Ambitious, boring, and exciting all at the same time.
I'll get this out of the way first: the gameplay in Assassin's Creed is indeed repetitive. It's a painfully obvious flaw, that one wonders just how the developers did not seem to notice the blandness of mission progress during the several years of hype and development. The mini-missions in and of themselves are not that bad, but they happen in all nine or ten assassination's that it starts becoming very tedious. If issues like this really get to you, avoid this title, and pray that Assassin's Creed II fixes this issue, because when Assassin's Creed starts going, it never wants to stop.
Assassin's Creed is, at heart, a platformer. Taking the sandbox design popularized by Grand Theft Auto and putting some serious platforming that derives from games such as the Tomb Raider series, Assassin's Creed's formula feels enjoyably fresh. The main character, Altaîr moves with the grace and agility that no other video game character has achieved before. He can go pretty much anywhere you set your sights on, provided they have footholds that Altaîr can maneuver from. Every other gameplay aspect stems from Altaîr's freedom of movement; as he is a one man army, he'll need to outdo an entire city that's trying to stop him. The combat system might be too easy for action game aficionados -- the very impressive looking fighting is done by holding the modifier button and hitting "counter" all day for easy kills -- but one must remember this is Assassin's Creed, not Warrior's Creed, so the less elaboration on fighting and more elaboration on platforming was a welcome decision. This all sounds very good in theory but Ubisoft Montreal's application is poor. The aforementioned repetition stems from the following mini-missions: pick pocketing, eavesdropping, interrogation, and informer missions (assassinations and flag collecting). It comes to a point where it becomes so boring it's actually much more fun doing the optional extras in the game, such as collecting flags in hard to find places (like the secret packages in Grand Theft Auto III). The only place where the system reaches its full potential is the main assassinations: with a combination of quick-thinking, fast maneuvering, and a cunning strategy, its always a joy to see how well you can take down one of the main "bosses" in this game.
Assassin's Creed's presentation is one of the finest I've ever come across in a video game, and it always saves me from being completely frustrated with its boringness. The graphics are phenomenal: both the animation and art direction are just spectacular; so much so, in fact, it's hard to believe I'm commending the audio for being even better. Everything from the voice acting to the ambient sounds is impressive, so despite it being a chore to eaves drop for the umpteenth time, I felt very rewarded when I received some top cIass acting from any game. May I also say that Jesper Kyd's electronic-fusion composition is one of the best soundtracks to a video game I've had the pleasure of hearing, and amps the drama up, oh I dunno.... fifty-fold.
Though the game is ambitious, it seems the story aims for even loftier heights. The main plot centers around, Desmond Miles, a former assassin who has been kidnapped by Abstergo Industries. For reasons unknown, Desmond is imprisoned and made to recall history through the Animus: a machine able to extract an ancestor's memories through one's genes. It's an interesting science-fiction concept, and its take on alternative history is not entirely new, but original enough for conspiracy buffs to get a kick out of it. The only issue I have is that, being a big budget video game, it leaves itself open for more sequels. Still, it's one of the better endings a planned video game franchise has had, cleanly ousting release buddies Halo 3 and Mass Effect for satisfying conclusions.
Despite some serious concerns, Assassin's Creed is my pick for one of the best games this generation, and a game that won't leave me alone for some time to come. Jade Raymond (yes, I mentioned her) and her team have done an excellent job trying to push the envelope for the video game medium, but some heavy drawbacks stop this game from entering the Hall of Fame, let alone a game that every gamer should try. With that in mind, I know that if Ubisoft can fix the blatant issues that plague the game, the sequel might just hit excellence across the score board.