Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles officially revealed in new screenhots

After having pity on us for resorting to scouring over blurry details from the back of the leaked retail box art, Ubisoft today released their official word on the upcoming 3D adventure title for the DS. As we had already gathered from squinting at the blurry scans that came around a few days ago, AC: AC will be a full-on 3D adventure game in the same spirit as the original. The developers promise the same kind of fast-paced, rooftop-jumping action that made the console experience so much fun. But don’t take our word for it, here is the company’s statement, straight from the corporate press release:

“Assassin’s Creed Altaïr’s Chronicles is the direct prequel of the critically acclaimed console title Assassin’s Creed, where players discover more about the protagonist Altaïr and his deep history. The game features a fully realized 3D world in which players will travel and battle through four cities of the Crusade’s Middle East, using acrobatic moves and exhilarating combo attacks that mix sword skills and high-flying kicks.”

Ubisoft also announced that the game will be shipping to retailers in the UK sometime in the month of February, suggesting that North American gamers will be able to grab it around the same time.

Finally, the screenshots. There aren’t very many games for the DS that have made our jaws drop in astonishment, but these certainly did. The shots, which show Altair in all his 3D glory, are especially impressive considering that some skeptics believed this Assassins Creed spinoff could end up being a 2D platformer or a card game. No, say Ubisoft, this will be the real deal, as faithful to the original as possible on the small screen. Let’s hope they don’t remain too faithful to their source material, and spend some time ironing out a few of the gameplay shortcomings from the console version.

New screenshots added Jan 15, 2008: