Assassin's Creed Tweak Guide
Author: Koroush Ghazi
Last Modified: May 2008
Introduction
Once upon a time, a game called Prince of Persia made platform gaming popular. The idea that our hero could not only fight, but also climb, swing and jump from one precarious perch to the next soon caught on thanks to The Prince. At first it was all done in two dimensions, and then simple 3D, but in 2003, Ubisoft Montreal released Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which took the whole deal to a glorious new level, complete with beautiful graphics and fluid animation.
But why am I going on about Prince of Persia? Because it's the game that laid down the foundations for Assassin's Creed - basically if you like the Prince of Persia series, especially The Sands of Time and The Two Thrones, then you'll love Assassin's Creed. Altair (Al-Tahir), the protagonist of Assassin's Creed, shares a great deal of his fighting, climbing and jumping style with The Prince. Similarly, the game world has a PoP look and feel to it, albeit with much more depth and detail. And the gameplay can best be described as fun, in much the same vein as the PoP series.
Comparisons with Prince of Persia aside, what does Assassin's Creed have to offer? For starters it has very immersive and attractive graphics; there's no denying it's a pretty, atmospheric game. The gameplay sacrifices a great deal of realism and complexity but in return ensures that things keep flowing along smoothly. You can wander large crowded city environments filled with all the sights and sounds you'd expect, or travel long stretches of open road on a galloping horse. It has visually exciting combat and assassinations. You shouldn't mistake it for an RPG or an FPS, but if you're keen for some unsophisticated, straight-up action and adventure, then Assassin's Creed should satisfy your needs.
Despite clearly being a console port, Ubisoft has invested some effort to ensure that the game hasn't wound up like so many bad ports we all know and hate. As a result, Assassin's Creed is fairly optimized for PCs, and runs fairly well despite its very steep minimum requirements. However it does display signs of some odd design choices, again courtesy of its console heritage. The game manual is pretty much useless in explaining what all the settings do, and of course doesn't cover any advanced tweaking, so instead I've compiled this guide, giving every player all they need to know about how to configure the game properly and tweak it to suit their needs, as well as a range of troubleshooting tips. There are no magic fixes, but plenty of good information should you wish to avail yourself of it.
Note: This guide refers to the latest version of Assassin's Creed, Version 1.02. Make sure to check back regularly for updates.
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