Thoughts on the Assassin´s Creed franchise and Assassin´s Creed III Game Review

If you asked anybody who knows me what I think about the Assassin´s Creed franchise, they will probably say something like "I don´t know, the guy says he is not a fan yet he often talks about it", and that is certainly true...

I am not a the biggest AC fan you will ever see and I don´t even consider myself a fan; I actually think the games are somewhat boring specially considering I haven´t played much of them but does I have played have bored me to sleep... but why you ask? I don´t know that myself and yet here I am being able to talk with someone about the stories and their opinion on the series has a whole somewhat like an interested watcher.

I see many reasons to play and enjoy the AC series but every time I pick one up and play it, I find myself struggling with it´s extremely repetitive nature. Up until now it seems like I have been analyzing the series has a whole from my point of view, but I just find myself in the need to say all this before getting to the infamous AC3 considered by many to be the worst AC of the franchise, because I don´t want to come across has an ignorant idiot talking about a topic he dosen´t understand.

I remember when the first trailer was reveled and everybody on the internet was going nuts (literary); there was not a single person I knew was wasn´t exited about the game, so much in fact that I seriously considered buying the game day one; when the first reviews came up and said the game was good I really took it has some sort of mixed message; like is it very good or just... good? Eventually when it got to the publics hands is when the negativity showed itself, some independent reviewers were giving this game 6 and 5 out of 10; I was kinda flabbergasted. Just knowing that it was one of the most anticipated games at the time and disappointing that many people, I could only imagine if I was that big of a fan... when I ask people about their thoughts on the game many answer the same way pretty much, with "is ok, but is not the best" either if they really feel that way or they just say that to feel better about their full price purchase, I don´t know.

I have been skipping pretty much every AC game that has been released (At the time of the post the newest game is AC Unity, and I am not playing it... not even interested), I know that the logical would be that I play every game and talk about them all in one, but with Ubisoft announcing there will be a new AC game every year, I will eventually grow tired of this trend and be completely irrelevant to tackle every game one by one; I am not even playing every game and I feel like I am warmed out, I will keep an eye on the series, but maybe play all games in the future, but not every time a new game lunches.

Although in my somewhat awkward relationship with this franchise, I have only played a handful of games (more specifically Revelations, AC3, Liberation and a little bit Black Flag), non of them have really wowed me at all, in fact the only game I have played fully is Liberation when it was re-lunched for the PS3; I got it after playing Revelations and I was kinda curious about the fact that Aveline was the first ever female assassin to be playable in any AC game.

Quick thoughts on Liberation, it was actually pretty fun to play, Aveline´s story is kinda interesting, parkour is fun and more importantly, the persona gameplay is the best thing any AC I have played or seen has done (more so than the popular boat exploration of AC3 and Black Flag); I mean, how come nobody at Ubisoft has seen the potential of this mechanic, I will never know. Overall, my favorite AC game (for now).

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Now is time to talk about the game that has cause the biggest deception in the AC community, Assassin´s Creed III was released in October of 2012 for PS3, Xbox 360 and eventually Wii U and PC on November of the same year.

Set in the colonial times in north america, the hooded persona of this chapter is Connor, a native american of British decent who is fighting for the independence of his own people. The story itself is alright; I am not American so I can´t tell how historically accurate it is, but when seeing the moment when Connor is present during the signing of the declaration of independence... I can tell is really stretching many moments in the history of the united states. To be fair the games before it were also very exaggerated historically.

Gameplay wise there is no big leap forward, the boat mini game however was so well received that it became it's own major element in the fallowing year's AC4 Black Flag... is a testament to how sometimes a mini game can do such a big service to a video game. Because colonial america is a setting with a lack of major cities and locals, the wilderness is the most prominent place every player will most likely be wondering around... hunting and finding collectables witch is not really all that fun for me.

The prologue is one of the most infamous elements of the game and honestly is not a mystery at all why it is; has someone who plays plenty of video games, is annoying to have always to get an overly long tutorial for new comers, I may not be an AC veteran but I don't have to be a rocket scientist either to pick the game up and play it, I sometimes feel like the game exaggerates this moment to the point where basic gameplay elements are arbitrarily taken away until I progress through the story. I don't know about the audience but I like to explore and to do side missions and other activities while progressing through the campaign... specially in open world games like this one; but AC3 is very linear despite of the game stating the opposite.

Visually is fine and there is certainly plenty to do, in the story itself and in the world of colonial america has well... Connor has also gotten plenty of negativity has the least interesting protagonist in the series, I though he was ok... he is primitive, raise by a native american group and with actual little ambition or even little interest for the major war that is happening; he does appear to be humorless, but I don't think is about that but about his culture, he was not meant to be funny or cocky like the fan favorite Ezio; he has a noble goal and he is primitive. Overall, Connor is alright... no more no less.

Assassin's Creed 3 is ok, maybe a little rushed and somewhat unfinished but is certainly not bad at all, I have played much worse games in my life that's for sure; but there is no doubt that the game is rough around the edges.

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Thank you for reading, I will have more to talk about in the future and a new update on my project... I know it seems like I have abandon it but remember, I am a one men crew here.

Stay tuned for more content

The Animatrix Anime Review

Animatrix is not a whole cohesive single story, but just a compilation of short films telling multiple stories within the matrix universe; created and putted together by the very same Wachowski brothers with some of the most influential Japanese animation veterans making a series of "mostly" well crafted pieces of story... and I have to say, that this single series of shorts injects more life to the matrix franchise than the two sequels that fallowed the original movie.

The first short is called "Final Fight of Osiris" and it was alright; it features some excellent 3D realistic models with some fluid animation, more fluid than what I see in most movies of this kind of realistic 3D approach it works well enough to keep me interested. It fallows a crew of humans when they are attacked by machines and eventually killed; The characters are really not the main focus has much has just witnessing their action that does have an impact the the movies. The animation in the characters faces are also very good, conveying the emotion that many movies in this department fail to bring forward. "Final fight of Osiris" is good... but is not the best in my opinion.

The next is a two parter called "The Second Renaissance" and it´s actually pretty good. The animation in this ones is the traditional 2D Japanese animation but being much more fluid and I would´t want it another way. The story is actually the prequel to the events that take place in the matrix trilogy telling the origin of the war between humans and machines, the plight of the androids and the eventual downfall of humanity. Although it has a computer voice serving has a narrator, the images tell you everything you need to know to understand... you can see when robots are being abused by their human overlords and you can tell when humanity is running down into desperate measures during the war and all just with the images that you are seeing all showing the exact emotions correctly. "The Second Renaissance" is quite good and an excellent "prequel" to the event of the main trilogy.

"Kid´s Story" is probably the worst. The animation is something similar to what you see in "Heavy Metal" and it sticks out like a sour thumb without adding any kind of depth to it´s story because of it. I know that Neo and Trinity in this short are both voiced by their original actors (Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss); it´s a fine nod to fans, but that is not something that makes the short any better; the main problem I have is that is pretty much a re-hach of Neo´s escape from the matrix... the kid feels like his life is a lie and gets contacted by a guy (Neo himself) that he is not going crazy and that he is not the only one; again, a total reenactment of the first matrix movie. While the weakest I can say I do like it´s ending, I won´t spoil it; however I´ll just say that it did got me by surprise and that´s maybe because it was being predictable all the way through the end.

The next short is called "Program" and this is another one I really enjoyed. Unlike kid´s story, this one goes back to the classic 2D animation style with superb and fluid movements helping me appreciate every movement and the feeling each impact during the fight; the story fallows a woman named Cis within one of the many simulations that humans can access and play with, until a close friend of her tells her that he is going to find a way back into the matrix and be plugged in back like he never left. While the core story is nothing fascinating is the dashing animation and fight sequence what kept me interested, it takes full advantage of animation quality to make it one of the most flashy fights in the matrix franchise I´ve seen. Program is a pretty good short and I really had fun watching it for what it was.

"World Record" is the next entry in the series of shorts and I have some mixed feeling about this one. The story fallows an athlete named Dan that while trying to beat a world record he was able to self disconnect of the matrix unwillingly... interesting idea that while similar to the one from "Kid´s Story" this one is done way better and making it more fascinating storywise that even has propose in the series if I am being asked about it. The animation is where I have a few problems with, not that is terrible; but it just docent sit well with me, like every movement is exaggerated to the point of it being kinda funny when it´s not trying to be... is hard to explain, I think is better if you watch it and see it for yourself. I still liked "World Record" though... it was a great short though kinda awkward in the animation department.

"Beyond" is perhaps my favorite of the whole compilation. The story is about a girl named Yoko who while looking for her missing cat finds a house witch is seemingly "hunted" and discovers all sorts of glitches within the matrix; and that´s all I´ll say because I believe is something you must see for yourself... the animation is also great, is fluid, is colorful and the character models are really cute to watch. I really think this one is the best for a seemingly number of reasons but what ultimately sells it for me is the ending, witch is just really fitting for what I though should have been; it could have ended in the way that fitted does who knew what was going on and have it end in that very way but instead it just goes and finishes in another way that´s more open than "Word Record" in my opinion... it has no flashy combat that I would normally associate with the franchise; but it still manages to be interesting somewhat like the first movie, but in a much different way.

"Beyond" still lingered in my mind long after I finished watching all shorts witch is why I considered it the best; the story is simple but deep, the animation is colorful and full of life and it was just fun to watch overall; like a good short film you watch in a film festival.

Now there is "A Detective Story" and this one was pretty good (although after "Beyond"... well). Ash is a detective who is hired to track down and find a hacker named Trinity; when he finally meets her, he is told that that she can show him the truth, is good enough; having Trinity (voiced by Carrie-Anne Moss) is a great nod to the fans of the original films and she is actually quite interesting to watch, I don´t know exactly what it is but she actually come across has somewhat of an interesting individual instead of being boring like in the trilogy, maybe is the fact that she is never fully coming out to Ash about who she is. The animation is also pretty good, the esthetic is that of a film noir; like does old classic detective mystery films. "A Detective Story" was really good and actually has some interesting characters in it (even Trinity is really cool to watch); although the ending was pretty meh...

Last we have "Matriculated" and this one is... well... really strange, although somewhat fascinating. A crew of humans capture a robot and now are trying to hack it by entering it´s... um... "mind"? and then it turns into a journey of what happens when you do drugs I guess. Now seriously, I get is like the journey of transition of this android like understanding human emotion of something like that and it like converts to the side of humans in the end... it´s ok and I get the idea behind it, but it´s just not... reaching out to me... maybe because it´s being to ambiguous and not really helping me understand this robot. The animation is ok although the character models are "bleu" thus being kinda awkward to look at; maybe some like this character design, but not me. "Matriculated" is not bad or even weak... but it fails to be impressive; it has a really interesting premise but is not reaching out to me.

That finishes Animatrix series of short films and I gotta say, this series of films do a hell of a lot more for the series than the two sequels that fallowed, by having interesting stories to tell within the matrix universe and expanding upon it. Maybe it has a few "not so good" ones but others are really impressive; not only for the matrix franchise, but has excellent shorts on their own (*cough* Beyond *cough*).

If you get the chance to see them all then do, even if you are not hardcore on the matrix franchise like myself, you can enjoy of the great animation and of some of the cool stories it has.

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That wraps up the Matrix marathon, If you have been seeing everything I have been posting than I hope you have enjoyed reading through every post. After watching every film I have to say that it´s been quite interesting, the first film is quite good and the anime shorts are really fascinating for what they are (at least most of them)... but the two sequels are just, not very impressive.

If you are planing to watch these films then by all means do, I particularly recumbent the first movie and the shorts, maybe Reloaded and I recumbent skipping Revolutions, but then again you might find something in them that make these films great entries to the franchise...

I don´t know what´s in for the future of the franchise but it´s been quite a while since the films... but who knows...

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Thank you for visiting... I am sorry for the long delay between posts ^^´

I will have more content and news in the future!