Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 1 • GameOn Magazine Editorial Fancy getting your hands on some Assassin’s Creed PRIZES? Well, you’re in luck! Simply click on Edward Kenway to enter! Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 2 • GameOn Magazine Editorial Editorial Greetings readers of words, and welcome to GameOn’s special edition magazine in celebration of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag; or the Black Flag Mag, if that’s more catchy. When Black Flag releases in late October 2013 it will be the sixth game in the main series, which is itself supported by a number of mobile/handheld games, novels and animated films. With so much material, this is definitely a franchise worthy of celebration. What a treat of wordy goodness we have for your squishy eyes and soft brains. As well as looking forward to Black Flag, we’ll be taking a look back at some of the games, characters and weapons of series past. We have a number of articles just waiting for you to devour, as well as an in-depth preview of the upcoming game, and our review and preview coverage of the last one. If you like what you read here, be sure to check out our magazine on the Amazon Kindle Marketplace (US / UK), in which you’ll find loads of content on all the latest games. Also, check out our other free special editions at http://www.gameonmag. com/ - and keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming XCOM magazine. The Editor Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 3 • GameOn Magazine Highlights & Contents Highlights Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Preview Fresh from our trip to gamescom, we bring you our slightly different experience with the Black Flag preview demo. Desmond Miles: Who Do You Think You Are? We take you through the life line of Desmond and his ancestors in our Assassin’s Creed Timeline. Top Five Time Killers It’s not all about story and assassinations in Assassin’s Creed. Oh no, there’s a wealth of possibilities in these worlds and we aim to take full advantage of them! Assassin’s Creed III Review We head back to the latest released title in the game’s franchise to see what we thought of it upon release. Assassin’s Creed Protagnoist Bios We take a look over the protagonist’s of Assassin’s Creed and give you a little more insight on them! Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 4 • GameOn Magazine Highlights & Contents Contents About GameOn 6 The Modern Day Story of Assassin’s Creed Assassin’s Creed Part 2 18 III Review 43 About Ubisoft 7 Desmond Miles: Who Do Assassin’s Creed III - A Misunderstood Epic: The You Think You Are? 24 The First Hour 50 Modern Day Story of Assassin’s Creed Part 1 8 Top Five Time Killers In Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Assassin’s Creed 28 Flag Preview 53 Assassin’s Creed III Preview 13 Assassin Creed Looking Back To Move Protagonist Bios 32 Forward: Where Next For Why I Want Altaïr Assassin’s Creed? 60 To Come Back 16 A Misunderstood Epic: The Modern Day Story of A Misunderstood Epic: Assassin’s Creed Part 3 38 Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 5 • GameOn Magazine ABOUT GAMEON GameOn Networking Ltd was founded in 1997 with the aim of providing “lag free” gaming solutions for dedicated online gamers. Online connectivity in the late 90s was such that realtime gaming was beyond the reach of the average gamer, and so GameOn began hosting LAN parties throughout the UK. To date, GameOn has hosted almost 100 LAN parties. In August 2008, GameOn began producing GameOn Magazine, an online PDF magazine covering all aspects of gaming including reviews, previews, news and articles. The dedicated magazine staff also provided coverage at high profile gaming events such as E3 and gamescom. In February 2012, GameOn Magazine launched in ebook form on the Amazon Kindle marketplace in both the UK and US and has since developed from strength to strength. With the same quality coverage as always and dedicated writing and research staff the magazine has gained a loyal following and secured its position as one of the best selling gaming magazines on the Kindle store. Later in 2012 GameOn lauched the colour version of the magazine via Magzter store which is avilable on Android, iOS and Windows. For more information, please visit www.gameonmag.com Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 6 • GameOn Magazine ABOUT UBISOFT Founded by the five brothers of the Guillemot family in 1986, Ubisoft was created as a computer game publisher that distributed in France alone. The highly ambitious Chairman and CEO, Yves Guillemot, made deals with EA and Sierra On-Line and soon began to expand the company internationally. Fast-forward 27 years and Ubisoft is a global video game publisher and developer with 26 studios across 19 countries and further subsidiaries in 26 countries. It is the third largest game publisher in both Europe and the United States, and during the 2008-2009 fiscal year, Ubisoft’s revenue was €1.058 billion, reaching the billion euro mark for the first time in its history. Ubisoft boast many successful development studios, the largest of which is Ubisoft Montreal in Canada, which currently employs about 2,300 people. Among the acclaimed franchises developed by Ubisoft Montreal are the Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia series. For more information on Ubisoft and its titles, please visit http://www.ubi.com Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 7 • GameOn Magazine A Misunderstood Epic: The Modern Day Story of Assassin’s Creed Part 1 A Misunderstood Epic: The Modern Day Story of Assassin’s Creed Part 1 t’s the varying dynamic historical settings that attract many gamers to the Assassin’s Creed Iseries. But while the tales of Altaïr, Ezio, Connor and company are all great yarns, for some the tale of Desmond Miles, set in the modern day, is what keeps them playing. Despite this, there’s no point ignoring the simple fact that a lot of people don’t enjoy the modern segments of the AC titles. Fact is, the core plot is so convoluted that it can be very easy to lose track of what’s actually going on. I mean, what the heck does the Apple actually do? Why in the world are there a bunch of Gods tittering over Desmond’s affections? Why did Desmond kill Lucy? In an effort to ease your mind and set you on the right path towards Black Flag, we present to you the full and explained modern story of Assassin’s Creed. It all begins with Desmond, a nonchalant bartender who’s fated to play a huge part in the future of mankind. Of course, by the time Assassin’s Creed kicks off Desmond has already been kidnapped by Abstergo, the modern title of the Templar order who have grown into a super powerful organisation allegedly responsible for many of the Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 8 • GameOn Magazine A Misunderstood Epic: The Modern Day Story of Assassin’s Creed Part 1 world’s advancements. Abstergo force Desmond and his connection with his ancestor, one Altaïr to take part in their experiment, although to begin Ibn-La’Ahad, is extremely strong. Perhaps the fact with it’s unclear where their intentions lay. It’s here that Desmond was once an Assassin in training is that Desmond, and the player, is introduced to the the reason for this. Animus, a machine that allows individuals to look back on their ancestors and view their lives from After a few sessions within the Animus it becomes beginning to end. That’s the easy bit, though, if you clear to Altaïr, and therefore Desmond, that the didn’t know what the Animus was then you may Knights Templar are searching for ‘pieces of Eden’, want to have a another play through. although what this exactly means is still a mystery. While Altaïr uncovers the mysteries of the Apple A shady individual named Warren Vidic is the human of Eden, Lucy begins to show signs of mercy and representation of Abstergo, and he’s a fitting one at even affection towards our main man, it’s a little that. His condescending tone and cold, oppressive confusing at first but she has her reasons. Dialogue nature make him a great bad guy. While Vidic plays between Lucy and Vidic during the modern sections the role of the more stereotypical baddy, there’s an reveal that Abstergo are planning to use the pieces oddly placed young woman called Lucy Stillman to of Eden to their own ends, namely create ‘order consider and it’s her relatable and pitiable place within society’, there’s little Desmond can do to in the modern segments of the original AC that stop them at this point and it’s clear that he’s more allow the player to relax a little. So much so that at focused on getting out of the lab than potentially times it’s easy to forget that Desmond is a captive saving the world. That doesn’t stop the Assassins of this company. Once plugged in to the Animus, attempting to bust Desmond out of Abstergo. One Desmond proves to be a highly successful subject cutscene sees an Assassin attack destroyed at the Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 9 • GameOn Magazine A Misunderstood Epic: The Modern Day Story of Assassin’s Creed Part 1 Assassin’s Creed Special Edition 2013 10 • GameOn Magazine A Misunderstood Epic: The Modern Day Story of Assassin’s Creed Part 1 hands of the Templars, a small section that gives within the Animus, information that is successfully the first true glimpse at the continued war in the acquired.