Ultimately, where Assassin's Creed succeeds is in its most basic form - a vast, believable world to explore freely, a place teeming with life and intoxicating beauty. As an experience, it's undoubtedly a bold, brave and distinctly unique creation - exactly what this generation of consoles has promised from the beginning. In that sense, it's an incredible achievement and one that deserves recognition - IGN would even go as far as to suggest Assassin's Creed is an experience everyone should investigate purely to see what's in store for the future of the industry, if only from a presentation and tech perspective.
As a game though, Assassin's Creed fails in just about every respect. That sense of freedom offered aside, its design is hopelessly outdated at best and laborious to the point of perpetual boredom at worst. Once the initial lustre of Assassin's Creed's world wears off after a few hours, what's left is a flimsy, soulless gameplay experience, struggling under the weight of a painfully ponderous, woefully hackneyed narrative which only serves to drag things down further. That said, the IGN's score reflects Assassin's Creed's unquestionable achievements as much as it does its failing.
