Assassin's Creed is one of the most eagerly anticipated titles of the current generation. It's been a long wait and the screen shots that Ubi Soft have been trickling out every month or so to whet our appetites have kept expectations high - so what you're all undoubtedly wondering is, can it live up to the hype?

The answer, as is often the case with big releases, is both yes and no. It's always good to see a game that's new - something fresh, interesting and brave - and Assassins Creed confidently ticks each of those boxes. The main core of the storyline sees you taking control of an assassin called Altair, who you first join in the thick of a mission and realise that he's a little lacking in the morals department. Your subsequent failure in this mission puts your town in danger and as a result you're stripped of the tools of your trade and forced to start at the bottom, working your way up the ranks once more to earn back your respect and reputation. You accomplish this feat by assassinating nine key targets spread out over three cities - Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus. That's not all there is to the game though; there's more to Altair's journey than meets the eye and the concept for the storyline is worthy of a Quantum Leap style television series. However, the twist appears so early on that it has little to no impact on you and as things progress this side to the story can feel a little bolted on and forced.

The gameplay sits somewhere between Prince of Persia and Hitman, as on the one hand you have the ability to roam freely around each city, darting around rooftops like James Bond at the start of Casino Royale, while on the other your goal is that of assassinating your marks, as you are after all an assassin - or technically Hashshashin, the original assassins. They were more like political police; they didn't kill for glory or money, but rather political control and the good of their society. Here's an interesting fact for you -Tte real Hashshashin used to smoke weed before they went out to kill, which is why they're now referred to as Hash - and for all Assassins Creed's factual history (of which most is surprisingly accurate), we never see our guy preparing for battle by rolling up a joint... or getting the munchies halfway through a mission!

That's because he's too busy fighting, blending in or sprinting over rooftops though and for the most part Altair handles very well; in fact, some of the controls are revolutionary. In the same way that when Prince pf Persia arrived it made you wonder why the hell you'd bothered wasting your time spending minutes lining up a running jump with Lara Croft, Assassin's Creed makes running, jumping and climbing so fluid and intuitive that Altair would easily give the Prince a run for his money in a parkour contest. You simply hold down the right trigger and A to automatically grab, jump, climb and sprint wherever you happen to be heading. I appreciate that for some game purists this might seem like a bit of a cop out, but I disagree, as the game can move so quickly at times and you can be chased by so many guards that it takes all your skill to plot your route and simply point Altair in the right direction. This smooth and simple system takes the focus away from the tedium of lining up jumps and swings and makes running from your enemies more akin to a Hollywood chase.

The fighting system however is poor; it's limited, clunky, unintuitive, lacking in excitement and plentiful in frustration. All the fighting moves are achieved by the timing of a press of the X button, along with the right trigger to guard or pull off counter moves. While simplicity works well for moving around, this combat system is too simplistic and until you get into the rhythm of the action you'll probably lose a good few fights - then once the penny drops and you get the hang of it, you'll never lose another. Fighting is unfortunately dull and you can't combine your athleticism with your swordplay (like the Prince does so well) so the gameplay suffers because of this. It'd be great to get involved in a fight and immediately be looking at your surroundings for ways to use walls, stalls and ladders to kick over, pirouette from or spin around on but there's none of this - it's just a simple case of timed button bashing and unfortunately despite being a secret assassin there's a lot of fighting to be done.

The main reason for this is because of how your cover can be broken so easily; when you're wandering the city streets, if you accidentally break into a sprint or jump against a wall then the guards immediately come after you. If you're on horseback and break into a gallop by mistake they'll come after you. If you so much as lock on to a guard that's facing you, even without drawing your weapon, they'll come after you - and when you get to your targets of assassination they'll come after you too. You have the option of staying around to dispose of them or fleeing and hiding until they've lost you. This sensitivity on the part of the enemy AI is a real nuisance and ruins the more stealthy elements of the gameplay. Another aspect of stealth that's handled portly is hiding in the open - holding A makes you bow your head and walk slowly, which is supposed to disguise your as a scholar. This basically means that to avoid being seen by guards you have to slowly pace through all the cities, which is really dull and seems like a cheap attempt at adding length to an otherwise pretty short game - I soon stopped bothering with this and just opted for flitting over rooftops to get to where I needed to be.

The slow pace isn't the only place where the stealth falls down either; it feels like there's never enough freedom to kill in a stealthy way. Your first target is a classic example of this; you see him in a cut scene and then you're back into the game for the kill - I wanted to follow him, wait until I'd got him on his own and then kill him silently out of sight before calmly fleeing the town. This wasn't an option though; I had no choice but to engage him in a fight in the view of all the townsfolk (and the guards) - hardly the actions of a self-respecting assassin.

The biggest saving grace of Assassin's Creed however is without doubt its visuals and the design of the cities, which are realised with an almost obsessive level detail and Ubi Soft know it, as they force you to climb the highest buildings in order to scan the landscape so that your target areas appear on your map. The views from these heights are nothing short of breathtaking, with an unparalleled draw distance; even when you're on the ground charging around at high speeds on you horse, there's never a hint of any pop up - and you get all this with no loading times once you're within the gates of each city. If you wanted to, you could charge from the city gates to the farthest point on the map without a glitch or a moment's interruption - now that's an impressive achievement. The only negative aspect of the visuals is that they suffer from the same sepia-style washed out look of Gears of War, although that's just nitpicking.

The surroundings are complemented by the character animations, which once again amaze; Altair never looks like he's plonked on top of the scenery - he always looks part of it. Watching him climb and run is a joy - and as all the moves are so easy to pull off, it's a great game for showing off your console to your previous-gen mates. The animation even manages to liven up the tedium of the fighting, thanks to the level of violence; pull off a counter move and the camera zooms in to treat you to a close-up slow motion kill, a few punches and your sword swiping the guards as a thick spray of red blood propels from their falling bodies. Once the penny drops you'll be pulling off these moves with ease, showing off your combat skills as well as just how amazing everything looks. The sound doesn't live up to the game's looks though - they're fine, but unexceptional, with good voice acting for the most part (although some of the citizens' lines are a little repetitive) and a soundtrack that rarely succeeds in inspiring or particularly enhancing the already fine atmosphere that the look and feel of the cities creates.

Assassin's Creed had the potential to be something amazing but falls short due to a lack of direction in terms of game design. I get the feeling that with another six months of development this game could have lived up to its hype, but as it is, it's lacking. The stealth elements are never fully realised and the storyline is better in concept than execution. It's worth a purchase simply to experience the free roaming nature of the gameplay and see the sights, but its repetitive nature means that even at only a dozen or so hours long you'll probably be tired of it before you reach the end. While Assassin's Creed shares gameplay elements with Prince of Persia and Hitman, despite its originality and spectacular visuals it just doesn't make for as good a gaming experience as these two main competitors. Still, this is nevertheless an impressive start for the series and with the graphics engine in no danger of becoming dated any time soon, hopefully the development team can focus on expanding and enhancing the gameplay elements for the next release.

Reviewed by Mark Hayhurst for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).