A true visualisation of what Next Generation consoles has to offer.
Set in the brutal times of the Third Crusade (also known as the King's Crusade) when European leaders were attempting to claim the Holy Land as their own, you play the deadly assassin Altair. After a failed mission, your leader strips you of your rank but offers you redemption by giving you list of nine powerful men you eliminate in your belief of peace for the holy land. That is the basis of the storyline and that is all I can say without giving too much away.
The simplicity of the controls, I felt, worked very well. Triangle is your head, putting you in first person perspective to get gather your surroundings, circle being your right hand which you'd use to gently push people out of your way, square being your left hand which you hold your weapons with and X being your feet. The latter works well since when holding R1 you jog but pressing R1 and X together sends you free running at an extremely fast pace. This is to be used wisely though, as free running will alert people to your activities and could cause you to lose control if you happen to run into someone, putting you flat on your back. The climbing is one of the best aspects of the game. Almost any wall in climbable, and it looks brilliant. Simply running into a wall will get you started, and keeping hold of R1 and X is enough to help scale any climbable wall there is in the game.
Visually the game is stunning. When first playing this, I spent a lot of my time walking through the streets of the cities simply staring in awe at my surroundings. The game doesn't just show you what it can do, it takes you in with it, throwing the atmosphere over you so you feel as though you are actually there. Walking through the streets, you hear people preaching, selling goods, homeless people will run to you and beg for money or simply a crazy person you push you in anger for no apparent reason. Scale a wall and the citizens will stare up at you and question your actions and in some situations will hurl rocks at you to knock you down. Draw your weapon and citizens will become wary of you, backing away in fear. Do this near a guard and he will question you.
Your missions are set out very simply. Visualise, gather, infiltrate, kill and escape. When visualising, you'll climb the highest points in the city and synchronize yourself with it. Gathering these view points opens up you maps. Once you do this, you will then know where to gather your information. There are six pieces of information you need to gather. Many of these will be pick pocketing someone with information regarding your target, eavesdropping on conversations, interrogating someone through force or helping a fellow assassin in exchange for information. Once the information is gathered you then go to your target and infiltrate where he is. This what I found fun about the game. Sizing up your opportunity, observing your target and picking the right moment to strike. The situations you are placed in can be quite interesting and can be quite challenging if you want the 'perfect kill'.
Not that you don't have enough weapons at your disposal to kill your target with. You can choose from your hidden blade, your sword, your short sword or your throwing knives. In many assassinations I used my hidden blade to stab them quickly in the neck but you can choose to take them on with your short sword or sword if the situation turns ugly or if you're in the mood for a little action. Then you must escape, either by eliminating any guard that are in your way until you are safe and can blend safely back in with the crowd or by running and hiding until the guards give up looking for you. The chases are quite a thrilling experience, especially on rooftops when being chased by guards and leaping freely from rooftop to rooftop. Just be careful not to miss an important jump because it only takes one mistake for the guards to corner you.
On a rather unimportant note, in some ways the game is historically true. The nine people Altair is to eliminate were actually people that disappeared during the third crusade but whether they were assassinated is unknown. The 'leap of faith' move you will do for the first time from your own fortress in front of the Templers was actually done by a group of assassins in front of the Templers to prove they did not fear death. But rather then landing safely into hay like Altair does, they plummeted to their deaths. If like me you like little pockets of information in your game that makes you look up information yourself then you will definitely enjoy this.
The only problem I found was the repetition of the game. The game itself can be a refreshing experience but after your sixth or seventh victim I found myself getting bored by doing the same things over and over. This can be cured by simply taking a break, playing something else and you will find yourself wanting to play the game again and wonder what situation your next kill will be like. That and the storyline gets confusing. So very confusing. Overall a great game to lose yourself in. Let down by the repetition and confusing storyline this is a game any Next Generation console owner shouldn't be without.