An Assassin's Conspiracy
-George Chin

Assassin’s Creed, is currently in development by Ubisoft Montreal, the people responsible for the popular Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell games. This highly anticipated action-adventure game will be released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on November 13, 2007 and a PC and Nintendo DS version will be released sometime in early 2008.

The game takes place in the cities of Jerusalem , Acre and Damascus in the year 1191 during the 3^rd Crusade. Players will take on the role of Altaïr "a medieval hit man with a mysterious past" who is assigned by the Hashshashin sect to assassinate nine historical figures responsible for the 3^rd Crusade. He is assigned to this task after failing to kill the leader of the Knight’s Templar, Robert de Sable. Over the course of the game, Altair will learn that his targets are bound to a secret society that leads to a modern day conspiracy.

Ubisoft has taken great pride over the game’s historical accuracy to the 3rd Crusade and the game’s interactive environment. Creed will offer a completely interactive environment where player’s actions towards others will affect how they react to you. Assassin’s Creed offers a new “social stealth” scheme which gives the player the ability to blend into a crowd rather than sneaking around in the shadows. Ubisoft Montreal boasts that, “Any object that stands out more than two inches will be interactive.” Players will be able to run, jump, climb or grab onto almost everything in the surrounding environment.

Assassin’s Creed has already created a huge fan base after its premiere in the E3 2006 convention. The PS3 version has already won many awards such as Most Innovative, Best Game of the Show and Best Action Game from gaming websites such as Gamespy, IGN and Gamespot.

Actor Philip Shahbaz will feature the voice of Altaïr and Kristen Bell will have her voice and appearance lent to the game. Kristen Bell has also given some insight into the game’s plot dealing with the modern day conspiracy: “It's sort of based on the research that's happening now, about the fact that your genes might be able to hold memory. And you could argue semantics and say its instinct, but how does a baby bird know to eat a worm, as opposed to a cockroach, if its parents don't show it? And it's about this science company trying to, Matrix-style, go into people's brains and find out an ancestor who used to be an assassin, and sort of locate who that person is.”

Ubisoft Montreal has confirmed Assassin’s Creed to be part of a trilogy, with one or both sequels probably taking place in the future and the actual game plot supporting and focusing on genetic memory. Look for Assassin’s Creed sneaking its way onto store shelves this November