Assassin's Creed - hands-on

Connecting the three cities and the assassins' hideout is a wide open area known as the Kingdom. Much like in Oblivion, the player is free to roam about and can fast-travel between places he's already been. The Kingdom is filled with soldiers, Templars, view points, and flags. While these don't impact the main storyline, you are required to fight your way through the kingdom to discover each city for the first time. It's a great place to hone fighting skills and also introduces mounted combat to the mix.

The toughest opponents we encountered were the Templars, who are highly aggressive and will immediately initiate conflict and alert guards to your presence. There are 60 of these bastards hidden throughout the world, both in the Kingdom and in the cities. While it's not necessary to hunt down all the Templars to finish the game, there will be an Achievement for those who do. Another Achievement will be awarded for collecting all the flags or finding all the view points in the three cities and across the kingdom. The flags are much like the hidden orbs in Crackdown, and serve as hard save points.