Game Overview
Well, it's not all roses we are afraid to say but we’ll start on a positive note! It's a top quality game; the thought process behind it deserves some kind of award. It's something a little different to FPS games and sports sims yet it seems very familiar when you are playing which means that it doesn't take you long to pick up what the game is all about and more importantly, how to play.

The storyline is brilliant; you play the part of Desmond, but actually go back in time to play the part of his ancestor Altair using a machine called the Animus. This machine, controlled by a very assertive researcher, manages to extract Desmond’s memories, however, they are Altair's memories not Desmond’s. Following us still? It is up to you to play through these memories and assassinate influential public figures, which in turn unfolds more of the storyline.

It's a little bit slow to get going and there is an extensive amount of cut scenes throughout the game that can get a little frustrating at times especially as the actual gameplay is quite enjoyable. You'll find yourself virtually having free roam of Holy cities Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre where you'll help citizens accused of steeling, collect flags (of which there are loads!), kill guards and assassinate certain individuals using any means necessary, obviously it looks a lot better if you do it in style by wielding your concealed blade from your sleeve and then attack them with it discreetly as they walk near you.

The coolest feature of Assassins Creed is without a doubt the Leaps of Faith, something we are sure most of you will have seen when watching the trailer for the game. To know what you are to do next you are required to climb to the top of numerous buildings and scout out the surrounding area which will bring up objectives on your HUD, Grand Theft Auto style. This is very "cool" in itself however, getting down is the best thing since sliced bread. Just jump! Obviously this is something that can only be done if there is something to land on, a hay barrel will do the trick, so you'll only be able to jump if there is suitable padding on the ground. It is called a Leap of Faith and looks brilliant as Altair basically swan dives off the top of a huge tower, very impressive, and surprising addictive!

As you have probably worked out by now, in order to try out a leap of faith you are going to need to be able to climb. That is pretty much what Assassins Creed is all about, free roaming and within reason go anywhere you want! Climb houses, churches, towers, right to the top, jump off, building hop, you name it, you can do it, as long as it is within reach of a rather excessive jump, then you can land on it. Altair is very nimble on his feet and allows you to get to places that most people wouldn't be able to which adds a whole new dimension to gaming and one that really hasn't been exploited as much in past games as it has in Assassins Creed.

Graphics are a beautiful mixture of highly defined characters and the doom and gloom that is the 12th century, with rough looking clothes and dirty people. Around every corner there is something else that just looks stunning. 10/10 for the graphical ability, by far the best looking game on the PS3 to date, one for all the graphics whores out there!

The simple gaming style of killing guards and saving citizens, unfortunately, does get a little bit repetitive and the attempt to vary it by assassinating different people doesn't really vary it that much for us as you still get attacked by the same guards over and over. To kill them off doesn't require too much work and is ultimately something that turns into a bit of a button masher.

The freedom the game offers you is sublime; there are a couple of areas on the map (between Cities) that are basically a vast expanse of nothing except a couple of randomly placed guards and a watch tower. In all fairness they probably could have made the game a lot smaller but then it probably wouldn't have been so much fun riding the horses dotted about to get to other Cities.

Our Conclusions
There is no denying that Assassins Creed is a top game, a little tedious here and there which is going to do a little bit of damage to its overall score, but we like it, a lot. It's not going to be everyone’s cup of tea but for 90% of gamers out there we think that Assassins Creed will do the job. It's not got a great deal of replay ability once you have finished the story mode but the 15-20 hours it takes you to finish the game are eye caressingly stunning. A must have game on both the PS3 and Xbox 360. What we are upset about is why the Americans got this so long before us!

Overall Score: 9/10

Thanks to LunchPR and Ubisoft