Part 2 adds more possibilities to the mix….

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

When and where will Assassin’s Creed 3 take place?  In Part 1 I outlined four possible options and now with Part 2 we will look at several more.

With so many clues revealed through codex, ’subject 16′ revelations, symbols on walls, Pieced of Eden locations, and 6 statues in the Tuscan villa, Ubisoft could be directing us to the next instalment, or just throwing around a lot of food for conjecture.

So, the next few are:

5. Ancient Greece/ Rome/ Egypt/ Persia

Assassin of Persia?

In keeping with my argument that there is no reason for this series to continue in chronological order, and with hints both in the games and from other sources, Assassin’s Creed 3 may go back to ancient times.

Inevitably when you are dealing with ‘ancient mysteries’ and objects of ’sacred power’ these will reach back to earliest times.  These times could be biblical or mythological: Ancient Egypt or Lost Atlantis.

There are hints of an Egyptian, Roman and Persian Assassin in Assassin’s Creed 2 (statues in the villa), but there is also the French comic book Assassin’s Creed: Desmond which details the Assassin Aquilus, son of Lucus, who attacks generals of the Roman Empire.

Ancient Egypt: origin of the mysteries?

I would welcome the series going to ancient times and there are many pivotal times and interesting places that can be explored.

There is Alexander the Great, who may have been poisoned (though this is less and less seen as likely), and his wars took him from Greece, to the Middle East, to Egypt, to Persia and to India.  Rich pickings for locations there!

Assassinate Brad Pitt...

What about the feud between the Macedonian leaders who took control of a divided empire after him?  There were assassinations and wars between them for many years.

Alexander’s great empire ended up divided into the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the East, the kingdom of Pergamon in Asia minor (present day Turkey), and Macedon.

Or you could go further back in Ancient Greek history and look at the Trojan War, with the city of Troy as your city to explore. A Piece of Eden is said to have helped in the use of the Trojan horse.

If Ubisoft chose the Roman Empire in the time of Antony and Cleopatra and their wars against Octavius (who would become the first Roman Emperor, Augustus) they could include Egyptian cities among those the Assassin must navigate and pursue his or her craft.

Ancient Rome is in the French comic....

Alexandria was certainly one of the premier cities of its age and Ancient Rome would be a joy to free-run through.

Certainly those options above involved important historical periods and their influence still echoes into our modern world.

Alexander’s empire and his Hellenistic culture changed the East and the Pax Romana after Augustus allowed Roman influence to develop and expand all along the Mediterranean and the North.

The problem is that there were no Templars before the Crusades, so they would have to be linked in somehow as it is unlikely Ubisoft will introduce new adversaries for the clan of Assassins to deal with.

How this would plausibly be done is beyond me.

6. Reconquista of Spain and the Spanish Inquisition

Toledo

Much of Spain was once owned by Muslim Moors who had crossed from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula.

The architecture of cities like Seville, Granada, Toledo and Cordoba reflected the often more sophisticated knowledge of the Moors in a time when Christian kingdoms tended to be suspicious of science.

However the Western kingdoms never stopped trying to reconquer the land, and when the Crusades became popular in Europe many knights, including the Templars before they were disbanded, went to fight in Spain.

Eventually in 1492 the reconquista was complete with the end of the last Moorish bastion in Al Andalus (Granada) and shortly thereafter Jews and Muslims were ejected and the infamous Spanish Inquisition expanded.

Reconquista of Spain

Until then, the city of Toledo often stood as a contrast to the turmoil.  It was where the three monotheistic religions (Christian, Muslim, and Jews) had relative peace and shared knowledge and culture (La Convivencia).

Not only would the cities of this period be fantastic to explore in an open-world style, but there were plenty of intrigue, plotting, and waring.  Sometimes the enemy was of your own faith.

The Crusades against the Moors and the subsequent expulsions of Muslims and Jews and the struggles and suffering faced by people during the harsher periods of Inquisition provides a colourful canvas for storytelling where an Assassin can operate against any number of enemies.

Even though the Templars had been disbanded, many of their knights in Spain and Portugal actually still remained organised together, though under a different name, like Knights of Christ.

7. Modern Times

Please, not here again!

After the conclusion of Assassin’s Creed 2 it looks like Desmond has everything he needs to go off and find the temples and many gamers argue that signifies that we will remain in modern times.

Even if the importance of the Animus has changed, Desmond’s time ‘bleeding’ could still enable the next game to involve a different time. I personally will be disappointed if we are stuck in modern times.

We’ve seen plenty of modern open-world or near open-world games, including the free-running Mirror’s Edge and the Prototype-type city.  Modern rectangular skyscrapers feature in way too many games as it is, and I’ve ranted and raved in previous articles against any more games in modern American cities like New York.

Modern Tunis is still historic and exotic

However, I do think there could be more scope for Desmond’s parts of the games featuring more prominently in the third part, since he seems to have a clear mission now.

However if this is the case I would still like to see mini-visits to the past to discover directions, perhaps in Eternal Darkness-style level structure.  Then there could be different members of the Assassins clan in different times.

Though the wide open worlds we are used to from Assassin’s Creed 1 and 2 might be more limited to single cities or locations, the narrative will take precedence.

The other option is to make the modern locations interesting ones that still exude history, like Rome, Prague, Istanbul, Rhodes, Tunis or Tallinn.

Is Armageddon the way to the 'New World Order' of the Templars?

Or they could be really daring and return to Jerusalem, this time in the present, with all the tensions that exist there now.  After all, many think the city significant to Armageddon, the final battle between the forces of good and evil, prophesied to occur at the end of the world.

I could be way off base here, but there is reference to the date December 21, 2012, the so-called End of the Age or End of Time for the Mayan calendar.

Not only that, but I found this book titled THE NEW TEMPLE AND THE SECOND COMING: The Prophecy That Points to Christ’s Return in Your Generation, which has an interesting outline that is not only about the end times, but about Temple treasure, Jerusalem, Temple vessels, and scrolls:

You will examine the biblical prophecies and research data that together solve end-times mysteries, including:

• the search for lost Temple treasures
• revealing discoveries in underground Jerusalem
• the process of recreating sacred Temple vessels
• unexpected clues revealed in the Copper Scroll and the Ezekiel Tablets
• the latest plans for rebuilding the Temple

Is this where Ubisoft are headed with the Assassin’s Creed series?  A race to cause/prevent Armageddon? Do Abstergo/ The Templars want to create some sort of Armageddon as a way to their ‘New World Order’ where religion is exposed as false and they hold ultimate control?  After all, Abstergo is also a Latin verb, meaning “to cleanse”.

I’m really not excited about a game set in modern times, but if something like the options I’ve outlined takes place I might not mind so much.

“

8. Cathar Crusade in Southern France

Carcassonne: fortress city under siege

The Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar ‘heretics’ of the southern Languedoc region of France in 1209 is interesting in that it pitted Christian armies against each other, much like the Constantinople conflict a few years earlier I outlined in Part 1.  Also like that conflict, the Crusaders were involved not only in a ‘Crusade” but in a more political, commercial, and territorial conflict than anything of religious significance.

The Roman Church certainly was getting sick of the “Good Men” preaching their dualist Gnostic heresy, but this was a war sought by the Northern Kingdoms to claim the wealth and territory of the South.

The region of Languedoc was a fiercely independent territory with its own advanced culture and language (Occitan) and respect of learning and art (for example the courtly love troubadour tradition), and had a well educated nobility for the times (familiar with Arabic advances in mathematics for example).

Cathar Crusade

It had excellent trading routes on the Mediterranean, was tolerant of sects like the Cathars who contrasted with the local clergy who were seen as apathetic and corrupt, and allowed women a higher status than in other kingdoms.

In contrast, much of the North was illiterate, poor and intolerant.  They not only wanted to wipe out the heretics, they wanted to take the South for themselves.  The assassination of a Papal Legate in 1208 allegedly by a knight of the Count of Toulouse provided the outrage to begin the war.

The results were a series of bloodbaths and the eventual formation of the Holy Inquisition.  Most in the South were not Cathars, but to the Crusaders there was to be no distinction: “Kill them all,” was the battle cry at Beziers, “God will know his own.”

30,000 armed soldiers descended on Beziers and the town’s 15 000 men, women, and children perished.  The heavily fortified city of Carcassonne withstood their siege until being betrayed dishonourably by the Crusader army, the city’s commander taken prisoner while under truce.

Holy Inquistion established

In the end the south was subjugated and annexed into France and the Cathars hunted down for years by the Inquisition.

The Templars were said to have been neutral in this conflict, but an Assassin’s Creed game can easily incorporate them and the Assassins into the intrigue, assassinations, betrayals, and search for the mysterious Cathar treasure that comes with the period.

Was the infamous Templar treasure that Jaques De Molay, last Grand Master of the Templars, supposedly safely hid before the King of France, Philip le Bel’s, coordinated assault on Friday the 13th October 1307, the same as the Cathar ‘treasure’?

One of the artifacts is supposed to have been in Rennes-le-Château, which is in Languedoc.  Or was it safely secreted away in Scotland (maybe in a sort of ‘temple’ in Loch Ness like Desmond is after?).  Could it therefore be related to the modern day Abstergo struggle in the games?

Certainly Carcassonne and its region would make a great locations to run, jump, duel and stab in.  In fact it still looks magnificiently medieval today.

9. The Fall of Quebec and New France (The Seven Year’s War)

Lobsters and Frogs

This one I suggest with a slight smirk.  It is for those who want Assassin’s Creed to remain chronological and also for the Montreal-based Ubisoft studio which is making the game.

It would certainly help them keep their research costs down since the studio is actually in the province of Quebec, Canada, which was part of New France.  And one of the artifacts is supposed to be in Montreal…

I’m not sure how the Templars and Assassins would fit into the plot exactly, but the backdrop of the Seven Year’s War (or French-Indian War) during the 1750s and 60s presents plenty of conflict in Europe and the New World between England and France and their native allies which changed the fortunes of those Empires and the world.

How? As Winston Churchill describes, it was the first “world war”, as it was the first conflict in human history to be fought around the globe.

Quebec City gate

Not only that but the end of New France meant the 13 colonies (American colonists) no longer needed England’s protection and would later rebel to form the United States of America.

France went into debt during this war and in supporting the American War of Independence, which helped create the circumstances that led to the French Revolution.

England became the foremost naval and economic power.

Though the conflict was spread out, the wars in New France would be the best setting for the game, though the story still could at least  begin in Europe.

The battle for Quebec City

In the most dramatic battle, General Wolfe and the English, using an amazingly risky strategy of a stealthy landing that paid off due to a series of lucky circumstances and mistakes by the French, won the Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City, which is still the only fortified walled city in North America today.

The English went on to win all of France’s North American territories, only to face the War of Independence against the American colonists later in 1775.

As for the game, Quebec City would make an excellent city in which to free-run and assassinate neo-Templars.  Under a blanket of snow the game environment could be fresh and have new features like having to avoid enemies who can see footprints or blood that has dripped from wounds in the snow, or watch out for slippery rooftops.

Quebec City snow: new gameplay possibilities

The major problem is determining how to play the conflict as it is doubtful Ubisoft would want to make all of the French or the English or the Natives good or bad, but simply use individuals in the conflict as enemies.  It would be like the newer Star Wars films where evil agents played both sides against each other for their own ends.

To conclude Part 2…

Let’s face it: Ubisoft can do whatever it wants.  It has left enough openings to explore Assassin’s Creed a variety of different ways.  It could be a trilogy like originally planned, or it could go on longer as recently stated.  It could be primarily based in modern times with little stints into the past, or it could still use a historic period as the major part of gameplay.

Ubisoft is not bound by the history it uses as a backdrop.  Already we have seen a female Templar in a celibate religious monastic military Order.  This simply would not happen (though there is the legend of a female Pope, Pope Joan…but she pretended to be male).

Nor is it bound by what we as gamers have interpreted from the lore of the games.  They may want to surprise us and take us into another direction, using what we’ve learned so far and twisting it to make a mockery of our conclusions.

In any case, Assassin’s Creed 3’s mysteries certainly provide food for thought and I can’t wait to hear where and when they decide to set the next game.

• Where would you like to see Assassin’s Creed 3?

Remember that David’s prediction of the current location and era was correct, so perhaps his predictions may well be close to the mark for the next iteration. Make your vote count, as we send these articles to Ubisoft, and they can  see your comments and the poll. We had many votes on the issue in Part one, so let’s see what we have to say here in part two.

Missed out on PART 1?  Click HERE.

©2009 David Hilton

• Other games in genre at discount $’s for ALL OXCGN readers + Bonus Points

Ubisoft continues the conspiratorial storyline of assassins versus templars with the recent release of Assassin’s Creed 2.

Venice is for lovers ...or assassins.

AC2 tells the story of Ezio Auditore de Firenze, an assassin in Renaissance Italy, and Desmond Miles, a near-future descendant of Ezio.  Ezio is out to get revenge on a group of conspirators for the unjust killing of some members of his family. The game plays like a typical third-person action game, with some stealth and platforming elements.  The controls, for the most part, are tight, however because the controller buttons are context sensitive sometimes Ezio does not always perform the action the player wants to do.  There are a few good things about the game as well as some bad.

The first good thing that is noticed is how gorgeous the game looks.  Character models are extremely well detailed, down to the little details such as a character’s hair style or beard.  Ezio moves fluidly through the world, and when he performs a killing attack animation they look so beautiful and deadly they will make the player cringe.  The historical accuracy of the game is another great aspect.  Many of the main characters, including the main antagonist, are real people who lived during that time period.  The conspiratorial story, while it does get a bit confusing and strange near the end, is very well written and mashes together Ezio’s story in Renaissance Italy and Desmond’s near-future story.  Many of the repetitive parts of the last game, which were previously necessary to upgrade the character’s health, are still in the game, but no longer a requirement.  The player now upgrades Ezio’s health by buying new armor and weapons.  The missions are also more varied than the last game in the series, not only including assassination missions but timed races, stealth missions, and courier missions.

Like previously mentioned, the controls sometimes do not do exactly what the player wants, but those times are few and are easy to get used to.  While the story gets a bit confusing near the end, it is obvious the developers are setting the story up for another game.  One other confusing thing about the story is why it takes place over a number of years in Ezio’s story.  The player never gets the sense that actual time has passed for the characters in the game, because over the course of only a few seconds the story will jump forward a couple years.

A fight or a dance party? You decide!

This game is an obvious choice for any fan of action games.  The graphics and character animations, especially Ezio’s killing animations, are gorgeous to say the least.  The controls are tight, although sometimes they do not do exactly what the player intends.  While the story does get a bit confusing at times, it is very well done and engaging.  The fact that a majority of the main characters were real people during Renaissance Italy makes the game even more interesting.  For fans of the original game, and any fan of third-person action games, this is a must play.

We take our first look in Part 1

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

When to next for the Assassin?

With Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2 achieving great first-week sales of 1.6 million units worldwide, a 32 percent increase on the original medieval action stealth title, which sold around 1.1 million copies the first week in 2007, I’ve decided to jump the gun a bit and explore where and when the inevitable third Assassin’s Creed game could take place.

Ubisoft have chosen very well for their first two titles and so they must think very carefully (if they have not already decided) [Ed: which they already have, but just haven't let on about] about the setting of the next installment, especially now that they’ve got the game’s mix of free-running action and mission diversity right this time.

Here is Part 1 of my list of possible time periods and settings that I’ve come up with after pondering the possibilities through the filter of my past education in history.  Part 2 is now available HERE. I’d really like to know which one you, as fellow gamers, think would fit the Assassin’s Creed style.

1. The Fourth Crusade: Crusaders Sack Fellow Christian Bastion of Constantinople

The Siege of Constantinople

This would be a bit of a “back to the past” as far as time period goes, but there is no reason why this series needs to stay in chronological order, except if Ubisoft believes gamers want ‘more’ technology (like the gun and flying machine in Assassin’s Creed 2).  I hope that isn’t the case because this period has much to recommend it.

First, the Medieval Crusader period is still a rich setting to explore, and second, the Fourth Crusade wasn’t remotely the same as the one explored in Assassin’s Creed.

Finally, it is a time when the Templars were still active, and they and the Assassins are central to all the games’ overarching plot.

This ‘crusade’ started out with the goal of Christian soldiers fighting the ‘infidel’ Muslims in the Holy Land, but the crusaders were waylaid by the Venetians and used instead to fight Venice’s trading rival and the Greek Orthodox Church in Constantinople (present day Istanbul).

In other words the war was about power, greed and competition between both the merchant cities and the two great Christian Churches: Roman Catholic and Eastern Greek Orthodox.

The Crusader sack of Constantinople in 1204 was largely due to Venice’s manipulation, where you had the Crusaders all ready to recapture Jerusalem only to get into debt with the Venetians who were to transport them there and then instead get pointed toward Constantinople to pay off their debts.

This presents plenty of the betrayals and manipulations found in the first two games.

Present day Zadar

It also presents the gamer with beautiful exotic new settings in Constantinople, which had been the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire full of rich culture and history and extraordinary Byzantine architecture which can still be seen in Istanbul today, and Zadar (in present day Croatia), which is still a beautiful medieval town along the Dalmatian coast.

There is also some familiarity in a setting that has been done just recently in Venice, though the city has not yet reached the Renaissance period.

Ubisoft Montreal have said they want to use historically significant events as settings for their Assassin’s Creed games, so why would this be a good choice?  I found this website summed it up nicely:

Probably the most telling event which displayed the decline of the crusader ideal was the capture and pillage of the Christian bastion of Constantinople by the members of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The subsequent dismemberment of the Byzantine Empire weakened Christendom in the Near East and created an animousity between Catholics and Orthodox which has lasted into the 20th century.

Constantinople could not recover enough to fight off the Turks after this and much of Eastern Europe fell to the Muslims as a result.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot: go off to expand Christianity and end up losing a whole lot more territory of it.

2. The French Revolution: Vive La Revolution!

Bastille prison attacked in revolution

This is very likely one of the strongest possibilities for the next game as it was rumoured to be the setting for the second game back in December 2008.  I’ve written about this before, and you can find more detail about the time period here,  but I will try and summarise why this setting would be appropriate.

The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a huge historic period of upheaval where the notion of absolute rule by the monarchy and the aristocrats was turned on its head when the downtrodden, starving, smelly, diseased peasants, incited by the intellectuals and merchant class, revolt and start killing off their so-called betters.

When they ran out of them, they followed by killing each other off too during the Reign of Terror. Of course the ideas of freedom, equality, and brotherhood were all dandy but repression was more fun. It was just that repression was now carried out by the lay-people, not just upper crust lords and ladies in wigs.

Off with their heads!

The other monarchies of Europe felt threatened by the French Revolution and so attack. Napoleon fights them and wins. For awhile anyway.

The mayhem of this period and the clash of idealism and power make it another great period for an Assassin’s Creed game.  This would allow Ubisoft to be more chronological as well, though I don’t personally believe this is necessary.

Certainly the French Revolution and the Republic that followed showed the violent transition between the old feudal social model and the new ‘power to the people’ ideal which would be revisited in various forms throughout Europe and the New World.

Paris (before the big wide boulevards, cafes and Eiffel Tower) still has a lot to offer as a setting, even if dirtier and full of narrow alleys, and various other French towns could complement it.

I’m not sure where the Templar and Assassins conflict would come in, but as secret societies now they could be integrated into the upheaval fairly easily.

3. World War 2: Was Hitler A Templar?

Templars are supposed to have beards, not silly mustaches!

I’ll be upfront with my opinion of this option: it stinks!  Yet according to some rumours Ubisoft may be looking at a female protagonist and they may be looking at World War 2 as a time period appropriate for a female assassin.  That means I’d better include it in my list, reluctant though I am.

I have no problem with a female assassin but I don’t believe that female assassins are only appropriate to the 20th Century.  And let’s face it, World War 2, though it still can be an engaging game environment, is not fresh or inspiring for an Assassin’s Creed game.

The female assassin in World War 2 has been done before in a game as well: Velvet Assassin, not to mention that a stealth open-world style game set in WW2 is being done by EA in The Saboteur, out soon.

Assassin's Creed 3: The remake?

Could the Nazis make good neo-Templars with their insignias, swastikas, uniforms, and interest in the occult?  Yes.  Would they make good targets for an assassin?  Yes.  Do I see this time period being exciting and feeling like the historic Assassin’s Creed games so far?  No.

Still, Sebastian Puel, the producer, said:

We don’t want to just decide we want to change and have a female hero as the first inspiration is always the time period, but if you’re talking about, say, World War II the economies in England and France were run by women because the men were off fighting.

Hmmm….the economies, huh?  Factory girl gone assassin….fascinating stuff.

4. The New World: Conquistadors

A New World for a new game?

An intriguing option would be the expansion of the Spanish Empire into the New World with the conquest of Incan and Aztec territories by the gold and land hungry conquistadors from the 15th to the 19th centuries.

These men were explorers, conquerors, adventurers, soldiers, and fortune hunters and invaded the New World for themselves, for Spain, and for the Church.

As far as turning points in history go, this is a big one: the wealth and prestige gained by owning new territories began a colonialism race that only fairly recently has faded and certainly is responsible for the way the world is made up today.

What role the Templars and Assassins would play in this is unclear, but the New World represented a new start to many, and a place where people could build their own society with some degree of independence.

This would appeal to any surviving Templars, as they would see a new place for them to rebuild their wealth and influence (possibly at the Spanish Court using their new riches, but possibly just in new territory away from interference).

The conflict for the Assassins would be to prevent this, while all around them native populations are taking sides, dying of sickness brought by the newcomers, and waring against these smelly pale Europeans who carry advanced weaponry.

Depending on the exact date chosen, there could be Spanish colonial towns and forts,  Incan or Aztec cities with temples, and dangerous jungle in between.

PART 2 can be read HERE.

You can also catch Ubisoft’s Hybride Technologies Assassin’s Creed Lineage films here in full glorious colour -  – all 45 mins of them. Part 1 and Parts 2 – 3.

• Where would you like to see Assassin’s Creed 3?

Remember that David’s prediction of the current location and era was correct, so perhaps his predictions may well be close to the mark for the next iteration. Make your vote count, as we send these articles to Ubisoft, and they can  see your comments and the poll.

©2009 David Hilton

• Other games in genre at discount $’s for ALL OXCGN readers + Bonus Points

The gang at Ubisoft have lots homegrown gaming goodness in store for the upcoming Holidays. So we were invited to the Academy of Spherical Arts in downtown Toronto to check out all the gaming gifts Ubisoft has in store for the holiday season.

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

The latest dev diary of Assassin’s Creed II reveals the return of the  “Animus”, the device that allows recollection of ancestral memories and the driving force of the game’s plot and interface. The Animus in AC II is more robust than its predecessor, making more information of the historical world accessible to players. To watch the dev diary, visit this link:

Assassin’s Creed II – Dev Diary: “Home Sweet Home”

04h53m – Jogar Assassin’s Creed 2 veio recordar-me o quão precisava de passar algum tempo com um bom jogo. Vou para a cama agora porque os meus olhos não aguentam, não porque queira ir. Não, não apetece mesmo. Mas amanhã há mais. Ou muito me engano, ou este vai ser o meu Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

A ver vamos. Para já, e a poucos dias de Hans Zimmer se estrear no mundo dos videojogos, um grande bem-haja ao senhor Jesper Kyd!

What’s up everyone, I’m here on the verge of finishing Left 4 Dead 1.  I must say I haven’t had this much fun playing a FPS in a while.  So let’s just say I’m a bit strapped financially, and need some suggestions.  Alexis at GamingBits.com so far has me sold on Borderlands.

I need to add also that I am an RPG fanatic so the game seems like a must buy.  I also appreciate the fact that Gearbox Software made a fast paced title, unlike Fallout 3, which I can’t play for long periods of time.

Next on the platter is Assassin’s Creed 2.  I am a huge fan of the storyline, I completed part one, 3 times.  This version of the game looks and moves like heavy improvements were implemented.  Ubisoft seems to be adding a lot more RPG elements to the gameplay and varying the side missions.  Can you tell I like RPG games? LOL.

Last, unfortunately for me, is the title being released the same day as AC2; Left 4 Dead 2.  Part 1 has no storyline, which is kind of good, it let’s you create your own mythos mentally.  Valve Software did a great thing with this and luckily the gameplay is addictive enough to distract you from this omission.  The sequel actually looks like there will be more story elements, since this was implied by the trailer.

Replay value is a must along with diversity and enjoyability.  Multiplayer is not a major focus for me, so we might as well factor that into the equation also.  It’s unfortunate in these economic times, I am stuck with this decision.  Of course, I am sure my fellow gamers can help me out. Thanks in advance.

-Sha’ul

Assassin’s Creed II developers discuss the importance of game progression in the fifth dev diary titled “Clothes Make The Man”. To watch the latest dev diary, go here:

Assassin’s Creed II – Dev Diary: “Clothes Make The Man”

Assassin’s Creed The Movie Finally Arrives

by XboxOZ360:

©2009 Grant Smythe – OXCGN

Update #3: 15 Nov:

OXCGN’s full review of the full film HERE.

Update #2: 14th Nov:

Here it is, 36 mins of pure uninterrupted Assassin’s Creed 2: Lineage Movie lovin’

done

[Pheeww, that was a big one, over 700 mgs of upload, at an extremely sloooowww pace, but we got there - finally.

So please sit back and enjoy the 36mins of Assassin's Creed2 : Lineage Extended Movie. It is well worth the 36 mins it takes to sit through it I can tell you! And you can download it or embed it into your site if you like, but be warned, it's a very large file.]

Giovanni at his cutting best

Update #1: Review of Part 1 of the Assassin’s Creed Movie HERE.

I had the pleasure of getting a sneak-peak of the trailer the other week at the Official Launch of Ubisoft’s 2 main games, Assassin’s Creed 2 and James Cameron’s Avatar The Game in Sydney recently. They also had Splinter Cell: Conviction on show, but strictly hands-off.

The trailer however looked absolutely brilliant, and you’d be mistaken to think it was the game, or the game was the movie, as the characters are so much alike it’s scary. Just some of these stills give you a quick glimpse of how well this is done.

Remember that Ubisoft purchased the company behind 300 and Sin City, which is now aptly called Hybride Technologies

• Official Assassin’s Creed 2 Movie Trailer:

This will be an excellent opportunity for game fans to enjoy a great movie based on one of the worlds best franchises out of Montreal, Assassin’s Creed. While the team are polishing the final edges on the game, and another is beginning work on its successor, the minds behind the movie have been hard at work as well.

Giovanni's victim tourtured for information

The only thing I hope that does not happen is the stupid comparison of movie to game syndrome that appears as soon as any game is turned into a movie, or visa-versa.

To be fair, no movie can be turned into a likeness of any game. It’s impossible to do, let alone ask to be done. The way a game is played out and made is completely different to how a movie is scripted and played. They two simply can not be compared. Their enjoyment can be shared, the experienced shared, but that’s where it ends.

So please don’t go into the movie expecting to see a full representation of the new game, you won’t, but what you will see is something astoundingly beautiful, riveting and powerful. It will leave you on the edge of your seat wanting more, which will follow of course in the following 2 or 3 movies to come.

From Ubisoft’s Press release just released here in Australia:

Rooftop escapades galore

Ubisoft® today announced the first of the three episodes from the new Assassin’s Creed: Lineage short movies will debut on YouTube. Beginning on October 27, 2009, YouTube will have the first episode of the short movies on its homepage in eight countries throughout the world for a period of 24 hours.

Developed by Ubisoft’s Hybride Technologies, the visual effects studio behind 300 and Sin City, Assassin’s Creed: Lineage combines live action and computer generated imagery (CGI) to explore the events that happen just before the Assassin’s Creed II game starts.

The short films revolve around Ezio’s father, Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, and give insight on the game’s back story and universe.

The short films will whet the appetite of game players and fans of this type of cinematography in advance of the in-store release of the video game on November 19, 2009.

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage will also introduce some of the characters that players will meet in the game: both foes and friends of the family, like Lorenzo de Medici, the Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance period.

The death of a leader

“Ubisoft is excited to share a new Assassin’s Creed experience with the public.

The Assassin’s Creed Lineage film series is part of Ubisoft’s ongoing efforts to reinforce its intellectual properties by bringing them to multiple entertainment mediums, providing gamers with a more immersive experience when they play as Ezio, the master assassin of Assassin’s Creed II,” stated Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer of Ubisoft.

Full review of the first Assassin’s Creed Movie HERE.

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Ubisoft Montreal developers have released another dev diary of Assassin’s Creed II called “All’s Fair In Love and War” that explains the combat mechanics within the game. To watch the documentary, visit the link below:

Assassin’s Creed II – Dev Diary: “All’s Fair In Love and War”

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

Ah Venice…There’s just something so magical and surreal about the place.  Featured in films from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to James Bond: Casino Royale and games like Timesplitters: Future Perfect and The Club, it presents a perfect exotic local in which to set escapist entertainment.

Forgive me for the following nostalgia trip, but I arrived in Venice by boat a young 17 year old way back in 1989, the morning after a live Pink Floyd concert (these days you can watch it on Youtube).

Rueing my bad luck at having missed that, I disembarked to find the magnificent historic buildings and tranquil waters offset by the humongous amount of rubbish and filth everywhere and an unholy heat and stink that I’d never before experienced.  A plague of pigeons that would have made great extras in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and a mob of other tourists harassed our every move in the squares.

I and a few others of our party threw away our maps, got a bit tipsy and hit the back hidden maze of alleyways and smelly canals fully intending to get lost. Eventually, after accidentally breaking an ancient toilet we had desperately found after all that drink, we found ourselves away from birds and tourists and all the rubbish from the concert at a real non-touristy pizzeria.

It was there, dozing in the sun with glorious pizza and drink in my system, that I appreciated the romance of Venice and daydreamed a blissful if unoriginal promise that I’d propose to my future wife one day in some hidden tiny church-dominated square or on one of those sleek black gondolas slowly floating through the narrow canals.

Of course I was buzzed and an idiot.  I never had the money to do that and my proposal, when it came, did indeed involve a small boat and some Italianate statuettes in a fountain (nude nymphs on dolphins I believe), but not in Venice.  It did smell better though.

My point is that yes Venice is artistic, magical and romantic- but equally it shows decay and ruin.  It’s no wonder Ubisoft Montreal and Deck 13 have chosen it as their destination for tales of assassination and murder.  Light and darkness, life and death, fresh and foul… all in that glorious but drowning, dying city.

But I’m sure there will be quite a few gamers who are inspired to envelop themselves in the unique atmosphere of the slowly sinking city after playing one of the two soon to be released games located there: Assassin’s Creed 2 and Venetica.  And for all its contradictions, Venice is certainly still worth it.

Assassin’s Creed 2: Visions of Venice

Though Florence was recently featured at the GamesCom  in Germany and I discovered back in April that San Gimignano would also feature, 15th Century Venice remains the focal open-world city, as Ubisoft’s recent Da Vinci Code-like ‘Visions of Venice’ trailer demonstrates.

Diving into a Venetian canal from a building high above and then swimming is one of the new features in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.  But there are many more.  There is a new economic system where you can buy bullets for your hidden gun, smoke bombs, poison, and other weapons.

• Assassin’s Creed 2 Sept ‘Visons of Venice’ Trailer

You can now grab a weapon off a guard, use it to kill him, use your double hidden blades to kill your target, and throw a smoke bomb to confuse everyone so you can escape up the walls and swing away on flower pots to the rooftops.

Or, you can bribe some mercenaries to cause a distracting brawl with guards, sneak in and shoot your target with a hidden gun, then throw some coins to form a frenzied crowd barrier behind you as you run off  and dive into the canal and swim away.

You a sneaky bastard?  Then why not sneak up to the target’s guard and poison him so that he lurches around with his halberd and accidentally kills your target for you.  Then just saunter off and snicker.

•Assassin’s Creed 2 Dev Diary #2

You’ll now have the ability to use Eagle Vision while moving, which may make things easier to find, but may also become something you rely too heavily on, and if that happens then you won’t get to see the environment in all its splendour.

And Venice does look splendid.  Historically re-created with amazing graphics, it is like a virtual tourism trip, except you can do more with Ezio than even the best free-runner could in real life. Besides…like I said earlier, you wouldn’t really want to swim in those canals for real, trust me.

So there are more involved factions, more moves, more dynamic crowds, more weapons and Da Vinci gadgets and more Eagle Vision.   Importantly though there will be more mission variation (see vid below), including getting messages from those pigeons I mentioned earlier (I wonder if a mini-game will be to try and find the pigeon with the message amongst the millions of them in Venice…sounds like an Amazing Race task to me!).

This variation continues into side-missions which are Prince of Persia-esque.  In a church, catacombs, or a palace you’ll have quests that are more corridor-like in structure where you run and jump your way through to find more details about the Templar-Assassins war, objects and special rewards, or to pursue a certain enemy while free-running at speed.  These will offer a stark contrast to the more open-world environments.

• Assassin’s Creed 2 Gameplay walkthrough

This is a game that looks to be a must-buy.  It has added so much since the last Assassin’s Creed and I can’t wait to re-visit the recreated historical Venice.

Venetica: Magical Venice

Where Assassin’s Creed 2 is well known by the gaming public, gritty and realistic, Venetica is relatively anonymous with its more fantasy-oriented perspective on Venice, despite having gone public with the locale first.

• Venetica Part 1

The game’s setting is described as:

..set in a fantastic Venice of the Renaissance era. On your journey you will visit many impressing sites ranging from spacious squares to huge palaces and narrow alleys within Venice as well as remoter regions outside the lagoon city.

Certainly the recent GamesCom trailer shows the game also looking spectacular with its different visual art style.  Yes it looks more like a Fable-ed up version of Venice, but the game also seems to share some similarities to Assassin’s, despite it being a Role Playing Game (RPG).

If Assassin’s Creed 2 is adding elements (like the economic system and factions) to make it more RPG-like, Venetica looks to be including more action to its RPG frame.

Though, as with most fantasy RPG games, the cinematic style and deep story is still a focus, Deck 13’s game also centres around action fighting and murder.  As the main character in the trailer, Scarlett, who is the daughter of Death, sadly states: “This is all you see me as- a weapon…I’m no less an assassin than [those] I slaughtered.”

The plot begins similarly to AC2 as well:

Set in the fantastic world of long ago Venice, the young Scarlett falls victim to a terrible mystery, which begins with the murder of her companion by a secretive alliance..

Two Venices and two protagonists who have loved ones killed by evil-doer secret alliances and so become assassins themselves, then.

But wait there’s more. The experience is described as an open game world with dynamic night and day cycles- like AC2 will be.

Then there is this from VG Arabia- Scarlett, in her fight against a necromancer intent as always on total domination and destruction, “walks the streets, enjoys the beautiful view from the roofs of Venice’s houses and swims the canals…from there she can reach dark catacombs underneath the city, which are filled with creatures, treasures and puzzles.”

• Venetica Part 2

Sounds a bit like AC2 too, right?

But this game is firmly in the realm of fantasy.  There are nightmarish creatures, a variety of characters to deal with including merchants, rogues, allies, and evil magical necromancers and Scarlett is the daughter of Death who can enter the Twilight World (no, not the vampire kind of Twilight) where she can communicate with the dead.

I’m pretty sure Ezio won’t do magic or enter the Twilight World of the dead….

Venetica will be released in October this year and may be one of those titles that sneak up on you but are a surprise hit.  I’m certainly looking forward to trying it.

So there you have it: not a tale of two cities, but two tales of one city: Venice.

It certainly is strange that we have two games released around the same time with such similarities, but I believe there are enough differences between them that they will each provide a different entertaining vision of the city I experienced so long ago, and made you experience with me in this article.  Ah Venice….

• Venetica Part 3

What do you think of both these games being set in Venice?  Do you have any interesting stories about any of your visits there?  Share them in the comment section below.

© 2009 David Hilton

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Here’s the latest trailer for Assassin’s creed 2.  Time to watch Ezio party like it’s 1486! Release Date in Nov 17th.

James Francis Cameron é um cineasta canadense naturalizado estadunidense.Entre seus trabalhos temos  o antiquado “Titanic“ (1997) , mas nem tudo é trevas o cara também é a mente responsável por “O Exterminador do Futuro 2: O Jugamente Final”. O seu mais recente trabalho é o esperado Avatar, o filme que irá revolucionar o conceito de 3d. Agora quanto ao jogo Cameron particulamente parece está  muito feliz com o resultado e anda dizendo que a Ubisoft foi a empresa certa para trabalhar no game baseado em seu filme.

Concept Art! Baby...

A história de Avatar gira em torno de algo como a luta pela sobrevivência (Darwinistas vão adorar isso).Toda luta acontece em Pandora, habitata por seres chamados Navi (por favor, não confuda com a fada que acompanha Link em suas jornadas), e não vá pensando que é uma raça estúpida  que mal consegue se reproduzir, eles são seres humanóides e possuem um cultura prória(Hãããã não diga, sério mesmo?).E seguindo a enredo revelado até agora do filme, entra um tal de Jak, soldado paraplégico que ajudará os Navi em sua batalha pela sobrevivência. Lógico que todo esse lenga, lenga vamos ter aquele ideal romântico, então prepare-se a relação de algum humana com uma habitante de Pandora(como sempre os seres humanos estragam a vida de seres extraterrestres). E como todo game baseado em filme, espera-se que Avatar The Game siga essa mesma proposta, já que dificilmente alguma produtora terá o trabalho de adpatar a trama.Mas isso é o de menos, se  as impressões do filme até agora foram positivas, enquanto ao jogo só temos alguns trailers que e sreenshots que não dá para tirar grandes conclusões. Bom eu pelo menos não tive a oportunidade de jogar alguma versão beta.

Cenas de destruição e seres bizarros são sempre bonitos em alta definição

Quanto a ambientação, cenários e outros delatahes parece muito bonito e harmonioso , cenas de florestas  desde do primeiro Donkey Kong sempre me deixou impressionado. E quanto a jogabilidade tudo demosntra focar o campo de batalha, ou seja, James Cameron’s Avatar the Game não parece muito ser aquele tipo de jogo cheio de dungeons e puzzles para resolver. É possível perceber que o jogo parece focar  um tipo de guerra, seres bizzaros de pele azulada contra humanos, pelo visto poderá contralar veículos como rôbos, e montros gigantes tudo em lugar recheado de árvores, rios, cachoeiras e a maior biodiversidade possível no melhor estilo Far Cry-Animal Crossing e Cia. (Ok, foi a piada não teve graça)

No Wii também está tudo muito bonito...

O jogo que será muitaplataforma é de se esperar o básico de cada uma. No Wii como de praxe se ultilizará a combinção Wiimote + Nunchuk, no pc o bom e velho teclado e mouse, seria legal se na versão de Ps3 a desenvolvedora tivesse algo em mente para fazer uso do Sixaxis, e o mesmo serve para o console da Nintendo, já que há tempos não se vê um jogo que faz uso inteligente do controle da empresa de Mario. Bom enquanto o filme está previsto para 18 de dezembro 2009, o jogo provavelmente saia um pouco antes. Agora dizem que Avatar irá revolucionar o conceito de 3d no cinema, mas será que podemos esperar o mesmo do jogo? Bom, fica a dúvida.

Brent George é um dos responsáveis por Avatar the Game!

Ubisoft conta comBrent George, seu cargo atual na empresa é de diretor de arte, mas o cara já trabalhou também como designer de personagens, diretor de animação entre outras funções que preenche seu cúrriculo. E George não está só nessa. Patrick Naud, Game Desing, tem como cargo atual na empresa de Rayman de produtor executivo , e é essa a sua função em Avatar The Game. Tanto Patrick (ia contar a piadinha com o personagem do desenho BoB Sponja, mas sei que ninguém vai rir¬¬), como George tem a função de tornar o atual projeto da Ubi, o novo queridinho dos jogadores, afinal a responsábilidade é grande. E caso você ainda não tem uma TV com suporte a HDMI pode começar a desenbolçar grana para isso, pois o jogo exigirá o melhor da alta definição para apreciar tudo que o 3d pode oferecer. Mas os donos de Wii terá que se contentar em usar algo como aqueles óculos 3d, já que o console possui certas limitações técnicas.

Será que Patrick fará seu nome na indústria com Avatar The Game!?

O Jogo foi anunciado pela Ubisoft em 24 de julho de 2007, e está em desenvolvimente desde então pela Ubisoft Montreal, é um jogo de aventura com conceitos embasados na alta definição, terá seu lançamento para Playstation 3, Pc, Xbox 360 e Nintendo Wii e provalvelmente outras versões para PsP e Nintendo DS. O jogo ainda deve contar com alguns atores do filme, para fazer a dublagem de certos personagens e no elencon está personalidades como Giovanni Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez (Trudy Chacon), entre outros. Avatar the Game, tem potencial para ser um bom jogo, mas sempre fica aquela dúvida de jogos baseados em filme, contudo o desenvolvimento do jogo é de longo prazo e todos nós queremos acreditar que o diretor de Titanic, não deixará qua algo ruim saia baseado em sua obra, pois de pesadelos já basta o filme estrelado pelo  casal vinte do cinema, Kate Winslet e Leonardo Di Caprio, e não me venha com aquele papo de não sei quantos oscars.

Confira algumas imagens do jogo:

Vem cá bixinho que tanto amo (L)

Senta a Pua!

Vamos deixar de imagens estáticas, confira agora o vídeo do jogo…ah sim em alta definição!

Caso você tenha ficado curioso, confira também o último vídeo do filme de James Cameron

Head over to The Game Eye to watch the Dev Diary video of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed II game from Ubisoft Montreal. The video reveals how the protoganist Ezio will have to interact with other characters in the game world including Leonardo Da Vinci. For the video, go here.

by AXIS of Reality

©2009 Alex Baldwin

In the never-ending battle for technical graphical supremacy, there aren’t any winners.

While we can compare spec sheets, polygons, parallax mapping resolution and pixel counts, in the end it doesn’t mean a thing.

What’s important is how it artistically appeals to you as you are immersed in the carefully crafted virtual world.

So with that in mind, it’s time for an artistic look at the Top 10 Best Graphics This Generation.

#10 Crysis

Starting at #10 is a game that could actually win some of the spec sheet arguments. Crysis was unleashed onto our PC screens in the crowded release period of Christmas 2007.

Having been teased with numerous videos of photo-realistic beaches and tropical jungles, it was with dismay that when many gamers hit play for the first time they were presented with what appeared to be a tropical island slideshow.

Yes, Crysis was known for making even the most overclocked beast of a machine cry as it threw around DirectX 10 effects without a care for your poor wheezing PC, but a few PC hardware generations later and most gamers can get it running along happily.

And what a sight it is – sun streaming through the leaves as bullets go whizzing by (with object-specific motion blur naturally) that created the illusion of reality so well it was truly beautiful for it.

While some may argue that mimicking reality isn’t artistic in the usual sense, the detail and care taken in crafting the environments was striking as many natural effects we take for granted in real life were suddenly apparent in a game that made the beaches and forests (and ice eventually) so convincing it was hard not to just sit and stare in wonder.

#9 Prince of Persia

Ok, no surprises here (unless you were thinking of The Sands of Time, in which case get up to date!). Prince of Persia’s 2008 revival was a great success with a new ‘illustrative’ art style to mark the occasion.

They have mixed hand-painted textures with selective cell-shading (though don’t say that to Ubisoft – they don’t like anyone saying it’s cell-shaded) to create a visual feast where at any one time the scene could look like an image straight out of a graphic novel.

It also helped that the animation was silky-smooth as the Prince and Elika leaped and bounded through a variety of landscapes that once at the end of each level would be transformed into a lush paradise.

The use of thin black outlines only on the characters contrasted brilliantly with the washed-out more painted-looking environments to really make them seem to jump out of the screen.

#8 Viva Pinata

This is one most people would forget about when doing a list like this. Rare’s new IP for the 360 was a critical success (if not commercial), and the first sign that the magic Rare’s games used to have was back.

The visual stylings were taken directly from the theme – taking care of pinatas in a garden.

Everything looked like it was made from the same paper the pinatas were, fully 3D with oversaturated colours but avoiding the ‘kiddy’ look by giving everything a soft velvety glow.

While the pinata designs and animation were fantastic, it’s some of the more subtle effects that help give the game its trademark look.

Slight variations in colour between adjacent paper ‘leaves’ on pinatas and the grass prevent any appearance of repetition, while when viewed from up close it has a more organic look.

Most games with set land areas such as RTS and city-builders appear very tiled and predetermined but Viva Pinata neatly sidestepped this trap so that no matter what angle it was viewed from, it always looked appealing and less ‘gamey’ with no visible polygon edges or imperfections.

#7 Assassin’s Creed

The game itself may have disappointed some buyers after the massive hype, but it can’t be denied that it was a fantastic visual experience.

The highlight was of course the animation, providing smooth freerunning across rooftops and scaling walls.

The procedural animation engine ensured that no matter what angle a wall was climbed at or how far a jump was, Altair’s hands and feet would always connect with the most natural points. No simple cycle animations here.

The colour palettes and city architecture were also a treat, giving each of the 3 major cities a unique look and feel through building details and colour filters.

Everything blended perfectly, with little of the flaws some other games have where certain objects will stick out like a sore thumb or have a strange appearance such as the ever-common physics objects lacking the same lighting everything else has.

#6 Mirror’s Edge

Again, a staple inclusion for the utterly unique imagery on show here. Despite underwhelming sales, absolutely every gamer on the planet has at least seen screenshots of this.

Rendering every surface in pure, over-exposed white, key objects and naviagtion markers are coloured a single bright standard colour such as red, blue, orange and green.

This is in stark contrast (literally) to the hyper-detailed world many current games are spalshing on our screens.

The purpose of this unusual visual choice is to remove all unneccessary ‘clutter’ from the player’s first-person view as they run and leap across rooftops following the coloured cues.

The feel and identity of the game is a result of the styling, and worked great even if some other aspects of the game could have used the same care. DICE are definitely to be commended on this brave move, especially with a more rigid history of games primarily in the Battlefield series.

Your vote wanted

Part 2 Coming Soon

In the next part, I’ll be covering the top 5 most beautiful games of this generation. For any of the titles you aren’t familiar with, a quick Google (or ‘Bing’) for screenshots and videos should get you up to speed.

After all, while gameplay is incredibly important in a game, the visual identity is also a major contributing factor to your experience. So much so, that one of the top 5 games I actually may not have even enjoyed if it wasn’t for the art…

So did you agree with the list so far? Disagree with any? Thinking of any I missed? Feel free to voice your thoughts in the comments, and you’ll need to see if the top 5 matches what you would put there or not in part 2.

©2009 Alex Baldwin

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I like Chess, I would even go as far as to say I think it is a mechanically perfect game. The strength of Chess is that there are no redundant actions, there are no actions without consequences. Achieving a checkmate is not only dependant on the final move but on every preceding move, right back to the opening. Any change in that sequence of moves by either player will result in a radically different outcome.

Every move in Chess is meaningful because every move irreversibly changes the state of the game world and which subsequent moves are possible; all actions have consequences.

Redundant actions are those that are not meaningful, those for which there are no consequences, such actions are literally a waste of time, as nothing is gained from performing them.

The concept, that every action should be meaningful and have consequences, is one that has seemingly been abandoned, or at the very least greatly diminished, in recent years. Often for the purposes of increasing accessibility or pacing, and usually in games that feature some degree of authored narrative.

Consider Far Cry 2, the mechanic of respawning hostiles at checkpoints is implemented to prevent the world from ever becoming safe and thus damaging its representation of a country in the grip of civil war, yet the mechanic causes some actions to become redundant, meaningless. The core mechanic of the first person shooter genre is that of shooting hostile characters. This usually requires a degree of skill and comes at the cost of some form of ammunition. Even ignoring the cultural connotations of the act killing a hostile character is rich with mechanical meaning. They will no longer be around to threaten the player in the future, which leads to a change in the play style of the player over time, as areas of the game world shift from hostility to safety. Additionally the expenditure of ammunition is meaningful, as the quantity of ammunition used in killing one hostile will cause changes in the manner in which subsequent hostiles can be dealt with.

Upon encountering a hostile checkpoints in Far Cry 2 both elements of meaning inherent in that core shooting mechanic become redundant.

Respawning enemies prevent a change in future behaviour as areas do not become less hostile over time. The act of killing does not change the overall state of the game world or the future play style of the player, therefore in this sense the act of killing itself is rendered largely meaningless, there are  no long term consequences. It is in fact more beneficial to avoid enemies as it is to kill them, especially as time is very rarely a factor. The decision to engage these hostile in direct combat is a redundant one. Ammunition can be recovered from the bodies of dead hostiles, so the actual expenditure of ammunition is only meaningful when more is expended that is recovered a  generally rare occurrence, made even more so because some checkpoints contain stockpiles of ammunition.

In a strictly mechanical sense the act of attacking checkpoints in Far Cry 2 is meaningless beyond the immediate short term.  It’s possible that this was an intentional inclusion designed to be representative of a country in the grip of civil war where death is largely meaningless.  I’m willing to give Ubisoft Montreal the benefit of the doubt given the various subtexts at work in Far Cry 2, however this doesn’t excuse the dozens of other games that also include redundant and meaningless game mechanics.

The infinitely respawning hostiles in Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, when killing a hundred hostiles has no consequence the act of killing itself becomes meaningless; war can be won simply by continuous forward motion. Dialogue trees in Mass Effect or Fallout 3, when two different options lead to the same outcome the choice between them is meaningless. Vita Chambers in BioShock, when you are eternally reborn any actions taken to mitigate health lose are meaningless.

These mechanics were implemented because they served to increase tension, constrain options or improve pacing, in short they were included to help maintain a specific aesthetic experience; often a narrative focused one. Yet it’s worth noting that almost all the examples I’ve cited have been criticised for in some way being unrealistic. The expectation is that actions have consequences, that choices are meaningful, when this fails to occur the artificiality is made painfully obvious.

Narrative plots are built around the immutability of fate, events occur in a specific manner for dramatic purpose. If an event is included in the plot it serves a purpose, even red herrings exist serve the purpose of being a red herring; nothing is wasted, nothing is redundant.

Games are built around providing choices and feeding back the consequences of those choices. Choices are included if they have some consequence that influence the developing act of play. If choices are included that don’t have consequences they are redundant  and a waste of time on the player of both player and designer.

In order to be meaningful narratives and games depend on the portrayal of both actions and consequences.

All too often when games seek to include some form of narrative the inflexible nature of heavily plotted stories is given prominence over the flexible nature of gameplay choices. As in the examples cited this can lead to redundant choices being included simply because choices must exist in a game but the focus on the plot means those choices cannot have consequences that might move the narrative away from what has been prescribed by the original author.

That actions have consequences and thus carry meaning is something we all learn in childhood. So when presented with a choice its naturally expect there to be a consequence, otherwise why be given the choice at all?

The future of narrative games is not based around more directly authored experiences but around narratives that make use of the fundamental nature of games to present choices that have consequences, and to ensure that those consequences contain both a mechanical and a narrative component.

Despite some first steps made in this direction, Masq being a particularly interesting if limited example, there is still some way to go. Until then maybe it’s time those interested in narrative in games start to look for guidance from Chess as much as Chaucer.