Assassin’s Creed
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| Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines - Bird's eye view |
Assassin’s
Creed is a game with a mixture of action and adventure in recreations of
Italian historical cities, which is based on the Renaissance period (late 15th
century). It revolves around a man who is captured by Knights Templar. By using
a machine known as the Animus, he is forced to relive his ancestors’ memories
who were assassins. It is mainly filmed in Rome and Venice and some chapters include the Palace of Lorenzo de’ Medici who was an Italian political leader
during the Renaissance period. Assassins really existed in the Twelfth Century
and the action takes place during the Third Crusade (1189–1192).
In the game one
travels in real cities such as Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem. The creator stated
that he wanted to keep the historical aspect but also adding some style and a
number of details giving the game a god sense of depth. The character team used
a number of 3D software programs such as Autodesk and MotionBuilder to create
high-resolution models.
This game took
inspiration from specific movies such as ‘Kingdom of Heaven’. Major places such
as ‘The Dome of the Roc’ and ‘The Holy Sepulchre Church’ in Jerusalem are also
recreated with extreme detail. The buildings have different play points since
all of them are fully climbable by the Assassin character.
The following is a summary of an interview with the Assassin's Creed 2
creative director, Patrice Désilets by Ludwig Kietzmann on Jun
10th 2009. I found these points relative since the director
explains how there is a relationship between interactive media and historical
sources. According to Désilets, the game
consists mainly of realism (Italian historical cities - Venice).
Interviewer: "So, you are
going back in time and you have all these locations that are fairly realistic,
right?"
Patrice Désilets : "Yes."
"But where do you draw the line
with realism? Where can you break the rules?"
"We are always asking ourselves that question, you know? For sure, the
official answer is: fun is always first. But sometimes historical matters will
bring you fun also. I like to say that histories are licensed. So, yes we can
take some liberties, but not too much, otherwise ... what's the point, right?
For example, we had a big debate at work about the Rialto Bridge in
Venice. "
"Oh?"
"Rialto Bridge, historically, at the time of making our game, wasn't wood,
it wasn't the bridge that you can see now in Venice. That was in 1586, if I
remember correctly. So, it's roughly 100 years later. They were talking about
doing the bridge like that, but all the political people couldn't agree upon
how to make a bridge, and that's why it was still in wood -- and we are making
it in wood. We could have taken the decision, saying, "Oh, let's do the
bridge and everybody understands or sees or knows that." But what's the
point in going there and saying we're historically accurate if we're not? But
other times, you know, the flying machine never flew."
"Right."
"It was only a drawing. Sometimes we are going into the what ifs. Because
Assassin's Creed is also about telling you what isn't written in the historical
books. So it's always a balance between the two." (Kietzmann L., 2009)
Total War: Rome II
Total War: Rome II is developed by The Creative Assembly and published
by Sega. It was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2013 and it is the
most popular within other games in Total War series.
The campaign begins in Rome in 272BC.
Rome has powerful empires with various strengths and opportunities. It
includes different terrain; from deserts in the Sahara to forests in the North
(as stated in CVG interview below). It is approximately three hours long where
the player has to organize troops and use special units.
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| Rome II - Naval Battle |
According
to an interview with the creative director, Mike Simpson stated that “Rome II
was hugely ambitious for our studio.” (IGN Entertainment, Inc.,1996-2014).
The
following is an interview with The Creative Assembly's Jamie Ferguson
where he explains what Rome II is all about; therefore the relationship between
modern practice and historical sources.
CVG: "Rome II is your biggest game yet -
not only in terms of budget (up 40% from TW: Shogun 2), but in terms of the
overall playing area, we're told?"
FURGUSON:
"That's right - in terms of environments we stretch all the way from Spain
right out to Afghanistan, Scotland and down to Saudi Arabia and the Horn of
Africa. With an entire continent to represent, we had to be sure to include all
the different terrain you might encounter. So you'll see deserts, forests in
the north, rolling planes to the east and when you reach the Lavant [modern day
Slovenia] you'll encounter some very harsh terrain."
FURGUSON:
"ELEPHANTS
WERE USED BY THE CARTHAGINIANS, WHO HAVE ACCESS TO A WIDE VARIETY OF MERCENARY
UNITS"
CVG: "What other lengths do you go to to ensure
historical accuracy?"
"All of those elements
actually make for perfect gameplay and that's how we actually bring the history
into the game, and how the game is formed by the history.
WE GO THROUGH ALL THE HISTORY BOOKS AND READ NOVELS ABOUT
THAT PERIOD, AS WELL AS WATCH THINGS LIKE SPARTACUS AND ROME HBO" (CVG UK, 2013)
Bibliography:
