In 2007, something novel happened. The studio Ubisoft, known
for games such as Driver, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and Prince of Persia:The Two
Thrones, decided to start experimenting with history and brought out a game
called Assassin’s Creed.
Assassin’s Creed was unique. It allowed you to delve into
the genes of Desmond Miles and replay the life of his ancestor; Altair. Altair
was an Assassin, based in Masyaf and he spent the entirety of the game jumping
off rooftops, climbing up insanely high towers and assassinating people with a
hidden blade in his wrist. As a concept, the game was remarkable. The plot was
good, with enough twists and turns to keep a history buff interested, but what
really took the cake was the gameplay and the environment details.
A few years later, the sequel to Assassin’s Creed-
Assassin’s Creed 2 was released and this game blew us all out of the water. It
was an amazing improvement over the original. It’s protagonist was Ezio
Auditore, and he was handsome, charismatic and deadly rolled into one. We took
Ezio in and around 15th century Italy, at the height of the
Renaissance period and climbed up certain iconic landmarks such as the
Bascillica in Florence and the canal bridges in Venice. Ezio also had Leonardo
da Vinci at his side and the thieves of Venice to rely on for help in
situations. As before, the parkour and the free running was simply divine and
it was truly spectacular to leap off one roof onto another and take down five
guards before jumping out of a hay stack to kill the assassination target and
walk off in the chaos that ensued. Ezio packed not one but two hidden wrist
blades, was proficient in fist fighting and swordplay and an absolute charmer
of the ladies. The player fell in love with him.
Realizing that they had something good going Ubisoft gave us
two more games with Ezio in them- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, which was in my
opinion one of the best games in the series and Assassin’s Creed Revelations in
which the connection between Ezio and Altair is fully explained. At the end of
Revelations, Ezio (now fifty) hangs up
his blades. In all respects, this was the ideal time to finish the series.
However, it would have ended on a cliffhanger, because Desmond Miles’ fate was
as yet undecided.
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Throughout these games, the presence of the Knights Templar
and the mystical “Pieces of Eden” were rampant. In the game, the Assassin’s
Altair and Ezio both went after such a Piece, while in the present time,
Desmond used this information to track the Piece in the present. I found this
concept to be a good one. As Desmond became more and more attuned to Ezio and
Altair, he started to learn their skills. He also started to have weird
visions, which was expected seeing as he was living a double life per se.
Ezio’s retirement was a turning point for the saga. It put focus back on Desmond. In the next
game; Assassin’s Creed 3, we stepped into the 1700’s and a new Assassin- Connor
Kenway made himself known. We also visited the then French colony of New
Orleans in the shoes of Aveline de Grandpere who was the only female Assassin
introduced in the series thus far. Assassin’s Creed 3 and it’s DLC featured
animals- alligators and wolves which were as deadly as humans. Fighting them
was a series of quick time events. The climbing also changed as both Connor and
Aveline spent an equal amount of time in trees and in bushes as well as in
cities. The game engine altered slightly, allowing for better graphics. It was
truly spectacular to see light particles being refracted in the water or the
moon being reflected in ponds. Swimming became a major feature in these games,
perhaps to compensate for the low density of urban environments.
However, while these games were also quite decent; they
didn’t have Ezio’s panache and they seemed to lack the historic charm that the
previous games had. Somehow, Ubisoft seemed to have focused on gameplay more
than actual execution of the plot, which is very important. Ergo, my personal
reception of Assassin’s Creed 3 was lukewarm. It was fun to skulk in the trees
and drop down on unsuspecting tribal warchiefs but it lacked an X factor.
Desmond died in Assassin’s Creed 3. He died to save the
world. Arguably, this was the peak of the series and it should have ended here.
Unfortunately, Ubisoft wasn’t done with Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed 4:
Black Flag went into the Caribbean and let us play as the notorious pirate
Edward Kenway, who was Connor’s grandfather.
Assassin’s Creed IV was something straight out of an RL
Stevenson novel. Sea shanties, blunderbusses, naval warfare and ships to loot
took precedence over assassinations. Whaling was also a major part of the game
and swimming became a major asset to possess. Edward Kenway was also
charismatic, with an edge of “don’t mess with me” thrown in. He was the next
best thing to Ezio that the player (me) encountered. I’m in the process of playing Assassin’s
Creed IV at the moment and looks wise and gameplay wise it’s stellar.
However, it’s also sending a message. It’s time to stop this
series. Granted, there is still eons of history left for Ubisoft to play around
with, but too much of a good thing is bad as we all know.
A lot of people seemed to share my opinion about Assassin’s
Creed becoming a super saturated series. Everyone apart from Ubisoft that
is. Their latest instalment Assassin’s
Creed Unity takes place in France during the French Revolution.
To call Unity an Assassin’s Creed game would be like comparing
a Ferrari to your father’s 20 year old sedan. The entire gameplay mechanic has
changed. There are no more dialogues with your assassination targets. Gameplay
is repetitive and boring, not to mention dull. It’s usually go here, kill him.
Repeat.
While in previous installments open combat was a viable
option, here it’s suicide. The ability to counter your foe’s strikes is gone.
The ability to counter kill is also absent as is the chain kill feature-
introduced in Assassin’s Creed 3. Chain Kill allowed you to lock on to targets
in a certain sequence and kill them in that sequence.
There is a marked difference between Assassin’s Creed Unity
and any other stealth game. The stealth mechanics are a tad too challenging for
someone casual to play with. It demands patience to execute a certain sneak
attack which I lack.
The reverse parkour option, which allows you to run down a
building is however a welcome addition. But, it’s too little too late.
Therefore, it is my humble request to Ubisoft and it’s
associated studios to stop making any further Assassin’s Creed games. The
series was an amazing concept and upto Edward, it was executed brilliantly.
However, there’s no need for Assassin’s Creed anymore, because it’s gone past
it’s peak. A better idea is to work on a sequel for Watch_Dogs which was again
a very good concept, but with poor optimization for PC’s. There’s plenty of
potential in Watch_Dogs if utilized properly.
In closing, I would like to thank Ubisoft for creating and
developing a series as vibrant as Assassin’s Creed. Not only was it engrossing-
it was a journey into the past that a person like me could never know. However,
it’s time to move on to other projects Ubisoft.
The Bilge Master
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