I’d say one of the most fascinating video game franchises in the industry has to be the Assassin’s Creed series. One good reason for this is the amazing amount of detail and actual history that goes into each and every one of these video games. This month video game developer Ubisoft Montreal will be releasing their latest iteration of the series dubbed, “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag” which will take place-according to them-in the Golden Age of Piracy around the early 1700’s. During the time of infamous pirates who plagued the Caribbean such as Edward Teach (a.k.a. Blackbeard) or Benjamin Hornigold, Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and Charles Vane. The main protagonist Captain Edward Kenway a brash rebel pirate who gets drawn into the age old conflict of the lethal Assassin’s versus the aristocratic Templars, as the engage in an endless battle for the fate of humanity.
I personal think the idea of merging modern science with history could be a great idea, especially if we could revisit interesting time periods such as the Renaissance or the America Revolution and actually see these events unfold through our ancestor eyes. Although I’m sure some less than friendly people would no doubt find a nefarious use for such technology such as altering the course of history to suit their own needs. Nevertheless, the technology in the video game doesn’t allow the characters to alter history in any way, just simply observe it. Bottom line, it would probably present a great opportunity to really better understand our great ancestors and see how they really lived without all the technology that is accessible to us. As the game story progresses, Edward constantly struggles with his inner desires as a pirate and his moral duty to the Assassin brotherhood. Now I know a game with a title like Assassin Creed doesn’t really inspire much confidence for young children to play. But for an older generation-such as myself-it provides in interesting break from reality, not to mention the historically aspect of the game.