The newest installment in the 'Assassins Creed' games is both entertaining and gripping. The infamous parkour system was only improved with the addition of trees, and a slight control modification severely reduced your chances of screaming 'CONNER NOOOOO' at your television when your Assassin leaps off a cliff for no apparent reason.
The setting and characters are both going to pull you in, especially if you have personal interest in some of the places and people that turn up. The game is packed full of fascinating historical information, which, for the most part, is entirely unchanged by the storyline.
The naval missions are a notable exception to the historical accuracy that is the rule in the rest of the game, with your small ship handily taking on entire armada's on a regular basis. However, this reviewer finds it difficult to fault that, especially when those same missions were such an absurd amount of fun. I only hope that the next game will have more of an emphasis on accuracy in it's naval combat and ship design.
The obvious downside to the game was Desmond Miles. Does anybody actually like him? Also, the 'main character', Conner, has a truly disappointing amount of character growth. It seems his entire personality was based off of a few events in his childhood and young adulthood, and locked in stasis, more or less, for the rest of his life.
Back to more positive elements; I found the Homestead system to be one of my favorites in the game, doing each mission as soon as it was available. It was a notable pleasure to watch Davenport grow from a few ramshackle houses, a sunken ship, and a worn-out manor, to a small, bustling township.
All in all, I recommend this game both to veteran Assassin's Creed players, and to people new to the franchise. It is a fantastic game with a beautiful setting. It can be punishing, especially if you're a completionist shooting for 100% sync in every mission, but it starts you off slow and introduces you to the gameplay mechanics in a very friendly manner. The overarching story, outside of the Animus, doesn't make much sense at the beginning, if you haven't played the older games, but it doesn't need to. It'll start to make more sense as the story progresses anyway.
(Note: You will see I make no mention of the online multiplayer features. I have not yet tried them, as I am not a console multiplayer type. If you want a review of the MP features, you'll have to look elsewhere. ;-) )