Assassins Creed Altairs Chronicles 1.1.1 iPhone iPod Touch

When Assassin's Creed burst on to the scene for consoles back in late 2007, it was praised for its sandbox-style gameplay and the high level of interactivity with the environment. Following up the wall-crawling hit and coinciding with heavy online promotion for Assassin's Creed 2, Gameloft brings Assassin's Creed - Altair's Chronicles to the iPhone.
Though it does a great job capturing the spirit of Assassin's Creed, the iPhone title is clearly limited in translating many aspects of Altair's talents – namely platforming.

Described as a prequel to the main title, the iPhone version takes the title assassin, Altair, and puts him on a quest to find a chalice before the invading Crusaders, the Templars, in a Middle Eastern setting. Rather than opening up the world sandbox style, giving free reign across the environment, this version is a straight-up platformer on rails. There is no freedom to choose, just a single path that is presented in obvious fashion. It seems a bit unambitious, especially for fans of the console edition. The strategy is reduced to staying on the rooftops and following the designated path. Fall off and soldiers attack you. And repeat.
Control is handled through touch buttons for actions, like attacking, jumping and pickpocketing, with an omnidirectional d-pad for movement. The d-pad works well enough but can be a little tricky in areas that require a little precision or fine touch. Combat is largely button mashing with some timing at play. With no ability to freely climb up a building, ladders are plentiful, and a grappling hook is thrown in for good measure.