Assassin's Creed in Review

            The Assassin’s Creed series is one of my all-time favorite videogame series, so, now that I’m caught up on them, I’ve decided to give an overall review of them – broken down by each game, highlighting the pros and cons.

            The overarching plot of the series is about a secret war that has been raging in our world between two organisations for all of recorded time. The Templars are a group of people who believe that humanity, if left to their own devices, will constantly be warring and self-destructive, and so they strive to gain total dominion over the human race so that they can force them to live idealised lives, free of free will, and thus bring about world peace. Assassins, on the other hand, believe that all people deserve to be free to make their own decisions, regardless of good or bad, trusting that humanity will eventually sort itself out – and so, they fight against the Templars and other powerful leaders seeking to subvert free will.

            It’s a fascinating, intriguing, political and philosophical plotline that is woven through a device that allows people to explore the memories of their ancestors, stored within their DNA – thus allowing the games to take place both in modern times and historical. Built around conspiracy theories, the stories have enough merit that you can almost believe the events in the games are real.

Assassin’s Creed

            The first game in the series, and the one that became so popular that all the others were possible, was a cutting-edge game when it was released. Along with the captivating story of an imprisoned former Assassin being forced to seek a powerful artefact in his Crusader-times ancestor’s memories, the game brought forth a new play style that was exactly what a lot of people wanted. Based in stealth and parkour, the game involved running around, climbing buildings, being sneaky and killing enemies as stealthily as possible. Of course, if you weren’t stealthy enough, you could end up being chased by a huge mob of guards for a very long time.

            That was the most frustrating part of the game, and probably its biggest flaw. There was an excellent system for running away and finding a place to hide so you could escape guards, but the further you ran, the more guards joined in the chase – making it harder to break their line of sight long enough to hide. This no doubt led to a great deal of rage-quitting – especially since one of these chases could be triggered by accidentally bumping into a guard.

            The other big challenge of the game was that it was secretly a bit of a puzzle game. The intent of the game was that you had specific targets you had to kill, and if you didn’t do it stealthily you ended up having to fight your way through a mob of enemies. This made a lot of logical sense, but most of the missions were set up in a way that it was almost impossible to figure out a sneaky way to approach your targets on your first play-through – to the point where it often seemed like it was impossible to get a stealth kill. A challenge is all well and good, but the game needed a little more guidance.

            The final problem in this game was that, while it was a game built around stealth, the end-game required a large amount of melee combat with large groups of enemies – a very frustrating circumstance, particularly because the game’s combat system – while good – was built strongly around pushing the right buttons at precisely the right time.

            In spite of these issues, the game was immensely fun and popular – especially for those who enjoyed a challenge. And for those that made it through, they were met with wonderful plot revelations that left them with more questions than they answered, making them desperate for the next game to find out what would happen next.

Assassin’s Creed II

            The second game learned from the problems of the first, and fixed them, making the game play far better. The modern-day hero escaped his Templar captors to work with the Assassins, giving a great view of both sides of the conflict. In the past, the player was now exploring renaissance Italy, giving a look at how the Templar-Assassin conflict grew over time.

            This game took all the raw potential of the first game and made an amazing experience, bringing in new abilities and systems that would make this the best game in the series for a while. For fans of the first game, it was a dream come true.

            It also added a strong educational component to the game – with a database that was updated as the game was played, filled with write-ups on historical landmarks, figures, and events.

            As with the previous game, this one ended with wonderful cliff-hangers for many of its plotlines.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

            This was essentially a clone of Assassin’s Creed II, with some added abilities and some updated game functionality. This one, however, had the historical part of the game set it renaissance Rome. It had a lot of great story and history, as well as some fun new functions, but by the end of the game it was getting just a bit stale.

            However, another wonderful cliff-hanger ending kept fans on the edges of their seats, hungry for more...

Assassin’s Creed Revelations

            Assassin’s Creed Revelations was the first big mistake in the series. Don’t get me wrong – it was an excellent game in its own right, but... as I said, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood was getting stale by the end, and this game was just more of the same, though set in Constantinople now. Yes, there were some neat new features, but it was just a lot more of the same.

            As for plot, the main plot was a whole lot of “more of the same” that felt like it was there just to allow filling in blanks for various characters’ personal back stories – which was the actual interesting part of the game.

            As for the name “Revelations”... well, after the previous game, there was really only one thing the players wanted revealed. And it wasn’t revealed. At least, not in the main game. There was an optional mini-game downloadable content (that you had to purchase separately) that eventually answered the questions we actually wanted answered. As someone who doesn’t buy DLCs, I didn’t even know about this until its contents were referenced in the following game, and I had to extrapolate from context. Don’t put main plot in DLC. Just... don’t.

            The ending of this game failed to live up to the cliff-hanger expectations, though it did point us in the direction of the next game.

Assassin’s Creed III

            This game revitalised the series, bringing in a new combat system and a whole lot of new abilities. It also finally brought us out of the same historical character into the renaissance and into the time of the American Revolution. The game now brought in wilderness mechanics, allowing for hunting and climbing trees, which was a very fun new aspect, as well as an ability to sneak through and hide in foliage.

            The best part, however – at least in my opinion – was almost a mini-game, involving seafaring missions. The ship game play was so well done that I immediately wished that they would make a pirate game.

            The historical nature of the game was really brought to the fore, as there is so much documentation about the time period. They also did a remarkable job of representing the aboriginal populace within the game, as the main character was half Mohawk.

            In spite of all the good things about this game, the stoic main character lacked the appeal of the one we had through the renaissance, which made the game a bit less enjoyable. The plotline also became a bit disjointed; hopping from one historical checkpoint to another.

            The game did manage to end with a cliff-hanger – not quite as good as the earlier games, but it was designed more for shock impact, and it did its job of making the player wonder what would come next.

Assassin’s Creed Liberation

            This wasn’t one of the main games in the series (originally made for a handheld system), and it showed. The plot was almost a side-story in the series – it was interesting, but it had no impact in the grand scheme of things. This was very disappointing to me, as the game held a great deal of potential and could have been so much more.

            Set in New Orleans, Liberation had the first female main character in the series – and with her came a unique system of multiple personas, which changed her abilities and how the people in the world reacted to her: she could dress as a member of upper-class society, a slave, or as an assassin. The possibilities with the game play were amazing, but they were stinted by it not being made as a main feature.

            Overall, the plot felt like a time-loop plotline, where nothing that was done seemed to have an impact on the big picture.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

            Black Flag was an instant hit, and in my opinion is still the best Assassin’s Creed game to date. It took that mini-game from Assassin’s Creed III and made a full game out of it – Assassins as pirates in the tropics. You would think that the game would focus entirely on the seafaring aspect, but on land they had all the great stuff in the previous game and more.

            The one downside to this game was that it continued with the disjointed plot points of the previous, only slightly worse. In spite of that, the overall plot lines were glorious, giving everything desired from an Assassin’s Creed game.

            Not only did the game end with a satisfying cliff-hanger, but it expanded upon the illusion that the in-game events were really happening in our world in a thoroughly enjoyable way. If you only ever play one game in this series, this should be the one.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue

            This game was once described to me as a “consolation prize” for people who hadn’t upgraded to the most recent generation of gaming systems, which had Assassin’s Creed Unity being released on them at the same time. After playing both games, I strongly disagree.

            Taking place in the northern seas, Rogue is very much a clone of Black Flag for game play, but it has an important twist: for the first time, we are playing as on the Templar side of the game, giving us a deeper insight into what has always been presented as the “enemy” side of the story. Apart from having an excellent plot on its own, it also fills in some plot gaps that were chronologically in between Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed III.

            While it didn’t have the greatest ending of the games in the series, it wasn’t disappointing either.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

            The makers of this game made a very bold leap with this game, and they clearly had very good intentions, but it didn’t work out quite the way they hoped. Taking place during the French Revolution, this game had great historical insight to the times, but the main plot could have been a bit better. It was, unfortunately, sidetracked by the desire to make the game a multiplayer experience. It was a really cool idea – having teams of assassins working together on missions – but it was brought out on a system which required payment for multiplayer, which limited the pool of people who were playing. Having had other multiplayer modes in earlier games, I think bringing multiplayer into the story mode of the game was something players wanted – it just didn’t play out as well as everyone hoped.

            In spite of that, this game doesn’t deserve the bad reputation is has. It wasn’t great, but neither was it horrible. It also brought in some awesome puzzle-based side quests – solving riddles and murder mysteries – which I found were a very enjoyable addition to the gameplay.

            Like Liberation, however, the overall plot seemed to have little to no impact on the overall plot of the series. Rogue, to me, was certainly the better of these simultaneously released games.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

            Now, this was an exciting game. Taking place in London, England, during the Industrial Revolution, this game brought so many new aspects to the game: trains, carriages, and a few slightly more technological tools than were previously available. In addition, there were two main characters to play in the game – twin brother and sister – which you could switch between, though each also had their own private missions. This gave the game two parallel plotlines in the historical times, as well as bonus sections occurring during the world wars.

            The game play was wonderful (keeping, though to a lesser extent, the riddles and murder mysteries of Unity), but the plot – while excellent – took on an almost comedic tone at some points, breaking the willing suspension of disbelief that the series is so good at achieving. The ending was also very good, but it didn’t have quite the “I have to know what happens next!” of many of the previous games.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

            This game was striving to remake the series, which it did need to keep the game play from growing stale. It did a good job of it, too – not perfect, but it shows great promise for the future of the series.

            Taking us into ancient Egypt this time, this game took place during the time of Cleopatra. It also completely remade the combat system, and brought the players into a completely open world experience. It was an excellent game, but it felt a bit like a game that was exploring new territory and wasn’t sure what to do with it yet.

            The plot was descent – captivating enough to keep me interested, but it felt a bit like the game makers didn’t entirely know how to handle a game world as big as this one, making it seem stretched and spread thin. Still, in the scheme of the series, it gave a lot of good information. The ending, however, was a bit lacking – to the point where I wasn’t even completely certain the game had ended. I was convinced there had to be a “second ending”, but there wasn’t.

            There was, however, a great new addition to the game. Gone were the historical entries on everything during the game, but replacing it was a virtual tour mode of the game, where you got to explore the game without the combat aspects and could take guided tours that taught what the teams learned during their research. It was a very fun and interactive way to explore the history of Egypt.

            And that brings us up to date on the latest game. In spite of the disappointing ending of the last one, I’m still excited to see what will come next. The new direction brought by Origins suggests great potential for the future games. Will the series live up to that potential? I like to think so – the game makers aren’t perfect, but they have shown a remarkable ability to adapt and adjust what they create when their games don’t perform as well as they hoped.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

How To Make Friends

            I’ve often heard people say that they have no idea how to make friends. So, I’ve decided to write a brief guide based on my observations of the new friend Colleen and I made this past weekend at the Royal Medieval Faire.

            This guide really only consists of one step: be mysterious. Not in an aloof, dark, mysterious stranger way, but passive way. It’s easier than it sounds. A lot of people are quite happy and eager to talk about themselves and their lives; all you need to do is constrain yourself to only giving occasional pieces of information about yourself. Preferably the most interesting points in your life – and without context, if possible.

            The best way for me to explain is with the story of our new friend. When he first appeared under our tent (where we were selling chainmaille, of course) at the faire, Colleen complimented him on the awesome coat he was wearing. He stuck around for a little, chatting and joining in a conversation we were having with friends from Colleen’s homeschooling group. At some point the style of homeschooling (called un-schooling, which focuses on teaching kids what they’re interested in) was mentioned, and it turned out that he’d also been raised that way.

            I also noticed, while he was there, that he had a piece of string around a finger that led down to what I believed to be the hilt of a dagger hidden in his sleeve. Very interesting, I thought, but at that point I didn’t know him well enough to comment upon it. Eventually he left, going to enjoy the rest of the faire.

            About an hour from the end of the event, he came back to chat with us some more (he no longer hat he dagger in his sleeve). The three of us talked about all kinds of topics, discovering we had lots of common ground. Every now and then he’d mention something about his own life, but he didn’t go on about it. They were just interesting points that made me more curious about him.

            The first thing he mentioned was that he’d only been in Canada for two weeks. Because he had an unfamiliar accent, I took that to mean he had just immigrated, but he clarified that he was native to Canada, but had been travelling in Europe for the past nine months. His accent, as it turned out, was technically a speech impediment as it was unique to him, a couple of his siblings (out of seven) and some guy from a fishing village who deliberately changed the way he spoke so he wouldn’t be associated with others from his village.

            At some point he mentioned how, while in Europe he’d climbed a castle while wearing an Assassins’ Creed hoodie. Later he confirmed that, yes, he can actually do parkour (which is awesome). At another time, when I asked about what kind of work he does, he didn’t directly answer, but did say he was going back to the old job from before he was travelling – then told us about how he’d had to get security clearance first and his option (which he didn’t take) to request “Top Secret” security clearance.

            He ended up staying after the show and chatted while we packed up. He helped where he could (we have a system and it’s hard to fit someone else in), most notably holding a couple bags for about 30 minutes to keep them off the wet ground. That in itself doesn’t sound all that remarkable, but these bags each weighed 30-40lbs and he had them hanging from his forearms, elbows bent, and he didn’t even show any strain from the weight.

            It was at this point that I said to Colleen, loudly enough for him to hear, that he’d had a dagger concealed in his sleeve (he was very surprised that I’d noticed it), he’d just spent close to a year in Europe, he could do parkour, he was impressively strong and he needed security clearance for the job the conveniently hadn’t mentioned what it was. Clearly he was a spy.

            From there, we all had a great time, putting together the snippets he’d told us about to prove he was a spy. He denied being one, of course, although he would neither confirm nor deny being an assassin. He even went so far to point out that the name he gave us might not actually be his real name.

            We had a blast, but I still don’t know what it is he actually does. I’m very curious, and therefore I have no choice but to be his friend so I can find out.

            And there you have it. The best way to make friends is to be mysterious. Make people curious about you so they’ll have to spend time around you to find out more.

            Also, be a spy and wear an epic coat to serve as an icebreaker.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Culture and Technology

            I’m a person who thrives on technology. Not that I know how any of it works – and some of it, I can hardly ever get it to do what I want – but I can’t imagine a life without all the technology I have at my disposal. Yet, at the same time, I wonder what impact it will have on the natural progression of our society.

            For the last two hundred years, technology has advanced at an astounding rate. Along with it has grown our ability to preserve and display our own history and culture. At the same time as preserving, we’re reinforcing our own cultural identity.

            Through movies and internet, the various concepts, values and beliefs important to our culture are expressed over and over. We watch these and pass them on to our children; our history and ideals are passed on as they never were able to be before. We preserve so much, and yet, I wonder if we aren’t causing cultural progression to grow stagnant.

            On social media, on several occasions I’ve come across a video showing the standards for human beauty as they have changed over the years. But, when was the last time these standards truly changed? With all the movies and videos out there reinforcing our current standards, how many generations will it take before we move on?

            A character in one of the Assassin’s Creed video games once commented on a preserved city that “history is the study of change” and that when change stops, death occurs. It’s the same with culture – it is meant to be forever changing and growing.

            So, I wonder, is how much we strive to preserve things good or bad? Will our current technologies preserve our generation in a way that will make simple work for future archaeologists, or will it become the gospel by which future generations live?

            I guess only time will tell.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

The Effectiveness of Suspense

            One of the most important tools in a writer’s arsenal is suspense. It is what keeps the readers turning the page, the viewers watching and the gamers playing. The desire to know what happens next – or for an explanation about why something happened – compels us to come back for more.

            Can it be over-used, though? I never really thought about it until tonight, after watching the season three finale of Sherlock. The season, on the whole, was excellent (although I felt it wasn't quite as good as the first two seasons) and the ending left me asking many of the questions. But, it wasn't as many questions as the previous seasons and I didn't feel the same driving need to know more. I was happy with what I knew and content to wait the year or two until the next season to find out what happens next.

            A similar thing happened with the Assassins’ Creed series. At the end of all three of the first three games, I was left staring at the screen, jaw on the floor, demanding: “What!? What!?!? What!?!?!?” (No, really – ask my wife; she was there, I was really demanding that the game tell me what happened next). The following three games, however, didn't have that effect on me. I still wanted to play the next games, but, again, the driving need to know what happened next wasn't there.

            At first, I thought it was because the cliff-hangers weren't as good. I guess that’s still possible, but I think that it may also be that I've been de-sensitised to the style of suspense. It makes sense, now that I started thinking about it. Humans are known for their adaptability; we can adjust to anything. If we’re fed enough cliff-hangers and suspenseful endings, we start to expect them. Then they become normal and, like everything else that’s normal, they blend into the background.

            It was a bit of an eye-opener for me and I think it’s something all writers can learn from. Moderation is the key in everything; change it up. If the same tricks and tools are used all the time, they lose their effectiveness. What good is suspense if...

            Find out next week, on: J.C. Rutledge and his inane ramblings!

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

A Few Steps Behind

            I've never really been one for being up-to-date on the newest and latest. My parents somehow managed to teach me that if you wait for something, you find out if you really want it. Combine that with my (almost) infinite patience and you've got someone who is quite happy to wait for what he wants. Sometimes it’s worked for me, sometimes against.

            I think the first example of this would be Pogs. Do you remember those? They were little pieces of cardboard with pictures on them that you collected, traded and wagered in games involving flipping them with plastic (sometimes metal) Slammers. They became a huge thing when I was a kid, but I didn't get into them until just months before they were banned throughout the schools (because it was gambling, plus it was causing loads of fights and bullying).

            Next would have been Pokemon – the video game; I was never interested in the cards foe some reason. When the Pokemon games first came out, it was released on the Gameboy. Newer versions were released on the next handheld system, the Gameboy Color. I didn't get my own copy of the game until the Gameboy Advance came out, at which point I got a used Gameboy Color and Pokemon Gold Version (I wanted Yellow, but it was no longer made). It was also no longer “cool” to play Pokemon, though I didn't care about that one bit.

            Harry Potter was something that I wasn't quite as late to the party for. I believe the third book was released within a year of my parents giving me the first one for my birthday. Over the next year I read that book ten times, the later times being followed by the second book, then the second and third. That was the first time I was ever riding the crest of the wave, waiting for books four through seven to come out.

            The better side has revealed itself in more recent years. Dr Who is the perfect example. I only started watching the show last year. My reward? I haven’t had to wait for any of it! I was able to buy all seven seasons (I haven’t gotten into the older stuff yet) and watch at my leisure. The same went for The Big Bang Theory – when I started watching it, I had plenty of seasons ready and waiting for me to watch.

            On the flip side, of course, are the few interests I have gained that have (along with my wife’s less-patient influence) managed to get me waiting on the edge of my seat. The video game, Portal was so amazing that Portal 2 was the first thing I ever pre-ordered. Also, the Assassins’ Creed series that has me chomping at the bit as I wait for each new instalment. And we mustn't forget BBC’s Sherlock, which I just watched the first two episodes of the third season tonight and must now wait for the third episode to become available.

            Weighing these two styles of obtaining entertainment, I find that I prefer being late to the party. That way I save money (because prices drop the more you wait), I get larger portions of my chosen entertainment at once and I don’t already own everything so it isn't redundant when I get extended and collector’s editions of things. All I get for keeping up to date on the latest thing is I can talk about it with other people who keep up to date on it. Besides needing to avoid spoilers while cruising the internet, living a few steps in the past is much nicer.

            Better late than never is a very common saying. Perhaps it’s actually better to be late than on time.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Books vs Video Games

            An argument has been popping up over and over for the last couple decades: books versus video games. The arguments go along these lines: Books have greater intellectual value, are thought provoking, influential on society, entertaining and they stimulate the imagination far more. Video games can improve hand-eye co-ordination and reflexes, be played socially, are interactive, entertaining and challenging. My question is, why are we comparing them?

            I've spent a lot of my life playing video games and reading and I love both forms of entertainment. Each has its merits and neither can really be compared to the other. Sure, they have similarities, but in my opinion they complement each other more than anything else.

            What got me thinking about this was when I started playing through Final Fantasy IX and Colleen, periodically looking up from whatever she was doing to watch the game, suddenly said, “This game’s a lot like reading a book!” My reply was, “Of course! Video games are the bridge between books and movies.” They really are. It’s like watching a book where you can take control of the characters.

            So why, if video games are a combination of two of the world’s most popular forms of entertainment, won’t they ever take over the entire entertainment industry? Because they can never replace either of them. Let’s take a comparison of books and movies as an example. When have you ever read a book, then gone to the movie and been entirely happy with what you saw? I can’t say I've ever heard anything other than “the book was better”. The reason for this is because there is just too much information in a book to translate into a movie; all that can be done is an interpretation of the book. The same is true of video games – they can fit in more information than movies, but never as much as books.

            At this point you might say, well, it sounds like books are better, to which I reply, no; they’re just different. Books rely on your imagination, which is great, but sometimes people actually want to see that amazing setting or action scene. Video games feel more like you’re doing something and take more concentration (unless you’re reading while there’s a lot of background noise or buzzing flies). The closest a book can get to giving you a choice is with those ‘choose your own adventure’ books and the only way a book can improve your reflexes is if you have a lot of flies you need to swat.

            You can say books deal with important topics – games frequently do, too. Most games deal with morality issues, I’ve played games dealing with handling finances, environmental issues, racism – just about anything books can cover. Books teach you things – if you play the right games, they do as well. It all comes down to choice; what you choose to play, what you choose to read, what you choose to read and play.

            As an author, I also have to look at plot lines and characters. Some of the characters I've become the most attached to are in games. Some of the greatest stories I've ever come across were in also in video games – they even inspire some of my own writing. I currently have the good fortune of working behind the scenes on a video game. I'm on the writing team for an upcoming game called Anaria Online and, let me tell you, it has been far more challenging to work out the plot lines for even a small portion of this game than it has to write three complete books. I’d go so far as to say that I'm becoming a far superior book writer through my work on this game.

            So, readers, before you harp on video games, I suggest educating yourselves. Sit down with a game (an RPG would be best, such as Final Fantasy or Assassins’ Creed) and play through it. Gamers, just read a book. Most of you have done it before, you just need to find one that you love to remind you how much you enjoy reading. Then we can just stop comparing these two wonderful entertainment mediums and perhaps find ways of making them work together even more than they already do.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.