Assassin's Creed (2016)

Assassin's Creed (2016)

Dir. Justin Kurzel

Besides the goal of making lorryloads of cash for its producers, game developer Ubisoft was probably hoping that the live action Ass Creed film would entice lorryloads more people to check out their long-running game series, which in turn would increase profits there, too. Anything is possible, I suppose, even when the movie they hoped would sway people is a 125 million dollar turd.

Given that it might be someone's introduction to the world, I'll mention how it presents itself, rather than how it translates its source to the screen. But in that respect, it's dire.

It begins in Spain, 1492. We meet Aguilar de Nerha (Michael Fassbender), a member of the Assassins Brotherhood, a secretive group who are collectively at war with the Templars. The Assassins fight for individual freedoms and expression, whereas the Templars seek to control society through imposed order.

Assassin's Creed Unity (2014)

Assassin's Creed Unity (2014)

Genre: Action / Adventure | Players: 1 / Multi | Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

AC: Unity was the first of the Ass series to be released on the new (at the time) eighth generation of home consoles; the PS4, etc.

Not being a timely sort of person, I first played it eight years later, in 2022. I should say 'first' and 'last' time because it's bloody awful and I won't be trudging through its story ever again.

To add insult to injury, it came out on the very same day as Ass Creed Rogue came out on the previous generation of consoles. Rogue wasn't perfect, but it was infinitely more playable in comparison to the 'next generation' Unity.

I'm reminded of the proverb 'with great power comes great responsibility', except in Ubisoft's case it's more like 'with greater processing power comes greater catastrophe'. I usually leave my glitch report until after I've mentioned gameplay, etc, but Unity has nothing of value to relay, so the glitch report is all there is!

Assassin's Creed Chronicles (2015-16)

Assassin's Creed Chronicles (2015-16)

Genre: Platform / Stealth | Developer: Climax Studios

Considering how much of a spiritual debt the Ass franchise owes to Prince of Persia, it's fitting that it should return to a similar format with the smaller games. Ass Chronicles does just that.

It takes place within a 2.5D environment, a peculiar term that I'm guessing most gamers will already be familiar with. But if not, it's somewhere between a 2D and 3D environment; i.e., you move from left to right or right to left as you would in a traditional 2D side-scrolling video game adventure, but you can move into and out of more than one plane or layer from time to time, giving the illusion of depth. Functionally it enables you to hide or traverse past obstacles or enemies that would otherwise block your path.

To date, there have been three games in the Chronicles series, each with its own unique protagonist. Each one is available to buy separately, or collected together as a Trilogy Pack. However you acquire them, if you play them in the order they were originally released, then your first port of call is China in the year 1526.

Assassin's Creed: The Fall (2012) + The Chain (2012)

Assassin's Creed: The Fall (2012)

Authors: Cameron Stewart / Karl Kerschl  |  Illustrators: Cameron Stewart / Karl Kerschl  |  Page Count: 96 / 128 (Deluxe)

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted…"

Considering how asinine and clusterfucky the main story of the Assassin's Creed games was, is and likely will become, I didn't have high hopes for The Fall. Shock news: It’s surprisingly good. It's not amazing but it does a better job at balancing two different time periods and making them feel like one cohesive whole than any of the games I've played so far have managed to do.

If you don't know how that works, each instalment has two protagonists, one in the present and one in the past. In the present era, sometime around the turn of the 21st Century, there’s Daniel Cross. The book spends a fair amount of time showing us what kind of guy Daniel is and, perhaps more importantly, what kind of guy he isn't. He’s not a noble champion of the people. He’s quick to anger and full of doubts, dislikes authority, enjoys a drink and is slowly spiralling out of control.

Assassin's Creed: The American Saga (2012-14)

Assassin's Creed III (2012)  |  Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013)  |  Assassin's Creed: Liberation (2014)  |  Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry (2014)  |  Assassin's Creed: Rogue (2014)

Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Trilogy (2009-11)

Assassin's Creed II (2009)  |  Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010)  |  Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011)

Beyond Good and Evil (HD edition) (2011)

Beyond Good and Evil (HD) (2011)

Genre: Action / Adventure | Players: One | Developer: Ubisoft

BG+E was originally released in 2003 for PC and consoles. The 2011 version is an HD release with updated visuals to make it look more attractive on modern TV equipment. Beneath the polish it's the same game with the same aged camera system and inherent game engine limitations.

I played through it multiple times back in the day (on PS2) so am in a good position to judge whether the update is successful or not. It is, but it’s not perfect. I encountered some minor glitches that I didn't fall prey to before. It was mostly due to bad luck and my trying to cut corners, but I had to reload twice because I'd slipped between scenery. Freakish accidents aside, the game has aged beautifully.