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Assassin's Creed is the first installment of a new trilogy released by Ubisoft's Montreal division. As an member of the assassin's guild you play as Altair, a once high ranking assassin whose own arrogance has resulted in his demotion. With the hype that was built around the game, fans of action, spy, and sandbox games will all be pleasantly surprised by what this game holds.

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Title: Assassin's Creed
Publisher: Ubisoft Montreal
Developer: Ubisoft
Price: $59.99

Graphics: 10/10   
Assassin's Creed is without doubt one of the most graphically stunning games to be released on the next-gen consoles. NPCs come in numerous shapes, forms, and varieties helping add to the authentic feel of the world, but the most graphically satisfying point of the game is the world it is set in. It offers gorgeous landscapes that sweep away as far as the eye can see in every direction, of which almost every square inch is accessible in some form. The game is a visual masterpiece that gives players a world that one can easily find themselves deeply immersed in. 

Sound: 10/10
The developers of Assassin's Creed spared no effort in creating a living breathing world and it is oh so very evident in the sounds of the game. Talking one on one with a someone, Altair's distance from and position relative to the speaker all affect the way you hear them. Out in the world the murmur of the streets is engrossing and diverse enough to not become repetitive. Less detail was given to the sounds of battle, but it is still nicely done.

Controls: 7.5/10
The controls of Assassin's Creed were the biggest disappointment in playing the game. In a game with such fluid acrobatics one would hope that the controls are as fluid. Unfortunately this isn't the case. There are times when they are slow enough to be called sluggish, especially in early combat, after advancing a little further into the game this eases and combat flows more smoothly. The acrobatic side of the game never suffers from this and once mastered (which happens very quickly), offers a smooth, fluid form of travel. The acrobatics you can perform come easily and give players a variety of ways to complete any mission. Players are far less involved in this process than in Prince of Persia, but it offers an ease that even the most amateur player can handle. Climbing a building, for example, is more like traversing terrain than taking action, while sneaking around among a group of monks is handled automatically, rather than leaving it to the player to try to match steps with an NPC. From a gamer's view point, Assassin's Creed loses a slight something in the ease of its controls. It at times takes away from the experience when everything is handled automatically even though every fiber of your being tells you that climbing a tower and diving 50 feet off the top should have involved some sort of skill. Even still, it's no less exciting to take that dive.

Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay in Assassin's Creed is far from perfect, but it is equal to, if not slightly better than, other sandbox box games. It starts extremely slow; The first segment of the game is very heavy handed and the player is left with no options other than to do exactly as told, kind of like the first 5 seconds of Halo 3, and at times the game moves at an excruciating pace. Considering the premiss of the game this is more than to be expected, but that doesn't make it any easier to handle, especially when you know the type of action that awaits. Once you make it to that action there is no disappointment left in your mind. As you play through the game it is very easy to feel like the deadly assassin that Ubisoft has said that gameplay would offer. It is a an entertaining experience that does not grow old. There are also literally dozens of side missions, and as with most sandbox games they can grow repetitive, but there are far from necessary. There to create allies and make Altair's job easier, they tend to help players learn new terrain. Which is a great advantage, considering the enormity of the map. As far as the sneak mechanisms in the game, they are a bit harder to master. This was not aided by the fact that there were, at times, very aggressive guards. While this is a stealth game it shouldn't be that the player is chased down and stabbed for nothing more than walking at a brisk pace or looking at a guard in the wrong way. Once mastered though, sneaking becomes a useful tool in Altair's belt.  

Replay Value: 8/10
The game has a definite replay factor simply for nothing more than the size of it. There will be many more places to visit after the first play through, and the content of the game will be as entertaining as it was as before. The missions will not change, but with a variety of ways to eliminate a target, they promise not to get old. The game will eventually lose that appeal, but it will not be after the first or maybe even second time through.

Overall: 9/10
All in all Assassin's Creed seems to be a very good game that lives up to the hype. It has all the action, the acrobatic game play, and beautiful graphics that we were expecting from Ubisoft. The writing is far more better than many games, and the story, while not what I was expecting, is entertaining enough to hold your interest. What few problems the game does have are definitely nothing big enough to ruin the experience in any way, and are within acceptable ranges for a first attempt. This game leaves me anticipating what the next two installments of this series hold.