Developer : Ubisoft
Release date : November 13, 2007
Synopsis :
Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Assassin’s Creed series. The game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007. A Microsoft Windows version titled Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut Edition and containing additional content was released in April 2008.
The plot is set in a fictional history of real-world events, taking place primarily during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land in 1191. The player character is a modern-day man named Desmond Miles who, through a machine called the “Animus”, relives the genetic memories of his ancestor, Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad. Through this plot device, details emerge about a millennia-old struggle between two factions: the Assassin Brotherhood (inspired by the real-life Order of Assassins), who fight to preserve peace and free will, and the Templar Order (inspired by the Knights Templar military order), who seek to establish peace through order and control. Both factions fight over powerful artifacts of mysterious origins known as “Pieces of Eden” to gain an advantage over each other. The 12th-century portion of the story follows Altaïr, an Assassin, who embarks on a quest to regain his honor after failing to recover one such artifact from the Templars; he does so by finding and assassinating nine targets across the Holy Land.
Gameplay focuses on using Altaïr’s combat, stealth, and parkour abilities to defeat enemies and explore the environment. The game features counter-based hack and slash combat, “social stealth” (the ability to use crowds of people and the environment to hide from enemies), and a large open world comprising various regions of the Holy Land; primarily the cities of Masyaf, Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus, all of which have been accurately recreated to fit the game’s time period. While most of the game takes place within a simulation based on Altaïr’s memories, the player will occasionally be forced out of the Animus to play as Desmond in the modern day. Here, they are restricted to a single room they can explore, as Desmond has been kidnapped by a shady corporation who are looking for specific information within Altaïr’s memories that will further their own enigmatic goals.
Upon release, Assassin’s Creed received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its storytelling, visuals, art design, and originality, although the game was also criticized for the repetitive nature of its gameplay. Assassin’s Creed won several awards at E3 in 2006, as well as several end-year awards after its release. The game spawned two spin-offs: Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles (2008) and Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (2009), which exclude the modern-day aspect and focus entirely on Altaïr. A direct sequel, Assassin’s Creed II, was released in November 2009. The sequel continues the modern-day narrative following Desmond, but introduces a new storyline set during the Italian Renaissance in the late 15th century, and a new protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Since the release and success of Assassin’s Creed II, subsequent games have been released, with various other Assassins and time periods.
In 2012, bartender Desmond Miles (Nolan North) is kidnapped by agents of Abstergo Industries, the world’s largest pharmaceutical conglomerate, and is taken to their headquarters in Rome. Under the guidance of Dr. Warren Vidic (Philip Proctor) and his assistant Lucy Stillman (Kristen Bell), Desmond is forced to participate in a series of trials revolving around the “Animus”, a machine capable of translating the genetic memories of his ancestors into a simulated reality. Vidic instructs him to relive the early years of Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad (Philip Shahbaz), a senior member of the Assassin Brotherhood during the time of the Third Crusade. His investigation reveals that Altaïr, blinded by arrogance, botched an attempt by the Assassins to retrieve an artifact from their sworn enemies, the Knights Templar, leading to the death of one Assassin, and severely wounding another in the process. Although Altaïr manages to partially redeem himself by fighting off a Templar attack on the Assassin home base of Masyaf, his mentor and superior, Al Mualim (Peter Renaday), demotes and orders him to assassinate nine individuals in order to regain his previous position and honor:
Tamir (Ammar Daraiseh), an arms merchant in Damascus selling weapons to both sides.
Garnier de Nablus (Hubert Fielden), the grandmaster of the Knights Hospitalier, who conducts mind-altering experiments on the patients at his order’s hospital in Acre.
– Talal (Jake Eberle), the leader of a gang of slavers in Jerusalem.
– Abu’l Nuquod (Fred Tatasciore), a pompous trader and regent of Damascus stealing money from the city’s citizens that was meant to fund the war.
– William V, Marquess of Montferrat (Harry Standjofski), the cruel and abusive regent of Acre.
– Majd Addin (Richard Cansino; based on Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad), a tyrant who rules Jerusalem through fear and decides who lives and who dies in countless executions.
– Master Sibrand (Arthur Holden), the paranoid grandmaster of the Knights Teutonic, who plans to betray the Crusaders by blocking the ports of Acre.
– Jubair al Hakim (also Tatasciore), a scholar using his position to seize and destroy all written knowledge in Damascus.
– Robert de Sablé (Jean-Philippe Dandenaud), the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, who has been taking advantage of the Crusade to further the Templars’ own ideological goals.
As Altaïr eliminates each target, he learns that all nine are secretly members of the Templar Order and that they were conspiring to locate the “Apple of Eden”, a relic of a long-forgotten civilization said to possess god-like powers. While attempting to assassinate Robert at a funeral in Jerusalem, Altaïr is tricked with a decoy, a young Templar agent named Maria Thorpe (Eleanor Noble), who reveals that Robert anticipated that the Assassins would come after him, and went to negotiate an alliance between the Crusaders and Saracens against them. Sparing Maria’s life, Altaïr confronts Robert in the camp of King Richard I (Marcel Jeannin) and exposes his crimes. Unsure of whom to believe, Richard suggests a one-on-one duel to decide the truth, remarking that God will decide the victor. After Altaïr mortally wounds him, Robert confesses that he did not act alone, revealing that Al Mualim betrayed the Assassins and eventually the Templars, seeking the Apple for himself. Returning to Masyaf, Altaïr finds Al Mualim using the Apple to control its residents, including most of the Assassins. With the help of several Assassins brought in for backup, Altaïr storms the citadel and confronts his mentor in the gardens. Using the Apple, Al Mualim battles his apprentice with illusions before resorting to single combat. Altaïr stabs him with his hidden blade and tries to destroy the Apple, but instead unlocks a map which reveals the locations of countless other Pieces of Eden around the world.
In the present, the Assassins launch an unsuccessful attack on the Abstergo facility to rescue Desmond, resulting in most of them being killed. After completing Altaïr’s memories, Vidic reveals to Desmond that Abstergo is the modern-day incarnation of the Templars, seeking to find the remaining Pieces of Eden. With Desmond having outlived his usefulness, Vidic’s superiors prepare to have him killed, but Lucy, who is implied to be an Assassin mole, convinces them to keep him alive for further testing. Desmond is left alone in his room, where he discovers strange drawings on the wall foretelling a catastrophic event that will wipe out humanity.
Source : Wikipedia
