Of late the Assassin’s Creed series has become somewhat distanced from its origins and has gone trekking off into the wild. Both Assassin’s Creed III and IV’s focus has been drawn away from the cityscape and into the woods or out on the open seas. However it was the first game in the series that warrants a place on this list. The game featured three crusades era cities of Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus not counting the Assassin’s home base of Masyaf. The real draw was the sheer verticality of these virtual cities, the old world urban layouts helping with the parkour gameplay elements. Tight alleyways made for easy leaps between buildings with minarets and castles offering great vantage points for taking in the surroundings. The mission structure and objectives were definitely refined to a greater extent in Ezio’s series of games, but the Crusader times and the Middle East fit far better with the Assassins’ narrative. Gameplay wise parkour movement and stealthy combat two key components of the Assassin’s Creed brand, two elements that play out to great effect in the first number of games in the franchise.
However the focus in the latest titles have shifted somewhat, granted it is fun to hang out with the likes George Washington and Blackbeard. Colonial America doesn’t work well for a game that was primarily focused on clambering across historical city skylines, jumping from branch to branch in a wild forest just doesn’t have the same appeal. There is hope for a return to what made the series great with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Unity. Reported to be taking place in revolutionary France, which would seem a more natural follow up to the events of Assassin’s Creed III. Exploring Paris of the late 1700’s is an exciting proposition, climbing to the top of Notre Dame or sneaking into the Bastille possible activities in the yet to be released title.
N.B* Just a quick nod has to the Crackdown as a series that has also looked to make use of the vertical space in the open world genre.