Assassin's Creed: 8.0/10

Receiving mixed reviews, I can certainly see how this game is not for everyone, but I loved it. It's not perfect. The unskippable dialogue scenes can be insufferably long, but I actually found the story engrossing. You play Desmond, a citizen of the near future who is prisoner of an unknown group. They place Desmond into a device that allows the user to search through his genetic memories to the time of the Crusades where an ancestor of Desmond's was an assassin in the Holy Land. The concept works amazingly well with two parallel, but somehow connected, story threads - one in the past and one in the future.

The game itself is gorgeous, with the ancient cities of Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus being stunningly realized and populated. The character animation and mechanics of moving around is so well done that simply stalking the streets and scaling buildings is a delight. The quests that you are sent on do get a bit repetitive, but I was more than willing to put up with that and will be there to pick up Assassin's Creed 2 when it comes out.

Story: 5
Interface: 4
Game Play: 3
Challenge: 3
Fun: 3

Overall: 8.0/10