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assassin's creedThe first instalment of what would become the
assassin's creed
franchise was assassin's
creed released in November 2007 as the first game of 3.
The game introduces us to Desmond Miles a 25 year old barkeeper. He
has been kidnapped by a company called Absturgo Industries. They
have developed a machine called the Animus which enables them to
access the genetic memory of an individual's ancestors. In Desmond's
case those of his ancestor Altaīr Ibn-La'Ahad, an assassin at the
time of the Third Crusade in 1191. The name Altaīr means "the flying
one" sometimes also translated as "the eagle". His surname
Ibn-La'Ahad means "son of no-one". See the
assassin's creed
wiki
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assassin's creeD AltaīR's ChroniclesThe first game was followed by
assassin's creeD AltaīR's
Chronicles on the Nintendo DS in February 2008.
The narrative of this game centres around Altaīr
and is set one year before Altaīr's story
in the first game, in 1190. The Third Crusade (1189 - 1192,
Richard I, Saladin) sweeps over the Holy Land. Altaīr
has just returned form a long and arduous journey and is ordered by
his master to find The Chalice (the Holy Grail). Whoever owns The
Chalice will be able to unite one of the two factions, the
Saracens or the Crusaders, and end the Third Crusade
successfully. See the
assassin's creed
wiki
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assassin's creed: e3 cinematic trailerThese were the first images of the new game
assassin's creed ii
shown in June 2009 at the E3. But what perhaps no one anticipated,
they were not in game images or cut scenes but a cinematic
interpretation using real actors and blue screen. Some of the Venice
footage looks so real that I can't help but wonder if they did not
mix in real images/footage from Venice as well. As not all of the
characters seem to be real actors the trailer left you wondering
what it really was and what the real game would look like. But
thankfully it was soon followed with real gameplay footage. The
trailer can be found at
http://events.uk.ubi.com/assassin-s-creed-2/assassin-s-creed-2-trailer.htm
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Assassin's Creed Twitter Assassination ExperienceCompletely new, but quite popular is the Assassin's Creed Twitter
Assassination Experience (released July 23, 2009)where you use
Twitter (or if you play in Agro Mode the Ubisoft website) to
assassinate other players in the experience. In Tweet mode you get
random assassination assignments through your twitter account (at
least one a day). So you have to check your tweets regularly
to check if you have to act. It reminds me vaguely of text Muds. See
Ubi's site
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Assassin's creed: lineageBefore the release of
assassin's creed ii, Ubisoft wetted our appetites with
the short film assassin's
creed: lineage. It was shown in three episodes leading up to
the release date of the game. The first episode was released on
October 26, 2009 on YouTube; episodes two and three on November 12,
2009 on Spike TV and later on YouTube as well.
Lineage is the prequel
to the second game. The protagonist is Giovanni Auditore da Firenze,
the father of Ezio Auditore, who is Desmond's ancestor featured in
assasin's creed ii.
The story starts in 1476 and introduces Giovanni and a young Ezio
(who is around 16-17 at the time), their family and background. We
get to see part of the setting of the game and the enemies of
Giovanni who will become Ezio's enemies as well. It also introduces
Giovanni's employer and benefactor Lorenzo de Medici, who up to a
point will become Ezio's benefactor and who will also be his
employer in side missions in the game. Like the E3-trailer the film
is a blend of real characters and CGI. It was made by the same
studio that gave us 300 and
sin city. The film is perhaps an introduction of things to
come as the storylines of the games could be easily adapted to
screen. It is quite clear that Ubisoft seeks to expand the
assassin's creed
experience in different media so cinematic releases of both games or
perhaps even real transmedia stories filling in the gaps
between the games are both creditable options. The film at least
shows that the climbing and free style running sequences can be
transported believably to film. You can watch the complete film on
the Ubisoft
website
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assassin's creed iiThe second assissin's
creed game was released worldwide on November 20, 2009
(US version November 17) and takes us to an ancestor in Renaissance
Italy in the year 1476. The game starts with Desmond escaping from
Abstergo and being taken to a new facility led by a section of the
present day assassins. Desmond is asked to join. To learn the craft
he will "train" in the Animus 2.0, as it is believed that
through the bleeding effect he will pick up the assassination skills
of his ancestor(s). In the main part of the game the gamer is Ezio
Auditore da Firenze (born 1459) and lives through 30 years of his
life, gradually acquiring more assassination skills. Ezio derives
from the Greek word 'Aetos', which means "Eagle". Contrary to the
first game the protagonist is now no longer an enigma and the gamer
has to identify with the character and his story, which, in itself,
is quite linear. But as it is a sand-box game you can decide when
you want to continue with the story. More on this game can be found
at the official
Ubisoft site
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assassin's creed ii discoveryThis game was released for the Nintendo DS on November 17. It
takes place 15 years into Ezio's story in the second game, so round
about 1491. Ezio
is asked to join Antonio the leader of Venice's thieves guild. At
the meeting he is introduced to the Spaniard Luis Santangel who's
associate Christoffa Corombo (Christopher Columbus) has been
kidnapped by Rodrigo Borgia. After rescuing Corombo Ezio travels to
Spain to rescue fellow assassins from the Inquisition and discovers
a plot of his nemeses the knights Templar to discover the new World
(as hinted at by the revelations in the second game?). More on the
game can be found in the
Asssassin's Creed Wiki
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assassin's creed bloodlinesAlthough there is an Altaīr sequence in
assassin's creed II
that hints at what happened to Altaīr after the first game and we
have Altaīrs diary pages (Codex wall), to really learn what happened
to Altaīr after the first game you have to play
bloodlines. The
game was also released on November 17, 2009 and takes place in
Cyprus, several months after the ending of the first game. Altaīr
follows the knights Templar to Cyprus, where he first frees/captures
the reluctant Maria, the female Templar who posed for Robert de
Sable in the first game. The main enemy is Armand Bouchart who has
become the new Templar Grand Master, but to get to him Altaīr has to
kill several other Templar commanders as well. Through the game
Altaīr learns more about himself and the Apple of Eden. The gamer
will also find out what eventually happens with Altaīr and Maria.
More on the game can be found in the
Asssassin's Creed Wiki
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Assassin's Creed RenaissanceThis is the book version of Ezio's story released on November 26, 2009. The book basically tells the same story as the game (only Ezio's story). I read the Kindle version. Imho it is a missed opportunity by Ubisoft. You learn nothing new about the game's story, nor about Ezio. There is one mission, beating up Christina's future husband which is not included in the game. The other two, Forli and the Bonfire of the Vanities, will be turned into downloadable content to be released in January and February as was to be expected when reading these chapters in the book. You do get a bit more information about the fate of Christina but the book ends where the game ends. It uses literal quotations from the game, supporting the idea that this is the original script turned into a book. I'm a great fan of historical fiction, but the book probably wants to appeal to another audience as the historical setting seems to be even sparser than the game's (where you can look up as much as you want in the database). If you read the messages on the ACII forum, you see that quite a lot of the players are interested in more information about Ezio as a person and what happens to him in the future. A book could fill in these gaps and than you'd really be talking about transmedia or crossmedia sorytelling, but perhaps Ubisoft wants to leave that information for a film? As it stands it is quite unclear who Ubisoft wants to target with this book.
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,
the game's 