“1. Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent. 2. Hide in plain sight. 3. Never compromise the Brotherhood.” -The Assassin’s Creed. To say that this game is anything less than consuming would be a lie. The meticulous attention to detail brings an unprecedented level of realism to the holy land during the Crusades. A smooth control setup and some well placed plot twists keeps the player coming back for more. But are these enough to out weigh the weaknesses this game had?

The attention paid to detail was astounding. Ubisoft took their time to recreate a few major cities of the holy land. Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus are so well done that, aside from the anomalies that seem to surround Altair, you could believe that the people in them look the same as they did all those many years ago. In short, from the flourishing courtyard gardens to the towering church spires, this game looks amazing.

The controls are smooth and well mapped, allowing for even the most novice of players to grasp the basic commands. There were a few times, while climbing up a wall that led to a tower, that Altair just stopped moving. To remedy this, it took a little bit of wiggling. The camera angles were fantastic and most cinematic in nature.

Intriguing, confusing, and surprising are a few words that I would use to describe this historically steeped tail. Having conspiracy, politics, religion, and most of all assassination gives this all the components of a classic thriller.

Though this game has many good points, I found some things wrong with it. To start with, the mission objectives are repetitive. I mean one can only go into a city, report to the assassins bureau, pick a couple pockets then breach a stronghold in order to assassinate some would be king so many times. Also the game ends somewhat abruptly leaving a feeling of disappointment in its wake. This is not a family game as you can tell by the title and ESRB rating of mature. Overall, I give this one 6 out of 10 stars.

Bob T.