Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Old-school"

Assassin's Creed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the first game in this series, see Assassin's Creed (video game).
Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed series logo
Genres Third person, action, stealth, Open world
Developers Ubisoft Montreal
Gameloft
Griptonite Games
Publishers Ubisoft
Creators Patrice Desilets
Composers Jesper Kyd
First release Assassin's Creed
November 14, 2007
Latest release Assassin's Creed: Revelations
November 15, 2011
Official website assassinscreed.com
Assassin's Creed is a historical science fiction Role playing game series that as of 2011 consists of four main games and a number of supporting materials. The games have appeared on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Vita, Mac OS X, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, iOS, HP webOS,[1] Android, Nokia Symbian and Windows Phone 7 platforms. The main games in the franchise were developed by Ubisoft Montreal, with the handheld titles developed by Gameloft and Gryptonite Studios, with additional development by Ubisoft Montreal. All games in the franchise are published by Ubisoft.
Contents [hide]
1 Premise
2 Gameplay
3 Games
4 Main series
4.1 Assassin's Creed
4.2 Assassin's Creed II
4.3 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
4.4 Assassin's Creed: Revelations
5 Other games
5.1 Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles
5.2 Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
5.3 Assassin's Creed II: Discovery
5.4 Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
5.5 Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy
5.6 Assassin's Creed: Multiplayer Rearmed
6 Future
7 Other media
7.1 Assassin's Creed: Graphic Novel
7.2 Assassin's Creed Vol. 1: Desmond
7.3 Assassin's Creed Vol. 2: Aquilus
7.4 Assassin's Creed: Lineage
7.5 Assassin's Creed: Renaissance
7.6 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
7.7 Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade
7.8 Assassin's Creed: The Fall
7.9 Assassin's Creed: Ascendance
7.10 Assassin's Creed: Embers
7.11 Assassin's Creed: Encyclopedia
7.12 Assassin's Creed: Revelations
7.13 Appearances in outside media
7.14 Film
8 Reception
9 References
10 External links
[edit]Premise

All of the Assassin's Creed games take place in 2012, featuring the protagonist Desmond Miles, a bartender who is a descendent of a line of Assassins. He is initially kidnapped by the megacorporation Abstergo Industries, the modern-day face of the Knights Templar, and forced to use the "Animus", a device that allows him to experience his ancestral memories. Abstergo does not know that Desmond knows about his lineage, he left his parents at a young age, leaving the Assassins behind with them. Abstergo is seeking to discover the location of several artifacts, or "Pieces of Eden", that hold great power, to control mankind and alter its fate. Desmond is later rescued by a small team of modern-day Assassins, and taken to a secure location where he can secure the artifacts before Abstergo.
Within the Animus, Desmond experiences the memories of Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, an Assassin during the Crusades, and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an Assassin in Italy during the late 15th and early 16th Centuries of the Renaissance, both of whom came into contact with the Piece of Eden, also known as "The Apple". While following the storyline with Ezio, other Pieces of Eden become known, such as "The Staff". Throughout these events, Desmond learns of allusions to the prophetic end of the world in 2012 from a former Animus subject, as well as from holographic figures of a species pre-dating humanity. These beings, members of "The First Civilization," call themselves Minerva, Juno and Jupiter. They speak directly to Desmond through Ezio's experiences and in turn Ezio comes to discover that he is merely a conduit for Desmond and that centuries later, he is the one who will find answers to the questions he himself is asking in his own time. They warn Desmond that only he can stop these events and prevent another catastrophe from rendering his race extinct, as it did to theirs.
[edit]Gameplay

Though the game is presented through the protagonist Desmond Miles, the bulk of the game is played as Desmond experiences the memories of either Altair or Ezio through the Animus. This provides a means of a diegetic interface for the player, showing Altair or Ezio's health, equipment, goals, and other features as part of the Animus interface. The Animus is based on the player, as Desmond, controlling the assassin to maintain the synchronization between Desmond and his ancestor's memories. Performing actions that go against the Assassin's way or dying breaks the synchronization, effectively requiring the player to restart at a previous checkpoint. Furthermore, the player cannot explore outside of areas that the assassin has not experienced yet. There are also abnormalities within the Animus from previous users of the device that the player can find, linking to the larger story.
While playing as the Assassin characters, the games are generally presented as third-person in an open world, focusing on stealth and parkour. The games use a mission structure to follow the main story, generally assigning the player to complete an assassination of public figureheads or a covert mission. Alternatively, several side missions are available, such as mapping out the expansive cities from a high perch followed by performing a "leap of faith" into a haystack below, collecting treasures hidden across the cities, exploring ruins for relics, building a brotherhood of assassins to perform other tasks, or funding the rebuilding of a city through purchasing and upgrading of shops and other features. At times, the player is in direct control of Desmond, who by nature of the Animus use has learned Assassin techniques through a bleeding effect. Through the Animus interface, the player can go back to retry any past mission already completed; for example, in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, the player achieves better synchronization results by performing the mission in a specific manner such by only killing the mission's target.
The games use the concept of "active" versus "passive" moves, with "active" moves, such as running, climbing the sides of buildings, or jumping between rooftops, more likely to alert the attention of nearby guards. When the guards become alerted, the player must either fight them or break their line of sight and locate a hiding place, such as a haystack or a well, and wait until the guards' alert is reduced. The combat system allows for a number of unique weapons, armor, and moves, including the use of a hidden blade set in a band on the Assassin's arm, and which is also can be used to quietly assassinate targets.
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