Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

Assassin's Creed: Revelations Will Include, Surprise, Major RevelationsTo hear the creative director of this fall's Assassin's Creed Revelations put it in a recent interview with Game Informer, the next Assassin's Creed will actually merit its subtitle. Questions will be answered. What kind of questions?


Read on, only if you've played Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.


Oh, but if you're about to bail, you might at least like to know that Alexandre Amancio also says—possibly stating the obvious—that "Assassin's Creed III will be about another character." The thinking is that each numbered AC game introduces a new assassin: Altair in the first, Ezio in the second, someone new in III.


Okay? Mild spoiler time... run away, unspoiled non-players of ACII and AC:B


In his interview with Game Informer, Amancio says:


We decided in this opus of the franchise to actually give the players a lot of the answers that they've sort of been thirsting for ever since AC II. A lot of things were set up with Minerva, with Juno, a lot of the details about the end-of-the-world plot line in 2012—as we're getting closer and closer to the actual 2012 marker, the franchise is also concluding its major opus. So this game is sort of where we're setting all the record straight. We're sort of closing all of the loops that have been started. .., We're going to reveal not only a lot of stuff about the first civilization plot-line, but we're actually going to conclude the Ezio, the Altair storylines, and we're going to sort of explain why Ezio is such an important character for the franchise, what his actual role is in all of that plotline, what role Altair plays in that destiny, and, ultimately what role Desmond plays in all that stuff.


Experienced players surely realize that this is no small promise. In ACII and AC:B we've had the mysterious god-like Minerva and Juno, both possibly representatives of some precursor civilization on Earth, tell Ezio and Desmond about the impending end of the world. They've said some shifty things that have called into question whether our hero assassin's are doing the right thing.


This is a series that has implied that even Adam and Eve were somehow tied up in the saga that has led to the adventures of all of the Assassin's Creed answers. Those of us who have been playing certainly have a lot of questions. We're actually getting answers in Revelations? That's a welcome surprise.


Check out the rest of GI's video with Amancio for more details about how Revelations is being made and about his intriguing goals of improving the series convergence of narrative and gameplay. He's set some lofty goals.


Link ChevronAssassin's Creed: Revelations: Meet The Creative Director [Game Informer 218]


Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

So, Where (or When) Do You Think Assassin's Creed III Will Be?Turns out that new Assassin's Creed title is another Ezio game. Good news, sure, as the last two have been great, but at the same time...people are getting the itch for somebody new. For that third Assassin's Creed game.


One that will get us out of the Renaissance and into not only the shoes of a new character, but the cities of a new time. And place.


Where, then, would you like to see the series taken? What time, or place, or city, or theme would you like to see developers Ubisoft explore?


The game is based in history with a science fiction twist, so the possibilities are seemingly endless. It could be another historical title, it could do the unexpected and shoot us off into space, or the distant future. At this stage we don't know what or where the game will take us, and as such, guessing is half the fun. Actually, until a third game is unveiled, it's all the fun.


Here's my hope/prediction: revolutionary America. Specifically, Boston and New York.


Why? Well, let's see:


- It's another period of turmoil. Both previous titles have been set against the backdrop of political and/or social upheaval, which not only provides an excuse to put bad guys on the streets, it gives your character a resistance movement or underground with which to operate.


- It's about as late as you can get without having to fundamentally alter the entire gameplay mechanics of the series. Go much further, into the 19th century, and you enter the age of revolvers and rifles, rendering the knife-work and swordplay that are so important to the series' appeal impossible.


- The jump from the first Assassin's Creed game to the second was roughly 300 years. The same leap from the Renaissance lands you in...revolutionary America. Or revolutionary France, for that matter, but it'd be great to play just one of these games without having to choose between dodgy accents or subtitles.


Those are my "logical" explanations. Mostly, though, I just dig that era, and find the idea of stalking Redcoats and riding across wooden bridges in the dead of night to be similar enough to the past games to remain familiar but new enough to feel fresh.


What about you guys?


Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

I can't think of many/any places where this kind of concealed weapon would be legal, but I can think of one place we can admire its craftsmanship: here.


YouTube user ammnra is the man behind it, wisely keeping the footage restricted to him testing the blade in his bathroom, and not running around on rooftops looking for men in silly hats carrying crossbows.


This isn't the first time we've featured his work: last year, he made one of the best cosplay outfits we've ever seen, turning a man into alien vigilante Garrus from the Mass Effect universe.


Link Chevron [via Reddit]


Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

Assassin's Creed Revelations Brings the Ezio Trilogy to a Close in November [Update] After a week or so of vigorous teasing, Ubisoft finally lifts the curtain on Assassin's Creed Revelations, the third and final chapter in the Ezio trilogy, coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this November.


In Assassin's Creed Revelations Ezio Auditore embarks on a journey of self-discovery and revelation in the footsteps of his legendary mentor, Altaïr. He'll travel to Constantinople in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a gathering army of Templars is threatening to destabilize the region.


Assassin's Creed Revelations also sees the return of online multiplayer, with new mode, new maps, and new characters.


"Delivering the final chapter of the Ezio trilogy is an important milestone in the Assassin's Creed franchise for us and for our fans," said Alexandre Amancio, Creative Director at Ubisoft Montreal. "Assassin's Creed Revelations includes lots of new features and some significant surprises. We can't wait to show our fans what we have in store at E3 this year."


For more on Assassin's Creed Revelations pick up the June issue of Game Informer, available this month.


Update: Game Informer's cover reveal story teases with more details, including a "newly customizable multiplayer game" and the fact that you'll play as Desmond, Ezio, and Altaïr as you progress through the story. It's three assassins in one!


Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

The third teaser video for Ubisoft's next Assassin's Creed game has been unlocked, showing the date 24.06.1459, making the building in the background the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, six years after it stopped being Constantinople. Unlock more via Facebook.


Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

A quickly pulled link on the Assassin's Creed Facebook page has revealed the name and teaser footage for the next game in the series. It will be called Assassin's Creed Revelations, and will feature Altair, the hero of the first game. You'll find more information, and the mysterious teaser videos below.

NeoGaf spotted the leaked link on Friday, and have delved into the revealed webpage to uncover some blurry footage. CVG note that the videos mention Altair's name in Arabic, suggesting that the star of Assassin's Creed 1 will at least make an appearance in the new game.

There's no news yet on whether Revelations will turn out to be the next major Assassin's Creed title, but a Ubisoft report at a recent investor's event said that there will be more Assassin's Creed news arriving this month.

The Assassin's Creed Facebook page still displays a banner asking people for likes to unlock more information, but dedicated Assassin's Creed fans have already captured some of the footage from the Facebook leak on Friday, you'll find both videos below. Can you spot any more clues about the new game?



Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition
assassin's creed thumb
A quickly pulled link on the Assassin's Creed Facebook page has revealed the name and teaser footage for the next game in the series. It will be called Assassin's Creed Revelations, and will feature Altair, the hero of the first game. You'll find more information, and the mysterious teaser videos below.

NeoGaf spotted the leaked link on Friday, and have delved into the revealed webpage to uncover some blurry footage. CVG note that the videos mention Altair's name in Arabic, suggesting that the star of Assassin's Creed 1 will at least make an appearance in the new game.

There's no news yet on whether Revelations will turn out to be the next major Assassin's Creed title, but a Ubisoft report at a recent investor's event said that there will be more Assassin's Creed news arriving this month.

The Assassin's Creed Facebook page still displays a banner asking people for likes to unlock more information, but dedicated Assassin's Creed fans have already captured some of the footage from the Facebook leak on Friday, you'll find both videos below. Can you spot any more clues about the new game?



Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

Assassin's Creed fans have unlocked the second leg of the teaser for what might be called be Assassin's Creed Revelations. What does it mean? Follow the unfolding saga at the AC Reveal Facebook page.


Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

The CEO of Ubisoft is Tired of Our Current ConsolesIn an interview with MCVUK, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot lamented the lack of new development platforms, going so far as to blame the lack of new home consoles for the entire industry's fiscal shortcomings. In the interview, Guillemot claims that Ubisoft has developed fewer new IPs of late because there is no more room for new franchises on this generation of consoles: Sequels rule the roost, and Ubisoft has plenty of established series to work with until PS4, Xbox 3 and Wii 2. That said, Guillemot wishes that the consoles would get an update so that the developer can move forward.


"When a new format launches, we look to use the new technology to bring new games and new ideas to our consumers. We would always hope to be more successful on new formats than our competitors... It is part of the DNA of the company. Each time there is new hardware it gives our creative teams more freedom and they don't have to follow the same rules. They can try new things because the consumer expects and wants new things... and that's part of the reason why the industry is in depression. Consumers like the current formats, but there is not enough creativity at the end of a cycle to really spark the business."


This generation has had the longest life-cycle of any console generation to date. It's been five years since the release of the PS3, and six since the 360 hit store shelves. On the other hand, Guillemot's reaction is a self-fulfilling prophecy: Regardless of how the current generation is doing now, withholding new ideas will eventually cause this generation to become obselete.Do you think it's time for a new set of consoles, or is the current generation still running strong? More importantly, do you think that developers should be holding back content for a new platform that, as far as we know, doesn't even exist yet? [MCVUK]


Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition

The most important thing you need to know before starting Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is that, after the first hour, you’re never forced to man any more asinine cannons. Don’t be discouraged by the frustratingly pointless, cinematic-heavy introduction, because everything after that is compelling. I couldn’t stay mad at the game for long—not after nimbly scaling Rome’s famous Coliseum and flicking my blade into the necks of three hapless gunmen, all entirely undetected. Brotherhood’s massive and complex open world is an engrossing, blood-soaked playground.



Future-past balderdash

Brotherhood picks up where Assassin’s Creed II left off, with late-fifteenth-century master assassin Ezio having just defeated a sickeningly corrupt pope. He returns home safely, but is inexplicably surprised the next day when the pope’s son interrupts his awkwardly animated sex scene with an army. Cue the awful cannons!

After a tedious segment outside of the Animus (a sci-fi device through which the series’ true protagonist relives his assassin ancestors’ memories), Ezio travels to Rome to dislodge the tyrannical establishment. It’s here that the open-world game starts for real, and the plot congeals.

As in AC2, the story progresses through a series of Ezio’s memories. The missions are varied sequences of stealth, combat, and story-driving dialog, and even the seemingly garden-variety escort missions are well done. It’s hard to be bored while leaping across rooftops with knives.



The free-running and combat do take effort to master. Early in the game I was tasked with chasing down and tackling a pickpocket, so I sprinted into a crowd, fell over, jumped into a pile of hay, and stuck my hidden blade through the throat of a woman carrying her groceries. The more I played, though, the more impressive (and less unintentionally amusing) my acrobatics became. They’d have been a little more impressive, though, without the game’s few irksome graphical glitches—like pop-ins that once warped a hostile guard directly in front of me while I was being sneaky.

Aside from the story missions, Brotherhood builds on AC2’s huge list of optional things to do: violently taking over enemy territory, recruiting and managing ally assassins, investing in property—I got happily lost in its time-sink vortex for hours, and more hours still were spent amusing myself by free-running through Rome and beating up guards for no reason. The single-player offers at least 15 hours of quality assassinatin’—and if you tire of that, there’s also the brand-new multiplayer modes.



Simple sophistication

These multiplayer matches are simple but challenging stealth manhunts, either as lone-wolf assassins or teams of killers (you’re given a target to assassinate, while another player hunts you). You know what your target looks like and their general direction, but the catch is that maps are populated with look-alike civilians; the trick is to lose your pursuer in the crowd while watching for unusual activity from your target, making this well-designed, paranoia-inducing cat-and-mouse game far more than just a bullet point on the box. I did experience occasional, inexplicable crashes, however.

Overshadowing even that, Brotherhood’s biggest improvement is that it requires only one-time activation, as opposed to AC2’s “always-online” DRM. The game itself isn’t notably superior (especially in terms of story), but all of its additions put it at least on par with the last, and it’s a hugely entertaining sequel.
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