Assassin's Creed Game Poster Image

Assassin's Creed

age 18+
(i)

 

Mature, cinematic thriller is history-based.
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What parents need to know

Positive messages
Not applicable
Violence

Your job is to assassinate targets, so there's plenty of violence and gore. This includes using an arsenal of weapons, such as knives, to kill key historical figures or other threats. Blood can be seen as they fall to the ground. The kill itself is not over-the-top or gratuitous, but similar to games like Prince of Persia, they can be "cinematic" in nature with fancy camera angles and slow-motion effects.

Sex
Not applicable
Language

A few -- but strong -- instances of swearing, topped by the F-word, as well as others might consider offensive, such as "damn" and "hell."

Consumerism
Not applicable
Drinking, drugs, & smoking
Not applicable

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this game is very much about violence as you play as a hired hit man, of sorts, to take down key targets with cunning and strategy. This usually involves skulking through the shadows to remain undetected and figuring out how to accomplish the task, such as a knife to the throat from behind. People you kill fall to the ground and some blood is seen.

What's it about?

Ubisoft's ASSASSIN'S CREED, designed for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and PC, is an intense and near-photorealistic action game that lets you play as a retired assassin who is sent back into action in the late 12th century, when the Third Crusade is raging across the Holy Land. You are Altair, whose task is to suppress the hostilities on both sides with stealth and precision. But how you stalk and approach your target, perform the task at hand, and exit the scene safely will vary from player to player. This is because the authentically re-created cities you'll be visiting -- such as Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre -- are open-ended and bustling with citizens.

Is it any good?

QUALITY

The game's wide-screen presentation and high-definition graphics are only outdone by its smooth character animation, dialogue (including a female character voiced by Heroes and Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell) and Hollywood-style music soundtrack (composed by British Academy Award-winner Jesper Kyd) that changes depending on what's happening onscreen. Some players, however, might be disappointed that the combat isn't as fleshed out as in past Ubisoft Montreal games. The planning and exit strategies, the action sequences in Assassin's Creed are simply well-timed button presses, rather than deep combat control schemes.

That said, Assassin's Creed is an imaginatively conceived and wonderfully executed single-player adventure that should take a good 10 hours to complete, and more than double that for the optional side missions. Mature gamers in search of a beautiful, exhilarating piece of interactive entertainment will be more than pleased with this hard-to-put-down adventure.

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about whether this game teaches anything about this time period (12th century) in the Middle East or does the backdrop take a back seat to the violence? That is, could a player actually use a game like this one to learn about key moments in history such as the Crusades?

Game details

Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows
Price:$59.99
Available online?Not available online
Developer:UbiSoft
Release date:November 14, 2007
Genre:Action/Adventure
ESRB rating:M for Blood, Strong Language, Violence

This review of Assassin's Creed was written by

Marc Saltzman
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are conducted by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
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Adult Written byasaspades April 9, 2008
not rated for age

An educational game that has taken a backseat to the violent content

The game Assasins Creed is an extremely well reasearched, beautiful game. You play as an assasin in the 1200s during the time of the 3rd crusade. Your targets are real historical figures that disappeared around that time. Contrary to the rating this web site has given it, Assasins Creed isn't as bad as some would label it. The violent content is not over the top or grusome but instead intelligent and refined compared to many other violent games out there. The blood ( although it is there) is actually a low rendered red mist that could be compared to the blood seen in games for the N64. (this could be seen in any game at your local arcade)As you kill your opponents, your character begins to quetion whether or not he is doing the right thing for the medival society. The irony suggested by this can be compared to many politcal situations that are happening today and lead gamers to ponder it themselves. Overall Assasins Creed was braded with a mature rating because of the level of sophistication required to fully understand the underlying themes. Similar to some R rated movies. This is definatly not the type of M game that can be compared to Grand Theft Auto or other controvertial games. Unfourtunatly, the ESRB has no way to distinguish this when they label a game M. The content in the way of blood, and language is not anything that a teenager hasn't seen/heard before. So if your teen wants to play this game, don't be scared by the M rating. Perhaps ask him/her to explain why they are killing the figures in the game or allow them to make a case for the game. Overall its not up to the content in the game being age appropriate, but instead the players not being able to comprehend the irony of it all.
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Adult Written byFreedomFromCens... August 14, 2009
age 13+

Once again, Common Sense Media fails at rating games properly.

Most kids over 14 or 13 cold handle this game's violence and language (trust me, kids hear the F-word all the time in middle school and up). Theirs no "real" gore, as in you can't cut off body parts, just blood. This game was entertaining, but not particularly worth buying, renting once or twice, sure. The story has a neat twist, but that's about it. Missions are repetitive, but its fun to explore the massive cities. Overall, fun and interesting to play, but not outgoing or too amazing.
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Adult Written byMasterChief2 December 31, 2009
age 14+

Fine for 15+ and maybe for 13+

First off this is a fantastic game, but the reason you are reading this is probably to get a feel for the content. There is blood and violence, but it is not absolutely horrible. There are reasons for the violence and the assassinations as well. All of the targets for assassination are VERY evil. One example is a man who is a slaver. By killing him you stop his trafficking of humans. They do not give you other options, but what do you think the other options are? Tell him to be good? Capture him and let him go after a while? This man was evil and you killed him. Another thing to be mentioned is that there is an option to turn off the blood. I played the entire game with the blood off and with it off it straddles the border between M and T. I wouldn't immediately ok it based on that result though as it is possible your kid would just turn the filter off whenever he is alone. In some families that will be often, but in others rather seldom. Unfortunately there are swear words and some more graphic scenes. However I never heard an F-bomb or anything worse. The swear words also came mostly during the 2 minute cut scenes that occur while in the future and for the majority of the game there is very little swearing.
What other families should know
Too much violence
Too much swearing
Educational value
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