I started with AC2 which was really fun. I'm terrible at platforming so the fact that I managed to beat it, yeah, that says something. There are only a couple of places (that are entirely optional) which get tricky. And even those, the camera is very polite and generally shows you where to go. The camera did get stuck in one or two tight spots which was annoying. Otherwise, the game handled very well, was very pretty, and had a good story.

2.1 Was absolutely horrible to me because it just destroyed the immersion of AC2. Pretty much everything that was added kept throwing me out of the I'm-a-badass-Assassin frame of mind and into the look, it's a computer game! Hope you like computer games, cause it's a computer game! Try and beat your high score! mindset.

Then I played AC 1 and liked it. Not as much as 2, but it was still good. I'm just glad I started with 2.

I won't touch AC 3 with a ten foot pole. Nope. Just personal preference.

The first one was the best.

Exactly. You are an assassin and do your work (assassinations) however you like. It doesn't have any crap about style over substance (double blades, one man army who doesn't need to run), buying shops or command others to play the game (i.e: make assassinations) for you.

This.

I've tried more than once to complete AC and I have yet to. I've completed all the other AC games, and I look forward to the new one. But, AC is just such a chore to complete that I've never been able to sustain interest long enough to do so.l

Don't get me wrong... I love the flashiness of the sequels. Some of those abilities you can have great fun with BUT I also like to keep it simple. Give me an axe in Assassins Creed and I'd be happy. :D

You really should give AC2 a try. It takes what was working in the original, and adds varied gameplay and a compelling plot line. But, if you don't like AC2, then don't bother with any of the other games in the series.

Trust me, I have a hard time finishing games in general, and I had no problem finishing AC2.

If it really was just assassinations it would be great, no one had a problem with those, but it isn't. They constitute a small part of the game with the lion's share being spent climbing towers, defending citizens and sitting on benches. I'd say it has just as much padding as some of the later games, just with less variety.

On topic: I always had a problem with how automatized those games were, on the bright side, it means that you shouldn't worry about ragequitting.

Game 1: Throwing knives, melee combat. The game is heavily into stealth, but fighting is imbalanced. For stealth, it comes down to going up to someone, stabbing them, walking away quickly before you get noticed. You have to be direct, so only frontal or backward stabs while standing. Climbing is automatic so long as there is a pathway, but you'll learn only a couple of abilities. All maps are the same for the most part, you go in, do some missions, unlock target, go kill target, so forth, and the intrigue is more about what's happening in the real world as opposed to what's happening in the assassin world.

Game 2: Much more expansive, flexible with targets and tactics. This includes killing people from ledges, use of crossbow and pistol, actual aiming of ranged weapons, combat alongside is more flexible when you can steal the axes, spears, clubs, swords, claymores, so forth of your foes, and can actually carry an axe/club/sword/claymore instead of a normal sword, and if you lose your axe/claymore by say, throwing it 40 feet into the back of the head of a retreating guard, or get it stuck in a foe and can't get it back, you can just take the weapon off someone you killed. Fighting is still imbalanced, but fun, introduces swimming

Brotherhood: Introduces some new concepts, fighting is much faster and flexible, still imbalanced. Has some things people liked alot, some they didn't. Major upgrade is the ability to train recruits to assist you in fighting along with micromanagement of the economic development of an entire city, bigger variation in missions including a series of sub-quests involving Leonardo De Vince and his inventions such as the glider, parachute, tank, and artillery.

That Other One: Introduces Bombs, hook-blade and travel across ziplines, introduces more concepts, some disliked, others liked. Combat STILL imbalanced, focuses on the connection of story between Game 2 and Game 1, is fun to fuck around in (See bombs, such as blood bombs, gas bombs, caltrap bombs, false-gold bomb, noise bombs, explosive bombs, area of death bombs, in of type Tripwire(landmine), Time Fuse, and On Impact), but is not as good as Brotherhood.)

Game 3: Couldn't tell you much about it except to avoid the DLC, it's non-canon.

Good to know, I rented the game and didn't get to try the DLC.

It's a hypothetical story about if George Washington came across an Apple of Eden and installed a Monarchy in the U.S. along with the other founding fathers.

I didn't really like neither the first nor the second game. I disliked the fact that they mostly seemed to play themselves, with me pressing a button occassionally - after some time I got bored to tears.

AC1 is good if you're patient. Like others mentioned, it can be frustrating having to walk, very slowly, past guards. Contradicting the previous point, it can be very satisfying when you enter a region undetected. It doesn't have the micro management that other games in the series introduced and then evolved. Having said that, most of these are optional anyway, so it shouldn't influence

I really like the second series including brotherhood and revelations. They had just the right balance of freedom to sweep across cities and guards on patrol to kill on the way to your destination.

IMO, 3 is visually breathtaking but the most annoying of the series. It also tunnels missions much more than the others - i.e. you must remain a certain distance from NPC's to hear conversations or you can't get detected. Other AC games have these restrictionsbut not to the same degree. In cities, you are unlikely to be able to travel distances on rooftops (one of the games greatest appeals for me) without a constant barrage of guards fighting and shooting at you.

So to summarise, my preferences are AC2, then AC1 followed by AC3