The height of Assassin's Creed

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I played all Assassin's Creed games up to "Black Flag". What I've read from the reviews so far, I didn't miss all that much from the games that came after. I don't want to talk about gameplay here (very repetitive and simple), but the story. The height of the series, in my book, were the ones with Ezio Morricone (Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood and Revelations), and especially the last of those, Revelations. 

Assassin's Creed 4 review

To be honest, after the debacle that was Assassin's Creed 3 I didn't really want to play part 4, especially since it seemed like the game would only reinforce the mistakes of its predecessor back when the trailer came out. My fears all came true, and they didn't. While they definitely got ahead and used the pirate-setting as a background for all kinds of ridiculous action and adventure, further making a mockery of the assassin parts of the story, this works surprisingly well in some respects. Steering the Jackdaw through the waters of the Carribean is as fun an experience as one could wish for. I disabled and entered one ship after the other, upgrading the Jackdaw and enjoying myself to the shanties the crew sings whenever you have to cover a stretch of water without getting shot at. 

Essentially, we have Pirate-Ninjas now.

My thoughts on Assassin's Creed 4

Ubisoft held a press conference in which it announced, to no one's real surprise, Assassin's Creed 4. What comes as a surprise is the setting: "Black Flag" will feature pirates in the Carribean. So far, we have two main sources of information: the press conference Ubisoft held and the trailer they published. Both leave me doubtful, to say the least. But let's take this bit by bit, examining first storytelling opportunities and then the game mechanics, just as we did in the spectacularily failed Assassin's Creed 3. 

Wading on the shore, totally blending in with the natives.

Final review of Assassin's Creed 3

After making an extensive recap of the Assassin's Creed 3 game that covered almost exclusively the story of said game, it is time to do a proper review of the title. It is no secret that I really wanted to play the title, and I preordered it a year before it came out in some special super special duper edition. I gave it enormous credit beforehand, because of the previous titles that managed to really mean something (opposed to, say, the Modern Warfare series). However, Assassin's Creed 3 left me really unsatisfied, both on a storytelling and on a game mechanic level. At first, let give me a brief summary over my grievances with the story, which you can read in great detail in my recaps.

Looking at his nemesis: a critical review

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 5: Desmond

For Desmond, the adventure starts right where we left him in "Revelations": in the back of a truck at their final destination. I honestly can't tell you how he knew where to go, but obivously he did, and conveniently, the cave was located in North America, only an hour's drive away. With the apple, we open the cave (which has some graffiti on it, nice touch) and find a temple (?) of the Precursors. Before we can start, the game forces us to do an ugly tutorial in the Animus' engine. It's not skippable, but thanks, I really wanted to know how to walk in the game. Unfortunately, they switched some controls from "Revelations", which upsets muscle memory. In the cave itself, we find some sort of console for which we need to find certain keys and are encouraged to explore. Said exploration is finished quickly, however, since there's not much to do, and the game kickstarts the Haytham-sequence (see part one of the recap), another extended tutorial. 

Yay, Tutorial!

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 4: Fighting Templars

In case you wondered why I omit the present-day-storyline around Desmond from my recaps: I will do it in one final part, since it seems to me it would disrupt the flow of these recaps. That being said, let's rejoin Connor on his way to New York. When I played, I encountered a nasty bug, preventing me from entering the city. So, I took my sweet time to explore Boston and the Frontier and to perform some naval missions, something I didn't do later in the storyline. I have the feeling that the game should force you a littlebit more to do these things while playing the main storyline, preferably by making money useful. I did the game without ever buying any new weapon or stuff in the shops, and I only used money  to improve the ship, which didn't seem to have such a great effect at all. It would be cool if you really needed money to solve some plots. 

New York's best days clearly lie ahead.

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 3: The Road to Lexington

After finally getting the business started in the Boston Massacre and learning the ways of the city by courtesy of the tutoring of Samuel Adams, we return home to the wise sage(tm) and ask ourselves what the hell just happened. So, the Templars started the American Revolution. Why? It's not clear, at least not yet, but we can hope that they will provide some answer in the future. One thing is certain: Samuel Adams, who is perhaps most responsible for the escalation in the true version of history, is on our side. The problem is, I don't know why. Really, I don't know. He just popped out of nowhere and explained Boston to a halfblood. 

And involves him on a high level in the conspiracy to create the USA.

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 2: Connor's Training

After having examined the prologue, in which Haytham Kenway lays the groundwork for the templar's organisation in America, we get to know our real protagonist, Connor. In a voiceover of his mother, we are informed that the Indians, kind and trusting people they are, took Connor in with no problems at all, ignoring his half-blood heritage and loving him as one of their one. This leaves me with a bad feeling in the stomach, because this romantization of the native Indians should be a thing of the past. It's just benevolent racism to paint them as nature's children, taking no more than they need and living in harmony, yadda yadda. In case you didn't get the point, the soundtrack spells it out for you, constantly displaying an Indian chant in the background that soon tires and never stops. 

In exchange you get breathtaking scenery.

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 1: The Prologue

I have waited quite some time for Assassin's Creed 3. I like the series very much, despite its flaws in gameplay, because it takes an approach to storytelling that isn't seen very often, providing not only an engaging narrative, but also themes that are worth exploring. Compare it to the Modern Warfare series and you know what I mean: on the one hand, meaningless hurrah-bravado to underline the badassery of what passes as characters, tied together by an awfully constructed plot designed only to tie the sceneries together in which you shoot at generic bad guys. Assassin's Creed tries to give meaning to its story, exploring the old "freedom vs. security" theme in a surprisingly deep way. Of course, one needs to bear in mind that it's still a video game that needs to apply to a certain demographic and not a playable civic lesson, so there are limits. In this article series I will comment on the narrative of Assassin's Creed 3 as I play along. I will write these essays without knowledge of what comes next, so please refrain from spoilers in the comments and try to stick with the present state of the narrative. 

Read my lips: no spoilers!