Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted

Two years ago this month, I found a game in the bargain bin at GameStop that changed my gaming experience forever.  I was on a quest at that point to expand my gaming horizons, for the online FPS's that I had played so much before had gone stale and boring on me.  I had heard about it, mostly bad things, but it was only ten dollars and it was worth a try.

This was "Assassin's Creed," and I fell in love with it.  I still criticized it for being a repetitive, drawn-out affair punctuated by poorly-designed sword-fighting marathons, but I was hooked.  I loved the parkour, I loved digging up clues on my target throughout the three main cities, and I loved planning my assassinations and routes of escape.  Along with that, it had surprisingly believable characters and very interesting story threads involving them, as well as the future intrigue involving some guy voiced by Nolan North being held up in Aperture ... I mean Abstergo Industries and learning the truth behind their intentions.

This was not long before the release of "Assassin's Creed 2," which I made sure to pick up new as soon as it came out and loved it even more.  I loved the new variety in missions, I loved the new setting and the new layers of intrigue that surround it, I loved the character of Ezio Auditore da Firenze and the entire ensemble surrounding him, and I loved the new tweaks to the gameplay that kept you much more on your toes during sword-fights.  Everything that could have been better was made better, and I was now a dedicated fan of the series, even going so far as to buy the DLC expansions when they came out.

Even though the series had never let me down, I was still skeptical about "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood."  Why was it being released only a year after AC2?  Why did they add multiplayer?  Why do I get the impression that this is just going to be a bullshit side-story?  Turns out I was wrong to doubt this game, because it was even better than the last time.  The gameplay had gone through further improvements, the side missions had a focus around the main story that the last game lacked and the first game had, the god-awful facial animations from AC2 had been improved, and the overarching future story had made bigger leaps and bounds than ever.  The multiplayer was even pretty fun, though it got boring quite quick as I could not escape the sense that I was doing the same thing over and over again.

I was eagerly anticipating "Assassin's Creed 3" to be released this year, but Ubisoft is giving me blue balls and instead is coming out with another "Brotherhood"-esque installment entitled "Assassin's Creed: Revelations."  Revelations?!  Finally, they might explain some shit to us this time!  Confusing cliffhangers and other unsolved mysteries have been a staple of the series, and now that three games have come out they may hopefully be ready to tell us more of what's going on.

The first round of teasers have already come out, as well as a Game Informer cover featuring the game.  The Game Informer cover offers the most clues as to what the game will be about.  The cover features two protagonists from past games: Ezio from the last two installments, looking like age has finally caught up with him, and Altair from the first game.  It has been confirmed that both Ezio and Altair will feature prominently in this next installment.  Behind Ezio's head, you will see a building that might look familiar, for this is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Constantinople in Ezio's time), confirming that this will be the main setting of the next game. 

I was a little peeved that Ezio is featured again, for I did not think there was any reason that we needed to see more of his story, but his continuing presense is redeemed by the fact that he's in a completely different setting, and a very interesting one at that.  Istanbul is a very interesting place culture-wise, a clashing point between the cultures of Europe and the Middle East.  Plus, it's in Greece, one of the places I've been wanting to have featured in an Assassin's Creed game, and it will allow for much more ancient intrigue in the vein of the Romulus missions in "Brotherhood."

One question, though?  Ezio's looking pretty old this time around.  When does he, you know, procreate?  Isn't the whole point of the Animus to relive the memories of an ancestor.  You know, a direct descendant!  So when does Ezio have kids so one of them can become Desmonds great-great-great-however many times-grandparent.  This game better end with Ezio as a baby daddy or I'm gonna be pissed!

Overall, I'm excited about this game.  It should bring a lot to the table with the new setting, and it will be interesting how it will handle the body hopping via the Animus Black Room between Altair's and Ezio's memories.  Hopefully, though, this will eventually lead us to "Assassin's Creed 3."  I will have been waiting for long enough by the time this comes out.