Where to start. Oh, but where to start. Assassin’s Creed is a groundbreaking game which has paved the way for some really fantastic games to come in the future using similar game mechanics. Unfortunately it won’t be leading the charge…

Let’s get the plot out of the way. There is sort of a twist; I say “sort of” because this twist is given away in the first five minutes of the game, basically negating any effect it may have. The twist is a very cool idea but we can’t help but feel it was a wasted opportunity to make a more compelling story. If the twist were revealed a few hours into the game, it would have had a much better impact. If you are committed to avoiding any spoilers, please skip to the next paragraph as I am about the reveal the “twist”: it is that the game takes place in two time zones, one during the Crusades and the other in the near future. You play as two characters; Desmond and his assassin ancestor, Altaïr.

End of spoiler!

The main focus of the plot is in the Middle East during the Crusades. You are Altaïr, an assassin charged with killing nine key characters that are fuelling the war. Now the actions of these men and the results of their deaths are linked to a great conspiracy which reaches all the way into modern times. The story is good but the ending… my god the ending! I can’t think of many games that have left me so disappointed. This was obviously made with a sequel in mind and they had better make one, otherwise the ending is just completely pointless. There is no conclusion and not even a hint of what is to come. While many were upset with Halo 2’s ending, at least that gave you an idea of where the next was going and got you excited for it. Assassin’s Creed attempts to do this but for us at least it failed.

So, poor endings aside, let’s talk graphics. My only complaint is sometimes the faces on some characters can be a bit ugly with low textures and little detail or expression. Otherwise the game is gorgeous. The animations are amazing. Getting into fights in this game is a pleasure to watch and the grace at which Altaïr climbs buildings and moves through the streets is incredible. One of the coolest moments graphically is the subtle changes in lighting when the sun goes behind a cloud. I can’t think of a game where I have noticed that before. The cities in which you play, which are huge, are populated by thousands of citizens going about their daily lives and truly feel like living, breathing cities. They are also beautifully and accurately crafted. It can be a lot of fun to run through the cities for the first time.

This is where Assassin’s Creed's gameplay falls apart a bit. Repetition is this game’s biggest problem. Even with the voice overs - most of which have excellent acting - it becomes tiresome hearing the same lines over and over, especially in scripted parts of the game where there could have been more variety. This is particularly bad considering how short the game is: you could get through this game in about 12-16 hours. That is, if you ignored all the side missions, which by about half way through you will, because you’ll be sick of doing the same ones over and over. There is only one form of side mission, which is to rescue citizens from guards who are bullying them. These give one of two kinds of rewards: the first – and more useful – is that the city vigilantes will hang out in a certain area and hold off guards who are chasing you. The second will allow you to hide among monks who wonder the nearby area. Oddly enough, side missions, while very repetitive, are more fun to do than the main investigation quests.

You see, in order to kill a target you first have to investigate him. To do this, you must climb a tall building with an eagle circling it. This opens up parts of the map and shows you where other objectives are; then you have to do three out of six investigation missions. You may do all six if you want but there really isn’t any benefit to this. The options are pick-pocketing, eavesdropping, beating someone up for information and killing some people or collecting flags for an informant to get his information. That is it.

You have to keep doing these for each main assassination target. Then you must visit a fellow assassin in the city in order to get permission to kill your target. You kill your target, escape back to your assassin buddy and then depart for the next city for another target. This is very linear and gets old very quickly, as does scaling the rooftops or moving in the streets of the cities. Each city does look somewhat different, including its different districts. But in truth, after a few hours into the game, it all starts looking mostly the same and the differences are too subtle for you to really care. The different environments just aren’t different enough and very quickly stop feeling fresh.

Actually killing the targets, however, is a lot of fun. It usually requires a little bit of quick thinking and it is just exciting to do, because it is almost always out in the open. There is an excitement about approaching the target in the midst of a crowd. It would have been nice if it were possible to get a few stealth kills on actual targets because it does kill the “assassin” feel when you basically have to walk up to or chase someone and stab him. But still, it is fun and the escape that follows can also be very exciting at first.

Fighting is handled well using clever counters. This is not a button masher, it requires patience and timing. Fights do become fairly easy though, which makes them begin to feel like a chore later in the game; even with the awesome killing animations.

The controls are also something that will take a bit of getting used to but are actually fantastic. You control Altaïr like a puppet with certain buttons controlling the functions of certain parts of his body. Then you can also put those functions into low profile - for example, walking - or high profile, i.e., running. This makes getting around the city, interacting with people, scaling buildings, and fighting and jumping from rooftop to rooftop extremely easy to do and feel very natural once used to the controls.

Truth be told, Assassin’s Creed is an innovative, exciting and fun game. The fun just won’t last long and the excitement isn’t so much for this game but more what it means for future games. While this may be the evolution of GTA this is just not the game we hoped for.

Yes, you can spend hours running around these open cities with more freedom than any GTA game or clone to date, but you won’t want to. There just isn’t that much to do. There is no difficulty option and it doesn’t get harder the more city guards you kill. You could probably kill an entire army without breaking a sweat.

This game isn’t the greatness we were expecting, but it has almost perfected a new way to play and make games and that have us excited. We cannot wait to see what kind of Creed clones will be coming out in the next few years using similar freedom mechanics but improving on the basic gaming elements in which Assassin’s Creed has failed. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a wicked vampire game with an entirely open and populated city to play in... just think of the possibilities! Assassin’s Creed allows us to believe these kinds of things aren’t that far off.