Assassin’s Creed looks amazing, with a pretty stunning opening cinematic and crisp, detailed graphics. The game combines platforming, stealth, combat, and some puzzles, but the simple tasks--navigating the game world’s narrow walkways and tricky jumps--are more frustrating than they need to be, and the anemic save system doesn’t help.

You’re an assassin named Altair, tasked with retrieving “the Chalice” from the Templars during the Third Crusade. You walk or run by pressing and nudging a small blue button on the bottom-left of the screen that resembles a directional pad, and more blue buttons appear on the right side of the screen that you tap to jump, swing your sword, kick, block, pick pockets, and so on.

Helpful green arrows and a trail of blue orbs show you where to head, but the 3D levels hold some frustrating jumps, so prepare to die a lot. Crossing checkpoints will save your progress, but they’re too infrequent; we wanted the ability to save whenever.

The game doesn’t support iPod music, and the voice acting and sound effects are pretty middle-of-the-road compared to the eye candy.

Rated 12+ for violence, this tricky title is great for steady-handed fans of platforming and stealth games. Just don’t let the frustrating parts drive you to commit violence against your iPhone.

Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles 1.1.1

COMPANY: Gameloft
CONTACT: www.gameloft.com/iphone-games/assassins-creed/
PRICE: $5.99

Pretty stunning opening cinematic and crisp, detailed graphics.
Simple tasks are more frustrating than they need to be, and the anemic save system doesn’t help, prepare to die a lot.