The Assassins Creed series by Game Developer Ubisoft has been a must playgame since the first installment

was released 2007. The game has brought forth many

ground-breaking perspectives and narrative that no game before has been able to
master. The series has been set in many different worlds, cultures and backgrounds that
gives the gamer new perspective and intelligence on the world the gamer is playing in.
The immense amounts of historical events and the many different culture explored,
forces the gamer to change their own personal mindset and become one with the
culture being explored. This may not change the mindset of the gamer outside of the
gaming experience, but the while playing Assassins creed the gamer is partially
experiencing how to live in the time period.
The unique historical experiences of Assassins Creed is what makes one of the
most unique experiences in the gaming world. In the original Assassins Creed,
chronicles the life and times of veteran assassin, Altar Ibn-LaAhad and takes place
during the 3rd crusades. The 3rd crusades, often referred to as the Kings crusade, was
an attempt for Christian European leaders to retake the Holy Lands from the Islamic
people. As the Game unfolds, the gamer gains more and more knowledge in what the
crusades were and the significance of the times. The game developers decided to place
the game in a very important part of world history to educate the gamer more on
something they never really experience outside of a class room. From a standard
textbook, the crusades was a necessary war to take back the Holy Lands, that had
rightfully belonged to Christians, but the game developers decided to challenge this idea
with this game. Throughout the game, the gamer is trying to stop the Knights Templar, a
small militia that fought for the christian side during the crusades, from robbing the Holy

Lands of some of its Holy Artifacts. In the game, the artifacts hold special power that
would be used to essentially take over the known world. Though the game has highly
dramatized the events of the crusades, after a deeper interpretation of it has spawned
strong theories behind the crusades. As some may know, the crusades were fought
during the Dark Ages of European History and western civilization, but during the same
period the Islamic Empire was amidst its Golden Age. The game developers,
intentionally or unintentionally, has raised the question What was the reason for the
crusades?. The game developers answered that question with, It was to take over a
more prosperous people, and use their success to help build our own. This may not be
the intentions of the game, but with the way Templar is portrayed, and what their
mission is within the game one can infer that a jealous Europe has gone to war to take
away the prosperity of the Arabs.
With the new views of the historical aspect of the game, come a new perspective.
The aggressive war waged by the European leaders has been decorated as a just war,
and the Europeans were in the right for going to war for the Holy lands. The gamer
plays as assassin Altar, thus the character takes on the Arab perspective. Throughout
the game, the gamer is opened up to the culture of the times. The Arab perspective in
the game on the crusades seems to vary to that of American school textbooks. In the
game, the arab perspective, the Knights Templar is clearly the antagonist of the game,
because of this one can infer that the game developers have decided to change the
perspective to give gamers a different understanding of what is means to be arab. The
gamer is also given insight on how the average Arab people lived in that time. One of
the main parts of the game was to remain anonymous and unseen. The gamer could

not perform this task without conforming to society and blending in. Though the game
makes the average life look very plain and bland, for the most part it was an accurate
depiction of early city life. The new perspective on the historical event provides the
gamer with a new and fresh mindset of the time period.
In conclusion the game series have provided many new insights to what it was
like to be an Arab during the crusades. The crusades provided a heightened sense of
fear and instability into a place that for the most part was very safe and secure. With all
of the game developers hidden agendas, the game was very well received and
positively reviewed after its release in 2007. People like the game for the accurate
historical background as well as the fictional story placed into the historical settings.
Some of its downfalls however includes the very repetitive nature of the game. Many
gamers felt that all the assassinations were virtually the same and that no sense of
mastery was gained from beginning to end. The things mastered early in the game is
the same as what is need at the end of the game. If a beginner was fast-foward to the
ending, many people felt that the beginner would be able to complete the final
assassination. Overall, Ubisoft created a game that is matched by no other. For bringing
new perspective on historical content, Ubisoft has provided a voice for the
underrepresented in historical accounts. In this case, Ubisoft provided the story of the
Arab that often goes unnoticed in popular culture.