"Brilliant." "Incredible." "Gorgeous." "Like nothing you've ever played."

I'm trying to think of new ways to describe Ubisoft Montreal's groundbreaking game, Assassin's Creed, because it deserves it. It's all of those things, but those words are used so often to describe new games that break the mold, they feel wholly inadequate to suit title that shifts the paradigm at this magnitude.

Assassin's Creed is the first next-generation title by the same team that crafted the Prince of Persia games, and they've brought all of the major lessons they learned with that series along to their newest franchise. Ubisoft Montreal has made no secret of the fact that this is the first title in a planned trilogy (and if you didn't know that before you play, you'll figure it out when you reach the cliffhanger ending).

There's a shrewd twist at the very beginning of the game that sets the context for the story in Assassin's Creed. Most fans of the game already know that there's a modern day component of the game, even though the main storyline and gameplay are set in the 12th Century A.D. I won't be giving away that added part of the game, but it's a genius idea that gives a huge, bonus layer to the story.

You play as Altair ("all-tie-air") a high-ranking operative within the Assassin's Guild, living in the year 1191. The Crusades are in full swing, the British and the Saracens battling for the fate of the Holy Land. Altair is assigned a strategic, covert operation to take out nine key individuals who are profiting from the war. These operatives are spread out into three major cities -- with three targets in each city -- Damascus, Acre, and Jerusalem, which are all rendered in stunning historical detail.

One of the major draws of the game is free-roaming. You'll follow certain directives to take out your targets in a specific order, but along the way, you can go pretty much anywhere and do almost anything, and Ubisoft has given you a gigantic sandbox to play in. The gamemakers have famously advertised the game by saying "anywhere you can see... you can go." And it's true. Aside from the three major cities, there's also a vast "Kingdom" countryside for you to roam, which is filled with mountainous horse riding trails and small townships for you to explore, and the tiny mountain village of Masyaf, the castle home to the Assassin's Guild with a surrounding countryside.

When you're exploring a new area, if you climb to a special "high point," it fills in your map of the area. Go all the way to the horizon, or to the outer walls of the city, and you can traverse anywhere within your visual range. The one caveat: you can't go inside the buildings, only out, around, and on top. But there's so much territory for you to explore, I honestly barely noticed this. Another major innovation is the "puppet" control scheme, which you can utilize not only for fighting, but maneuvering through the cities and across those rooftops.

And those cities are a sight to behold. Filled to the brim with living, breathing inhabitants, you have to be careful how you work your way through the crowd so as not to upset the pedestrians or attract unwanted attention from city guards. Guards occupy key locations all throughout the city, and those stationed on rooftops are best taken out before you begin an assassination mission, to ensure your rooftop escape route is clear. But be careful not to assassinate innocents; killing too many can cause you to lose the game. Blending is a unique skill that comes in handy if you're being chased. It lets you disappear into a crowd or a hiding spot; once you've broken the line-of-sight and successfully hidden, the guards quickly lose your trail and give up the hunt.

If you choose to stand and fight, be prepared for difficult conflicts between numerous enemies, who are all every bit as lethal as you are. Happily, Altair grows in skill as the game moves forward, so by the last few chapters of the game, you are more than a match for anyone who dares challenge you. You have a wide variety of weapons -- short blades, long swords, and throwing knives -- to choose from. Each comes with its own unique set of moves, but most of these are handled automatically if you can get the timing down on block or counter-attack actions. It's a system that may disappoint experienced gamers who look forward to pulling off those killer moves through perfectly-timed button combos, but it's a clever control scheme that's friendly to new gamers while still offering a satisfying challenge.

If you can maintain your low-profile status in the city and manage to sneak up on a target from behind, you can use your hidden blade to take out enemies. All Assassins are missing their left fourth finger, behind which is hidden a retractable knife that can be extended or drawn in on the fly to take out enemies with ease and style -- even in the middle of a crowd. This is one of the game's coolest components, and I found myself wanting to approach targets with stealth so I could use the hidden blade as much as possible. As a fighter, Altair is sort of a middle-ages version of Jason Bourne: he uses fast bursts with stunning strikes, fluid but lethal motions, and he has the ability to turn on a dime between cautious and downright brutal.

If the game has one drawback, it's that the nine assassination missions are all very, very similar. It goes something like this: you enter a new area, climb all of the high points and update your map, undertake at least two investigations to learn about your target, take out the guards posted on rooftops, take out your primary target, and then run for your life. The package is an original mixture of wholly new gameplay ideas, and in reality, it takes you at least half of the nine missions to properly get the hang of it. But shaking things up a bit will be required for future installments, in order to hold gamers' interests. The gamemakers tried to inject some variety by stationing your targets in wide-ranging areas like garrisons or places of worship. One is even on a boat, which adds tremendously to the danger, because Altair can't swim. Fall in the water and you die.

As you kill a target, their final words to you reveal more of the unfolding plot. It's a story filled with intrigue and double-crosses, where friend and foe are rarely absolute. Your primary investment is in Altair himself, who must find a way to overcome his arrogance and brutality to find his humanity and compassion once more. In the grand scheme, there's a great deal more at stake here than war profiteering; without giving too much away, the Assassin's sworn enemies, the Templars, are engaged in a major conspiratorial scheme to gain the ultimate power in the world, by seeking out an ancient religious relic...

While all of this daring-do is going on, there are a number of optional side missions that you can choose to undertake, such as pickpocketing to learn more about your environment or saving innocent civilians from harassing guards, which will earn you rewards and make your mission go smoother. There's a nice "reap what you sow" element to the way you are rewarded or penalized based on how you treat the city pedestrians. Pennant flags are hidden throughout all of the areas open to you, and finding them unlocks cheats or new modes of play.

The sound effects, music, and voice acting are top-notch, film quality stuff (though the actor who voices Altair comes across surprisingly flat, with a single, cold tone of voice in his repertoire). The graphics are simply stunning, rendering breathtaking vistas of nearly limitless size in beautiful, photo-realistic detail. Water effects, volumetric fog, and sunlight flares are particularly impressive, especially since they're among the hardest elements to recreate in an artificial environment.

And not enough can ever be said about the brilliance of the production design, which uses symbols and color shading and basic shapes to evoke mood and atmosphere. The city of Acre, for example, has strong blue hues to suggest the harsh, barely-surviving conditions of a city that was a hostile acquisition during the war. Meanwhile, Damascus is brownish to show off its dry, arid climate, while Jerusalem has strong greens to highlight its hanging gardens and lush vegetation. Even the design of Altair himself is symbolic: his cloak and hood form the silhouette of an eagle, which is fitting for Altair's signature flight across city rooftops, which can be remarkably graceful to watch. Altair is a hero designed to be iconic: no matter what angle you view him from, he cuts a memorable, recognizable figure.

There are more components to Assassin's Creed than one review could ever cover. It's a fiercely unconventional game that emotionally invests you with its main character, featuring cinematic production values and a compelling story (which is just getting started) that will keep you glued to your seat and coming back for more. I can't remember another game in recent memory that grew to obsession-level status over me the way that this one did.

Some will no doubt be disappointed with the cliffhanger ending, but it was smart enough to instill in me a promise that there's plenty more to come, and that Ubi-Mont knows exactly what it's doing.

I await the second installment with baited breath.

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