Game of the year?
It is difficult to go into the plot of the game without actually giving any spoilers since the whole premise of the game is based on a revelation that if done correctly would have been mind-blowing but unfortunately it is revealed so early on in the game that it actually takes out a lot of the intrigue and mystery that the story could have had.
You play the character of Altair, a member of the order of the assassins who is stripped of his ranking and privileges due to deviating from their devout rules with the penalty being expulsion or death. Altair is given an opportunity by the leader of the Assassins, Al Mualim to restore his integrity and position within the order by performing a number of assassinations.
The involves you performing assassinations on designated targets in three cities, Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem. In order to perform the assassins you are required to do some information gathering beforehand in order to embark on the mission and these involve eavesdropping on a nearby conversation, pickpocketing, interrogation or completing a time trial or killing certain targets as a favour to someone to gain information, these get quite old quickly.
The assassination missions themselves are pretty repetitive; they basically follow the same format in that you are introduced to the target via a in-game cut-scene and then as soon as this ends you kill the target which are then followed by a lengthy sermon before you make a quick escape. You would think in a game with 'Assassin' in the title would mean that there is quite a lot of stealth involved, but in fact it is completely opposite. Its rare that you actually have to use stealth and for the actual assassinations themselves it actually really doesn't make any worthwhile difference whether you decide to sneak up from behind and deliver a quick kill discretely or go all gung-ho on the target in full public view because the guards are still automatically placed on full alert whichever tactic you use and you still have to make a very frenetic escape.
As for the cities themselves they are extremely detailed and absolutely huge. You will find yourself probably getting lost at points. The attention to detail in the architecture and the environments and the citizens themselves is something to be applauded. Another aspect that is incredible is the fact that pretty much every building in the game, is scalable, yep you heard right, Altair can climb churches, run up walls, houses etc and jump from rooftop to rooftop very much in the style of French art of free-running. Sometimes traversing building to building can sometimes be a little bit clumsy and frustrating but on the whole it is an absolute marvel to behold. The most thrilling feature is that Altair can climb to the top of high landmarks (viewpoints) which give you a panoramic view of the area and then jump off them gracefully like a swan hurtling at huge velocity towards the earth to be cushioned by a landing in a cart of hay. What makes the game stand out is the free-roam aspect and as others have said it is kind of like GTA but in a medieval environment.
Combat is limited at first but Altair gains new skills and abilities throughout the game after successfully completing assassinations. Combat is mostly rhythmic based in which you have to know when to take defensive stances and wait for an opening to attack enemies and interrupting an enemy attack at the correct time can treat you to an impressive counter move involving you slicing and dicing your enemies in a number of stylish ways.
In the cities you have to be mindful of your behaviour. Running at full speed and bumping into people, killing someone outright in public is not considered a socially acceptable action and will lead to guards being suspicious and then attacking you. So in order not to attract attention you have to blend in with socially acceptable actions like gently pushing citizens in order to get through a crowd or blending in with a group monks/scholars to get through heavily patrolled areas. Doing favours for citizens will reward you sometimes either with health or allies that will block guards when you are in the midst of an escape. If you alert the guards, the only way you can shake them off is by escaping their line of sight by hiding in hay or sitting on a bench with citizens.
Graphically the game is stunning, with great physics effects and an extremely authentic and detailed environment. The citizens are well animated and respond to your actions but in terms of sound you will hear the same phrases being repeated over and over in the game. The voice-work is great most of time. Sometimes there is some bad graphical slowdown while traversing the cities but this is few and far between.
The game although graphically superb and detailed having some great features such as free-running suffers from a strong bout of repetitiveness. After completing one assassination you have basically seen and done it all as every one proceeding it is basically a carbon copy. What it initially first seems fun get monotonous quickly. The story is the main catalyst for getting through the game is the story although it ends abruptly with no satisfying conclusion leaving it clear there will be a sequel.
Hopefully Montreal Ubisoft will learn from this outing and improve the experience for the sequel. Its a shame because it had the potential to be something great.