Prince of Persia meets the open world genre meets Wanted.
Grpahics: The environemtents, character models, fighting and animation are all superb. The game is beautiful and looks extremely realistic. The only real flaw is that you'll occasionally see a lip sincing issue. 9.9/ 10
Sound: The music in this game is very well done. So are the fighting sounds; each finishing move has a very painful sounding effect that enhances the experience. Now, the voice acting. Every single voice actor in this game is very talented and out alot of work into their roles. Except for Altair's voice actor. Not only does his American accent sound out of place in this game world, but he does a very wooden job of delivering his lines. Other than the main character, though, everything sounds great. 8/ 10
Story: The game is about an Assasin known as Altair who has to redeem himself for a very bad mistake by killing 9 Templars. The Story is okay, but I predicted what would happen at the end within the first 5 minutes. This game borrows alot of story elements from Wanted, so if you know that, you'll be able to somewhat predict the outcome of the story. Altair, as a character, is not very likable at all, at least to me. Not only was his voice work wooden, but he commits acts of creulty when it really isn't neccasary. Also, the plot does get kind of silly at the end. 7/ 10
Gameplay: This game is an open worlder, which means that you can explore the world at your leisure. But, the fundamental mechanics of movment is very much Prince of Persia. You climb buildings, using anything you can find on them. The world is cool because it looks perfectly natural and not artificial.
The core of the gameplay lies in the Investigations. You go to 1 of the 3 cities and talk to the Assasin's Bureau member there. They basically tell you that you need to find information on your target, so you go to the city, synch with the Veiw points to uncover the map and then "investigate." There are basically 4 types of investigations in the game. One involves you following someone with a letter and pickpocket the document. Another has you sit on a nearby bench and eavesdrop on someone. Another has you following someone to a secluded spot and beating them up until they tell you what you need to know. The last has you performing a task for an informant, usually collect flags within a time limit or assasinating someone without being detected. There are ususally 6 of these to do for a given assasination, with only 3 needing to be done. They are fun and interesting at first, but you repeat this process 9 times throughout the game. The nature of this game is very repetitive, and it can be very frustrating near the end of the game. The guards will attack you for doing nothing at all near the end of the game. Seriously, you could be standing still and the guards will attack you. There are also other frustrations, namely the diseased people in the cities. They are crazy, will single you out in a crowd and shove you, sending about 10 feet away. There was actually a mission where I was following a guy to pickpocket him, I saw a crazy dude, and I tired to avoid him. Of course, he saw me, shoved me into a guard, the guard got mad, blew my cover and I failed the mission. This also happens with beggars. Women will single you out in a crowd and beg for money. They constantly run in front of you, and the only way to get rid of them is to go on a roof (which half the time they'll throw rocks at you, causing you to fall) or kill or punch them. Seriously, when you see a guy like Altair, 2 swords on him and multiple throwing knives, you don't run up to him and beg for money. You croos to the other side of the street to avoid him.
The combat in this game is pretty flashy and cool, but it's very easy and it gets very boring near the end.
The plaforming is fun when it works, but it isn't as effortless as some would have you beleive. You need to be constantly aware of potential threats, namely guards. Also, finding veiwpoints is fun, because you climb to the top of a huge structure, get a cool camera oanning motion that gives you a cool veiw of the city, then jump off into a pile of hay. (I know it's ridiculous, but it's still awesome.) Only, half the time, the game won't register that you jumped towards said bale of hay and Altair will fall to his death. There was one veiwpoint in particular that actually made me throw my controller. In Acre, there is a docks area with a veiwpoint on a secluded spoe in the middle of the water. Altair can't swim, so you have to be careful. Of course, when the guards see you, they chase you, so you don't have time to really place your jumps. You see the problem. The game is supposed to automatically make you jump towards the right spot, but I fell into the water numerous time. It was ridiculous.
In short, the gameply can be very fun, but it's plagued with frustations that really make you wonder if it's all worth it. 6/ 10
Final thoughts: I'm sorry if this reveiw sounded negative, because this game is better than I make it sound. It's just that there are so many small frustrations that snowball in to huge ones that really hold back a very unique game. Thankfully, the second one fixed many of these problems and is much more fun.
If you've read this far, thanks for reading.