Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Assassin's Creed

via officialpsds.com
Santa drops off all kinds of fun things about this time of year, and with teen boys in the house, PS3 games are king. My boys can't wait to tear into a new game and defeat it in no time flat.

But I confess. I'm addicted to Ezio too. So much that I even put up with all the glytches in Assassin's Creed 3 - Brotherhood. But shortcuts like pasting code from a similar spot, over and over and over again...I can't really overlook those. (Reminder: Avoid repetition like the plague in my own storylines.)

Before I go off on a rant...I should tell you Assassin's Creed 2- Bloodlines was the best game I've played in a while. And when I say "played" - I mean watched and directed my beloved to "turn left, turn left, TURN LEFT!!!!" while I hopped up and down on the couch. (He doesn't appreciate the excitement. Says it makes him stressed out and he can't concentrate. *snicker* OK, enough amusing myself here at his expense.) I have no gaming skills whatsoever, but I help figure out what to do next when it isn't immediately obvious. The boys on the other hand...they've been there, done that, and it's Spoilerville whenever they're in the room.

You won't catch me playing Call of Duty, or other shoot-em-up games, (Well, I did play Metal Gear Solid 4), so why am I playing AC (and all sorts of Uncharted, Red Dead Redemption, etc.)? It's the REALLY COOL storyline!

MC accesses his ancestor's memories through his own DNA and, with an Animus (I'll write a whole post about the Animus aka time traveling/parallel universe later), relives them to find clues to a present-day dillema. World domination conflict in two flavors. And the international settings are the kicker. (My Pomegranate tie-ins for today.)

AC1 is set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade, AC2 and 3 are in Renaissance Italy. The main objective is to find the Piece of Eden and your opponents are operatives of the Knights Templar. All in all, it's some very nice historical fiction. I've picked up interesting ideas from each of these games, and sometimes my boys will refer to them if I'm stuck writer's block.

At the dinner table...

ME: I wonder if there's such a thing as blue amber?
SON: There is. The Cintemani Stone (Uncharted).
ME: Oh, yeah!

I got a couple of gems from that conversation, actually. (Totally LOVE Cintemani! It's going places, I tell you.)

The powerful Borgia family is the enemy in AC3. Here's the short trailer:



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10 comments:

Hart Johnson said...

It's so funny-I haven't played a single video game or computer game since well before my son got hooked, but you make me want to--I love the stories too. The first book I wrote a lot on (didn't finish, but it was 250 pages) had a huge portion based on a computer game I had--though this was 1993, I think, so as you can imagine, pretty unsophisticated.

JE said...

So, your a gamer, then? ;-)

Seriously, though ... I hadn't considered all those cool video games to be vessels of inspiration. I might have to kick my daughter away from her WII and buy some games.

~JD

Matthew MacNish said...

I too really love AC. But the new one feels like it's just sort of a 2.5. Obviously it's not really officially the third installment, but I was a little disappointed after how incredible AC 2 was. I'm looking forward to the true third version.

Carolyn V. said...

I haven't played that game, but my kids have shown me the trailer for it over and over and.... Looks cool.

Jules said...

What a surprise... Gamer ;)

I confess I've only played Zelda and Ms. Twister does the same to me. Left, left, LEFT! I have trouble with left and right when screamed at, thus I die a lot :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Unknown said...

I don't play many games (especially those kinds) but I have sat by my beloved and coached him. It's quiet addictive and I enjoy being a character. I prefer the quieter seek and find games.
CD

Old Kitty said...

Erm. I have no idea what I just read! LOL!! Except the fun bit where you direct your husband with the games thingies! My most adventurous games I played were pacman and pinball. Ahem.

Take care
x

Christopher said...

I haven't played the newest one yet but part two was awesome I got so addicted to that game. I just picked the new one up last week hopefully it'll be just as good.

Creepy Query Girl said...

Yes! I thought this one looked good for the same reason. I don't play video games but while Hubby was playing 'God of War', I was so intrigued by the storyline I found myself egging him on.

Sarah said...

My boys love Assassins Creed and have all the versions. I love the amazing graphics (they play it on XBox) and the historical context which gets them interested in that period.

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