In no way does it deserve the blatant over-hype it got, but saying that it's still a damn good game. I've been playing it for a few days now and here are some basic thoughts(trying my hardest not to spoil the game here);
Graphically it's one of the best games I have ever seen, every little thing, even down to the bricks in the walls are near perfect. There are very little loading screens in the Kingdom, and the only times you really encounter them are when you are heading into the big cities, but even then they are not very long at all, and you can even control your character during them to practice some moves. All cut scenes are controllable, you can move your character around and move the camera around and there are prompts for camera angle changes, too, so look out for them.
The free roaming aspect is as good as they say. You can go anywhere at any time as long as you have unlocked that certain area(can't say any more as it will ruin the story). The overall game play is a little slow at first, but give it a few hours and you will come to appreciate it, the game gets a little faster and you are able to develop some form of style to your play, too.(You can opt for the all-out balls to the wall kill every bad guy in sight style, a more stealthed out hide where you can and only harm those you really need to, or take a more neutral approach.)
The fighting isn't as bad as some may make it seem. I find it to be very intuitive, and while the NPC AI isn't all that great they do attempt to surround and ambush you several times. You also have a choice of weaponry to use during the later stages of the game.
The control system is a little bit awkward, but very easy to get used to. However, like all games it has it's annoying moments where it does things on it's own or doesn't do what you really wanted it to, and even on the rare occasion does nothing at all.
Storyline so far is great and I actually look forward to seeing what's going to happen next. The voice over work is a little dry, especially with the main character, but the sound effects of blades and animals and everything else is spot on, and the odd moments that you encounter music is very well done, too.
Now, onto the repetition issue. Believe what you hear ... it gets real old, real quick. The only real differences between missions are the people and environment. It gets tiresome, more so than any other game I have encountered before. The great story and fantastic visuals can almost make up for the repetition as you still want to carry on with it, but they really could have done with some more ideas for missions. Almost everything about this side of the game is predictable after you get passed the first main mission area(trying my hardest not to spoil anything here).
I think I got everything, so anyway the basic point is;
Don't believe the over-hype ... it's no world-beater. On the same note, don't believe the disappointments you hear, it's not all that bad. Judge for yourself, some will like it, others won't. Make up your own minds.
