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My Gaming Experience - Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed II
Monday, 14th November 2011
Assassin’s Creed II was my baptism of fire for the Xbox 360, a monumental leap up from my previous gaming experience of ''Pokémon'' battling on the Gameboy and taking on the evil might of the circus who had stolen my mother in Rolo the Elephant on the Sega Mega drive.

The most violence I’d seen in games consisted of an over-exerted Charizard fainting from a vicious bubblebeam and an evil weightlifter, sporting a cliché of a moustache, threatening to drop his barbells on my tiny elephant head. So the ability to stab two people in the neck simultaneously after leaping off a building was something of an eye-opener.

Now this may be a huge generalisation but from talking with friends, of both genders, we came to the conclusion that girls love wanton violence in games! Personally, the ability to go poison a guard and watch him in his death throes busting moves worthy of Willow definitely unleashed an unhealthy amount of glee. I was all about the covert operations, leaping out of the hay, couple of daggers thrown here and there snatching some florins wantonly in front of the guards just so that they would attack. A friend even made me kill certain civilians due to their choice of hat…needless to say I complied. What I found best was the idea that I was on a two civilian diet – any more and desynchronisation was imminent, which I think says a lot about the game’s morals!

Running parallel with my sadistic side, the art historian in me took over, as the game is visually stunning! Not to mention it was educational - where else would I be able to casually purchase a Raphael and a Bottecelli then have a chat with Da Vinci before lunch? But when I do finally visit Florence, forget the beautiful architecture and the world class art galleries, I’m going to be looking at the Duomo thinking ‘Yup I’ve scaled that, ran all over the roof, assassinated 4 guards on the way and horse-jacked someone. Oh and there’s a viewpoint over there and a conveniently placed stack of hay on the other side because nothing looks better, after completing a textbook assassination, than a victory swan dive…’

The only down side to this whole experience is that I can no longer throw the word ‘nerd’ around so flippantly anymore. I fear I may have joined the ranks - bring on Assassin’s Creed Revelations!

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