Odd Thoughts

In 2011, Ubisoft Montreal released yet another Assassin's game in a truly commendable effort to keep up with their ridiculous annual release schedule. I can't imagine the kind of crunch that went into releasing an Assassin's Creed game every year from 2009 (Assassin's Creed 2) to 2015 (Assassin's Creed Unity). Revelations continues the story of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, taking the player from Italy to Anatolia. The main chunk of the story occurs in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), conquered capital of the fallen Byzantine Empire and center of the Ottoman Empire's centuries-long reign over Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and at various times huge portions of the eastern Mediterranean. The game also features brief forays into Cappadocia, where the player explores a creatively imagined cave city which was one of my favorite locations in the game so far, as well as Masyaf Castle at the very beginning and very end of the game. Players of the original game wil

Released just a year after Assassin's Creed 2, in 2010, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood has been aptly described as Assassin's Creed 2.5 ever since it came out. While that's a fair moniker, keep in mind that this is still a full fledged game. Where I spent 37 hours in Assassin's Creed 2, I spent 31 in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, having finished the main stories and all of the side missions in each game. Brotherhood continues the story of Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, the charismatic assassin who spent the last game avenging the execution of his father and brothers, dismantling a Templar conspiracy, and retrieving the Apple of Eden. At the end of the last game Ezio made a fateful decision not to kill Rodrigo Borgia, the head Templar and also Pope Alexander VI, only besting him physically before taking the apple and entering an ancient temple. This game begins where the last game left off, with Ezio reeling from the odd visions presented to him in the temple and

Going back into the archives of large gaming journalism sites, it's evident that I wasn't the only one who wasn't quite impressed by the original Assassin's Creed. Between its clunky controls, repetitive mission structure, and uninspiring main character, it's quite the surprise that the game sold so well. That being said, I pointed out the game left a solid base to iterate upon. And in 2009, Ubisoft Montreal delivered a sequel that improved upon it's precursor in every way imaginable. Assassins Creed 2 follows the life of Ezio Auditore from his birth all the way until about his forties, when the game leaves off, to be picked up by the later titles Brotherhood and Revelations. From minute one the game is more cinematic, tone-conscious, and interesting than virtually anything its 2007 ancestor had to offer. In contrast to the first game's Third Crusade setting, AC 2 places the player in the midst of Renaissance Italy and its warring states, families, and