Assassin's Creed:
+ Amazing graphics
+ Extremely well done controls that feel natural. Jumping from roof to roof is a wonderful feeling, especially when you have the area in high alert. 3d Zelda's could learn a thing or two from AC's use of auto jump.
+ You aren't penalized when you die, you simply respawn to the nearest checkpoint. While this makes the game seem extremely easy, it's far from it. I tried to take on 5 or 6 guys myself and got raped. I'm not sure if that's because it was near the beginning and I hadn't fully adjusted to fighting yet.
+ Good battle system, at least compared to the first PoP (I haven't played the others yet).
+ Stealth kills are badass, and you basically rack up kills one after another. It's cool because you've got options
+ Climbing stuff is just as fun as it is in Crackdown, and jumping is just as exhilarating. While I haven't really found anything from exploring high roof tops yet, you do get to scope out possible escape routes if you get caught. Also, since the game is so damn beautiful, climbing whatever you can get your hands on is a joy.
+ *I* think the "plot twist" is cool, although even if it wasn't there, it wouldn't take a thing away from the game. It's nice to have.
+ There are THOUSANDS of people in each area, and you can do lots of things to them: kill them, pickpocket them... It's like Shenmue with a next gen face lift.
+ The horse segments are handeled very well, and give me Shadow of the Colossus, and especially Ocarina of Time/Twilight Princess flashbacks.
- No subtitles is a big thing for me. For a story based game like this, I expect subtitles. I have been doing things and sometimes I don't understand why I'm doing them, and you should never feel that way in a game like this. Hopefully, a damn subtitles patch is released.
- The AI, at least so far, is pretty incompetent. I'll give an example with stealth kills; Usually, you will have 3-5 guards in one area. Let's say you assassinate one with your stealth knife. All you really have to do after you kill him is blend in, and the guards won't notice you. They will go and examine the body, during which, the alert status will be high alert, and if you touch anything you will be discovered. After that, which takes a mere 5-10 seconds, they go back to their positions and everything's back to normal, when you can continue assassinating the guards in the area. It's a little too simple for my tastes to be honest, but then again, this is pretty early. It's pretty hilarious; I'll kill some guy and then his comrade, who was 5 feet away comes over to his corpse and is like WHO DID THIS and I'm right behind him.
Basically, this game is Grand Theft Auto in the crusades instead of modern day, and it's a pretty damn good sandbox game, especially when compared to other games in the genre released on next gen consoles (the average Crackdown and fun Saints Row). Many reviews belittle the so called "repetitive" nature, but it's no less repetitive than a GTA game. If this genre is your thing and you'd like a different take on the sandbox genre without the guns and cars, you should check this out.
