I am a fan of the prvious Assassin's Creed and think this is another top quality game. The graphics are stunning, and gameplay smooth with a good story. This game has a huge amount to explore and do, with a story line that drives you forward.
It is not as straight forward in the last in terms of running over the roof tops, but I think this simply makes it more challenging and keeps you on your toes. Perhaps if it had been too similar to Assassin's Creed 1, then people may have complained that the makers failed to mix things up and vary the game play?
A few people have noted that the "full game" needs to get its updates from online - which is correct. However, you should be able to do this through any broadband connection without having to pay to actually join xbox live. I guess that Amazon needed to flag this as you cannot read the back of the box until you have have it delivered.
Either way, this is currently the same price as the basic version, so if you are going to by the game, you may as well get this version - you could always have a go at selling your DLC card on ebay - they normally go for a bit.
(Also, in terms of getting value for money from most xbox games, it is usually worth getting on line. You pay a lot of money for games, and playing them online will extend the life adding hours and hours of game play, and alsovopen up a whole new world of gaming.)