Mark makes an Ass[assin] of himself...

It's difficult to define Assassin's Creed. On one hand it's a stunning next-gen title with innovative control and a compelling plot; on the other, its imagination doesn't always match the presentation, its twisting tale takes some unexpected tangents, and it plays unlike you may have imagined.

At first glance Assassin's Creed promises a next-gen story-driven stealth epic in the vein of a free-roaming Thief. I'd hoped to be scouring areas, locating my prey and blending into crowds, before stealthily slitting throats and slinking away through the confusion – or furiously fleeing acrobatically across rooftops as a desperate last resort if spotted.

But in reality, Assassin's Creed contains very little sneaking. Instead, Assassin's Creed plays more like a mix between old Xbox adventure Galleon, Xbox 360 free-roaming favourite Crackdown, and PS2 stunner Shadow of the Colossus.

Slick, stylish and empowering

The Galleon comparison is based on the free-running controls, which make Assassin's Creed such a smooth experience. Holding R, A and up on the analogue makes main character Altair interact with whatever's in front of him – so speed across rooftops and he'll automatically leap gaps, balance on beams and effortlessly navigate the area; direct him at a tower and he'll find handholds and climb to his heart's content before swan diving elegantly into hay bails. It's slick, stylish, empowering stuff, but the trade-off is that you don't always feel fully in control.

Assassin's Creed tasks you with exploring the cities of Maysaf, Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem, which – apart from some Colossus-esque horse riding to get between them – creates a structure uncannily similar to Crackdown.

Assassin's Creed's nine assassinations play out like this; you'll get your target and gallop on over from Maysaf's assassin HQ to the designated city – scaling viewpoints as you go to unlock parts of the world map. At said city, you'll blend in with some scholars to get past the gates, climb viewpoints to unlock investigations, and then when you've done two or more, head on over to the Assassin Bureau to get the location of your assassination target.

The astounding thing about all of this is how alive each area feels; packed with pedestrians and really capturing the feel of the Crusades era; it's a joy to explore Assassin's Creed's atmospheric, lush medieval HD world – and, perhaps even more so, the jarring contrast of its minimal, sterile modern-day environment that's part of its much-vaunted sci-fi twist.

Sadly, the investigations themselves are none too challenging and often repetitive; interrogations mean punching someone a few times, pick-pocketing requires following a target and pressing B, while eavesdropping means sitting on a bench and pressing a button – and it's like this throughout Assassin's Creed.

Assassinations themselves are uncultured affairs – you can pretty much walk up to or chase your quarry and impale them on your blade – and with no option to stealth your way out of the situation, you end up either running furiously for a safe spot or fighting guards with disappointingly dopey A.I. using spectacular, but relatively shallow combat.

Later in Assassin's Creed things do improve; unlocked equipment provides variety, increasingly challenging assassinations require planning, and the plot will certainly keep you playing to see what happens – while collecting flags, saving citizens and offing Templars adds longevity – but it's hard not to see this as a low-key, low-tech, high-def GTA instead of the standard-setting stealth-action-adventure hybrid it could have been.

Polarised

Assassin's Creed is certainly hard to pin down, with even the web's big gaming sites polarised; some scoring it in the 7's and others pushing into the 9's. There's a huge difference between a good release and a modern classic. Assassin's Creed had all the credentials to be the latter, but ends up somewhere between the two.

Whether it will be to everyone's tastes remains to be seen, and there will be plenty of stealth fans expecting something different to what Assassin's Creed delivers. However, Ubisoft's unique, ambitious blend of picturesque scenery, slow-paced skulking, empowering exploration and frenzied, acrobatic action make Assassin's Creed worth making your own mind up about.

GAME's Verdict

• The best looking game of this console generation so far
• Effortlessly elegant and innovative free-running control in jaw-droppingly large and geniusly designed locales
• Atmospheric beyond belief with lots of longevity and numerous ways to approach assassinations

• Not the game stealth-action fans might have expected
• Free running controls mean platforming, fighting and climbing require no real skill or inventiveness
• Repetitive structure and investigation missions that lack imagination

Review by: Mark 'Shinobi' Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 21.11.07