Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles

Even the most hardened Assassin's Creed fan would have to admit that, whether on mobile or on his original home on consoles, Altair was a little boring.

Sure, he looked the part, and it's fair to say even the most athletic amongst us would struggle to leap across rooftops in as energetic a manner, but an alluring character he was not.

An Ode to Ezio

It's perhaps a little disappointing, then, that rather than launching with a brand new release in the franchise Windows Phone 7 is party to a re-release of an almost three-year-old title that the majority of us have already played on one of a plethora of rival platforms.

Still, given that its transition to mobile a year later unearthed a game of undeniable quality, there are perhaps worse titles Microsoft's new platform could be adding to its arsenal at such an early stage.

Aside from the odd technical glitch and a case of selective editing from Gameloft, Altair's Chronicles offers up largely the same package it did on iPhone.

You take charge of Altair in a quest to retrieve an illustrious Chalice, the game picking up as The Templars set about torching the Middle East in a bid to take charge of it before you do.

But rather than letting you sneak about, Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles is essentially an action title, with much of your time spent traversing linear, maze-like levels and fighting off foes whenever you come into contact with them.

Fighting talk

Considering it accommodates two distinct portions of play as a result – exploration and combat – the game's controls are surprisingly simple.

Navigation is handled by a fairly adept thumbstick on the left of the screen, while all forms of interaction – whether jumping or fighting – are assigned to pads on the right, buttons coming and going as needed.

You can also run up walls, but only when you game decides you have to.

The fighting system itself attempts to replicate the kind of flexibility offered on consoles, with various combinations of light and heavy attacks – each one assigned a separate pad – instigating a wealth of special moves you unlock as you go.

It's all as it was on iPhone, in fact, and for the most part Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles runs as smoothly on new hardware as it did on old.

Last port of call

Be under no illusions, however – this is a port.

From the lengthy loading screens (the kind where hopping off to make a cup of tea or two isn't out of the question) through to the soundtrack that randomly dips in and out of play, Altair's adventures do not show Windows Phone 7 in its best light.

Most obvious are the split-second pauses that occur before changes in play (such as switching to combat mode), helping to undermine the otherwise smooth appearance of Assassin's Creed's 3D world.

Mini-games also suffer visually. Pickpocketing items via a nifty wire loop style non-contact challenge is delivered in a blurred, washed out fashion.

None of these compromises damage the game beyond repair, of course. Underneath remains adventure with a scale rarely seen on mobile, incorporating elaborate levels with crumbling pathways and ledge-leaping aplenty.

But it doesn't show Windows Phone 7 off very well.

The likes of The Harvest have already shown just what can be achieved with Windows Phone 7, and Gameloft would be well advised to give Altair's successor Ezio a somewhat freer run on Microsoft's platform next time around.