Features:

• Be an Assassin! Plan your attacks, strike without mercy, and fight your way to escape.
• Realistic and responsive environments - Every action has its consequences. Crowds react to your moves, and will either help or hinder you on your quests.
• Eliminate your targets wherever, whenever, and however. Do whatever it takes to achieve your objectives.
• Dedicated historical accuracy, from the models of the in-game cities to the weaponry to the portrayal of actual political figures who died or disappeared in the year 1191.
• Experience heavy action blended with fluid and precise animations. Use a wide range of medieval weapons, and face your enemies in realistic swordfight duels.

Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Jerusalem, 1191 AD - The Third Crusade is tearing the Holy Land apart. You are an elite Assassin sent to stop the hostilities by suppressing the powers on both the Crusader and Saracen sides. But as you carry out your missions, a conspiracy begins to unfold. You find yourself tangled up in a conflict that threatens not only the Holy Land, but the entire world. Experience the power of a feared Assassin. Your actions can throw your immediate environment into chaos, and your existence will shape the events of this pivotal moment in history. ESRB Rated M for Mature

Rating : - A Beautiful Work of Art, a Sorely Dissapointing Game
Amazon asks how fun is the game. I say one star.
Amazon asks how is the game overall, I say two stars.

Why?

Assassin's Creed was hyped so well that I ran out opening weekend to buy it. I knew nothing about the game, the character, or even the overall purpose. But game reviewing sites said "10 out of 10!!" "A Must-Have for next-gen console owners."

Once again, these commentators have looked the other way in favor of advertising income and industrial "[...] kissing." Assassin's Creed is almost a 100% complete flop.

The opening movies and even the game itself absolutely mesmerizes gamers with a lush, gorgeous 3D environment. Cities are packed with citizens moving about, talking to each other, and interacting with your character. The visuals give this game everything it needs to be a blockbuster movie. Thus the "overall" two stars. However as a game it falls far short of the mark.

Gamespot.com said that there are "tons of things to do" in the cities of Assassin's Creed. I found two things to do - rescue citizens and climb towers. Both get real old real fast, the latter only remaining interesting by the stunning views provided by sometimes-dizzying heights. The core mission aspects of the game are deplorable - they require you to pickpocket notes from conspirators, or sit on benches to eavesdrop on coversations. Especially frustrating are missions where a fellow member of your creed asks you to make assassinations on his behalf because "my leg hurts," and by the way, "please hurry - I have to go to the market..." Sadly, the game wouldn't let me assassinate THAT guy...

The game hypes that you can make assassinations from cover and immediately blend back into the crowd - your identity and crime never being known. This is true, but only of random killings within the cities. The actual target assassinations are never allowed to go that smoothly. Chaos inevitably assumes, and you're left with a 5 minute run through town trying to lose your pursuers, only to sit on a bench and watch them run by. If law enforcement had ever been this stupid, we'd have burned our own cities to the ground years ago.

Lastly, the game requires you to sit through mind-numbingly boring narratives from other characters - both from the characters you are to assassinate, and your leader who gives you your assignments. You have to sit through these every time, whether you have to repeat a mission, or "go back in time" to earn extra stats, etc. There is no "skip" option. Pair this with the requirement of collecting well over 100 flags scattered all about the map with absolutely no benefit whatsoever except to Xbox 360 owners who can earn achievements from doing so, and you end up with a game that is truely uninspired and flat-out boring.

After a few hours of gameplay, I decided to wrap up the core missions of the game so as to earn the maximum Xbox 360 achievements I could, and then promptly returned the game to get the maximum trade-in value I could.

Assassin's Creed is indeed a must-buy, especially if you really like games that are completely lacking in content, completely without challenge yet persistently frustrating, all wrapped up in a visual masterpiece with a pretty box.

Rent it. You'll reap all of its benefits and be tire of it before Blockbuster even wants it back.