Parkour/Freerunning is a major component of Assassin's Creed. The game mechanics are such that Altaïr will jump, climb, grab, and land differently depending on several factors such as distance and height. Altaïr's maximum jump range is twenty-six feet in length, and six and a half feet up an object. Depending on where the object is relative to Altaïr, he will react to it accordingly: if a wooden beam is at the same height as the previous one at a normal distance, he will jump directly onto it. In contrast, if a wooden beam is near head height, he will grab and swing underneath it. Similarly, falling from a great enough height will cause him to roll, a common technique in Parkour to disperse the impact over your back and transfer vertical into forward momentum. Juxtaposed with many other games, such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series, and it shows how much more mechanical freedom the player has. In Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell games, the player can perform some acrobatic movements, such as jumping and climbing, but it is very restricted, and was placed in specific spots by the game developers. In Assassin's Creed, the ability for Altaïr to adapt means that there are not specific areas that have a trigger allowing him to climb, rather it is based on the geometry of the object.
