Alright guys, I just picked it up. And, since I know all of the guys at my local EB, I had a chance to play the game for over 45 minutes before I decided to buy it. Keep in mind that the following impressions are only based off of the initial time I spent with the game. This is 100% spoiler free.

As the loading screen comes up, you're hit immediately with a mini tutorial. The game's visuals are sharp, using motion blur and bloom lighting and really make it clear that this is a next-gen title graphically. After 2-3 minutes of being given free reign over Altair's controls, you're thrown into 10+ minutes of cinemas. These are all in game, but do go heavily into spoiler territory. I'll leave those out, as the story appears to be a love it/hate it thing for a lot of the reviewers. In my opinion, it's a fairly unique angle to take on an otherwise "you get what you expect" setting. Personally, it only engages me further to see what the story actually will offer.

Gameplay wise, I can't stress enough how much it is obvious that this game is from the Prince of Persia team. Altair animates beautifully, and does vaguely remind me of the Prince. Once you're past the intro, and the world beings to open up, you gain total control after another 5+ minute full tutorial. The absolute joy in building hoping and scaling walls can't be understated. If you enjoyed any of the Prince of Persia platforming, or the platforming in the Uncharted demo, you'll really feel at home here.

The unique control scheme (holding R trigger turns on your "aggresive" moves) does get some getting used to, but it not what I'd call steep. Anyone that claims the game has control or graphics issues seriously needs to get their head examined. Stealth kills are easy (hold down X) and the variety of platforming will obviously allow for lots of killing variations.

My friend and I at EB agreed that Assasin's is likely to become like Metal Gear in some regard. It's got a totally unique story (that like MGS appears to be convoluted), a totally unique control system and is huge in "scope." It seems like a fair comparison at first -- and might be a better analogy to MGS2 as compared to MGS1. So, what's my recommendation?

Pick it up if you expected it to be good before these scores hit. If you enjoy platforming, a unique story and great visuals you likely won't be disappointed. I can't make any promises, but I expect the GAF community to "turn the corner" on this one as time goes forth and expect Assasin's Creed to likely garner a dedicated fanbase -- just like MGS.

It just needs some time in the hands of actual gamers...not gamers paid to give games numerical values.

The Chicago Gamers Club will have more impressions as we progress through the game.