Assassin’s Creed is the latest game from developer Ubisoft, most famous recently for its Prince of Persia series, from which Creed clearly draws some inspiration. It is an open-ended action adventure title and is available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 2.

Players control an assassin named Altair and is charged with dealing with a number of political or otherwise influential characters located throughout the number of cities accessible in the game. While these characters are all fictional, the general look and feel of the game seeks to emulate the time period of the Crusades as accurately as possible. Several expansive cities are made fully accessible to the player very early in the game, and the streets are densely populated with people that Altair must contend with. Players are given free reign to climb buildings, leap from rooftop to rooftop and cut through crowds of people, and it is all kept simple to do with the game’s innovative control scheme, which maps each of the four face button of the controller to one of Altair’s limbs.

The game is split into chapters, each culminating with the assassination of an important figure. While there is a certain level of ambiguity kept intentionally present with each assassination, in general the targets can be described as "bad" people. One of the early targets is revealed to be holding people against their wills in order to perform dangerous experiments on them. Players will need to find a mount and ride to the specific city before performing a number of preliminary investigations and seeking the target. These tasks range from interrogating acquaintances of the target to eavesdropping on important figures. There are also a large number of sidequests to complete and items to collect, ensuring Creed can keep gamers busy for quite awhile.

Educationally, Creed’s biggest strengths are in developer and player creativity. Players are given an amazing level of freedom throughout the game, able to run and leap throughout truly massive cities doing pretty much whatever the please. Eventually players will need to carry out a few specific tasks in order to proceed, but there are enough optional activities to pursue to maintain a real feeling of freedom throughout. Ubisoft has made something quite unique here. While the game has its faults, the smooth gameplay, eccentric storytelling, unique setting and truly impressive graphics ensure the Assassin’s Creed will be remembered for a while to come.

Assassin’s Creed is mostly devoid of classroom facts. The setting is in the Middle East during the crusades, the names of the cities are names of actual cities and the game stays true to the period architecturally as best as it can, but that’s pretty much where the similarities stop. The game takes heavy liberties with the geography and events of the game, and once you look past the general sort of "feel" of the game its clear that it is a work of fiction. The game does contain a lot of dialogue, and comprehension of a certain level of language is required to really follow the game’s often eccentric plot. Players also use a map and compass to navigate and locate various points of interest.

By the Gamer:

Players are given an extraordinary amount of freedom in the game, able to travel anywhere throughout each of the game’s expansive cities and interact with them in a number of ways. Eventually players will need to get around to specific assassinations in order to advance, but there’s plenty of stuff to do otherwise, whether its going around pickpocketing for extra weapons, helping citizens in danger or climbing massive towers to scope out cities. Battle is kept pretty simple, and while the player has several weapons available once actual battle begins it basically comes down to hitting one button with the proper timing.

By the Developer:

Assassin’s Creed is an impressive piece for a number of reasons. The game looks fantastic, from its environments to the generic townspeople, to the more unique features of the game’s key heroes and villains. Altair in particular looks fantastic, and the huge range of animation that comes with the ability to leap, swing and run throughout cities is all kept impressively fluid and clean.

Dialogue in the game – there is a lot of dialogue in the game and it’s well written, and well acted. The story of the game also has more than its share of quirks, and it drives the game in a satisfying and consistent way. In the end the game’s top-tier graphics, unique storyline and (most importantly) sense of real freedom make it stand out among its peers.

Assassin’s Creed does not feature business skills.

Assassin’s Creed is a single player game. Non-player characters have somewhat complex roles is Assassin’s Creed. City streets are filled with hundreds of NPCs, many of which are constantly in Altair’s way. Beggars are particularly annoying, constantly running to get in front of the player and slow him down. Players have the option of gently pushing people out of the way or taking much heavier measures to clear a path. However rowdy players will be noticed by local guards and attacked. Getting attacked within range of more guards can be disastrous. Altair will often also see people being unfairly hassled by guards and may choose to help out. This can lead to difficult battles, but locals that see your selflessness will notice, and if Altair is ever being chased by guards in that area again the locals will help to slow down his enemies. Altair also has lengthy conversation with each of his primary targets throughout the game. While these conversations help considerably in fleshing out the plot the player really has no control over these sequences.

Problems vary depending on what is going on at any given time in the game. Often it’s a matter of traveling from one place to another, which has players performing complex acrobatics between and across city buildings, and this is perhaps where the most fun is to be had. In cities players will receive minor tasks, such as finding specific informants or interrogation targets for information before an assassination. These problems help to spice things up, but end up becoming repetitive extremely quickly as players pretty much need to do the same things before each assassination. The major assassinations themselves offer good variety, as each has its own setup and circumstances and often require the player to use stealth to be successful. The other problem that frequently presents itself is finding cover. When spotted acting suspiciously guards become alerted, and Altair must get out of sight and then find a way to hide in order to become disguised again. This can be simply sitting on a bench in a group of people until pursuers run by or climbing onto the roof of a building and finding some kind of structure to hide in.

Assassin’s Creed is, for the most part, a work of fantastic fiction. It simulates its setting to some degree, but mostly stays in the realm of fiction.

Assassin’s Creed has been relatively well-received by critics, scoring generally around 80%, and has been selling extremely well since its release.

Assassin’s Creed features standard audio and visual options.

This rating is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game. It received an M from the ESRB with descriptors for Blood, Strong Language and Violence.