erastes

i think that if you started with this game you'd have problems, because it obviously assumes that everyone will have played all the other games and are quite au-fait with the buttons as to what does what. In previous games there was much more of a tutorial aspect and with this you are bang! in the game and having to do everything you know how to do right from the word go. So it would be a very stiff learning curve for complete newbies.

But for me! it was like coming home. The buttons are hugely intuitive and to run, climb jump, and using the action button are almost second nature to me. I find the fights nicely simple, as I have good timing, and if you counter attack at exactly the right moment, you never get hit and kill the enemy in nicely inventive ways. I do have problems with men with pikes (always the way) as they don't play fair.

The big quibble I have is the same as the last game, and that's the inclusion of the apprentice assassin's who you can whistle up pretty much any time to come and kill all your enemies FOR you.It's all too tempting in the midst of a pitched battle with ten men all throwing sand in your face and poking you with sharp sticks to whistle for the minions and sit back and watch them massacre everyone in sight, but that's really taking the fun and the point of the whole game out of it. I mean generally I shouldn't have got into the fight in the first place—most missions are "don't get spotted" and I invariably do get spotted and end up in a mêlée. I wish there was an option "call assassins" or "not call assassins" in the start up menu – one that can't be changed because one gets weak and calls in the cavalry because they re fed up of being turned into an Italian colander after failed fight or two.

The other thing I don't like is the inclusion of the hook-blade, a new blade developed by the Constantinople assassins – and this little gizmo does what the extended jump did in the last couple of games. You used to have to work out how to climb difficult buildings, and if you couldn't reach a difficult ledge, you had to hit Circle at the apex of a jump, giving you the chance of gaining the ledge. But the hook blade does that job for you, so now even climbing – one of the joys of the game – has been simplified far too much.

It's like the "blend" option, something that took concentration and skill in previous games – meaning you had to stay within a moving group of passers by to avoid being seen – now is simple. Just find a group and you automatically stay in the middle. You could go and have a cuppa tea and not be in any danger.

Its definitely the most sandboxy of the series. There are so many things to do you don't know what to do first—do I go and destroy the Templar towers or recruit assassins or make bombs or follow the storyline or find the floating quests or collect treasure/bombs/pages/find the dungeons? The city is HUGE – it looks about four times the size of Rome – but you don't get a hoss to travel around on. Boo.

So, yeah. It's beautiful, and I'm loving it madly. I love that Ezio is an older man now and I'm loving the storyline and all the bazillions of things to do, but I DON'T like the dumbed down elements. I enjoyed having to work a little harder than I am right now.