Assassin's Creed Chronicles (2015-16)

Assassin's Creed Chronicles (2015-16)

Genre: Platform / Stealth | Developer: Climax Studios

Considering how much of a spiritual debt the Ass franchise owes to Prince of Persia, it's fitting that it should return to a similar format with the smaller games. Ass Chronicles does just that.

It takes place within a 2.5D environment, a peculiar term that I'm guessing most gamers will already be familiar with. But if not, it's somewhere between a 2D and 3D environment; i.e., you move from left to right or right to left as you would in a traditional 2D side-scrolling video game adventure, but you can move into and out of more than one plane or layer from time to time, giving the illusion of depth. Functionally it enables you to hide or traverse past obstacles or enemies that would otherwise block your path.

To date, there have been three games in the Chronicles series, each with its own unique protagonist. Each one is available to buy separately, or collected together as a Trilogy Pack. However you acquire them, if you play them in the order they were originally released, then your first port of call is China in the year 1526.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (2015)

You control a female assassin named Shao Jun, former concubine of the Zhengde Emperor. If you also happened to have watched the Assassin's Creed: Embers (2011) short film, then you'll have been introduced to Shao Jun before. If not, don't worry because all you really need to know is explained at the game's beginning (i.e., some gubbins about a Precursor artefact given to her by old man Ezio Auditore); actual character development of Shao is negligible.

Visually it's pretty, taking inspiration from traditional brush paintings that for me are a lot more interesting to look at than any attempt at realism such a game could hope to achieve.

What's less impressive is the limited combat. It's rubbish, frankly, but you'll quickly realise that avoiding combat at all costs is the most efficient way to proceed. The swift, quiet kill is best (followed by a hasty hiding of the corpse lest it be discovered). In order to execute such a dastardly deed you need to first get close to your target. Enemies and guards have what's known as an 'awareness cone', which extends to about thirty feet in predetermined directions from their current position. Stand outside of their limited field of view, even on a direct line of sight, and you're safe. It's a ridiculous mechanic if you look at it objectively, but it works in practice and a more realistic alternative would make the game near-impossible to play.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India (2016)

Next up is a trip to India in the year 1841. Your assassin this time is a man named Arbaaz Mir, seen previously in the AC: Brahman (2013) graphic novel.

The level design in AC: China was interesting, but in AC: India it's even better. So too is the aesthetic, it's more colourful and vibrant, feeling more alive in many ways.

Alongside a number of welcome new additions, such as smoke bombs and some nifty new murder-skills, is the addition of occasional timed missions. Being forced to be stealthy is not something I enjoy, but being forced to be stealthy as quickly as possible is agonising for me. My levels of frustration didn't cause the Fuck This Shit! meter to explode, but they pushed it very close to boiling point once or twice. I do still feel that AC: India is a better game than AC: China, but because of those timed missions I'd choose the latter for a replay over the former.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia (2016)

Finally, it's to Russia in the year 1918 for some Nikolai Orelov action, the moustachioed assassin who featured in both the AC: The Fall (2011) and AC: The Chain (2012) graphic novels.

It's darker in tone than the previous two games, a feeling that's reinforced by the colours used, such as the cold, grey stone of the buildings, and the emphasis put on an industrialised environment that includes huge chimney stacks belching red pollutants into the night sky.

In addition to the cosmetic and thematic change, there's an acknowledgement that modern technology can be both a help and a hindrance to the dedicated assassin; there are times when you'll have to make use of it and times when you'll have to avoid it.

There's a thick layer of film grain on the image. The only reasoning I could come up with for its use, other than it looks pretty, was as a reference to the role that cinema played in the newly dominant Soviet ideology of the era; i.e., as a propaganda tool. It ties in with Dziga Vertov's kino-pravda (film-truth), a movement designed to show a deeper truth, one that couldn't be seen with the naked eye alone. If the gameplay footage was to be reedited to better represent the Templar perspective, then it could be used as a powerful motivational tool in the war against the Assassins, or vice versa. I know that kino-pravda didn't take a proper hold until a few years later, but the Ass series has never cared much for exactitude when it comes to dates.

Of the three games in the Chronicles series, I rate Russia the lowest when it comes to levels of enjoyment had. It has too many infuriating sections, is altogether less forgiving, and those damn spotlights often make progression an insufferable chore. Спасибо, но нет.