I’ve spent the last two days of my Christmas vacation playing Assassin’s Creed for the 360. Set in 1191 AD, you play an assassin named Altair, trying to earn back the respect of your guild by carrying out various deeds in several historically-accurate ancient cities. So far I’ve explored the poor sections of Damascus, Acre, and Jerusalem via their rooftops, alleys and sidestreets while avoiding annoying beggars, saving beleaguered citizens and shanking the shit out of guards with my wrist-mounted, spring-loaded dagger.
Assassin’s Creed features a fairly ground-breaking new gameplay mechanic, derived from Parkour and or free-running whereby Altair can grab most any surface and pull himself over it, or jump onto/over it. It makes for a very dynamic-looking game, especially when being chased by a pack of guards as you bound from rooftop to rooftop.
I’m enjoying the game so far – it’s absolutely fantastic looking, and Altair looks like a total bad-ass. The only complaints I have are minor, although they are pretty pervasive.