Assassin's Creed: Liberation marks the series’ first release on a hand held console.  Liberation is set in 18^th century New Orleans.  The story follows a young female protagonist of French and African decent, Aveline de Grandpré.  This is also the only entry in the series that does not feature Desmond, this is instead a product that had been created to show a somewhat grey area of Templar/Assassins conflict. 

The narrative could have really been one of the strong points for this entry, it all feels very aimless.  There were various times when I was not sure why I was completing a particular task.  This was disappointing because Aveline certainly could of been a very interesting protagonist.  Overall, the story is still more than passable.

Moving onto the Vita has seen other changes to Assassin's Creed, most notably is the graphics.  The world detail and models are all fantastic.  The world is also very well populated considering the move to hand held.  This seems to have come at a cost to the frame rate. 

This is particularly noticeable in areas with lots of NPC’s.  This drop in frame rate can have a significant impact on the fluidity of the whole experience.  It is very apparent that there were some sacrifices that had to be made moving to the Vita from consoles.

Liberation has good controls when everything is running smoothly.  The joy sticks work well and makes it easy to navigate and the button layout was well implemented on the Vita.  The touch screens are used sparingly and appropriately in Liberation. 

They are used to expand menus on the HUD and there are times when the rear touch screen is used to complete some in game tasks.  The rear touch screen is used to pick pocket people, and this all feels natural and ties in seamlessly with the rest of the experience.  The controls have translated very well over to the Vita.

The combat is a bit of a step back for the series, the concept is the same but it is just not as fluid.  It is quite possible to win most fights by button mashing.  It also does seem a bit silly that you can be surrounded by guards with muskets and none of them will readily just shoot you. 

The speakers on the Vita really do not do the sound for Liberation justice; you will want to plug in some head phones.  The sound track is top notch just as the others in the series.  I was also impressed with the voice acting, this remains strong for the entirety of the story.  The sound effects are done well and are good for a hand held experience.

Assassin's Creed: Liberation is quite the system mover that it had been hyped up to be.  The game looks good but does not run very smoothly.  It was good to see the touch controls implemented well.  This is a solid experience for the hand held but really is up to the same standard as the other releases in the series.  This is one for those looking for something for fans of the series and are after something that can be taken away from the television.