Assassin's Creed
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| Assassin's Creed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Designer(s) | Patrice Desilets (Creative Director), Jade Raymond (Producer) |
| Engine | Scimitar Engine |
| Released | Playstation 3, Xbox 360: NA November 13, 2007[1] |
| Genre | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single Player |
| Ratings | ESRB: Mature (M) PEGI: 18+[6] BBFC: 15 CERO:Z OFLC (AU): MA15+ OFLC (NZ): R13 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| Media | DVD-ROM, Blu-ray Disc |
| Input methods | Xbox 360 Controller, SIXAXIS controller, DualShock 3 controller, keyboard, mouse |
Assassin's Creed is a video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide in November 2007 on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles.[1] On September 22, 2007, Ubisoft announced the PC version has been delayed until early 2008.[7] A prequel for Nintendo DS, titled Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles, is set to be released February 5, 2008.[8] The game features highly detailed and interactive environments from the time of the Third Crusade – the game's developers claim these environments are historically accurate.
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[edit] Gameplay
Assassin's Creed is a third-person stealth game in which the player assumes the role of Desmond Miles, an average bartender who is the last descendant of a long family line of assassins. Desmond has been taken to a facility where he is forced to use the Animus, a machine that traces and recreates the memories of his ancestors during the Third Crusade. Through these memories, the player controls Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad (?????? ??? ?? ???, Arabic, "The Flying One, Son of None"), a member of the Assassin Brotherhood. Altaïr's objective in the game is to slay nine historical figures propagating the Crusades in the year 1191. (According to Ubisoft developers, all of the main character's targets are historical figures who died or disappeared in 1191, although not necessarily by assassination.)
The primary goal of the game is to complete nine assassinations. To achieve this goal, the player must use stealth and a variety of intelligence gathering tactics to collect information on their target. These tactics include eavesdropping, forceful interrogation, pickpocketing, and completing tasks for Informers (other assassins who will give you information in exchange for assassinating targets or collecting flags). Additionally, the player may take part in any number of side missions, including climbing tall towers to map out the city and saving citizens that are being threatened or harassed by the city guards. There are also various side quests unrelated to the story such as hunting down and killing Templars and flag collecting.
The game takes place primarily in a kingdom consisting of four main cities: Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus and Masyaf, the assassins' stronghold; all but Masyaf contain three sections that are unlocked over the course of the game. An approximation of the land lying between these areas is present in the game as "The Kingdom." Each city features a highly detailed environment populated by many people of different types, and as the player interacts with his/her environment, the people around Altaïr respond in logical and predictable ways. For example, Altaïr can climb buildings, causing people to gather around and comment on his unusual behavior. This in turn can attract the unwanted attention of nearby guards, who may then choose to attack him.
The player is made aware of how noticeable Altaïr is to enemy guards as well as the current state of alert in the local area. To perform many of the assassinations and other tasks, the player must consider the use of both "low profile" and "high profile" commands. "Low profile" commands allow Altaïr to blend into nearby crowds, gently pass by other citizens, or other non-threatening tasks that can be used to hide and reduce the alertness level. "High profile" commands are more noticeable, and including running, scaling the sides of buildings to climb to higher vantage points, and attacking foes; performing these actions at certain times may raise the local area's awareness level. Once the area is at high alert, the player must use both low profile commands as well as aiming to climb away from ground level or using hiding spaces to reduce the alertness level. The player, as they complete the assigned assassinations, will gain either new weapons or new combat skills including counter-attacks and attack dodges. Besides his fists, Altaïr's weaponry includes an assassin's sword for standard combat, a short blade, and throwing knives which are used in conjunction with the short blade. Altaïr also gains the use of a hidden retractable blade on his left arm that can be used for killing targets at very close quarters without creating any immediate alerts (although, if others come across the body, the alertness level may be raised). This is the most noticeable difference between low and high profile. A low profile assassination can be performed within as little as a few feet of other guards or soldiers without attracting attention, whereas a high profile assassination attack will be noticed by everyone within eyesight.
The player's health is described as the level of synchronization between Desmond and Altaïr's memories; should Altaïr take damage, some amount of synchronization is lost, and if all synchronization is lost, the current memory that Desmond is experiencing will be restarted at the last checkpoint. When the synchronization bar is full, the player has the additional option to use "eagle vision" which causes the computer-rendered memory to highlight all visible characters in colors corresponding to whether they are friend or foe or even the target of their assassination. Due to Altaïr's memories being rendered by the computer of the Animus project, the player may experience "glitches" in the rendering of the historical world, which may help the player to identify targets, or can be used to alter the viewpoint during in-game scripted scenes should the player react fast enough when they appear.
[edit] Plot
The overall story within Assassin's Creed is set in September 2012, where barkeeper Desmond Miles (the character controlled by the player) has been kidnapped by an unknown person prior to the start of the game, and is brought to Abstergo Industries, where researchers are working on the Animus project. The Animus is able to pull out memories from the DNA of the user, allowing the user to replay those memories as if he were there himself. Desmond was "chosen" for the project due to his relationship to his ancestor Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad (?????? Al-taa-ir in Arabic "The Flying One") a member of the Assassins during the Third Crusade of the Holy Land; the researchers express interest in understanding more of how the Assassins worked. Though initially Desmond's sub-conscious rejects the memories of Altaïr, he eventually learns to accept them and is able to proceed to follow Altaïr's actions through the Animus.
The memories of Altaïr that Desmond experiences start in AD 1191: Richard the Lionheart has just recaptured the port city of Acre from the Conquer of Muslims. With a base of operations established, the Crusaders prepare to march south. Their true target is Jerusalem – which they intend to recapture for Christianity. However the Muslim forces are massing in the ruins of Arsuf, intending to ambush the Crusaders and prevent them from reaching Jerusalem. These war maneuvers have left the rest of the Holy Land wide open. While Richard and Saladin battle one another, the men left to govern in their stead have begun taking advantage of their newfound positions of power. Exploitation, manipulation, and provocation rule the day.
The first memory Desmond experiences is that of Altaïr failing (because of interference from another assassin, Malik) to assassinate the Grand Master of The Templar Knights, Robert de Sable, and recover the order's treasure. Because of this, and other offenses, Altaïr is demoted to Uninitiated (the lowest rank in the Assassin Order). But Al Mualim, leader of the Assassins, offers him an opportunity to redeem himself. Altaïr must venture out into the Holy Land and assassinate nine men said to be exacerbating and exploiting the hostilities created by the Third Crusade. In doing so, he will stabilize the region, allowing Al Mualim to usher in an age of peace.
Along the way, however, Altaïr discovers that his targets are bound by more than just a shared interest in personal gain, but are in fact Templars themselves, with the goal to unite all mankind under a common cause. Desmond further learns from emails when left overnight between sessions that Abstergo Industries is run by modern-day Templars, who are seeking the locations of several artifacts known as the "Pieces of Eden" that they can use to continue Templars' goals. Desmond learns that he was kidnapped by the company so that they may learn, through Altaïr's memories, where the locations of the other Pieces of Eden may be buried throughout the world. He also finds that what remains of the Assassin's Guild in modern days had tried and failed to recover him before that information could be learned. Altaïr's memories finally reveal that the assignment he undertook was a ploy by the Templars to sow discord between the Assassins and the Crusaders and Muslims. In doing so, Saladin and Richard The Lionheart would instead work together and fight the Assassins, and in the process, bringing peace for the Templars. Altaïr finally catches up with Robert de Sable, his last assigned target, and defeats him. Robert de Sable reveals in his dying words that Altaïr's master is also a member of the Templars, and he has now the sole power of the artifact, the "Piece of Eden" that is able to alter what men can see and can be used for mass hypnosis. Altaïr travels to face his Master, who wields the "Piece of Eden", attempting to alter Altaïr's sight, but eventually falls to his blade. As Altaïr recovers the "Piece of Eden", the device activates one more time to reveal multiple locations across the globe in an holographic manner (including two locations, noted by the Doctor, on continents that no longer exist in 2012.)
With Altaïr's memory complete, Desmond wakes up out of the Animus to learn that Abstergo Industries is already sending out recovery teams to those locations hoping to find additional artifacts. At one point, Desmond reads an email in the conference room detailing the failed recovery of three other Pieces of Eden, all resulting in disastrous accidents, two resulting in the Philadelphia Experiment and the Tunguska event. The email also refers to the Holy Grail, stating insufficient evidence to confirm its existence, and "Mitchell-Hedges Communicators", a reference to F. A. Mitchell-Hedges.
Desmond, no longer being of use to Abstergo Industries, is to be silenced; however, he is saved by Lucy Stillman, who reveals herself to be an Assassin by bending down her ring finger, to imply her membership. In the conclusion of the game, Desmond, having become "synchronized" with Altaïr, is able to use the eagle vision (a sort of empathic sight to see hidden messages and tell friend from foe), and sees messages scrawled across the floors and walls that only he can see that refer to the end of the world described by several religions, among other writings; such writings include references to the biblical passage Revelation 22:13 ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."), a Lorenz attractor, the Eye of Providence, as well as part of a Mandelbrot Set and other writings in foreign languages. Additionally, there is the Mayan date of 13.0.0.0—December 21, 2012—which is only 3 months away within the game's timeline, that represents the Mayan last day of this age of the world. That is also the planned date of the launch of a mysterious satellite the Templars have created, which they claim will "permanently end the war". There is also reference to Yonaguni, a japanese island, as well as japanese script, which could mean that the island is a possible location for Assassins Creed 2.
[edit] Historic relevance
The nine men assassinated were based on real historical figures that lived in the Holy Land around the year 1191, with considerable amount of artistic liberty applied since most of the young men Altaïr was sent to kill were in fact rather old and sickly in at this time in reality, and some deaths actually occurred a year or two after 1191. Ubisoft justifies these facts by stating in-game that the historical records were altered by the Templars to deceive anyone studying the past. Some of these figures include: Garnier of Nablus, The Grandmaster of The Knights Hospitaller; Ibn Jubayr, an Arab-Spanish geographer, traveler and poet; Meister Sibrand, Leader of the Teutonic Knights; Prince Faisal bin Talal, an Emir; William V, Marquess of Montferrat, the regent of Acre; and Robert IV de Sablé, Grand Master of the Knights Templar.
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