What is it:A game-developed by Ubisoft's Prince of Persia team--set against the backdrop of the crusades. You play as an assassin sent in to kill with utmost precision and agility.
What's new for E3:This is the first time we've seen Assassin's Creed running on actual PlayStation 3 hardware. The demo includes one large town and already features a surprising amount of gameplay mechanics.
What we like:The second you lay your eyes on Assassin's Creed, you will immediately say, "this is next-generation." Not only does the game look incredible, but it's gameplay and all that it encompasses are things that just simply couldn't be achieved with current generation hardware--at least not in such high quality. The demo starts with the assassin riding his horse, which is the primary transportation in Assassin's Creed. Once in town, you'll see just how much effort the Prince of Persia team has put into this game--it's about as close to a living, breathing world. The townspeople go about their business, living their lives and won't take much notice of you, that is, until you start acting weird.
The cool thing about Assasin's Creed is that there isn't really any stealth in the typical sense. You don't hide behind crates or lurk in the shadows. Instead, you just want to blend in with the crowd as much as possible. So, if a group of people see you perched on one of the many planks on the rooftop, they'll look at you in a quizzical manner and become much more aware of your presence. Likewise, if you run through the streets and just start shoving people around, then there's a much greater chance that some town guards will interfere with your plans.
Even cooler than that is how the main character interacts with everything. If you try to run through a crowd, you'll notice that it's not much different from playing a game of football, where you bounce off of bodies, juke, or perform any other sort of moves to avoid slowing your speed. Everything feels like it has weight and momentum behind it, and it looks and feels absolutely great.
On top of that, some of your missions will help you blend in more with the crowd. We saw the Assassin fold his hands in prayer and start marching with some monks, masking his approach to the target. And since you had previously performed a mission for the monks, they're not bothered by your presence. But, of course, the most important thing is actually spotting the target, and to do that it's best to climb to the rooftops. This is where Assassin's Creed gets even cooler. You can climb on just about any edifice that has ledges that are two inches or larger, and the controls for this feature are pretty intuitive with each face button representing the assassin's individual limbs. Once you get to the rooftops, you can use your eagle vision to single out your target and then go in for the kill. It should also be noted that you can avoid all of this and just run up to the target and go in for the kill, but your chances of success are significantly reduced, and you will be forced into hand-to-hand combat, which also looks rather impressive.
What we dislike: While there is the usual assortment of hiccups and bugs associated with software this early, there really isn't anything to dislike. Plus, the development team has eight more months to add any polish it wants.
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