One of the worst games I've ever finished
There is NOTHING assassin-like about how the game or combat works out. The stealth factor in this game is 100% unnecessary. The tutorial and quest helpers all suggest you proceed carefully and with caution but after about 45 minutes into the game I realized that you simply cannot lose when you are engaged in combat. If you hold down the R1 button while in combat you're guaranteed to block most incoming attacks and if you time the counter attack button you score an instant kill on the enemy.
You can bungle up a mission in the worst possible manner, be surrounded by dozens of soldiers with weapons drawn, and within a minute or two you'll be surrounded by corpses and you'll be none the worse for wear.
The missions themselves are VERY uninspired. Before you're permitted to complete each primary assassin missions you're required to complete several 'preparation' missions. These missions are repetitive and completely uninteresting and do not vary chapter by chapter. Having to walk across 1/2 the city to beat up an old man (in broad daylight) or walk behind a guy and press (o) to steal a letter from him (also in broad daylight) are some of the missions you'll find yourself doing over and over again.
Finally, the storyline is completely uninteresting. You're part of an assassin guild, the master sends you out to kill three different people in three different cities, three different times for a total of 9 primary missions, and you gradually start to piece together what it's all about. The problem is the dialogue is restricted to a few brief cut scenes every hour or two of gameplay (did I mention the gameplay was boring) so you're left dragging your way through uncreative missions hoping throughout the entire game that it will get more difficult or that the story is going to pick up. The game earned strong reviews on this site so you ALMOST think that there might be something redeeming about it, but unfortunately it just isn't to be so.