The Positives are more than the Negatives.

"Easily one of the most anticipated games for this year!...Assassin's Creed is an incredible experience unlike anything else available right now and we're thrilled with the buzz and attention the title has received," shared John Parkes, Ubisoft EMEA Marketing Director. "It's exciting to push the industry with such a breakthrough title in terms of technology, design and story."!!!

For long time - maybe a week! - I was avoiding this game as I thought from the way it was advertised, promoted and marketed it would have been one of those games that you have to pay a "fortune" (£37.99 amazon.co.uk) and the outcome to be just another average game. But I was wrong!

Manufacturer's Description:

"Assassin's Creed is set in 1191 AD, when the Third Crusade was tearing the Holy Land apart. Our story follows a disgraced master Assassin (ALTAIR) who embarks on an epic quest to restore his status within the Assassin Order. After failing to assassinate the Templar Leader (ROBERT DE SABLE) and recover the legendary Templar Treasure, Altair is demoted to Uninitiated (the lowest rank in the Assassin order).
SINAN, Leader of the Assassins, offers to him an opportunity to redeem himself. Altair must venture out into the Holy Land and assassinate men said to be exacerbating and exploiting the hostilities created by the Third Crusade. In doing so, he will stabilize the region, allowing Sinan to usher in an age of peace.
And so Altair begins his missions.
Along the way, however, he will begin to discover that his targets are bound by more than just a shared interest in personal gain. They seem to share membership in a secret society - a group all too familiar to the Assassins. And they are not simply looking for profit. "

My Opinion

The scenario is fantastic. The designers' claim is that is based in a real historical period and in real political powers that acted in the Holy Land during the Crusades. They refer in the research they did on the time period, the architecture and the life conditions. I think that is only fair to say that they have put a lot of emphasis in the authenticity and the "sense" of history even though I haven't checked the credibility. I am sure that someone that has more time in his hand will do that sooner or later!!!(It's a matter of life and death you see!!!)

The Assassins to my opinion are a combination of ninja and knights, who punish the bad guys and keep the balance between the powers that want to influence the area(Saracens, Crusaders or the local people)

The hero of the game, Altair, is a talented assassin but he is very haughty and this comes out when you play which is impressive. He is very strong character maybe a better version of Prince of Persia kind of guy with far better acrobatics and he is far more realistic. While you are playing the game you cant help but notice that he is really impressive. The way he moves, his facial expressions, his enigmatic appearance are just great!
The design of the levels is very impressive too. Very realistic reproduction of places (3 towns in Middle East) based on historical evidence. (Still I cant confirm it!lol) Especially Jerusalem is fantastically designed. Low houses, nice architecture
with loads of hidden yards that can be very helpful during the game and the defence system of Jerusalem (the walls are really impressive)

GAMEPLAY

The tutorial is essential in order to understand the game. Watch it!

The game play is not as straightforward as I was expecting. After the tutorial you have two missions to accomplice. One was very easy, the other more complicated but it was very useful introduction to the game. That helped me to face the real enemies in the "real" game more effectively!!

In the real game now, the handling of Altair is very easy but is getting more complicated further in the game so don't be disappointed at the beginning.

Your first proper mission starts from Fort Masyaf. All your missions, 9 in total, have to do with , well what the title says - Assassinations! You visit different parts of the 3 main towns and you try to locate and kill the person/s.

I liked the fact that the targets are very different to each other. Sometimes you have 3-4 targets in one mission. You are going to the local Assassin office (!) and you take some information to help you locate the whereabouts of your victims. Then you are going in the town trying to locate your target. Tip: If you go to the top of some houses you will be better able to locate the place to continue your research.

The research is great part of the game and the most fascinating. You collect information by listening to peoples conversations, by stealing documents, interrogating people who work for your target, by negotiating with informers who sometimes they send you into some mini missions in order to give you the information.
When you have some good evidence of where your target is, you have to go back and report to the Assassins office, and get their approval for your plans. Then you go out in the town again, trying to accomplish your mission by avoiding the guards of the victim and finally kill him.
The unexpected elements are many in this part of the game even if you have completed the game before. I have completed the game in two different ways up to now even though the missions were the same!!

The disappointing point though as it concerns the gameplay was that there are not many differences in the way Altair is doing things. There is not great variety.
(I have to mention though that I came to this conclusion after I completed the game. I didn't't notice it while I was playing it.)
All the things I mentioned above regarding the missions can be accomplish with the same mechanism which reminds me an arcade game! Or with a way that doesn't fit to the realism of the game and the heavy, dark atmosphere of it that comes along. Let me explain what I mean: In order to obtain a document lets say, you have to lock on the person it has been suggested to you kind of thing. Then you hear on a small dialogue which informs you what the person carries and then you following him until you find the right opportunity to take it from him. That lasts seconds. The dialogue lasts longer!

After a while the whole procedure becomes mechanical and the worst is that you have to do that even with characters that have nothing to contribute to your mission. Total waste of time. In the best case, they are giving you a tip or a warning.
Also, something that I found unrealistic was the fact that Altair, in order to follow someone he had to wait for monks to passed and hide among them when he could just cover himself with a monks dress and go or kill a lonely guard and take his clothes.

WHAT I LIKED

When you coming out to the streets of Masyaf and see how alive is the town and the crowds is an amazing experience. So vivid, so realistic. The best graphics I have ever come across.
When Altair is visiting Damascus you will realize that the experience is so convincing....the sound of the town, what is happening in the town, you can almost smell the kebabs!!
When you climbing to the tallest buildings by using the curves of the design of the buildings, and you are reaching the top, the view of the town is fantastic.( When you do that do a leap of faith. Don't be scared as it doesn't hurt! Its very liberating!

I liked Altair. He is Very dynamic and his style is so very cool. The way he walks among the crowd, the way he rides the horse when he travels between towns. Just makes you wonder how they can do that? How can they make it so realistic ?

I liked the way the crowd reacts to what you are doing. Most of the time the reactions are very funny but being concentrated on the mission you can miss it.

OVERALL OPINION

Assassin's Creed is a very cool game. OK the assassinations and the mechanisms of the game are not always fantastic but the scenario is very interesting and the design is fascinating, very realistic. Handling Altair is very simple and becomes more complicated when he is fighting. Everything is context-sensitive, which makes it amazing game to play.
Highly recommended to all.

Thank you for reading...

PS This review has been published by me at dooyoo.co.uk as well.