Assassin's Creed fans need to play this one. Okay, some may take issue with the story line itself or feel as though left hanging with the conclusion of AC2 (as this release offers no continuation of that previous story). But it makes up for it in the improved gameplay (whereby the action responds much more accurately to your intended inputs on the controller) and increased levels of interaction with your environment. While still getting the open-world concept with the main story woven in, the game offers some new features; these include actual commerce/community development (much more elaborate than its predecessor example in AC2) and doing battle with sea ships.
Overall, the game emphasizes more gratuitously satisfying action with less of the common frustrations when it comes to performing more challenging missions and in executing desired moves during the gameplay itself. Yes, that translates to an "easier" game, which sometimes is exactly all you want.

AC1 was alright (but I played it after the Ezio Trilogy), 2 was awesome, Brotherhood, too, and Revelations was very good.
I got suckered in by the preview videos of 3 and while I enjoyed the game, if the twists weren't in the game, I would be leaning on the negative side for my rating. The twists, while nothing mind-blowing, were very cool for the AC universe.
3 isn't bad, the main character isn't boring or stilted like reviewers or forum complainers claim - he's just not as fun/interesting/cool as Ezio is and how Ubisoft burned the current-day continuity was an abrupt end to what should have been kept light and casual. I enjoyed the current day plot and I miss it from the current series (especially how the original designer had planned it out).
If you liked the progression from 1, 2, B, R, went, you'll like this, but you may not ever want to play it again. It's worth a play for $10 or so.

The Assassin's Creed is simply revolutionary, and is a prominent gaming series that will continue to either excite us or disappoint us year after year. It's only fitting to start a series at the beginning, even if the game has been out for 9 freaking years. It actually kind of blows me away the technical achievements that this game can get away with. The worst part are the character model's faces, but the real highlight is the world, which is absolutely gorgeous, and each city that you travel to has it's own distinct tone and look.
How's the story? It's, alright. I really can't say any more than "it does the job rather well". If there is a satisfying answer, is that it tells a rather nice story about an arrogant assassin who is stripped of his title, must learn the ideals of humility and patience, and ultimately discovers an inner plot amongst his targets, leading up to a plot which MAY EVEN DETERMINE THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE. Summing it up and looking back on it I actually did enjoy the story more than I thought. At least the Crusade's part of it. The modern story takes place in Abstergo Industries, in which they have captured a bland cardboard man named Desmond Miles, a descendant of a long line of Assassins, and using a machine called the Animus, can use his genetic code to relive the past through the eyes of his ancestors. It's a rather interesting and elaborate idea, and while it has potential, it is unfortunately squandered by two things: one is that, each time you are forced to enter modern-day you are actually leaving the Third Crusades, and infinitely, more interesting setting, and it only diminishes the quality of the sub-plot even more. The other is Desmond. I'm not sure what it is about him that makes me want to punch him in his stupid nose, but it is certainly doing it's job of boring me to death. It actually sucks since Nolan North is actually doing a fine job voicing Desmond, as one would expect, but he is never given enough satisfying material to use.
Desmond's counterpart Assassin, Altair Something, is actually, again, more interesting after I sum up his experiences. He is arrogant, and believes that his skills prove him to be above all morals and ideals that he was intended to follow by being an Assassin. He is determined, though frustrated by having to be thrown back to the bottom. It's actually unfortunate that the character himself is shrouded by the fact that the voice actor is AMERICAN and can't even hide his accent, which is made even MORE upsetting because the actor is actually doing a really good job. Nonetheless, the story does it's job well, though it is affected and hampered by it's open world. but we'll get to that.
The gameplay is actually pretty good, particularly the stealth aspects and the variety of weapons that you gradually unlock to use. Stealth is primarily comprised of blending in, hiding among the people until it is the perfect time to strike with your hidden blade (which is arguably now one of the most iconic weapons in gaming). Sword-fighting isn't bad, though it is remarkably easy; you can just spam the grab and throw button and always keep your hidden blade ready, and you will never lose a fight. But the animations and finishing blows look actually pretty great and brutal, which is a testament to how far ahead this game was at the time of release. The other gameplay element is free-running/parkour. You climb buildings and run over obstacles. It's actually the best part of the game, as it's so smooth to use. It's really a highlight of the game to run around the rooftops, leaping over gaps and climbing higher and higher until you can see the entire city from a beautiful view.
The final aspect of the game is it's open world is it's open world, which is where the game ultimately fails. While the world is absolutely gorgeous, and the people that pack the narrow streets really give the cities more of their own personality, it's ultimately how little it gives you to do is where the game suffers. It can just be boring at times. There are no real missions outside of those which require you to kill the assassination targets. And if that is what they intended, then fine. I usually see an open world as an opportunity to explore and to do things, but I did manage to find a few missions that were different, one particular one which required me to use my parkour skills to collect several flags, though I think that was the only mission outside of the main ones.
Ultimately the real problem is how repetitive it can be; Each assassination mission, though grander and more elaborate than the previous one, always is preceded by the same few setup missions that are required in order to gain intel about how to assassinate your target, which is a good idea on paper. But from the nine assassinations you can only do from 3 things: pickpocketing, eavesdropping, or interrogations, each of which you will to at least fifteen times. It's not very exciting, although it does lead up to some fantastic assassinations.
Assassin's Creed is a very flawed game, but one bursting with potential; it's story is rather good with satisfying voice acting, and it's gam play, particularly the climbing mechanics, is simply fantastic and the best part of the game. It is only hampered by it's repetitive tropes and missions, and a open world that, while wonderful to look at and simply explore, doesn't have enough in it to fully satisfy.
8/10

Great game, Assassins Creed is in my opinion, one of the greatest series of games ever developed, and i cannot wait until this becomes a movie! All the assassin creed games have a great story line, and i personally love all the information about characters, places, and events. The use of history involved in this game is amazing. Online is fun, havent played too much, as i am deeply involved with the Main Story, but it is fun and very quick, not too much waiting for games to start. I am excited to finish this game up, i am about 30% in right now and it has been amazing, you can do so much, and you could even turn it into a GTA killing spree type game if you wanted, its not as fun, but you can still go around destroying virtual colonists lives! There is also ship based side missions, where you are a captain of a ship (you drive, fire cannons, ect.). All the Assassins Creed games are worth buying (if you havent played the first few, it helps with understanding the entirety of the story, but ACIII does a decent job of re-introducing the storyline.)

This is the first Assassin's Creed game I have played. The free run controls are really good after getting used to them and I like how you can run up trees and buildings. There is a good variety of weapons and without posting any spoilers, the story was really good. Besides the main story missions, there are homestead missions, liberation missions, frontier missions, hunting missions, naval missions and other side missions. Even after the main story mode was finished, there was still a lot to see in the game. There are also some PS3 exclusive Benedict Arnold missions that are downloadable with a code included with the game that are a nice extra.