Amazing story and fluid gameplay create a unique gaming experience.
The parkour in the game is really fun and fluid. Since I have only Mirror's Edge to compare it to, I think Assassin's Creed does it better. The parkour can be frustrating from time to time when Altair attaches to a feature you didn't want him to grab or situations where Altair won't grab anything at all when he should be able to.
The combat system is fun but takes a lot of patience as the core of it depends on well timed attacks and counterattacks. It is very important to learn the combat system well because the end game demands that you use every combat move to your advantage otherwise you get your ass kicked. In fact I struggled on the final boss due to the constant enemy counterattacks. Ultimately I found the best strategy to be waiting for an enemy to attack and then spamming the counter button. Yeah the counter button is one of the easiest counters I've seen in a game which is a good thing. It's fun to mess guys up with badass animations.
Pretty much the only bad part of the this game is the total lack of quest variety. You pretty much do the same 6 quests over and over again with a few slight variations. The one quest that is probably most frustrating of all is the one where you have to kill between two to three people without being detected in 5 minutes. Fortunately I discovered a few pro tips that should help out future gamers on assassination missions. The throwing knives are the key. Just run from roof to roof top and snipe the bastards with throwing knifes. Nobody will ever detect you.
Again while many of the quests are boring, I did find helping citizens to be very useful on many of the assassinations. Plenty of times the target would run right into a mob, making the kill that much easier. Mobs are especially important near the end of the game when you're overwhelmed with enemies. The mob helps thin out the crowds.
As for the rest of the quests, I recommend as many as you can stand and then moving on. Since you only have to do three of the six, if you're bored just do the easiest ones which involve interrogation, pick pocketing, or eavesdropping.
Probably the biggest disappointment doing all of the quests for each assassination is that each one unlocks more information that isn't actually useful in killing the target. From what I've seen, the information really doesn't help that much and actually attempting a silent take down of the target is virtually impossible. I don't know if the intentions of the creators was to have each assassination be linear or open but for the most part, killing the target silently is very difficult if not impossible, I pretty much run in, kill the target and then run from the angry mob of guards.
If you can look past the repetitive quests and enjoy the parkour, fun swordplay, and intriguing story you won't be disappointed. Best yet every problem mentioned in this review is nonexistent in Assassin's Creed 2.
Here are a few more protips:
1. Do you ever tire of those annoying **** that beg you for money? Punch them in the face. Yes in fact do this in front of guards and guards won't be alarmed. I don't recommend doing this in red status, but green or yellow status's are fine. I spent my roaming days in towns punching any retarded guy or stupid begging woman who attempt bug me. Just don't kill them as the guards will be alerted.
2. At first I though the throwing knifes were utterly pointless until I really thought about it realized they are perfect for taking down archers and for doing silent assassination quests. The one thing they are absolutely horrible for are taking down Templar's. For some reason they are immune to them as I've thrown 5-6 of them before giving up and joining him in face to face combat. 3. The most useful repetitive quest in my opinion are helping civilians because they provide a convenient mob of angry people. If you are having trouble taking down some guards, just run to the nearest mob and take them down with ease. Mobs are also very useful on the 9th assassination mission because staying in the area where the quest takes place means getting pelted with arrows and heavily armored **** soldiers. I recommend running like a panzy to the nearest mob to thin out their numbers.
4. Learn the combat system very well and utilize every move in preparation for the end game.