Ubisoft knows a good thing when it sees it. Not wanting to miss out on the wealth of money to be made from its great big new IP, Assassin's Creed, the company releases a new game from the franchise on the Nintendo DS.

Rather than being a port of the super-ultra-mega-dooper selling console version of Assassin's Creed, Altair's Chronicles serves as a prequel. The story... matters less than it did in the bigger, less portable versions of the game. Just so you know, though, it takes place in ... more >>

Ubisoft knows a good thing when it sees it. Not wanting to miss out on the wealth of money to be made from its great big new IP, Assassin's Creed, the company releases a new game from the franchise on the Nintendo DS.

Rather than being a port of the super-ultra-mega-dooper selling console version of Assassin's Creed, Altair's Chronicles serves as a prequel. The story... matters less than it did in the bigger, less portable versions of the game. Just so you know, though, it takes place in Altair's past and sends him off questing for a certain chalice that could end the Crusades once and for all.

Of course, it wouldn't be much fun (or an Assassin's Creed game) if all you had to do was ride your horse up to some dusty old cave and have a root around. Nope, you'll find much leaping across rooftops and fighting to be done.

The camera side scrolls through most of the game, but the environments are rendered in 3D, enabling much cavorting across medieval cityscapes with some elaborate puzzles scattered about the place.

Naturally, you'll have some folk that want to kill you, too. It will be up to you to either try and sneak around them in a pacifist-type manner or draw your sword and send sparks flying. << less