Does the book do the game justice?
OXCGN Reviews the Novel and compares it to the game.
by dkpatriarch
© 2010 David Hilton
“It will be a thing of beauty, the new Templar world- governed by Reason and Order…“ Rodrigo Borgia
Assassin’s Creed 2 was one of the top games of 2009, and our Game Of The Year, taking all that was good about the first game and fixing almost everything that was lacking.
Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance is the novelisation of the game written by Oliver Bowden and while it is written well enough and fulfills the general criteria of re-creating the plot of the game in novel form, I can’t help but be disappointed that it doesn’t bring much new to the Templar versus Assassin story.
Indeed I would rather that it had been a prequel novel about one of the Assassins in statue form in the villa’s Assassins room, more back-story involving Ezio’s Assassin father Giovanni shown in the short but exciting Lineage films, a back-story on Subject 16‘s experiences, or even more about Desmond’s first experiences with the Animus at Abstergo, before Altair, where he explores the genetic memories of a Roman Assassin ancestor Aquilus, son of Lucus (as briefly seen in the French graphic novel: Assassin’s Creed: Desmond).
Perhaps Ubisoft plans on doing this in future games or books, but what we are left with is a standard novelisation of events we have already seen unfold in the game, much like books that do the same for seen TV shows or movies.
There isn’t anything wrong with doing a retelling of the Assassin’s Creed 2 game, it’s just that everything is already so familiar that it adds little, and since the book closely follows the story with only a few differences there is no extra Assasssin’s Creed lore to extract.
For those who missed a lot of the plot while playing, for those who want the story tied together nicely without the action sequences getting in the way or for those like me who just enjoy reading anything relating to Assassins Creed, it provides a light enjoyable return to Assassin’s Creed 2.
The story is basically the same: it chronicles Ezio’s loss of innocence with the death of his Assassin father and his beloved brothers and his rise as an Assassin going from place to place killing a large number of Templar enemies who are causing trouble from Tuscany to Venice and Rome.
The fact that the game is mostly an action piece where the protagonist goes around killing more and more targets and training himself along the way in an open-world environment where there is a degree of choice for the player in how to pursue his grisly tasks makes this a hard ask of a writer of a novel.
However, Oliver Bowden does an admirable job cobbling the major story together while including a sense of the action that the gamer will have experienced. There is no disguising, however, that the story is action intensive, repeatedly involving finding and killing targets and using a lot of dialogue rather than description or expanding the context of each sub-mission.
Importantly, this is solely the story of Ezio. Desmond is excluded so we do not learn any more about the modern conflict between Templars and Assassins.
Still it is an understandable decision, though again, even covering the Renaissance portion, I would have liked more detail about the backgrounds of the allies and Templars (maybe even some chapters from their perspective) but what we get is a parade of new Templar targets and Ezio going about his business, just as in the game.
That’s not to say that there isn’t anything different about the novel though.
The novel is much more detailed about Ezio’s love life, for example. Christina, the girl he very briefly has amorous relations with at the beginning of the game, turns out to be much more than some hot conquest in the book. She is actually his ‘true love’ and the novel returns to their plight on several occasions. Ezio also has slightly more detailed relationships with other characters from the game including Rosa and Caterina Sforza.
There are minor differences is plot too: where in the game Ezio brings his fugitive mother and sister to the villa, in the book they are brought to a convent.
Also, and here the game should rather have copied the book, in the game’s downloadable extra content (DLC) the missing Sequence 13: The Battle of Forli, Ezio and his allies battle enemy soldiers on the towers of Forli’s castello and then Ezio chases down one of the Orsi brothers on foot or horse from the town and then kills him.
However in the book he faces an invading Orsi force attacking with siege equipment and is involved in destroying it with canons from the towers and later has to track and catch the Orsi brother in a horse-dawn carriage chase in the mountains. The book’s action actually seems more exciting than what the DLC provided.
• Assassin’s Creed 2: Battle Of Forli DLC
If you have no intention of buying the extra DLC content, then the book provides you the missing storylines.
One of the interesting decisions made by the author is to keep all the Italian words and phrases of the game and even include a bit of a glossary at the back of the book.
I found while playing the game that I missed most of the exact meaning of what they were saying to each other, and while most of it was Ezio telling his victims to ‘rest in peace’ after killing them, the book does provide a much clearer idea of the insults and sayings that I had missed.
Take this memorable one from Caterina Sforza to her enemies for example:
What kind of men are you? Doing the bidding of your paymasters for handfuls of loose change!…I wonder if you’ll think it was worth it after I’ve come up there, cut your heads off, pissed down your necks and shoved your faces up my figa! I’ll stick your balls on a fork and roast them over my kitchen fire!”
The real Caterina Sforza of Forli
Not only had I missed most of this exchange while going through the game’s DLC mission, which involved going somewhere else away from her as she distracted enemies, but I would not have realised what her figa was for sure without that book glossary. (Here’s a clue….it’s not her butt).
Though some might find it distracting to have another language interspersed in the game and also the book, I think it adds to the feel that you are being ‘transported’ to Italy.
It is becoming clearer that Assassin’s Creed is about the Templars striving for a New World Order (as the initial quote from Borgia above shows) and the Assassins trying to prevent them.
It’s also becoming clearer that the Templars represent ‘control and authority’ as the modern corporate Abstergo does in the games, while the Assassins are a diverse ‘community’ that look after the common good.
I find a bit unconvincing the idea that the good guys have as their motto the rather anarchistic notion that: “Nothing is true; Everything is permitted”, with the kind-hearted, selfless and honourable allies being the prostitutes, the thieves and the mercenaries, while the Templars are portrayed as using positions of authority and “order” for the sake of control.
In the modern real world such purity of purpose among so many involved in ‘underground activity’ just isn’t that plausible: I don’t think the guy who stole my car years ago was very selfless or honourable…and I doubt it was much different in 15th Century Italy.
It works very well for the gameplay having these groups of allies and an honourable group dedicated to common good, but reading the book it seems even more odd that those who profess that everything is permitted will always show honour and restraint, being careful to ‘not enjoy’ or ‘feel vengeance’ killing and doing everything for the sake of the general people (and freer commerce too I noticed).
I don’t see Ezio amassing great wealth for his villa in the game so that he can then give to the poor and sick. And the kind of chaos which anarchy would unleash (nothing is true…everything is permitted) wouldn’t serve his family or villa very well either when the greedy and violent subscribe to the everything is permitted idea.
The Knights Templar Crest
The book does at least help explain what it is that the Assassins are generally trying to achieve besides thwarting the Templars when Ezio makes his speech in Florence after stopping a mad monk’s book-burning crusade: it is freedom. He says:
We are free to follow our own path. There are those who would take that freedom from us, and too many of you- too many of us- alas – gladly give it. But we have it within our power to choose- to choose whatever we deem true- and it is the exercise of that power which makes us human. There is no book or teacher to give us the answers, to show us the path. So – choose your own way! Do not follow me, or anyone else!”
Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance is one of the better novelisations of a game/tv/movie, but ultimately doesn’t add a lot to the Assassin’s Creed universe, or Ezio’s story if you’ve played Assassin’s Creed 2.
In general, as far as video game narratives go, the Assassin’s Creed story is one of the more interesting and I look forward the the next installment.
In the book toward the end, Ezio states: “And for myself, I am done with killing.”
We know this cannot be true because the next Assassin’s Creed game to be released this year will again feature his character, though it won’t be called Assassin’s Creed 3 and will also feature multiplayer for the first time.
There are two things I hope for that time: first that there is local as well as online co-op involved in the game’s multiplayer, and second that there is a new Assassin’s Creed novel with a story that goes beyond what we will experience in the game.
© 2010 David Hilton
When and Where for Assassin’s Creed 3?
Have a look at some possibilities and have your say:
While you are here, why not check out our Assassin’s Creed 2 review and other Assassin’s Creed articles
- Game Of The Year feature.
- Assassin’s Creed 2 Black Limited Edition Unboxing.
- Assassin’s Creed: Linage Film review & Full film.
- Assassin’s Creed Linage Pt 1: The Sins Of The Father.
- The Merchants of Venice: Assassin’s Creed 2 and Venetica
Filed under: Blogbanter, Console gaming, Editorial, GameBanter, Industry News, Oxcgn Special feature, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | "Assassin's creed Lineage", "the holy Crusade", assasins creed, Assassin's creed, Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed 2 DLC", Assassin's Creed book review", Assassin's Creed Desmond, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Renaissance Book Review", Assassin's Creed: Renaissance", Battle of Forli, book review, Caterina Sforza, Desmond, Ezio, Ezio Auditore di Firenze, Oliver Bowden, Sequence 13: The Battle of Forli, Templars, The Crusades, The Knights Templar, The Templars, Ubisoft
Hmm. The comic and the game must have taken different routes then. As you’ve probably read in the Guide too, S16 dies after he makes the blood messages (the blood loss is evidence enough). I too wonder about the multiplayer and don’t welcome its addition – but as long as the rest of the game delivers, I can overlook it and care about the main game.
Hmm. I would have liked to see a book to cover stuff outside what we saw in the games too – like Subject 16 or another assassin (but definately the former). This series has such an awesome storyline – I would love to read about what happens later or before. Will just need to wait for another book or AC3!
Sooner than AC3 will be whatever they are releasing this year that features Ezio again and has multi. The multi part has me worried if it isn’t some sort of co-op, and if it doesn’t allow for offline multi play. I also hope it will take place somewhere else new, like Spain (which was in the Iphone and DS game Discovery).
I enjoyed their short film Lineage, the French comic (thank you Mum for forcing me to learn French), and book but of the three the book gave me the least additional information on the Assassin’s Creed universe.
Mind you the comic seems to indicate that Subject 16 is still alive, not dead as the Collector’s Guidebook says, and in fact escapes from an asylum and confronts Desmond and Lucy just after they escape Abstergo and before doing the Ezio thing at the hideout. Subject 16 is pissed that Desmond is the new glamour boy of the Assassins.