Assassins Creed - The Movie

[Sir William]

Michael Fassbender has signed on to play the lead...most likely Altair and/or Desmond.  I am officially excited- he'd be my first choice in the role.  He's got the presence, the athleticism and seems adept at Hollywood style swordsmanship (as seen in 300 and Centurion), the story itself is engaging and the setting is 1191AD, the Holy Land which should be a draw for those of us with the Crusading bent.

http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Assassin's_Creed_(film)

[Thorsteinn]

Nifty!

[Sir Edward]

I've never played the games, but I'd go to see this, if done well enough.

[Sir William]

Sir Edward, depending on how you view action/adventure games, you might really like this one.  The visuals, the mechanics, the story- this game is at or near the top in every category, in my not inconsiderable opinion of it.  The game has an overarching storyline, a modern day Assassin has to delve through his genetic memory to uncover certain artifacts his ancestors had discovered and put to use in three separate and distinct periods in history- namely the Third Crusade, the rise of the Borgias and this latest installment dealing with the American Revolution.  As you delve into these encoded memories, you take on the mantle of each ancestor during their respective time...personally, the overall story does nothing for me but further the idea of the struggle (Assassins versus Templars engaged in a secret war that has lasted nearly a thousand years), it is living through the ancestors where the game really shines.

As one who has adopted a Crusader persona, it was a gas to go hunting Templars in the likes of Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus and Masyaf, riding on horseback through the countryside on the way to each of those cities, encountering Crusaders, Templars as well as local soldiery and each city has its own guards that will accost you in addition to the aforementioned opponents- and the renderings of these environments, not to mention the sheer scale and verticality (you can climb to the top of any building you see and leap off) - the developers are on record with regard to the period authenticity for each locality.  I'm not inclined to disbelieve them.

AC II, Brotherhood and Revelations (three separate installments) deal with the exploits of a Renaissance ancestor toward the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries in Italy, Masyaf and later Constantinople (Revelations)...all beautifully rendered and in the later installments, some pretty intriguing gameplay.

The latest installment, AC3, due out in September, I think, deals with a forebear in America during the revolution...I can't wait for it to come out.

Within the story and gameplay is a running history of mythology dealing with the First Civilization and the rebellion of their created servants, the First People...which also ties in with the ancestors' origins, actions as well as the overarching story.  Overall, as far as stories go be it in video games, anime, or literature - it is the one of the best ones I've encountered thus far.  Whoever wrote it should make it into a book series.  It is that good.

[Sir James A]

It is, by far, my favorite game series ever. I *really* hope the movie makes it to fruition. I held onto hope that Onimusha would finally come out, for years. Sadly, it never did.

Assassin's Creed is fantastic. The storyline is phenomenal, especially with the way they tie in so many different aspects, and it *really* leaves you hanging in-between games. There's a *ton* of implicit / open-ended dialog and events in the game. There's a website that goes through all of the history, between multiple cultures, of what happens at the end of the first game (possibly the most mysterious of all endings).

When I beat the third one, it was around 3am and I had to work the next day. The ending left me so slack jawed, I sulked to the bedroom and proceeded to check the boards for other people's thoughts. And there was *a lot* of good theories. Then, when the last one came out, I took the week off work, waited in line for the midnight release ... and then finished it in less than 3 days. I literally did not sleep more than a few hours from start to finish. It lived up to everything I expected, and even things I didn't.

Sir Edward, I have the first 4 games, if you'd like to borrow them.

[Sir Wolf]

i played some of the first game. my nephew has all of them and loves them

[Sir Edward]

Wow, how many of them are there now?

You guys seriously don't want me to ever sleep again, don't you.

[Sir William]

Assassins Creed III will be the fifth game of the series...AC II, Brotherhood and Revelations round out the Ezio trilogy...they are WELL worth the time it takes to play them.  It is easy to get caught up in side stuff though...especially in the later installments, where recruiting Assassins, sending them off on contracts, and even later...well, I don't want to ruin it for you, but lets just say there's a helluva lot to do in the later installments.

I'm more excited about there being an actual bow in this latest one than anything else...

Sir Edward, another cool aspect about these games is the interactions you have with key historical figures, for example- these are just a couple for each.
AC1 (1191AD): King Richard the Lionheart, Garnier de Naplus (Grandmasterof the Hospitalier Order), Robert de Sable (11th Grandmaster of the Knights Templar) and Sibrand (Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order).
AC2 (1476AD): Rodrigo Borgia, Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo de Medici
AC Brotherhood (1499AD): the Borgias, Caterina Sforza, Niccolo Macchiavelli
AC Revelations (1500AD-): Manuel Palialogos, Sakhulu, Suleiman the Magnificent

Each single player campaign will probably run you 10-15 hours depending on how deeply you delve into the side missions and other stuff...I generally end up putting in around 40 on each but man, it is well worth it.

Little stuff that comes in the later entries like rebuilding your stronghold gets upgraded to rebuilding the cities; the recruitment of Assassins not only affords you backup but can also be used to fill your coffers so you can outfit yourself with the latest upgrades in weapons and armor.

Mind you, the first one has none of the aforementioned minigames, but it is still my favorite one, simply because it is set during the Crusades, you get to hunt Templars that actually look like Templars, you bandy words with the Lionheart (and other luminaries of the time, like William of Montferrat) and you get to explore Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus.  Three areas where a self-styled Crusader historian would dearly love to visit but know better than to actually go there. 

[Sir Edward]

And they're on Steam....  Dangit.

First one is downloading now.

Maybe someday I'll get back to Mass Effect (I only got half-way through the first one before getting distracted). I keep finding other games.

[Sir William]

Heh.  You're in for it now, Lord Commander!  I know nothing.

[Ian]

The newest one that will be coming out later this year I believe is slated for Revolutionary War America which will be an interesting direction for the games.  Sir Edward, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

[Sir Wolf]

ahahahaha

[Sir James A]

The newest one that will be coming out later this year I believe is slated for Revolutionary War America which will be an interesting direction for the games.  Sir Edward, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Indeed it is. October 30th. Even though the trilogy takes place during multiple different time periods, the Assassins vs Templars ties them together the entire way, and if you read enough of the story / back story, in a very, very interesting way. It's historical and "theoretically historical" at the same time, since for many of the questions, there are no answers.

Ubisoft (the AC makers) does *fantastic* cut scenes. GameTrailers gave the video at E3 these awards:

* Best Wii U Game
* Best PS3 Game
* Best Xbox 360 Game
* Best PC Game
* Best Action/Adventure Game
* Best of Show

Nice, eh? Here's the AC3 promo trailer:



Sir Edward, the combat engine was of course enhanced in each game along the way. The first one is less "fluid" than the later games, so don't let that throw you off. The further into the series you get, the more ridiculously powerful they become, the deeper the story gets (since each builds off the previous), and the more engrossing it really becomes. If you're playing on Steam, and have a wired XBox360 controller, hook it up to the PC and you can use it just like a regular gamepad. I played through AC1 on PC the first time too. The setting for AC1 is probably my favorite, though.

I could probably talk for hours about how awesome I think the series is, but it'll never do it justice without playing through it. Then you could talk for hours .. days .. weeks .. months .. years .. about some of the philosophy, historical possibilities, and conspiracy theories that are all over the place in the game. 

[Sir James A]

Second post w/the other 4 games - it wouldn't let me put 5 youtube links in one post. Here's the promo/E3 videos for the first 4 games:

AC1


AC2


AC2: Brotherhood


AC2: Revelations

[Sir William]

Thank you, Sir James...glad to see I'm not the only one raving about how good this game is.  Sir Edward, this game is best played with a console controller...once you start playing you'll note that it is most intuitive, the control schema- much like a puppeteer, but so much more rewarding.

I used to look for large numbers of guards and take them (and their reinforcements) on singlehandedly, just to see how many bodies I could stack up- until they stopped spawning in.  Somewhere around 40 or so...clogged up Acre's southern entrance to the wharves like that.  No intrinsic value to the gameplay, just pure awesome sauce to be able to pull it off and walk away!

I am as excited about the new AC as I am about the new GTA...and that's saying a lot since I've been a GTA head starting with GTA3 back in 2001 and am a huge fan of the franchise.  As far as I'm concerned, the AC series features the best overarching storyline I've ever seen in a game...even though the modern parts can take you out of the medieval/renaissance experience in the delving of the ancestral memories, you won't be disappointed.  The mythology created for the game is incredibly detailed- and if you think about it, no less plausible than some of the other ideological theories with regard to how we as humans came to be.