammount of glitches/problems coupled with the abrupt ending smacked of a game not finished, like playing a beta! Maybe I just like a bit of closure (even my favorite game MGS2 had *some* of that :P)
    • BlakeEM, on 04/15/2008, -3/+4I never had any issues and not a single crash on vista 64/dx 10. Been playing for hours straight. Even setup my logitech gamepad automatically and all worked right away. The thing I hate is that it's stuck in letter box and you can't make it full screen.
      • cesclaveria, on 04/15/2008, -3/+2Same here, I got this game yesterday and played about 4 hours straight without a problem.

        "The thing I hate is that it's stuck in letter box and you can't make it full screen."
        Weird, mine is running on full screen without a problem.
        • Inferny, on 04/16/2008, -1/+2the game forces itself into a 16:9 aspect ratio, so people with a 4:3 or 16:10 screen get *****
      • Scrappy1850, on 04/15/2008, -8/+5live in the now. get a widescreen monitor.
    • mr.gates, on 04/15/2008, -0/+26Look when its less of a hassle for me to download a game and replace the executable then it is for me to buy the game insert some long as serial number then get the damned disk out every time I want to play it. Yeah I say DRM this DRM that...
      • Abomonog, on 04/15/2008, -1/+6AMEN...
      • Inferny, on 04/16/2008, -1/+1There's no serial numbers for Assassins creed, even in the legal version
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2I wasn't even aware of the stuff the article talks about except the pat about exiting the game (I thought you exit like that ensure proper saving though). Besides that, I haven't had any issues. I have everything at max (including population density) except AA is off @ 1680x1050. I get 30-60+ FPS, running Vista 64 and runs in DX10 (I can't enable DX9, I bought it through steam) I heard reports of DX10 being a little slower, while others say Ati cards suck in DX10 while Nvidia makes no difference (I have an 8800GTX).

      I am actually really happy with the port...
      • darkone_05, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2You're one of the lucky few. Mine crashes every 20 minutes. I didn't even realize the exit bit until I read this article, because I usually just play until I get annoyed with having to restart it.
    • theodenking, on 04/15/2008, -2/+7This exemplifies the problems with Assassin's Creed, it's a great engine, great setting and great story let down by lazy implementation of content.
      • kenok, on 04/15/2008, -1/+1Where is Jade now? huh?
      • SSCrow, on 04/15/2008, -6/+1*****. AC is a fantastic game that did not receive the credit it deserved because of the holiday rush.
        • misterdrumz, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1If you had it on the 360 maybe, but us PS3 gamers were once again stiffed by porting glitches which should have been caught during QA, Does Ubi even have this department anymore? (re: Double Agent catastrophe on PC/PS3)
    • wenomspitta, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1I think they are talking about that leaked version, which was available on torrents like couple months ago, where you couldn't get past Jerusalem and had other glitches. Well that version leaked even b4 the PC disc went gold, so...
      Anyways, I think that's the case, cuz every1 here on comments says the game has 0 glitches... Basicly ARS should get sued by ubi for slander...
      • Inferny, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2they aren't talking about the leaked version, the game genuinely has problems.
  • seanthebond, on 04/15/2008, -13/+28Oh god, the controls on the PC version are hell.
    • strictnein, on 04/15/2008, -3/+15I've resigned myself playing a lot of new games with a wired Xbox 360 controller, since many of the PC game releases are now Xbox 360 ports. It works well, and it's a pretty good gamepad in general.
      • ortucis, on 04/15/2008, -3/+1Logitech Rumblepad 2 rapes 360 controller at night every day of the year..

        Well, it's THAT good.
        • PueSi, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2I HATE the PS controller, if you are going to use at least one joystick most of the time, why would you put it so far?
    • dupems, on 04/15/2008, -9/+31The controls are fine, I got used to them in like 5 minutes. Mouse/keyboard > controller.
      • freezerburn666, on 04/15/2008, -11/+4but i'm not going to sit in front of my tv on the couch with a mouse and keyboard thank you :P
        • dupems, on 04/15/2008, -4/+12But you could, if you wanted to. :)
        • Scrappy1850, on 04/15/2008, -6/+3i have a mouse and keyboard in front of my tv, but they are for websurfing. contollers are for games.
      • acumenprobitas, on 04/15/2008, -0/+5That's how I play. PC hooked up to 32" LCD tv, wireless mouse and keyboard on the couch.
    • Katana314, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2I realize a controller would be slightly easier, but I've been fine with just the mouse and keyboard. The only gripe sometimes is with climbing, but even that doesn't have a lot to it.
    • di34lot, on 04/15/2008, -1/+10i swapped shift and right click, and it makes alot more sense!... i mean right click for run...WTF!
  • Sedako, on 04/15/2008, -6/+50I've not had any errors or major glitches and I've finished 5 assassinations so far. The game runs very smoothly and looks great (despite being unable to enable multisampling at 1600x1200). The PC controls were also very easy for me to pick up, and using the mouse instead of an analog stick makes free-running seem a lot more accurate than when I played it on the 360.
    • E3L1, on 04/15/2008, -2/+9BTW: Alt-f4 insta-quits. But I totally agree, the controls are even better on the PC, and it's never crashed one me, only weird bug is the random audio de-sync.
    • xjuanm, on 04/15/2008, -3/+0I understand the quitting is a pain in the ass without the alt-f4 but i already completed the game and it was just fine with the control, no problem at all. The game is good just not great, big waste of a large city and hardly anything to do in it.
    • BearinG, on 04/15/2008, -3/+3I thought using the 360 controller for free-run was very accurate.. not sure how much better it could be..
    • Nevarius, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Never had any problems with the game myself. No glitches, controls are fine, good fps, shutting it down thou is annoying.
      amd64-4000 (939), asus board(pci-e), 2 gig kingston hyperX, geforce 8800 gts, winxp64
      Nothing special hardware wise except its getting alittle old (older 939 socket mobo)
  • mrelusive, on 04/15/2008, -6/+35Who's responsible for this?!
    • Spuy767, on 04/15/2008, -2/+6The wildly varying reports of problems lead me to believe that these problems stem from inadequate testing on different types of hardware rather than outright ineptitude.
      • flares, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3not sure he needed an answer to that one :)
      • mrelusive, on 04/15/2008, -0/+8These are dark days indeed...
    • Scrappy1850, on 04/15/2008, -4/+5Ubisoft
    • Philoushka, on 04/15/2008, -1/+7Please, sir, just a few coins!
      • ZaZ2137, on 04/15/2008, -0/+4I swear to god I just started punching those whiny beggers whenever they get in my way, you can't even push them aside like the rest of the people. -.-
    • r55741, on 04/15/2008, -1/+4I'l have your hands for that!
    • jnava121, on 04/15/2008, -7/+0probably george bush...
    • pigfister, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2ubisoft's quest for ever more DRM since their favourite pc killing DRM, starforce got canned!

      so now they use sonys DRM secuROM which is even worse!

  • mr.hostility, on 04/15/2008, -23/+19Bad game.
    • badenglishihave, on 04/15/2008, -2/+13I agree... it's a cool concept but everything gets repetitive after a while. Plus imho there are WAY too many cutscenes.
      • Slade605, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2I had an issue with flipping HD audio not rendering any voices at all, so I played the first 20 hours of the game knowing NOTHING of the plot, just music and some FX. (For anyone with this issue, use dxiag and turn down your hardware acceleration.)
    • viewofeverlast, on 04/15/2008, -2/+3I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. Fun at first, but incredibly repetitive and boring after only a few hours.
  • shyboy2008, on 04/15/2008, -30/+31Looks like Jade Raymond's pussy magic didnt work on the PC Port.
    • CrimsonFate, on 04/15/2008, -1/+10Well, I thought it was funny anyway.
  • aaaleman, on 04/15/2008, -18/+46I'm playing it. I've noticed none of these things. Odd.
    I don't like the mouse/keyboard controls, so I use an XBox 360 pad and it works beautifully.
    If you wanna exit the game without going through 7 menus, hit ALT + F4 and you're set.
    Seems the ArsTechnica writer is being a little bitch.
    • strictnein, on 04/15/2008, -5/+10Yeah, quitting the game is an absolute pain in the ass.
    • RidesAPaleHorse, on 04/15/2008, -20/+8Alt-F4 is a great way to eventually corrupt game files. That should never be an acceptable way to exit any program.
      I've often been frustrated at games that require me to exit a mission, then exit to a main menu before quitting the program. Why can't they have an Exit Game option right on the menu that lets you exit a mission?
      • B1663r, on 04/15/2008, -4/+28Alt+f4 sends the application the WM_QUIT message. It is up to the application to deal with it, or even ignore it. It has the exact same effect as clicking on the x in the upper right hand corner of the window, if it were a windowed program. IMO it would break coding convention if the application did anything but safely exit the application.

        So your game files are perfectly safe (unless the developer built an application that corrupts files as it safely exits normally), it is a perfectly acceptable way to exit any application as windows is designed that way.

        Windows developers do put an exit game option right in the game, it is alt-f4.

        Every thing you said in your post was wrong.
      • BearinG, on 04/15/2008, -2/+6You must also think that computers have a mind of their own and they install spam and viruses..
      • RunnyBabbit, on 04/15/2008, -2/+5Is this some weird extrapolation of "pushing the power button corrupts Windows files?"
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -2/+4Yep, quitting the game takes about 30 seconds of UI and loading, a bit excessive. But I agree with the rest, plugged in 360 controller (because games where movement speed is so useful the controller is better) and it works great, no rebinding. Ars did seem to whine...maybe he had an Ati card... (I only say this because ATi has had bad DX10 performance and reliability is all)
  • remakeru, on 04/15/2008, -7/+9I had just 2 crashes during the whole game... everything else was just ok!
    • ZaZ2137, on 04/15/2008, -1/+1Same, works perfectly for me although I would agree that actually quitting the game is a pain in the ass but i didnt know about the ctrl+f4 method thanks!
  • devindotcom, on 04/15/2008, -3/+13I play with a gamepad, controls are fine, and the graphics look extremely good. I am finding a few bugs though. But I played for about 5 hours of the leaked version a month ago and found it totally playable.
    • punkcat, on 04/15/2008, -2/+5they are reporting that hacked copies are working better (with some video cards.) the game apparently tries to phone home every so often during the whole time you play it, and people suspect that is causing the trouble.
      • ArtCrazy, on 04/15/2008, -2/+4I agree - they work better. I played a cracked copy and not even a SINGLE crash or problem. So basically to fix the game, install a crack :)
      • Abomonog, on 04/15/2008, -1/+3Yup, cracked version here. No Nvidia issues, no calling home, no crashing. If you by the game crack it anyway. It plays much better. BUT the game isn't so great for me so I trashed it after playing the second level.
      • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -3/+3So you all bought the game, then had a cracked version too, and ran benchmarks? I'm sure....
      • darkone_05, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3Even with the cracks, it still crashes constantly on my hardware. It just wasn't tested throughly.
  • enderwiggen16, on 04/15/2008, -9/+1Honestly I don't understand this. Why would the game take so long to be released after the console versions, and have much worse coding then the console versions? I honestly knew it was coming when they announced the rediculous system requirements, but I just don't understand why it's so difficult to properly port a game with that much time.
    • iticu, on 04/15/2008, -2/+4It only took so long to come out on PC because developers know it's going to get pirated much more easily. Same with the GTA games.
    • Abomonog, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2Because the primary game code must be rewritten from scratch with ports. This take tons of time. The port comes out crappy when the dev team isn't given enough time to properly test the new code. Expect 2 years for a port if it's going to be quality though Rockstar does seem to have a knack for doing ports quickly and nicely.
    • geartype2, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2both the above are correct answers.
  • blah247, on 04/15/2008, -13/+3The game was bad enough on a console...
  • freezerburn666, on 04/15/2008, -4/+3i play with a gamepad as well, logitech dual action. i havn't had a single crash yet and gameplay has been fine, i like the game and played it for a few hours straight sunday afternoon. is it a bitch to exit the game? yeah, but it saves so frequently, when i'm done i just end the games process :/
  • spect3r, on 04/15/2008, -9/+7I suppose the good thing about all of this is that it is on STEAM. Patches/fixes can be sent and downloaded very quickly. Perhaps knowing that their customer base is waiting for a fix to the game problems are on Steam; they will work a little faster to get those patches out... just a thought.
    • fireproofsoul25, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1did you just compliment Steam?!?!?! BLASPHEMER! No matter how good the games are on Steam you can not honestly tell me that you enjoy the thing. Albeit a few goodies here and there but i never found it all that reliable or fun.
      • geartype2, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3Remember back when playing Counter Strike patches came infrequently and when they did arrive there were sometimes months where the servers and general userbase had to play catch up? Yea, we don't do that anymore because of steam. I wuv steam.
        • vitriolage, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1But do you also remember when Steam was first rolled out and everything was a ***** show. Half-Life 1 mods crashing left and right even "official" mods on systems were they worked previously. As I remember there was a transition period of about a year before things were smoothed out, but now things are much better. Still not perfect, but its not like it is going away anytime soon.
  • Icelightning, on 04/15/2008, -8/+3Sounds like they released a port still in beta. Actually, scratch that; it sounds like they released the alpha version. C'mon, learn how to test your code, people!
  • seans9, on 04/15/2008, -2/+68html in the description? are you serious?
    • schizogony, on 04/15/2008, -2/+23/lol>
    • webcrumb, on 04/15/2008, -1/+18I think you mean,
      HTML in the b>description /b>? Are you i>serious /i>?
    • knight666, on 04/15/2008, -1/+3I shorterthan3 shorterthan3 shorterthan3 you.
      • Dantetheinferno, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2Isn't it less than...?
        • knight666, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Yeah I noticed AFTER my time was up. :(
          But I was too busy worrying about the difference between "then" and "than". :(
      • RoboDonut, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1I prefer to use "<"
  • RoboDonut, on 04/15/2008, -3/+26Wait.
    You're telling me that they're distributing this over Steam AND they're having it send data to Ubisoft Ontario whenever you play?
    Doesn't that seem a little redundant?
    • daridave, on 04/15/2008, -0/+13Welcome to Software Developer Paranoia, aka Stupidity. The funny thing is, because of their anti-piracy measures, I'm NOT going to buy it (won't download it either) !
    • Genma, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1it's common procedure for ubisoft, every one of their games does this. at least all the ones I've played, they always try to contact a ubi server somewhere constantly while the game runs.
  • Acronym, on 04/15/2008, -16/+3**** THE RIAA
    • vibrokatana, on 04/15/2008, -3/+8No, no, no. Just use *****, you don't need to censor it.
    • Osirus1156, on 04/15/2008, -1/+8What the ***** is with the *'s?
  • eddywolf, on 04/15/2008, -7/+13I can't even install the game because of their crappy copy protection.
    • D4CH, on 04/15/2008, -7/+1Get off my internetz then!
    • eddywolf, on 04/15/2008, -2/+5Why am i being dugg down?
      http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/472105101 ...
      It's a huge problem. Stupid fanboys.
    • Abomonog, on 04/15/2008, -3/+1You can't install the game because there are bad files on the CD that do not match what the DRM wants or your DVD drive can't read the CRC properly. Chances are it's your CD/DVD Drive. Oh there is nothing wrong with it. It just doesn't contain the same CRC algorithm that is used by the DRM so the CRC check comes up with a different hash number. With the new games you are expected to have recent hardware. Not a 2 year old DVD drive in the uber machine. So most likely that is it. If you can try changing the DMA setting on the DVD drive. That may fix the check.
      • eddywolf, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3My DVD-RW is two weeks old. The problem is ubisofts ***** copy protection not working on fast DVD-RW's. In actual fact, you need a old, slow DVD drive to be able to install it.
  • ArtCrazy, on 04/15/2008, -9/+15I played the whole game with a 8800GT (in the post it said that those cards didn't work right) and I haven't had ANY problem.. Not ONE crash, nothing. Game's as smooth as possible with max settings @ 1440x900 and max AA. The controls work just fine and they're actually well-done IMO, could be better but still they work just fine. Only complaint I have is that it takes ages to exit... But that's not that big of a problem. About the DRM... It's not like I actually had to deal with it ;)
    Anyhow... Buried for inaccurate. (at least inaccurate for me)
    • cesclaveria, on 04/15/2008, -1/+3and inaccurate for me, I freaking love this game, it could improve in many areas but still is a great game IMHO.
      PS: Ubi, bring back the prince of Persia done AC way...
    • fallingdamage, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1I just installed this game from the disk last night, played it for 6 hours. Not once did it crash. I read that article and all the idiots complaining. Im using SLi 8600GTS cards, 2Gb Error-correcting ram, old motherboard drivers and 7 month old video drivers, and the game runs smoothly at 1680x1050 with every graphic setting maxed. Maybe some experts should learn how to build a PC using stable hardware first. Yeah the UI sucks, but I got used to it. The last console I owned was a PS1, so im used to gaming with Keyboard and mouse as ive known no other way to play games.
    • thedudeknows, on 04/16/2008, -0/+0I have a core 2 quad PC with 4 gigs of ram and a 8800GT. The game did crash several times. I just adjusted the hardware acceleration in windows. Game runs smooth with every setting maxed out. Also just exit the game using Alt + F4 like one poster already mentioned above. It's not a big deal. Fun game.
    • amenic, on 04/17/2008, -1/+12 Keys: Alt + F4.

      Enjoy.
  • slayernine, on 04/15/2008, -5/+2Well my system seems to hit all the negative points of the compatibilities issues. I have an 8800gt which is an nVidia card, and obviously I have an internet connection. To top this all off I pre-paid for this game on Steam before I had a chance to hear about all these dumb issues.
    • freezerburn666, on 04/15/2008, -4/+3mine was pirated woo no issues at all :)
    • Abomonog, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2The pirated version works fine with Nvidia cards. Try it.
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1Guys, Nvidia crashes are usually related to DX10 driver issues. I think many of you have the placebo effect going on. I highly doubt people have both cracked and uncracked versions and are comparing...
    • Nevarius, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2Maybe block it from using the internet and see if a 'no-cd' crack fixes the issue. What i usually do with games that have no multiplay or multiplay i dont care about.
  • dupems, on 04/15/2008, -6/+12I played through the entire game without one crash. It wasn't buggy, the graphics were gorgeous, the controls were very easy to get used to, and the UI was fine. I don't know what the hell this guy is talking about. Buried.
  • Epyik, on 04/15/2008, -1/+14I find it hard to believe this could be any worse than Halo2 for the PC
  • schizogony, on 04/15/2008, -10/+27A CONSOLE TO PC PORT GONE TERRIBLY WRONG??!!

    IT CAN'T BE!!!!!!!
    • Shadow82v, on 04/15/2008, -1/+12Leave it to Ubisoft to do that. How bad can you possibly be when you make a RE4 port TERRIBLE?
  • Wakers, on 04/15/2008, -6/+4how can a company mess up porting from a near pc-like console to a PC so badly. Unbelievable. And on top of that its sending data back to Ubisoft, which is causing crashes. Brilliant work there.
  • boogak, on 04/15/2008, -10/+2And yet another reason why I'm glad I've given up PC gaming and just game on my Xbox 360 now (when it actually works, but that's a whole 'nother story).

    Also I thought Assassin's Creed was way overrated. It has nice production values, but the gameplay got repetitive within 30 minutes.
  • zombird, on 04/15/2008, -4/+27They'll blame declining sales on P2P file sharing like they always do.
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -3/+2With the amount of people here saying they have the cracked version and telling everyone else to get the cracked version we (well not me, but many diggers) are kinda supporting their argument. If you don't hear good reviews and such, don't buy it. Doesn't mean you should download and what, play it out of spite?
      • BugMeNot2, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2If they're not going to buy it anyway due to problems, I don't really see how pirating it would hurt Ubisoft. (I'm not condoning piracy). If Ubisoft wants a strong fan base that buys their games on the PC platform, they'll have to spend the time to make a quality game. A quality game equals respect and game sales. Look at Stardock and Sins of a Solar Empire, for example. They spent their time with the game, respected the community by not crippling the game with intrusive DRM, and they made a game not plagued by show-stopping bugs and glitches. In return, Stardock was given hundreds of thousands of game sales, which is amazing considering the game is in a niche genre. Yes, Assassin's Creed sold a boatload of copies, but that was on consoles, and console owners seem to buy any game, good or bad. (*cough*50Cent*cough*)
    • SSCrow, on 04/15/2008, -3/+1umm. Assassins Creed sold very well.
    • amenic, on 04/17/2008, -1/+1You're 100% correct. As far as the big publishers are concerned the PC market is nothing more than a piracy market.

      Very sad to see.
  • Po0py, on 04/15/2008, -2/+33This is exactly the problem with pc gaming. When the big triple A games reach the pc they are at least six months late and are merely shoddy ports. Gears Of War was the same. And it is the same publishers who cry and winge about the fall of pc gaming. They don't realise that it is their carelessness that is ***** the industry up. No wonder people prefere to pirate pc games nowadays.

    Meanwhile, you have developers like Ironclad Games who understand how to be a success on pc. Sins of A Solar Empire is a terrific game and is making them some great profit. It's not a big budget triple A title but it is a fantastic game. And they are brave and trusting enough to release this game without any ***** drm. They understand that to become a success on pc you have to forget about who is pirating your game and start marketing your games to people who actually buy pc games. It's simple ***** logic but some dumbasses out there need it spelled out to them.
    • mythicflux, on 04/15/2008, -1/+5What I love is how much developers and publishers bitch about PC game piracy but completely forget about game resellers. How much money are they losing by screwing one market over in the name of not losing money?
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2I went to my friends house who had GoW on his PC (I have 360 version). He ran it at 1600x1200 with everything max but no AA (UE3 issue with deferred shading and DX9) with a Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz and an 8800GTS 320mb, ran at 60+ nearly all time. It looked better, ran smoother, had some extra singleplayer content, custom maps, free online for 50 bucks. I thought it was fine...
      • cqdemal, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2One year late plus half-arse implementation of vsync and a horrid DX10 mode? No, thank you. And you can't forget Games for Windows - LIVE. You really can't.
      • Po0py, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2Yup, it runs alright now. But for many people the first 2-3 months were terrible. It was stuttering all the time and you couldn't get a decent game out of it. Epic took their good ol time about getting a patch out. They were too busy pimping UT3 for PS3 to care about Gears on pc.
  • alkajazz, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2You act like you didn't see this coming.
  • Leader2light, on 04/15/2008, -9/+2The Game is fine. Stop hateing on the PC market.
    • ayeroxor, on 04/15/2008, -3/+4You misspelled 'hatteying'
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -1/+1I have to agree, the game is fine. The ONLY complaint I have is the amount of UI you have to go through to exit, THATS IT.
  • myshl0ng, on 04/15/2008, -4/+3I don`t see what is so special about AC. I`m sure it`s hella fun on a console, but on a PC it is just pure borefest and utter crap next to other PC games. I uninstalled the game after my 3rd assassination. Graphics are a letdown- Crysis looks better on medium settings (but the requirements at the same time are ***** ridiculous for such a game= half-arsed porting), controls are akward, gameplay gets boring after 3 hours, etc.
    A bad port of a over-hyped console game, period.
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2I can max out @ 1680x1050 with Assassin's and get 30-60FPS in DX10. Crysis on the other hand, better to run DX9 (about 15% performance boost over DX10) which gets it into the 20-35FPS range with all settings high @ 1680x1050 (Also with just a few Cvars to enable more effects that are "DX10 Only"). Comparing the two, yes Crysis looks better but it runs alot worse too...
  • geoffreyireland, on 04/15/2008, -1/+4I've had this game since launch day and haven't had one single crash yet. Loading times aren't too bad and the UI is fine, nothing majorly wrong with it. Plus when exiting why not just wait until after you've saved and then press Alt+F4? Straight to the desktop in seconds, they are either playing this game on inferior machines or I've no alternative. I've no complaints so far. Plus the mouse and keyboard is perfect for controlling the game, the free running feels great and accurate using the mouse.
    • fallingdamage, on 04/15/2008, -4/+1Its because a lot of PC gamers have no money so they build their PCs from the cheapest brands and bargain websites they can find, then put it all together (and try to tweak everything/overclock,) cant get anything to run stable, and blame the software industry for making crappy programs.
      • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3Then get a mid spec PC and don't FORCE the game on high settings...its like people don't know you can turn DOWN the gfx. HEY IT DOESNT RUN GOOD ON MAX, PC PORT SUCKS. No, your PC sucks.
  • polarpaw, on 04/15/2008, -2/+4I too have had absolutely 0 problems since dl and install. Maybe we all need to take a step back and stop bitching.
  • fani, on 04/15/2008, -7/+3I don't understand the fascination with DRM'd Steam games. They run crap ( tried only one - SWAT4. The scars are still there ). Buying a DVD is much better. You can typically install multiple times on multiple PC's ( except Bioshock I think ) and there's gamecopyworld to help you run it without putting the DVD.
    Of course, you have to get your lazy ass to the gamestore or pick it up from your mailbox if you order online, but still, much better than the crappola known as Steam with DRM
    • Enjia, on 04/15/2008, -3/+4the point is you should not have to risk getting a virus from a NO-CD crack in order to get your game working right =(
      And don't hate steam, it's a wonderful way to buy a game and have a backup of it forever.
      • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2I would think a DVD is worse because it has to install its copy protection while with steam you just need to login to play which is the copy protection...Next time I play assassins I will check if steam version has a copy protection app running.
  • SniperZ, on 04/15/2008, -2/+3The Xbox version had noticeable bugs also, I can only imaging a port to PC would be worse...
    • Dantetheinferno, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1It didn't have that many bugs, never crashed, it was nice.
      • BugMeNot2, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2On the PS3 version, there was a fairly widespread issue with game freezing that was related to the game code. My cousin had the game freeze up on him several times.
      • SniperZ, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1Yeah, there are multiple achievement glitches and when I played through, it froze on a loading screen once, and I jumped off a tree and landed in a tree... and could not get out, I didn't say it crashed all that often, but there are some bugs in the game.
  • boogak, on 04/15/2008, -6/+2Anyone else find it ridiculous that this game is on Nvidia's "The Way It's Meant To Be Played" list (http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_twimtbp_gameslis ...

    "The performance, compatibility, and reliability of NVIDIA GPUs make them the platform of choice for PC gamers worldwide. That's why today's hottest games are developed on NVIDIA, to be played on NVIDIA."

    Bugs and video artifacts are supposed to be there! IT'S THE WAY IT'S MEANT TO BE PLAYED, 8800GT issues and all!
    • fallingdamage, on 04/15/2008, -1/+0been playing it for 6 hours, no bugs, artifacts, or glitches for me... im using nividia and have all the games settings maxed. No problem
  • broknman, on 04/15/2008, -3/+1I almost held out for this on PC but decided for the PS3 version after seeing how Ubisoft treats it's ports as of late (i.e Splinter Cell: Double Agent).
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1It is not a bad port, we just have some whiny bitchs on here mad about a game that's not perfect. If you have a decent PC, it will be fine.
  • Kainzy, on 04/15/2008, -2/+0lol I can't even get used to the menu's on the 360 version. They're confusing and just all over the place. It feels like about 10 button presses just to exit out of the game back to the main menu. Great game on the 360, just a godawful interface.
  • Djupblue, on 04/15/2008, -8/+1Please stop using PC and Windows interchangeably. Macs and PCs use the same hardware these days and the only thing that really differs is the OS. Also, this games doesn't run on all non Apple PCs either (only the ones running Windows).
    • starf, on 04/15/2008, -1/+3PC has become synonymous with windows computers. Get used to it.
      /(OSX and Windows user)
  • vajra918, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2I don't agree with this article at all. I do understand the complaints around the UI though, I have not exited the game since I bought it... it takes too damn long. luckily I have enough RAM to just minimize it and go on with my business,
    I have had 0 crashes, the controls are exellent, though the learning curve is a bit steep, and it looks amazing.
  • ayeroxor, on 04/15/2008, -3/+2" em>Assassin's Creed /em> "

    Mighty nice work, Submitter...
    • ayeroxor, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3That's buried? Asking a submitter to not act like a ***** retard? I guess it's too much to ask diggers not to act like ***** retards today as well.
  • Anon3870, on 04/15/2008, -2/+0The worst problems I've had so far is it occasionally crashes on startup. Having a control bound to the shift key is a little impractical, but I haven't bothered trying a remap.
    Oh, and it needs an exit button... You have to exit the animus, exit the lab, log back in to get an actual exit button. Or ctrl+ F4
  • Wakers, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2It annoys me that these companies complain about poor sales and then blame it on pirates. Try making a game that looks beautiful but runs on a moderate pc (the technology is available), and then you might get more than 9 copies sold!

    Another issue is of course, console games will not always translate into good PC games. PC gamers tend to look for much more content and playability (which is why mmorpg's are usually unique to PC's). Games like this and Crysis are expensive, often require an expensive upgrade to play (if you're that desperate) and are then done and finished with after 5-10 hours. There used to be a lot of great games out there that you could spend £30 on and then the would last you 20-30+ hours, AND they weren't boring to play through again either.
  • di34lot, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2mine crashes like every hour, and has blue screened 4 times.

    so glad someone wrote up a fairly complete article
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1I would check for a driver update. If you are using Vista, when you come back from the blue screen click check for solution. Every time I do that it scanned and pointed to my display driver crashing.
  • whytey, on 04/15/2008, -3/+2it keeps crashing and blue screening
  • Basecamp88, on 04/15/2008, -3/+2If all of this is true than IGN must be getting paid to promote this title: http://pc.ign.com/objects/839/839699.html

    7.8 overall and their review of the controls say it's a good experience.
    • eddywolf, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3The controls are fine, the people complaining must be PC newbs. The cracked version also ran fine on my PC with no crashes or the like. However i couldn't even install the legal version. It seems high speed DVD-RW's can't install the game, and you need to install certain programmes to turn your drive speed down. OFC, none work with vista x64 :(
      • BugMeNot2, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1Wouldn't it be possible to install the game by extracting the DVD contents to your hard drive then running the setup.exe from there?
  • vagarach, on 04/15/2008, -3/+1It also runs like crap just like every other damn console port.

    Bioshock is the only port to run well for me so far.
  • DevilSpawn, on 04/15/2008, -2/+6what on earth are they talking about? i thought the game was brilliant. Its fluent, fun, controls are easy to get used to if you actually play the game, short load times, and you get loads more side-quests and the ability to skip the long boring walks. its excellent, this article is bullcrap.
  • aznwild0, on 04/15/2008, -1/+5::psst:: Hey kid, over here, keep it down will-ya? I got some sweet cracks for that new game of yas tha'll get it working. Whuddya say?

    I don't know why people complain about DRM on the PC. It usually takes minimal effort to circumvent.
    • FFXIfrohike, on 04/15/2008, -0/+10They complain because it's:

      1. a waste of resources on the publisher's side
      2. a waste of time on the consumer's side
    • starf, on 04/15/2008, -0/+9They complain because after paying for the game, if they don't want to violate the TOS, they will have a significantly worse experience than those who do (many of which don't pay for the game).
      It used to be that if you paid for a game, you would have LESS problems as well as access to support.
    • Enjia, on 04/15/2008, -0/+8And you should not have to crack a game to play it well.
    • cybrguy, on 04/15/2008, -0/+4I'll complain about it because I have to take 10 minutes to circumvent it. And all it accomplishes is ill will toward Ubisoft. Companies need to make DRM that doesn't sacrifice fair use or consumer convenience. Until they do that, DRM is bad in my book.
  • FFXIfrohike, on 04/15/2008, -3/+0Forgot to mention... bad game.
  • Skooma714, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2Judging by the high system specs they did a piss poor job of porting.

    But if people don't buy it that means pirates raped sales...
    • KayinAngel, on 04/15/2008, -1/+0it's a game for xbox360 and ps3 ... did you expect it to run on your pentium 3 ?


      beside, i personally dont think the requirements were that high, in todays standards. next gen games require next gen systems. for console that's easier, since people tend to not upgrade thier computers the same way due to cost or whatever.
    • BlackKnight6, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1I honestly think people need to look at benchmarks rather than DEVELOPER RECOMMENDED specs. By the specs, Assassin's Creed should run just a tiny bit faster than Crysis while in my experience Assassin's Creed runs ALOT faster. Not only that, Assassin's Creed recommended specs for RAM is 3GB. I have the game maxed out in DX10 and in the task manager says 650MB with me in a big city....wtf?
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