Great combination of open world exploration and story missions
I actually almost finished it twice so far, in that my first play-through my original PS3 60gb went YLOD on me with the game stuck inside. Once I paid Sony $164 "warranty" service (OUCH! $149 plus Tax) they sent me back a refurb unit and the game disk, I had to start all over on the new machine.
I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed, and this game really reminded me of a much better version of that. If you enjoyed that open world, running over buildings freedom feeling in that game, you will feel right at home here. The control, visuals, and even the sounds reminded me of that older game.
With so many different super powers at hand, they are many different ways to approach a situation, so for me at least I never got bored with the many optional side missions available. I was watching one guy online playing the game like a shooter, which is something completely different to how I went about playing the game.
I have to say I really enjoyed how they handled the missions here. Much better than GTA4. The starting points were all usually in right where you accept the missions, and the missions themselves have a lot checkpoints in them, so you don't have to start over at the beginning when you fail.
In summary, I thought the graphics, and the sounds and the controls all come together here very well.