A time warp in a good way.
The gaming is also very straight forward. You stalk your targets, compile information, and execute. The stalking and investigating takes up most of your time but it's all very helpful the more information your collect the more you know and the easier it is to eliminate your target. To find this information you must climb buildings to viewpoints around the cities. The climbing mechanics are superb and very enjoyable. Until you get sick of it. Which will happen in about twenty minutes.
This is the Achilles heel of Assassins Creed, the repetitive. It's the same thing over and over. Even the fighting is the same and the AI isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. It's the exact same thing from mission to mission. The really bad things are the cities. They might be different city but they are the exact same. The only differences are the fact that they have a different 'style' between them. You can't go inside any of the buildings, which is pretty much a must for an assassin game. They don't feel or play any different which is terrible. But they are gorgeous. And not just the buildings, everything in the game is perfect. The soft ripples in your cloak to the water effects off the docks and the birds flying in the air. Which just makes the repetition more painful.
Another element done very well, but again repetitive, is the fighting. You'll be doing tons of it, but it's very realistic. It's basing the styles of fighting in the time period. You won't be hack and slashing but parrying, countering, and throwing your enemies. The enemies are very dumb though which is frustrating, but it's very rewarding when you are cornered by six or seven baddies and you take them all down without getting hit once. That's only if you go the aforementioned hack and slash route. If you sneak up on your enemies (or civilians for that matter) you can stealth kill them with a hidden blade, and that always feels good.
This game is great. Yes it's repetitive, but it's also challenging, very beautiful, and rewarding. It does have some imperfections but that is expected when a game of this caliber comes out. It's an original game with a new engine. Of course it's not going to be perfect I just can't wait for the sequel to come out.