Assassin's Creed is breathless fun and innovative, even if it doesn't always work quite right.
Oh, and falling into water is an instant death. Take a moment to let that sink in. This man is an elite assassin, capable of taking down multiple enemies without batting an eyelash. Push him into the deep end of a pool, though, and he'll flail uselessly before drowning. Honestly, you'd think that somewhere on the path to becoming an elite assassin, one would learn to doggy paddle.
My final complaint with Assassin's Creed is in the nature of its gameplay. In order to beat the game, you'll need to take down nine targets, and in order to get to those targets you'll need to do a few investigation missions. These short missions are virtually the same from mission to mission, but as mentioned they are short so repetition shouldn't start to set in until later on in the game. It is sad, though, to see the once thrilling act of climbing to the highest point in a city turn tedious by the last few levels.
Now that I've gotten all of my problems with AC out of the way, I have to say that it manages to easily overcome these shortcomings. Everything else in AC is simply brilliant. The story is intriguing, but it doesn't play a huge role in the game as it does in, say, Mass Effect. This suits the game's action/adventure style very well, as the story will always keep you going, but you will never get hung up trying to decipher certain parts of it. I won't go into the story much more in order to not spoil the "plot twist" in the beginning (for the three of you who haven't already heard it.)
When not accidentally falling to your death, the controls are very satisfying to master. Altair is an uber acrobatic character, but most of his moves are still within the realm of possibility. The only one that isn't is the "leap of faith." Using this mechanic, you can jump from the tallest building in the world and land unscathed so long as you aim your jump into a tiny pile of hay. It's funny, but also thrilling. Simply put, I haven't had this much fun just exploring since Crackdown.
Combat is largely reaction based, and you will be able to kill most of your enemies with well-timed counters. Targeting can be a little finicky, but 9/10 times it doesn't impact the flow of battle in any way.
Both the graphics and sound of Assassin's Creed are some of the best seen this generation. It is possible to look out across the entirety of an amazingly detailed cityscape and not see a single instance of pop-in. In addition, all of the handholds in the cities are entirely natural looking; they never seem out of place. The streets are bustling with activity. Soldiers scan the area for criminals, vendors sell their goods in the markets, crowds gather around preachers on church steps, beggars will intercept you on your path and beg for money, and more. And all of these citizens will react realistically to your actions. If you've just murdered someone, you had better get out of there and blend into the crowd quickly, or else you could end up on the business end of a sword. If you murder someone and then start sprinting, the chase is on. The crowd dynamics are all very impressive, and its good to know that Ubisoft is implementing similar mechanics in upcoming games (the great looking Splinter Cell Conviction.) The soldier AI, while impressive at times, is also kind of laughable. Soldiers are capable of figuring out your true intentions based on your actions, as well as following you across rooftops during stunning (and nonscripted) rooftop chase scenes, but yet if you run behind a soldier and jump into a bail of hay, half the time they'll have no idea where you went. I'm beginning to think that the hay in medeivel times had some sort of magical properties.
Sound effects are all great, too. Voiceovers are very well done, down to the very smallest of roles. The city is appropriately busy-sounding.
In conclusion, Assassin's Creed is an excellently crafted action/adventure game that I will surely invest enough time in to get all 1000 gamerscore. It's repetitive nature may turn some off initially, but it's really baffling to see anyone give this game a low review score. It's one of the next gen's best. Kudos, Ubisoft.
Graphics: 9.5/10-No pop up, everything looks stunning. Very mild clipping lowers the score a bit.
Sound: 9.5/10-It all sounds very realistic.
Gameplay: 9/10-Sometimes finicky controls, but everything is also very fun.
Value: 8.5/10-Repitition may set in later on in the game, but side quests such as collecting hidden flags in the different cities and killing all of the powerful Templars in the game add value. Plus, the goof-off potential of this game is pretty high. Jumping your horse across rooftops is hilarious.
Overall: 9/10.