Fan films are pretty much awesome. Way better than fanfiction! Well, that’s my opinion anyway but I enjoy both. Anyway, “Initiation” takes place before Altair has received the coveted title of “Hashshashin.” Hope you enjoy the magic that DuoGroup created!

I don’t post here often anymore, that’s not only because I don’t have all that much time for blogging, but also because I’ve barely played games this year. In the last half year I’ve probably played less than 20 hours in total. Just a couple of years ago that was probably about my weekly average. Now with this Christmas holiday I’m okay with gaming my time away a little bit more, especially after seeing the insane Steam Holiday sales. A new game like Mirror’s Edge for less than 4 euros? Come on..! I got so many games already that I need to finish and for which I didn’t take anytime this year, but I can’t leave that kind of offer behind.

So, Mirror’s Edge. You’re probably heard of it. I installed it last Thursday in the afternoon and finished the game around 2 o’clock that night. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve finished a singleplayer game, so that’s a good sign and it felt surprisingly fulfilling. It’s a beautiful AAA-title game in which you run from A to B, while trying to dodge your enemies, jumping from one building to the other similar to Parkour. The movement feels awesome, it looks great and just because of the colours you somehow intuitively know which way to go most of the time. It also seemed very well optimized for my pc (not just a sloppy console port). But it’s by far not brilliant and has so much more potential…

I could focus on how the game weirdly forces you to ( gun-)combat and actually kill people half-way through, which is definitely a major weak point of the game. But I’m okay with that. What bugs me a lot more is the story and how much better it should have been.

I simply do not get it. They have this brilliant dystopian ‘Brave New World’-vibe going on; an apparent clean beautiful city but under a totalitarian regime, where all communication is under complete surveillance, but where people are somewhat apathetic about it, mindlessly consume and live their lives in blissful ignorance. While it’s not the most original anymore, I love this sort of thing. They’ve invested even some effort in it, they have these slick cartoon cut-scenes before and during the game. But it does not get further than this introductory trailer I just linked. At no point it is explained what bad things the City government actually does, or who the clients of the runners are. It’s a brilliant setting, but the plot is just incredibly silly. The sister of the main-character is framed for the murder of a politician that threatens the established order (how and what we don’t know), this plot then suddenly ends up being part of the major conspiracy to kill all the runners as they are the only remaining forces that are able dodge the surveillance system, this all abruptly ends with the main-character finally saving her sister and then suddenly the  end credits rolling in… I got no idea what it was all about, I’m not even sure if I summarized it correctly, it’s a paper-thin plotline that doesn’t make any sense at all.

And this annoys me. The gameplay could have been better, sure, but I’m okay with it. To me it’s just this silly plotline (if we can even claim it to be one) that makes this an ‘okay’ game rather than a brilliant game. Can someone explain why the hell AAA titles never fulfil this potential? It would only take such a small portion of those budgets to make the game so much better. These games could actually be thought-provoking rather than just mindless entertainment.  Is it some weird attempt to stay political correct at all costs? To not shock or offend people, to not be labeled as a political game which might hurt the sales or something? I simply don’t get it. There are several AAA titles that could have been oh-so brilliant. Assassin’s Creed is a good example of a beautiful game being turned into a piece-of-shit I couldn’t even play through, because I got so disgusted by its ridiculous time-travel plotline. Assassin’s Creed is situated in the medieval Middle-East, so you have these beautifully designed and truly  living cities as Jerusalem and Damascus. Awesome right? Right, but then you for example also have several Jewish, Islamic and Christian soapbox preachers in the streets all giving pretty much exactly the same shallow speech, plus several similar examples, they don’t have the balls to touch upon any religious question. They avoid all the potentially sensitive issues while they could get so much more out this subject. Bah. And then with Call of Duty: MW2 you have developers that actually do have the balls to shock, but don’t do anything with it and keep it at nothing more than empty bullshit.

It’s just sad. Games have so much potential as a platform, but the big developers just don’t seem to get it. Of course they have their commercial reasons, but even Hollywood does something right from time to time. Why not with games? Deus Ex is now almost 10 years old for fuck’s sake. Mirror’s Edge was good value for money with this steamsale, I’m happy I bought it, but it’d have been so much better if it would’ve maintained a more thought-provoking edge. Mirror’s Edge is kinda edgeless, yeah, lets name it that way.

This week I’m giving you a quick break down of Ubisoft’s new Assasin’s Creed 2 for ps3. Not only is this a much better outing from the first go round, it’s also a game you actually want to keep playing. I rented it for 5 days and will probably end up buying it when it hits the used section.

Graphically, it’s gorgeous. The detail they’ve put into old Italy is unreal. Costume design is top notch and the voice acting is superb. Combat has vastly improved over the first one and I found it to be smooth. It could get a bit wonky at times, but overall it wasn’t too hard to get into it. The thing I found to be most fun was the parkour element. Much like webswinging in Spiderman, I found myself just running rooftop to rooftop for an hour here and there enjoying the scenery.

If you’ve never played the first one, you’re not lost diving into the sequel. You’ll unlock backstory and pieces of your past as you move village to village. Gone are the boring pickpocket, and pointless wander missions, as they’ve gone to a more streamlined open format. You can take as much time as you’d like exploring and will be rewarded accordingly.

In the end, I say buy it.

Sorry Folks I  been so busy lately I should have done (part 2)  on Monday, but don’t worry the “gaming god”is back with  another , yes another segment of “2 games you should get for christmas”.I been thinking about this all week and I have come up with 2 great games you could give to someone on the 25th .

1.Assassins Creed II

For those of you have gamers who have been sleeping under a rock somewhere in the jungle and don’t know what Assassins Creed ii is all about …. you should be ashamed of yourself . Assassins creed ii is one of the games of year with its creative gameplay and hollywood blockbuster  like storyline .If you drama …get Assassins creed ii , if you want action ….get Assassins creed ii , if you want a game that will bring  your social life to a grinding halt because it’s just too good to take a break….. then go get assassins creed ii now !!!

2.God Of war Collection

God of war collection brings two Playstation classics , god of war and god of war ii on one cd which is amazing .If you have heard about god of war and never bought/played it before , this your perfect chance for you to get introduced with the actually storyline from the begging and then catching up with  the most recent segment in the god of war series .For those of you who are already familiar with these two games and have played it already . I recommend you to get GOWC.The graphics on the ps3 are really good it nearly makes you feel like a whole new game bringing a new dynamic to the God of war experience.

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Hot off the success of part 2 in the Assassin’s Creed Trilogy Ubisoft is making sure to keep all eyes on them. Today they announced two downloadable expansions  will be released early next year for the PS3 and XBOX 360, no news on a PC option just yet.

In January, the “Battle for Forli,” will launch , followed with “Bonfire of the Vanities” sometime in February (or March). Each download is expected to take up about 1GB of space, so start deleting if you’re running packed. Price’s and more info have not been provided just yet.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

Anyone that’s completed the campaign may have noticed that 2 of the MEMORY SYNCH’S were decidedly and ominously missing. It’s a safe bet that this DLC is being provided as a means to fill in that gap — and bilk as much money as possible. But hey – if they’re length enough to justify – why not. The game rocked.

Assassin’s Creed II Review

Two years ago it seemed a lot of people had to lob some justification in front of their enjoyment out of Assassin’s Creed, or harsh criticism for their contempt with the game. Neither side was necessarily wrong. The game laid out a heady story,  catapulted parkour as a genre mainstay, and blended elements of action and stealth to appease plenty of fans. It was also terribly bogged down by poor pacing, repetitive side missions and utterly inept AI to contend with, so you can understand peoples love or hate relationship with the beginning iteration into the planned franchise.  If Ubisoft has done one thing with Assassin’s Creed 2, and I’ll argue they’ve done more, it’s their ability to show they aren’t precious or stubborn, that they’ll listen to peoples qualms and address them in a meaningful way. As a result, we’re left with a far better game that helps drive the series forward by making headway with almost every single issue that cropped up the first go around.

For the uninitiated, you play as Desmond, a modern-day everyman from a bloodline of assassins. A war has been going on between Templars and Assassin’s for a centuries, and you’re the key to unlocking the mysteries surrounding it all. You do this by laying down on an Animus, a system by which Desmond can jack into memories of his ancestors – think Matrix and you’re in the right ballpark. But this is all just the setup to get you where you really want to be, before it was with Altair in the middle east, but this go around you play as Ezio in Italy circa late 14oo’s. This is the first mark of improvement in the series, as the towns of Florence and Venice and subsequent surrounding areas are far more vibrant and diverse. It adds a spark that’s subtle and reigns you into a world that feels far more believable and real.

In one of the outer areas if the game you’ll encounter your home, a villa at the top of a small rundown and terribly drab village. You’re given the options to invest in the town, by renovating shops, or rebuilding thieves guilds or brothels. While the only real reward is a high value given to your villa, which helps raise funds for you to collect and use, you’ll also notice that the town becomes a little more active. Open up the church and the brothel and you’ll see beautiful women and monks passing by in town that weren’t there before. You’ll get better gear and bigger discounts at shops. You can adorn your villa with wonderful works of art. It’s these touches that breath some life into the world and help with the immersion. If I had any complaints, it’s the I wish it was even more interactive, perhaps some side missions tied into your town or NPC’s to interact with. Given the scale of the game it becomes a minor issue that doesn’t hamper the game but if they utilize a similar town or home base in the third game I hope it’s something they take into consideration.

Scale here is important to note. While the first game was large, and that was hammered in by the fact that you had to hop on a horse to get anywhere (a most cumbersome affair), AS2 feels bigger, and has more to do. There isn’t a ton of secondary missions, still more than the first time, but at least they’re more fun. You can race, perform assassination contracts, deliveries or beat-em-ups. They’re sort of there, but only at your choosing — they also aren’t really tied into achievements or trophies beyond doing a single one…something I actually appreciated — and while you can do them all if you want, they aren’t needed to extend the game to feel like you’re getting your monies worth. At the completion of the game, having collected all 100 Feathers as well I had reached just under 26 hours of gameplay. I completed only 1 of each side mission and all Tomb Missions, the rest was all story. It’s a treat now days to get a game that offers a lengthy campaign without feeling strung along, and you never do here.

The combat mechanics are seemingly untouched from the first game, which isn’t entirely bad. The combat worked the first time, even though it was fairly simplified and grew repetitive. AS2 adds a couple nice additions by way of new weapons and gadgets, which help broaden the depth, if only just enough to feel fresh. A second assassin’s blade makes for a deadly weapon while sneaking and a formidable match against guards using axes, swords, or spears, each of which you can pickup or purchase yourself. Smoke bombs and throwing money add to distraction options to help get away from guards, and throwing stars are still around to pick off archers. It’s really the new weapons that provide the most enjoyment, as some clearly work better in some situations than others. It’s here though that the AI show’s some kinks. At times I was able to walk up to 4 guards and assassinate them all without a single one drawing a weapon on me. Stealth elements also highlight just how dense they can seem when you plop right behind them a loot treasure or walk away after stabbing someone right behind their back. These issue’s don’t hamper anything for too long, and players that played the first to death will notice some improved enemy attack patterns.

A huge reason why everything comes together so much better this time around is because the story and the protagonist are far more enjoyable. While the AS1 painted an intriguing world, it was a choppy affair that ended rather predictably seen through the eyes of a rather passive and unlikable character. Altair followed orders blindly without much sense of self motivation or involvement beyond being the murderer sent around. Ezio on the other hand is thrust into this situation after the brutal murder of his father and brothers, he too was to be hung but escapes in time to plot his revenge. While it’s more bloodthirsty, it’s still very easy to relate to his pain and choices and makes for a much smoother narrative.

The story takes a couple leaps into the full-blown mythic sci-fi realm towards the end of the game, but I can honestly say that everything moves the story forward in such a way that’s sure to make people want to come back for the third game. There’s a refined hand in the way this is all laid out, instead of jumping back and forth from Desmond to Ezio, you only come back into the modern day setting a few times, which means there’s no going to bed and sitting back down for every memory sync. It moves everything along and keeps you doing whatever you want, and it forces the story to unfold while playing instead of in some clunky exposition filled discussion with characters that don’t seem part of the story you’re actually focused on.

One last note on added little touches. The gadgets that you unlock as you progress are given to you by none other than Leonardo Da Vinci, who isn’t just a throwaway character so people feel smart for knowing a name, but he’s actually a friend of Ezio’s that helps him out and requires a hand or two himself. It adds some credence to stuff you use, and fleshes out this world to help it straddle the line between reality and game. A little history never hurt anyone, after all.

Assassin’s Creed II makes every intention to be better than it’s predecessor, and it does so proudly and without negotiating away it’s stellar setup. While the issues were never in the sound or graphics of the first game, they’ve still maintained a beautiful world full of life to explore while stepping up every other aspect in both subtle and obvious ways. A minute number of problems remain for the ultra-nitpicky, but none of them hold this back form being a triple-A title. If this is proof of what a developer can do with a little criticism and a sequel – my only wish is that we could get more than just a 3rd game out of the franchise.

The World: Italy not only makes for beautiful scenery, but it offers a more varied and fresh world than anything in AS1. The towns themselves feel different and large, giving you every reason to want to spend a little more time climbing every building just to catch the view. 10/10

The Combat: It’s the weapons that sell it this time around, but it’s still a fluid system that’s intuitive enough to grasp for most, and just deep enough to offer some complexity and options. The AI could be improved to provide some more challenge, however, as you’ll still realize that one solid strategy will get you through three quarters of the game safely. 8/10

The Story: Being a sequel, it’ll be hard for anyone that didn’t play the first to keep pace during this game with a lot of the stuff that’s going on. But it’s also a more focused and simple story at it’s core, outside of the over-arching trilogy that it’s all fueling. With a likable protagonist to relate to this time around it’s far more fun to play the role of the assassin. 9/10

The Sound and Visual: Some of the best moments come while atop a building, staring out over the landscape and the town around you. The draw distance is astonishing, and the details to the city layout or more than just admirable. Some of the cutscenes, however, are showing their age for the engine. The dialogue here is better, and the voices seem to be spread a bit more thick as well – still the rumblings of the town will start to sound all the same after ten hours of running around. 8/10

The Improvements: Maybe we should just expect this every time we play a sequel, but if you play enough games you know that it just isn’t always the case. Ubisoft went out and addressed everything that made people shy away from the first As or kept it from being truly remarkable. You can swim, you feel more apart of the town, you feel like you have a real impact on the world, you don’t need to sit on benches to listen to people, you don’t need to do side-quests but there’s more of them, there’s more weapons, more ways to assassinate, more ways to infiltrate, you can boat around on a  gondola, your armor damages, and your acrobatics feel better than ever culminating in some of the best platforming side missions I’ve ever seen- they make you wonder what Prince of Persia coulda have been if it starred Ezio. I applaud the approach to developing when it’s not taken so defensively, when producers realize they can always do something better and so long as they try — we’ll all see the fruits of their labor. 10/10

SCORE: 90%

Câți dintre voi ați jucat primul Assassin’s Creed? Mulți, sunt sigur, având în vedere că jocul s-a vândut în opt milioane de exemplare. Chiar dacă a fost un succes comercial şi a devenit un nume greu în gaming după numai o singură intrare într-o serie de-abia începută, AC a fost un joc foarte criticat. Motivul? În nici un caz povestea, controlul sau probleme tehnice, ci repetitivitatea obiectivelor sale.

După doi ani de la lansarea primului jo, Ubisoft au notat şi adresat mai toate criticile și acum vin cu inevitabila continuare, care promite să fie un produs superior din toate punctele de vedere.

Assassin’s Creed 2 începe la câteva secunde după terminarea acțiunii din primul joc. Încă din primele momente, jocul prinde un ritm alert, primul obiectiv fiind evadarea din clădirea Abstergo, condusă de templierii moderni. Lucy, unul din puținele personaje cu care Desmond Miles (personajul principal al seriei) a interacționat în primul joc, se dovedește a fi de partea Asasinilor și îl aduce pe erou într-una din ascunzătorile breslei. Apoi îl convinge pe Desmond să adere la această facțiune, dar el nu dispune de abilitățile necesare pentru a fi un adevărat asasin. La fel ca în fimul Matrix, el va trebui să reintre în Animus pentru a dobândi abilităţile necesare, cât și pentru a descoperi noi detalii despre conflictul dintre Templieri și Asasini. Aici sunt prezentate și două noi personaje: Shaun și Rebecca. Shaun este responsabilul cu documentarea, iar Rebecca este ajutorul tehnic. Aceștia vor aduce comentarii din când în când, dar prea puține încât să devină personaje importante în joc.

Acțiunea jocului, sau mai bine zis retrăirile lui Desmond nu vor mai avea loc în perioada Cruciadelor, ci vor avansa câteva secole până în perioada Renașterii. Nici locația din primul joc nu s-a păstrat, Orientul Mijlociu fiind lăsat la o parte în favoarea Italiei, în orașele Florența și Veneția, cât și alte orășele de legătură dintre acestea. Având în vedere că acțiunea a înaintat în timp cu câteva sute de ani, Desmond nu va mai retrăi bucăți din viața lui Altair, ci din cea a lui Ezio Audittore de Firenze. Inițial un tânăr nobil, ajunge în timp unul din cei mai de temut asasini, iar noi, din perspectiva lui Desmond, vom vedea modul în care evoluează povestea vieţii sale.

Acțiunea fiind plasată în Italia Renascentistă, majoritatea personajelor importante pe care Ezio le întâlnește sunt nume celebre din istorie, precum Leonardo Da Vinci, Lorenzzo de Medici sau Rodrigo Borgia, iar aceștia au un rol important în desfășurarea acțiunii. În pielea lui Ezio nu vom fi asasini de la bun început, ca în cazul lui Altair. Ezio este fiul lui Giovanni Auditore, un important bancher din Florența, care activează și ca asasin pentru familia Medici. În urma unui complot templier, Giovanni împreună cu ceilalți doi fii ai săi sunt executați. Normal, Ezio va continua ”tradiția” familiei şi va încerca să-şi răzbune familia. În evoluţia sa descoperă o nouă ”lume”, în care Templierii vor să pună mâna pe o serie de artefacte pentru a controla omenirea, iar Asasinii încearcă să le pună bețe în roate cu orice preț.

Încă neinițiat în domeniul asasinatelor, Ezio va trebui să învețe majoritatea tehnicilor pe care asasinii le folosesc. Unul dintre primele este ”blending”-ul, o tehnică pe care am întâlnit-o în primul joc, dar aici prezentă într-o formă mai avansată. Din pricina criticilor aduse primului joc, blendingul îl ascunde pe Ezio de gărzile care îl caută prin simpla apropiere de un grup mai mare de trecători de pe stradă. Acest lucru este evidențiat pe ecran prin apariția unei zone ”safe” pe jos, în jurul oamenilor, cât și prin schimbarea culorii celor care îl ascund. Tot ce trebuie să facă pentru a rămâne ascuns este să meargă în același rând cu oamenii de pe stradă și urmărirea încetează.

O altă tehnică introdusă de la bun început este furatul din buzunarele trecătorilor. Acest lucru se face automat în momentul apăsării tastei de furat. Se poate fura atât de la trecătorii cât și de pe cadavrele pe care Ezio le lasă în urma unei bătălii. Ce se fură? Bani! Banii au un rol destul de important în a doua parte a lui Assassin’s Creed, în care avem un întreg sistem economic, dar despre ce poți face cu banii vom discuta puțin mai târziu.

Mi-a plăcut foarte mult faptul că schema de control nu s-a schimbat aproape deloc. Încă din primele secunde am început să execut mișcările din primul joc, pentru că schema de control a primului joc era atât de simplă și de ușor de reținut, încât chiar și după doi ani mi-am amintit-o perfect. Din păcate aceasta are aceleași mici defecte ca și primul titlu, precizia în sărituri nefiind punctul forte al jocului.

Free running-ul este prezent și în Asssassin’s Creed 2, în mare parte neschimbat. Ezio poate să execute aceleași mișcări de care dispunea și Altair. Din fericire, Ubisoft au adăugat și câteva mișcări noi care fac jocul mult mai plăcut. Cea mai mare adiție, din punctul meu de vedere, este faptul că noul erou poate să înoate. În loc să fii întors la cel mai apropiat checkpoint, ca în primul joc, odată intrat în contact cu apa poți înota până pe malul celălalt, te poți ascunde sub apă pentru o perioadă limitată pentru a scăpa de urmăritori sau poți înota până la cea mai apropiată gondolă pentru a o deturna. Din păcate inamicii nu pot face asta, oricare dintre aceștia fiind eliminați din luptă odată ce ajung în apă.

O nouă abilitate și probabil cea mai importantă din perspectiva navigării orașelor este faptul că Ezio poate să sară pe plan vertical în momentul în care este agățat de un obiect din peisaj. Durează ceva timp de la începerea jocului până învață această abilitate, dar odată dobândită devine una din cele mai folosite.

Porumbeii au simţit ceva.

 

În timpul luptei au fost introduse și noi mișcări de ”dezarmare”. Acestea funcționează în mare parte la fel ca mișcările de ”counter” din primul joc (care încă există, cu animații diferite pentru fiecare armă în parte), prin apăsarea la momentul oportun al butonului de atac în timp ce nu este mânuită nici o altă armă. Această acțiune va declanșa o animație spectaculoasă care va plasa arma inamicului în mâinile lui Ezio.

Și lupta fără arme a primit îmbunătățiri. În momentul în care prinzi un inamic în loc să îl împingi în alt loc, asemeni primului joc, acum îi poți ”căra” o serie de capete în gură sau poți lovi inamicii cu piciorul când sunt doborâți. Aceste mișcări au fost explicate de Ubisoft prin faptul că Ezio participa la luptele de stradă pentru a proteja onoarea familiei, fiind tehnici nefolosite de asasinii antrenați.

Căpițele cu fân sunt din nou plasate fix lângă zonele cele mai înalte din joc pentru a-i atenua căderea (deși în realitate nu l-ar ajuta cu nimic). Acestea pot fi folosite și la asasinarea inamicilor care stau lângă ele, cât și la ascunderea cadavrelor acestora. Arsenalul lui Ezio este de asemenea mai mare decât cel al lui Altair. Ezio dispune pe lângă hidden blade, cuțite de aruncat și de sabie de mai multe ”gadget-uri”, majoritatea fiind ”făurite” de Leonardo Da Vinci însuşi. Cele mai importante sunt, evident, modificările și upgrade-urile pentru “hidden blade”. Este vorba despre al doilea “hidden blade”, cu care Ezio poate executa asasinate duble (cele mai spectaculoase sunt cele aeriene), adăugarea unei sticluțe cu otravă la unul dintre “hidden blade”-uri și pistolul. Leonardo Da Vinci îi pune la dispoziție lui Ezio un pistol rudimentar care se atașează la lamă, dar care trage foarte greu și este folosit numai când este nevoie de eliminarea unei ținte depărtate. Fiind o armă de foc, face și un zgomot destul de mare și atrage o atenție pe care Ezio nu prea și-o dorește în domeniul lui de ”muncă”.

Tot Da Vinci îl echipează pe Ezio cu bombe fumigene, foarte folositoare în momentele în care eroul vrea să scape de mai mulţi inamici. Pomeneam mai sus de un sistem economic: Ezio este plătit pentru majoritatea ”contractelor” pe care le îndeplinește şi astfel își poate cumpăra echipament nou care poate consta în săbii mai puternice, pumnale sau armuri mai bune. Armurile mai bune (și evident mai scumpe) îi vor mări bara de viață, care acum nu mai este regenerabilă. Armurile se pot deteriora și trebuie reparate la un fierar pentru a putea dispune din nou de toate pătrățelele de viață. Pentru a se vindeca, Ezio poate apela la medici, care pot fi găsiţi pe străzile orașelor sau poate cumpăra de la aceștia sticluțe cu medicamente pentru o vindecare on-the-go.

La un moment dat în joc, Ezio primește de la unchiul său Mario (ironic, nu?) orașul Monterigionni, care se află într-o stare deplorabilă. Scopul lui Ezio este să restaureze majoritatea clădirilor importante ale orașului pentru a-l readuce la prosperitate. Astfel, odată cu restaurarea fiecărei clădiri (fierărie, croitorie, bordel, mina de aur, etc.), valoarea orașului crește, iar taxele aduc mai mulți bani. Cu acești bani, Ezio poate să își cumpere, cum ziceam mai sus, echipament sau se poate folosi de ei și în alte scopuri. Unul dintre acestea ar fi să mărească valoarea orașului și mai mult prin cumpărarea de tablouri de la vânzătorii de artă (de unde se pot cumpăra și hărți cu comori ce se găsesc prin toate orașele), sau poate angaja diverși indivizi pentru a crea diversiuni. Curtezanele servesc drept ”blenders for hire” pentru momentele în care străzile sunt goale, iar Ezio nu are destui trecători pentru a se ascunde printre ei sau pentru a distrage gărzile care păzesc o anumită intrare. Același rol îl pot avea și hoții care fură de la gărzi, iar apoi fug, iar mercenarii sunt întotdeauna bine veniți într-o luptă cu mai mulți adversari.

Zbor deasupra unui cuib de oameni.

 

Spuneam că marea ”bubă” a primului Assassin’s Creed a fost repetitivitatea. Ubisoft au ascultat bine ce au avut de spus atât criticii, cât și fanii și au realizat din partea a doua a seriei o experiență pe cât de diversă, pe atât de lungă. Dacă în primul AC algoritmul jocului era: du-te în oraș, urcă-te cât mai sus, descoperă harta, vezi cele opt obiective, fă câteva dintre ele și treci la asasinat, iar apoi repeta asta de 10 ori pentru a termina jocul, în Assassin’s Creed II treaba stă puțin altfel.

Da, încă este bine să descoperi toată harta și da, încă există obiective oarecum repetitive, dar acestea sunt complet opționale. Firul poveștii se desfășoară prin obiective unice, rareori trebuind să faci același lucru de două ori. Pentru cei care vor mai mult de la joc, sau mai mulți bani, pot îndeplini misiuni secundare de asasinat, curse sau ajutarea unor oameni contra cost. Există și câteva scene care mi-am dorit să se repete, ca o cursă nebună la ”bordul” unei căruțe, sau controlarea mașinăriei de zbor a lui Leonardo Da Vinci, dar Ubisoft au făcut un joc atât de divers, încât acestea apar o singură dată în joc.

În pielea lui Ezio vom vizita atât Florența, Veneția, Monterigionni, Toscania și pentru o scurtă misiune, Roma (oare pe cine?). Aceste orașe sunt realizate impecabil, cu lux de amănunte, fiecare având un stil arhitectural propriu. Deși nu au fost realizate copii unu la unu, zonele arată foarte bine, iar majoritatea punctelor importante din orașe (care existau în secolul al XV-lea) sunt prezente și în joc, toate complet escaladabile.

Explorând orașele, odată cu găsirea unei clădiri mai importante, apare și o atenționare pe HUD-ul din Animus care ne oferă informații despre clădirea respectivă. Același lucru se întâmplă și atunci când Ezio se întâlnește cu diferite personaje istorice și este plăcut să afli câteva informații despre istoria Italiei în timp ce te joci.

Motorul grafic folosit în primul joc este prezent și în cel de față, fără modificări prea mari. Jocul arată în continuare foarte bine și se vede faptul că s-a lucrat intens pe această parte pentru a ne oferi o experiență fără probleme. Framerate-ul este întotdeauna constant la trei zeci de cadre pe secundă, dar acest lucru vine cu un cost: modelele personajelor nu sunt întotdeauna foarte bine realizate. Nu este deranjant, dar în opinia mea, se putea lucra puțin mai mult la acest capitol.

Vocile, în schimb sunt foarte bune. Majoritatea personajelor vorbesc într-o engleză cu accent italienesc, iar limbajul folosit este pe cât de serios, pe atât de comic. Foarte multe replici din joc sunt în italiană și de multe ori conțin înjurături. Acestea sunt traduse prin subtitrări fără nici un fel de cenzură.

Salt în necunoscut.

 

Jocul de față a reușit să fie mai bun chiar și pe partea de obiecte colecționabile. Acestea sunt atât indispensabile, ca paginile de codex fără de care nu se poate accesa ultima misiune din joc, cât și opționale. Cele opționale constau în pene de păsări care sunt împrăștiate prin joc, cât și “Glyph”-uri lăsate în programul Animus-ului de un utilizator mai vechi. Aceste “Glyph”-uri constau în rezolvarea unor puzzle-uri destul de ingenioase pentru a descoperi fragmente dintr-un clip care promite să dezvăluie ”adevărul”.

Toate aceste colecționabile au o explicație care se potrivește perfect cu povestea din joc și te instigă să le cauți pe toate.

Spre final voi spune și câte ceva despre ”mormintele de asasini” pe care Ezio le poate explora. Acestea sunt zone speciale care se văd pe harta jocului și pot fi explorate sau nu, în funcție de jucător. Acestea pun accentul mai mult pe platforming decât pe luptă, amintindu-mi oarecum de nivelurile din Prince of Persia, unde precizia și timing-ul trebuie să fie perfecte. Din păcate controlul din Assassin’s Creed 2 este mult mai bine folosit în spații deschise, de multe ori fiind nevoit să încerc de câteva ori anumite sărituri din cauza preciziei scăzute. Rezolvarea acestor zone speciale îi vor aduce lui Ezio un bonus pe care fanii seriei îl vor aprecia.

Nu regret nici o secundă din cele cincisprezece ore pe care le-am petrecut în compania lui Assassin’s Creed 2. Acest timp a fost investit strict în completarea poveștii principale și foarte puțin pentru a îndeplini obiectivele secundare. Pentru a completa jocul cu un procent de 100% este nevoie de peste 20-22 de ore de joc, dar sunt sigur că mulți dintre voi vor sări înapoi în joc după completarea firului epic. Finalul dă de înțeles că va exista și o continuare a poveștii conflictului dintre Templieri și Asasini și nu pot decât să mă bucur că va exista un alt joc Assassin’s Creed. Dacă dețineți un Xbox 360 sau un PlayStation 3, nu ratați Assassin’s Creed 2, este unul din puținele jocuri must-have din 2009.

Assassins Creed 2 contains some great ideas and is an excellent addition to the franchise. It feels more expansive and just overall larger than it’s predecessor. Most of all, the Storytelling is some of the most powerful I have seen in a game. Sure you see it coming from a mile away but the illusion of the likability of all the characters makes their story to powerful to end. Visually this game is superb, it captures all the aesthetic parts of italy from florence to Venice with such ar’e moire. The italian language that people keep speaking is frustrating if you do not put the subtitles on but for me it made the game all that much more believable. The Game has been expanded huge on the collectable part and everything feels like the Ocarina of Time…which isn’t a bad thing. It’s just epic. This is my game of the year, and I love it.

Bottom Line: Buy It!

Egy hete, hogy kiadták az Assassin’s Creed 2-t és nem lepődtünk meg, hogy elkapkodtak belőle 1,6 millió darabot… Nem semmi. Minden bizonnyal elégedettek a vásárlók, mivel 32%-al több példány fogyott  az előző részhez képest… ezidáig. A GameRankings.com összesítése szerint a kritikusok átlagosan 91%-os értékeléssel díjazták a konzolos verziót. Bizton állíthatom, hogy az Ubisoft ismét nagyot alkotott… Sajnos a PC-s verzióra még várnunk kell 2010. márciusáig…:(

Assassins Creed Bloodline review

Assassins Creed series  debuts on the psp with BloodLine. It does not stray very far from the assassins creed games with have known and played. You can still throw daggers , collect stuff , counter attack , your secret blade and your trusty main sword.Like the 1st game you control the deadly/violent but silent altair and like the first game you are templar hunting all over place while altair himself is being hunted by the templars.Bloodline has some really great moments but overall it …fails.

You can never experience the enviroment like you did on AC PS version . Obviously the ps graphics are going to be much better but what I mean is in AC you actually felt like an assassin because you had great abilities.Like Roof jumping , wall climbing and stealth .Roof jumping in this game is nowhere near as enjoyable in this psp version. If it’s not the camera whats stopping you from jumping properly its the space in between buildings and there are a lot of space between buildings in this game.Only a few walls can be scaled because most are smooth and stealth does not really work because of clumsy AI.

The storyline is very same and boring. They could have tried a lot harder with the story it seems very rushed.If you are fan of this you will be very disappointed to find out that this hardly  sheds any sort of light into the main storyline.The charecter design was very well done but its a  shame we cannot say that about the enviroment which is again boring and plain.

The missions are very repetitive and when you finally reach a boss stage it evenually  becomes too easy. The evirmoment again plays a big part in me not enjoying  , its so restricted you just fee like your playing the same level in the same places. Stealth elements in missions  is pretty much not needed because of poor A.I .To much focus was put into the fighting(What is fun but kinda. fails a lot) and not on the stealth.The counter attacking becomes played out afterwhile and final Kills are sometimes glitchy .One thing what makes the fighting quite intresting is the zooming in bit , the camera gets a thumbs up for that .Even though a lot of the stealth elements are missing , you can still run up on people or just unexpectedly jump on people but A.I are prety clumsy in this game and also start to appear from no place.

During my family leave, I’ve gotten some time during 2.0’s sporadic sleep schedule to play a ton of games. The majority of those games features a common, popular gameplay element – set collection.  You know what I’m talking about, right?  It’s that optional gameplay element in which you’re invited (usually unsuccessfully) to “collect them all” or “find them all”.  A few examples:  Okami’s stray beads, Gears of War’s COG tags, Fallout 3’s bobbleheads, Ratchet & Clank’s golden bolts, Super Smash Bros.’s trophies, Pokemon’s… pokemon.  There are also other, more subtle forms of set collection that you may not have thought about: multiplayer titles, skill sets, armor sets, crafting recipes, beastiaries, codexes (I’m looking at you, Bioware) – even Xbox/PS3 achievements/trophies can fall into this category.  Since I’m a bit OCD and somewhat of a collection nut, I spot these collection opportunities rather quickly.  I also tend to determine rather quickly that the vast majority of such opportunites are not worth my time investment.  And I’m sure many of you have done the same thing – shelved a game without even giving a second thought to those things you left uncollected in that bygone world.  There’s a reason for that – it’s because most games implement set collection badly.  In this series of articles, I’d like to use personal experience from playing various games to examine how other games could improve the quality of these collection mechanics and give players more incentive to participate in these peripheral activities.

First, let’s define what comprises a “set collection mechanic” to restrict the scope of this article:

• Players must be able to complete the set: this rules out procedurally generated things (eg. Diablo/Torchlight loot) or a continually growing set of user-generated content (eg. Spore creatures or Second Life sets).
• Completion of the set should be a peripheral activity and NOT be required to progress through the game: otherwise, our examination of the player’s motivation to complete a set overlaps with other motivating factors; so this restriction prevents applying our study to things like the various mandatory devices in Zelda games – technically, it’s a set of devices that can be collected in its entirety, but (excepting upgrades to bag sizes, etc.) it MUST be completed to progress through the game; heart pieces, however, qualify as a valid set.
• The set must have some easily accessible, manifested representation in the game: in other words, the set must be an intentional collection placed by the designer; this rules out user-defined meta-sets.  Such sets are contrived by individual players who have clearly already conjured up the necessary motivation to attempt collecting the set.  For instance, in Animal Crossing: Wild World, I attempted to find and purchase all of the instruments in the game to make a music room – nothing in the game actually lists the set of instruments; neither are they denoted by some special icon.  It’s an arbitrary set I made up for which I had already mustered the necessary motivation to collect.

Now that we’ve defined the bounding conditions, I’d like to start this series with an examination of a game I only recently had the opportunity to play: the original Assassin’s Creed (and just in time for part II!).  As much as I enjoyed playing the game, I ran into a rather irksome collection mechanic – the city flags.  Of all the collect-them-all mechanics I’ve experienced in games thus far, the city flags are probably the worst of the bunch (at least as far as I can remember).  It didn’t take long after leaving the confines of Masyaf for me to swear off the entire collection altogether.  Here’s why:

• There don’t appear to be any gameplay or narrative rewards for procuring flags except for meta-rewards (i.e. Achievements and 100% completion with the filled “Additional Memories” DNA bar).  Even if such a tangible reward existed at the end of the tunnel, it’s so elusive that it doesn’t really factor into the typical player’s drive to collect the flags.
• Aside from their location, flags are indistinguishable from one another, making the experience of finding one identical each time.  This was exacerbated by the fact that there are 420 of those indistinguishable things!  So finding one was an altogether insignificant and homogenous (read: boring) experience.
• Flags are not particularly challenging to acquire.  Reaching them is simply a matter of hidden knowledge rather than a test of skill or logic.

I’m going to take a look at each of these three points and examine how other games have remedied the problems with Assassin’s Creed’s flag-collection gameplay.

Collection Rewards

One could argue that completing an in-game collection is reward enough.  That may very well be true.  I think that such collections generally fall into the category in which each individual item in the set is distinct enough to provide sufficient player motivation (see the Collection Distinction section below).  But in any case, it doesn’t hurt to provide some extra incentive to the player to collect a set of things.  These extra incentives can typically be categorized as either a gameplay reward or a narrative reward.

Gameplay rewards consist of additional skills or abilities (or some currency toward the purchase of skills or abilities) that expand and augment the player’s gameplay experience.  The most recent example that comes to mind is Brutal Legend’s bound serpents, which, when found, each provide a small amount of fire tributes that can be used to purchase upgrades at the motor forge.  Furthermore, for every ten bound serpents that are freed, the player character Eddie Riggs gets an upgrade to some element of his stats.

Alternatively, collections can grant narrative rewards in several different forms. Again, Brutal Legend provides a convenient example of such a collection: the “legends” scattered across the landscape.  For each one the player finds, another cutscene detailing the Brutal Legend mythos is revealed.  Coincidentally, I also discovered that Halo 3: ODST contains an identical mechanic in the form of the audio logs that follow a story indirectly related to the main plotline.  Yet another example of a narrative collection reward is BioShock’s audio diaries, narrated by multiple characters related to the main story.  However, ODST and Brutal Legend’s narrative collections differ in that each piece of the collection is not associated with a specific piece of the narrative reward.  In other words, whether you find piece A before or after piece B, you’re always going to get story reward A before story reward B.  This is not true for BioShock’s narrative collection, in which specific audio logs are found in specific locations.  This is an important distinction that we’ll revisit in the next section.

There is, of course, no reason why a particular collection can’t give both narrative and gameplay rewards, as is evident in Brutal Legend’s “legend” collection (which I neglected to mention also gives fire tributes for each legend discovered).  Another game I’ve played recently (after putting it off long enough) is Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, in which every five pieces of treasure nets the player medal points that are used to unlock various metagame rewards (tweakable game modifiers like infinite ammo, faster run, and weapon select) and bonus content such as concept art and development videos.  I’ve lumped extra-game content into the category of “narrative rewards” in that they don’t actually augment the game experience.  In all of these examples, I think it’s safe to say that these various rewards can often be an effective incentive to the player to collect the entire set.

Collection Distinction

There is an important element of set collection that seems to be a no-show in many of its incarnations: distinction.  Each element of a set should be easy distinguishable from each other, via its textual, iconic, or geometric representation and/or some titular or numeric label.  As I’ve already observed, all of the flags in a particular area in Assassin’s Creed are identical except for where they are located.  This makes collecting each and every one the exact same experience.  There’s no sense of novelty in finding another one.

As I mentioned earlier, collecting a set of objects can be reward in itself – but this is generally a strong enough motivation to the player only when a distinction is made between the elements of the set.  The word “collecting” carries the connotation of collecting distinct elements.  How often do stamp collectors attempt to find every copy of only one type of stamp?  Or how often do card collectors try to acquire every copy of one particularly rare card?  While these real-world examples present collection goals that are obviously marred by real-world obstacles and impossibilities that don’t exist in the virtual space, art reflects life.  And in life, the appeal of set collection is in the diversity of the set’s various elements and in how those elements complement each other.  The set is a puzzle whose pieces, as they come together, become a clearer and more magnificent picture (even if that picture’s got a few missing spots).

I’ve always liked Nintendo’s first-party approach to collections.  I’m specifically referring to the trophies of the Super Smash Bros. series.  Each trophy is fan-service at its best – each with a unique, nostalgic 3D model of some Nintendo character, object, or setting and a short description of the subject.  All of the player’s trophies are displayed together in one place, literally becoming that magnificent picture I described.  It’s like looking at that Edge Magazine cover with all of the video game shoutouts.  I also played The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker recently (picked it up on the cheap a long time ago and only got around to playing it a few weeks ago).  In that game is a similar collection that the player can complete by using a camera to take pictures of the game’s enemies and NPC’s and showing them to a particular sculptor, who crafts figurines of the photographs’ subjects that are put on display throughout various trophy rooms.  Each figurine can be viewed in three dimensions and contains a short description of the subject’s place in the game universe.

And then, of course, we come back to Pokemon.  While each captured Pokemon simultaneously serves as a gameplay reward (with the new pokemon’s abilities at the player’s disposal), I would argue that the vast majority of pokemon are caught for the sake of completing a player’s Pokedex.  After all, the catchphrase (at least in America… not sure if it’s translated from Japanese) is “Gotta catch ‘em all!”, right?  And since the distinction between each pokemon is both visual and interactive, the drive to collect each one is that much more powerful.

Which reminds me of Endless Ocean (which I’m not ashamed to admit is one of my favorite games on the Wii).  At some point in the game, the player is allowed to populate a personal aquarium with creatures that he or she had already discovered.  It’s yet another fantastic Nintendo example of an interactive collection.

In fact, it appears that the common factor between these Nintendo games’ collections is the extent to which the player is allowed to appreciate his or her collection.  3D models that can be viewed from all angles, textual info and categorization, and in some cases, interactivity all contribute to the player’s connection to the collection and his or her drive to complete it.  It sure beats a little check mark or a line in a book or even a little icon.  And that is why, when Sony announced Playstation Home, something inside me grew giddy at the thought of 3D trophy displays.  Too bad it didn’t turn out that way…

There’s also one oft overlooked property that distinction imparts to a collectible set – it allows each element in the set to be described individually.  The reason this is so important is this: FAQ’s – of the GameFAQs type.  Not everyone can be expected to find every single element of the set on their own.  For those collectors that don’t wish to invest the required time, they should at least be able to look up the locations of the missing pieces.  This is impossible to do when the individual pieces are indistinguishable from one another.  This is especially problematic in Assassin’s Creed because in order to use a guide, you must use it for every single flag.  Otherwise, unless you have picture-perfect memory or you’re using a video guide (which I imagine would be ridiculously lengthy), you cannot possibly know whether you’ve already found a particular flag or you’re just looking at a slightly incorrect location on a flag map because there’s no way of knowing whether you already found “flag 53″ on the map – you only know that you’ve found 178 total flags, one of which may be the anonymous “flag 53″ in question.  I know this isn’t a purely ludological reason for set element distinction, but it’s a valid one nonetheless.  I’m rather confident that all but the most hardcore purists fall back on external sources (strategy guides, FAQ’s) to complete a collection.  I do it all the time.  So even if the “distinction” in a collectible set is just a numeric label or a dull identifier (like Okami’s stray beads), it’s still an important thing to have for the sake of simplifying the collection process itself.

Collection Gameplay

It’s important to ensure that the gameplay surrounding the collecting of objects is as solid as the elements of the collection itself.  I can group collection gameplay into at least three broad categories: steady-stream, challenge, and exploratory.

• Steady-stream collection: these are the sets of the type where the player gets a relatively steady stream of random elements of the set, and completing the collection becomes all about either trading for the missing elements or just investing enough into the game.  Examples: Smash Bros. trophies, Culdcept Saga’s cards (or any CCG’s cards, for that matter), Treasure World’s treasures, Animal Crossing’s fossils, a good number of Free Realms’ collection components.
• Challenge collection: these are the sets whose elements take actual gameplay skill to acquire.  Examples: Street Fighter IV’s multiplayer titles, Modern Warfare 2’s Spec-Ops mode stars, Braid’s stars (yeah, you might not have known about them; I sure as heck didn’t), Xbox 360 achievements and PS3 trophies.
• Exploratory collection: these are the types of sets whose elements are found by exploring the game space.  Typically, you’ll find these kinds of collections in shooters and action games.  Examples (there are tons of them but I’ll just name a few): Gears of War’s COG tags, Modern Warfare’s intel, ODST and Bioshock’s audio logs/diaries, Fallout 3’s bobbleheads, just about everything in Brutal Legend.

Assassin’s Creed’s flag collection can basically be classified as an exploratory collection.  It is this class of collection that I believe is most often (and most disappointingly) implemented.  The big problem that I’ve experienced with these collections is this: they break immersion by forcing the player to think not as the protagonist or the player character but rather as a designer.

For most of these exploratory collections, the elements are often placed with little to no narrative sense.  They’re usually either strewn about randomly or hidden in obscure corners of the map that oftentimes don’t even seem accessible.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, completing such a collection is an excercise in hidden knowledge more than anything else.

When searching for elements of such collections, I almost always find myself thinking things like, This corridor doesn’t lead to anywhere meaningful – there must be something there, or, This ledge is out-of-the-way, but it’s accessible – there must be something there.  The only logic behind these thought processes comes from putting myself in the designers’ shoes rather than doing what makes sense in the context of the game and the narrative.  My wife can even attest to this fact as she watched me play Uncharted, exclaiming, “I smell treashuz!” whenever my designer sense started tingling.  And it netted me 50 out of 60 treasures on my first run-through.  I had similar moments in ODST.  When a path led indoors and to some seemingly irrelevant balcony, I could usually count on finding an audio log.  And there’s no reason to think this Sophie character was actually at any of those audio log locations.

Brutal Legend, however, contains a great example of an exploratory collection with at least some measure of contextual sense – the landmark viewers.  They’re around landmarks!  If I saw something in the world that looked like a landmark, I knew there was a landmark viewer nearby.  I didn’t have to go probing the mind of some sadistic designer.  Another simple way of limiting the breaking of immersion would be to give the player character some in-game way of “sensing” nearby elements of a collection – some blinking UI element or controller rumble feedback to indicate the proximity of the element.  I can’t immediately think of any games that have really done this, although I’m absolutely sure someone must have.  The closest example I can think of is Ocarina of Time’s use of the rumble pak to signal to the player that something was hidden nearby.

Application

So how could Assassin’s Creed have improved its flag collection gameplay?  Personally, I think the most unintrusive way would have been to tie flags to labeled chunks or chapters of historical info (fictional or otherwise) about the city.  Such a change wouldn’t involve adding abilities or tweaking/rebalancing character progression to accommodate gameplay rewards – and the change would fit well with the game’s prominent narrative delivery and historical setting.  Of course, this would probably involve cutting the number of flags down significantly – a most welcome change.  In fact, why not change the flags altogether and instead make them distinctly crafted relics in the vein of Uncharted’s treasures?  They would probably fit into the world a little better that way.   (Really – why are there random flags all over the place, anyway?)  Along those lines, the seeding of these “relics” could be in more logical locations: at the top of notable landmarks or inside obvious places of importance rather than in the shadows of some inconspicuous alley or atop a nondescript rooftop.  Furthermore, the designers can spread clues regarding the locations of those relics throughout lesser “eavesdropping” opportunities in the game.  I found the eavesdropping mechanic to be rather contrived, as the player can only eavesdrop for an investigative mission.  It would have been much more interesting if there were other groups of conversations on which the player could eavesdrop to get clues – much in the same way that pickpocketing is used for both investigations and for acquiring throwing knives.  And, being the valuable relics that they are, some of them can be guarded by hostile templars who must be circumvented or defeated, while others can be locked away in trap-laden rooms requiring a touch of finesse and dexterity to traverse.

And for the record, I have not yet touched the second title in the series.  So now someone who’s finished playing Assassin’s Creed II can tell me whether Ubisoft did, in fact, add a more compelling collection mechanic.

So that covers the shortfalls I noticed in Assassin’s Creed’s flag collection and how one might possibly improve that segment of gameplay. In my next post, I’ll be exploring the importance of community and recognition and how those things have strengthened the player’s drive to collect – especially with the most recent console generation’s emphasis on online play.

Jerusalén, 1191 D. C.

La tercera cruzada está haciendo trizas la Tierra Santa. Eres un asesino de élite enviado para poner fin a las hostilidades y tu objetivo es eliminar figuras claves de los cruzados y de los sarracenos. Pero a medida que llevas a cabo tus misiones, empiezas a descubrir una conspiración. Te ves envuelto en un conflicto que amenaza no solo a Tierra Santa, sino a todo el mundo.

«Nada es verdad, todo está permitido»

Los jugadores asumen el papel del personaje principal, Altair, y trabajan para acabar con las hostilidades del lugar suprimiendo las dos partes del conflicto y utilizando la experiencia del arte de los assassin.

* Experimenta el poder de un temido asesino. Tus acciones pueden sumir a tu entorno más inmediato en el caos, y tu existencia dará forma a los acontecimientos en este momento crucial de la tercera cruzada.

* Sé un asesino: Planea tus ataques sin piedad, golpea sin compasión y lucha para escapar.

* Entornos realistas e interactivos: Toda acción tiene sus consecuencias. La muchedumbre reacciona a tus movimientos y ayudan o entorpecen tus misiones.

* Acción con libertad total: Elimina a tus objetivos donde quieras, cuando quieras y como quieras. Haz lo que sea necesario para cumplir tus objetivos.

Imagenes:

http://letitbit.net/download/4585.deb411bb17086d55fd34a7a71/ASSASSINS_CREED.JuegosForFree.wordpress.com.mdf.html

http://letitbit.net/download/1124.1e36682228fe6063217825f5e/ASSASSINS_CREED.JuegosForFree.wordpress.com.mds.html

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage Review and Full Film

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

With Assassin’s Creed 2 being released this week worldwide, Ubisoft has released Parts 2 and 3 of their lead-up film Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, which chronicles events prior to the game.

Detailing a vast conspiracy in Renaissance Italy and featuring Giovanni, the father of the game’s protagonist Ezio, as the Assassin, the first of the films (fully reviewed by OXCGN here) achieved more than 1.7 million hits on YouTube in 24 hours.

With the rest of the film now released and fully viewable here on OXCGN, what are we to make of the elaborate promotional prequel?

The Full Assassin’s Creed: Lineage Film:

First of all, the complete 36 minute film, directed by Canadian film director Yves Simoneau and produced by Hybride Technologies (300, Sin City), shows amazing attention to detail in its authenticity both to a historical Renaissance feel and to the Assassin’s Creed video games themselves.

As I’ve said in my first review, the believable acting, authentic-looking costumes, candle-lit set design, sweeping views and cinematography of Renaissance cities, and creative transitions makes this short film surprisingly ‘big production’ and shows more quality than most game to film full length features I’ve seen.

Because this is a short film the plot and scenes are necessarily abbreviated and quick cut, but it is certainly engaging stuff and doesn’t sink too far into over-dramatics or padded content just to overly illustrate how hard they have worked on it.

There are excellent context shots showing crowds going about their daily business, as they do in the games, and tender family moments to remind us of that central focus for Giovanni, before moving onto the inevitable pursuits from rooftops or rapid acrobatic fight scenes.

"Family, Justice, Honour"

The central conspiracy takes the viewer on a voyage from Florence, to Milan, to Venice, and to Rome but only briefly outlines the conspirators and their ‘chess’ movements against each other.

In a full length film I would expect these personnel and their motivations to be better explored, but we get the idea: Giovanni is on Lorenzo de Medici’s side, which is under attack by another mysterious nefarious group including families like the Borgias, the Barbarigo’s (one of whom is Doge (ruler) of Venice), and even the Pope.

Features of the upcoming game are also present, as demonstrated by Giovanni’s use of the coin to distract a guard in Venice, which Ezio will also be able to do in the game.

In the film the coin was also creatively used as a hint at the end of part 1 as to where part 2 would begin, with the winged lion of Venice on the coin ending part 1 mirroring the winged lion statue in St. Mark’s Square (which incidentally holds an open book, meaning Venice was at peace when it was constructed) in the next part.

It’s these interesting transitions that really frame and integrate the different parts of the film where the fast pace could have made scenes look jumbled and confusing.

Themes present well.

The themes are clearly presented, promoting the multiple dualities that will exist in the upcoming game.

This is first made clear with the introduction, which contrasts the “corruption, betrayal, murder and secrets” of the time and place of Renaissance Italy with Giovanni’s personal motivations for his cause, “family, justice and honour”.

Of course the major duality of the games is revealed in the film: the ongoing conflict between the Assassins and the Templars, who have apparently survived their purge in the Middle Ages and are currently engaged in manipulating change in the political power landscape of Tuscany.

We know we are dealing with Templars when Rodrigo Borgia (who escaped Giovanni and saw his identity in the first episode) is seen to utter among a table of brethren “May the father of understanding be with us” before the group place their swords onto the table to form a Templar cross.

Love and hate (the love of the Auditore family for each other contrasted with the hate of the conspirators) forms another contrast.

Justice and murder yet another: Giovanni’s killings to try and prevent injustice contrasted with the conspirators’ murder of Lorenzo de Medici’s chief ally, Sforza, in a Milan church.

A present from Leonardo

Loyalty and corruption is another: Giovanni’s loyalty to Medici is contrasted with the betrayal by the priest and Lorenzo’s chief minister who lie about breaking the secret letter’s code, sending Giovanni into a trap in Rome. They then try to have him captured from his home at the end of the film.

Even the Pope weighs in, seeing an opportunity to end Florence’s infamous independent city-state status and offers “spiritual and military” help when he is supposed to be looking after all God’s flock.

These contrasts will be what Ezio will face when the game begins.

The film has certainly set up the stage.

Ezio’s father is being pursued, his brother Federico becomes  ‘protector of the family’, though not for long as Ezio will have to take over, and there is a dangerous group that “is going to win a war you don’t even know has begun yet”.

And what is Ezio doing to prepare, despite becoming suspicious, asking his father at one point: “Why does a banker leave so often at night?”.

Why, he’s flirting with a hot girl in the street, of course.

ASSASSIN’S CREED 2 PAGES for your enjoyment:

• OXCGN Reviews Assassin’s Creed Lineage 1 Film
• Assassin’s Creed 2 The Movie Official Trailer Out
• The Merchants of Venice
• Assassin’s Creed 2: The End Of La Dolce Vita
• E3 ‘09 Assassin’s Creed 2 details
• Medieval Manhattan: Our discovery of San Gimignano as one of the game’s locations
• Assassin’s Creed 2 images page
• OXCGN Dissection of Assassin’s Creed 2

© 2009 David Hilton

Primele detalii despre Assassin’s Creed 2 au fost dezvaluite de Game Informer, dupa ce Ubisoft a lansat un teaser cu cateva zile inainte.

Actiunea va avea loc in Venetia, in anul 1476, avand in prin plan un nou erou, Enzio, aflat intr-o lume plina de intrigi politice, familii razboinice si un cler corupt.

In Assassin’s Creed 2 va apare si Leonardo da Vinci, jucand rolul de sfetnic si inventator, acesta fiind un apropiat al lui Enzio. Razboiul dintre Templars si Assassins va continua, Enzio trebuind sa invete cum sa devina un razboinic.

Se pare ca Leonardo Da Vinci va furnzia o serie de arme si mecanisme de lupta, fiind un fel de Q (din seria James Bond) renascentist.

RELEASE DATE : Noiembrie 2009

sursa : www.gamemag.ro

Voici la première partie du film! bon cinéma
(C’est en 3 partie de 30 minutes je crois)

La primera parte de esta serie de tres cortos live-action, a modo de precuela del segundo juego de la saga; producidos por el estudio Hybride Technologies (300, Sin City) que ahora es parte de Ubisoft.

Puts.. o cara do Sopre O Cartucho legendou a 1a parte do curta do Assassin’s Creed, vou colocar aqui e dps conforme ele for legendando os outros eu atualizo (se eu lembrar também).

“Assasin’s Creed Lineage” is a short movie that is based on the hit video game for the PS3/Xbox. The movie has been exclusively released for youtube only.

I actually watched the whole thing and it was actually pretty cool. I never played the two, “Assasin’s Creed” video games, but after seeing this movie makes me want to buy them.

Check it out, this is a very cool movie and cool story.

Kev