Assassin’s Creed

There are several words one could use to describe Assassin’s Creed. Breathtaking would be one of them. Visually stunning are two more. Slightly bizarre controls would be the three to finish with. Assassin’s Creed is what would happen if Grand Theft Auto met Splinter Cell and they went off on holiday together with Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven.

As Altair, disgraced assassin and free-runner extraordinaire, you run over, under and through historically accurate maps of Jerusalem, Damascus and Acre in 1191 in search of people to kill. It’s about the best looking game-scape you’re ever likely to see, and thanks to your need to climb the tallest building in sight in order to open up the map, you’ll get to see a lot of it. The control system varies between high visibility and low visibility actions — discretion will save you where swordplay won’t — but this simple yet complicated approach takes a while to master.

The Daily Telegraph

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Here’s that rarest of things, a PS3-only title that’s good enough to make you consider buying Sony’s costly console. Despite obvious similarities to Tomb Raider (third-person exploration, shooting etc), Uncharted is an original and compelling game in which your blokey version of Lara Croft searches for El Dorado while fighting off armies of bad guys.

The graphics and animations are stunning throughout. The way the character moves, fights and responds to the environment gives a naturalistic feel to the gameplay. Unlike the Tomb Raiders, negotiating perilous ledges doesn’t need to be unyieldingly precise and there’s good use of the controller’s tilt function in helping you balance on narrow bridges or fallen trees. The combat system is intuitive and familiar, too. You can take cover behind anything and slide around objects to shield yourself from the changing direction of fire, making for enjoyable gunfights. A must-have game for anyone who enjoys a rip-roaring adventure.