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Video games are a means for escapism. Though the odd game comes up which makes you plant crops every day, get married and have kids (Note to people: here I am referring to the Harvest Moon series, NOT Farmville. If you don't know them go and buy them!) most games succeed because they construct a radically different one from the sometimes-dreary one that we as a species inhabit. The Assassin's Creed series is one of these.
The plot is one of those hackneyed Dan Brown rip offs; a bartender (name of Desmond) is forced by a corporation being used as a front by the Knight's Templar to relieve the memories of his ancestor in 16th-century Rome. Here you are an assassin, Ezio, and your goal is to murder many of the leading historical figures in the city. This time it is to undermine the influence of the Borgias family, both by murdering figures associated with them and sabotaging key buildings that are under their influence.
To be honest the story is not so important for me here; it is the realisation of a gameplay mechanic that was hinted at in the first Assassin's Creed and only partially realised in the second. Looking at the screenshots and videos, Rome looks real. People interact in the street like you would expect them to in real life, rather than just walking aimlessly from Point A to Point B. It looks possible to lose yourself in those world; a mechanic allows you to increase your monetary economy, giving you access to medicine, armour and other prizes, then being able to buy landmarks. It's a very good marketing device utilised by the developers UbiSoft which is continued on their websites; offers such as 'to be the best assassin' abound on there.
The two items of gameplay I'm not sure about are the online gaming and the ability to recruit assassins to your cause. Multiplayer assassin gaming sounds fine in theory, but wait for it to become the leading cause of death by blood pressure within the coming weeks. Or maybe that's what Ubisoft was intending. And if the swordplay is as unbalanced as it was in the second game, then the role of assassin helpers seems ultimately pointless, unless the finale calls for assistance. Despite these though, I eagerly look forward to playing this game
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