my dream of assassin’s creed

when my a good friend of mine first got assassin’s creed, i was enchanted by its premise. as a serious lover of medieval history, particularly the crusades, the concept of gaming a 12th century jerusalem was immediately attractive to me. when i finally saw the game, i realized that the power of its art matched the ambition of its premise: here was a vividly cinematic rendering of the historical levant. i found out more: the game featured something called a “open map”- essentially, one could take the player anywhere in the game’s world. there were no fixed paths or specific platforms with ‘painted backgrounds’ suggesting the infinitude of the space, but rather a ‘true’ sense of space, and an allowment for movement. i also discovered that the introduction to the game suggested that the “player” was actually a relative of the game’s eponymous assassin. with the help of a dangerous technology (called something like the “animagus” machine) this descendant was allowed to “play” the life of his genetic origins. gaming your DNA so to speak. how cool! finally, i could not escape the thought that assassin’s creed had a fascinating reflection on contemporary society. at a time in which the west was again at war in the middle east, how provocative was it for a major game publisher (ubisoft) to make a game about the crusades? except of course, that this was not a game that glorified crusaders, but rather a game that lauded their most elite and elusive foes- foes that had more to do with suicide bombers than marines. in short, i found the choice of making a million or so western kids play assassins strikingly bizarre, but highly suggestive.

this is not the game i played

the game that i played was not nearly as profound and inspiring as the console version had been. in place of vivid graphics i found myself in a medieval flea circus, moving a tiny postage stamp character over goofy obstacle courses. instead of a “open map,” i moved along tedious “levels” journeying from left to right, and never straying far to the top or bottom of the screen. i was in an ant farm version of assassins creed.

produced by “gameloft” for ubisoft, this port of Assassin’s Creed could be considered an original game. it’s full title is “assassin’s creed: altair’s chronicles” and according to the game’s box, it is a “prequel” to the console version. whatever that means.

in fact, “altair’s chronicles” is really like assassin’s creed: the mini game. sure it is ostensibly in the same game world, and it aspires to the same premise (templars are evil, assassins are good) as the original, but in point of fact the game is really something like “the complete works of william shakespeare (abridged)” or the “1-minute titanic,” a satire of reduction.

hoping that this game would allow me to dig into the glory of assassin’s creed on my new ds was completely idiotic. a friend correctly responded to my complaints: “zack, what did you expect? it was designed for xbox and ps3!” i should have thought about that more thoroughly, as it forces me to confront the meaning of the medium. though “game content” may be translated to any platform, playing a game like assassin’s creed on the ds would be like watching ben hur on an iPod, it simply misses the point. and so, while i must tip my hat to the game designers who enabled my assassin’s creed habit, i must berate them for not knowing better than i did. why would someone reduce titles that require immersion and graphic power and serious computation to sketches that fit in a smaller platform. playing this game makes me realize why professor layton & the curious village works so well. the ds is a platform of intimacy- it is for games that seek individuals, and challenge them. ds games must be designed to capitalize on this intimacy- to tell stories through simple, vivid animations, and keep gameplay visible not microscopic. ds games must be the short stories of game literature, which is not to say that they will be weaker, but instead more potent in their simplicity.

when i decided to buy a nintendo dsi (see previous post for a re-cap of my logic) i knew i needed a killer app, to make me feel that the purchase was justified. thoroughly, conscientiously, i researched the available games, seeking a game that would help me to immediately dig into the potential of the system, and give me that elusive gamer’s high where hours dissolve into unbroken play.

ultimately, i decided on professor layton & the curious village. according to all the reviews i read, professor layton was an indispensable ds title, capably making use of the system’s stylus control system, and offering a fun, approachable game. rather that being a “port” of an older game/game designed for another system, professor layton was also consciously designed for the ds. and, most importantly, it was a “puzzle/adventure” game, like zoombinis according to reports, which immediately recalled my most cherished gaming experiences from my childhood.

so i got the game.

emulating european animation

let’s start by talking about the art. it’s one of the first things one notices about any game, and in playing professor layton, this observation is made all the more vivid by the game’s beautiful, highly-stylized animation. like the aesthetics from the triplets of belleville, professor layton employs a sort of european, edwardian-punk animation. characters have very pronounced features (in fact, the head sizes of the characters varies widely) which serve to differentiate them easily from one another visually. like a vintage movie, there is also the effect of a visible background/character division, because of a faded look to the settings and a thin white highlighting of game characters/icons. the setting re-infornces the emulated european feel of the game, by presenting narrow, cobblestone-lined streets, and helter skelter buildings that imagine the europe so beloved by the wider world. in a way, the game’s setting, “st. mystere,” could be read as the Japanese tourists wet dream, for it is in “st. mystere” that we find a conglomeration of the photo ops that europe presents to tourists – a mansion, cute streets, colorful markets, crooked houses, and a decaying amusement park.

the foreign & the domestic

another interesting way to read professor layton would be through its suggestion of a foreign/domestic division. the game begins with professor layton and his trusty sidekick journeying to the town, which they must then cross a drawbridge to gain access to. from that first interaction with the city’s drawbridge operator, the game-player is made aware the game’s pervasive foreign/domestic division. we (professor layton + game player +side kick) are always regarded as foreign, and in need of proving ourselves. to ingratiate ourselves, we complete the game’s puzzles. it is only by succeeding at the puzzles that the town slowly allows us to assimilate. we become more intimate and thus more domestic. in professor layton, the puzzles are the supreme act of intimacy- and they allow for our domestication. but this is not all. paralleling the slow domestication of layton into the fabric of st. mystere is the game player’s own ingratiation into the fiction of the game. so we find that the foreign/domestic division is both intra-gamic and extra-gamic. it is a structure repeated both inside and outside of the fiction, complimenting the game player’s need to become situated in how to play the game, with layton’s own slow integration to the community of the game world. it is a clever device.

chelmy & the explorer

but the foreign/domestic division does stop there. to the contrary, it is complicated and re-inforced by two further characters in the game. the first is inspector chelmy, who arrives after “the murder,” and is rather immediately given the domestic status within the game community that layton is so desparately seeking. but he betrays this trust, not only trashing his hotel room, but also gaining domestic trust on a false identity- he is not really inspector chelmy, but an evil man, layton’s sworn archrival. of course, it is layton himself who unmasks the inspector, and in the process of undoing this man’s false domesticity, he gains everyone’s trust, basically trading in own chelmy’s own status.

the other character who manifests the foreign/domestic division is the explorer, a strange gentleman who appears from time to time unexpectedly, and speaks in several languages. a sort of perennial outsider, the explorer is never accounted for. he seems to represent the ultimate foreign agent, an un-domesticated element in the story, but at the same time he is more akin to the townsfolk than to layton or his archrival. like the townsfolk, he poses puzzles and brainteasers to layton. yet unlike the townsfolk, he shows up in bizarre places- sewers, the amusement park, the tower. the critic inside wants to say that he is a key rupture in this game through which to really pull apart the fiction (looking at you cahiers du cinema). but at the same time, i can find anything to do with him. how do you resolve a single irregularity in a game that strives for such cohesion?

the foreign/domestic inversion [[ spoiler alert ]]

at the end of the game, the foreign/domestic division is completely inverted. when we discover that the townsfolk are all machines, and that only layton, luke, and the arch rival are human, we confront a reality that has been turned on itself. now it appears that luke and layton are in fact the town’s only “true” inhabitants. they have been domesticated by machines, trained as it were to become the desirable human inhabitants of a town without humans. we also discover fiona, the “golden apple” at this point, and realize that she has actually been hidden and intimidated by the town’s robotic folk. she is the town’s only real resident and yet she is the most afraid of the town, and the most content to leave. she has been a prisoner of the town’s fiction, and it is only in unraveling that fiction that she can be freed of it.

the game revealed and resisted

of course, the discovery of the town’s “robotic” secret also acts as a sort of tongue-in-check metaphor for video gaming itself. we were always playing machines, as that is what video games always make us do (alex galloway said as much in “gaming: four essays on algorithmic culture”). but in this game, the machine is revealed as a plot twist. we are allowed, for a moment, to think of the game as it is- a series of electronic codings, and logic gates- before we re-enter the fiction thru fiona. she is human, we are told, and we follow her back into the game’s fiction. as the game itself presents, for a moment we were shown inside the tower of truth, only to elect the bright town as a preferable alternative.

game play note

this was a fun game, a great way to start my dsi experience up. but if i have one complaint with it, it is that this game plays you, you do not play this game. as will wright once wrote about the sims, the sims is not a game, it is a toy. likewise, professor layton is not a game, it is a story with puzzles. games have choices, games give agency to their players. but this game takes you its conclusion no matter what you do, which is a rather frustrating style of play. and the only way you can beat this game is by defeating its puzzles- it is like a friend reads you a page of jane austen every time you complete a riddle or a jigsaw puzzle.

not that i didn’t enjoy it. to the contrary, this is the most fun i have had playing a game since castles: siege and conquest. it is just to say that there is room to improve.

i’ve been missing my gaming fix lately. this time last year, i was rock band-ing daily a la berkman center, and even exercising my gamer theory with monthly mit-harvard game design meetings hosted by the ever brilliant gene koo.

anyway, between a brother who is no longer all that interested in video games (or staying up late for that matter) and an antiquated game system (wait, you mean they aren’t still developing titles for my beloved game cube?) i’ve decided its time for a change. something new. a next step.

i was tempted initally to buy an xbox 360. i love playing fifa 09 with my boys, and project natal will surely make that system all the better. PLUS, the xbox 360 has netflix interaction, and will soon have even more media possibilities- what’s not too love? the games basically. tho i love me some first person shooters, there’s really no reason to invest in a system that only does that with its time. ok, there’s also rock band and sports games, but they are really only fun with other people. ONE OF MY BIGGEST PROBLEMS IS LACKING A STEADY GAMING CREW (again, tears for the rock band core of yore).

as for the other considerations, the playstation 3, for all its awesomeness (like Little Big Planet) is too expensive. and the wii is too gimmicky. its like an arcade for your home, and i don’t want to buy an arcade. moreover, between my roomates next year, their should be one of each console in our apartment. SO WHY COMPLICATE THINGS.

plus, i love puzzle games. i loved myst back in the day, i loved games like journeyman project legacy of time, and adventure games. these genres have been forced into the ds market having been rudely rejected by adrenaline-addled Xboxers and PSers. no worries, i’m more than happy to find things like Professor Layton and the Curious Village or the much hyped scribblenauts in a single man machine. my prayers seem answered.

i struggled for a while about whether or not i should actually buy a ds. i researched into them extensively. i played a few, i read the reviews. at every turn i found myself more sold. the new dsi features suave (albeit slow) internet browsing, an online store with downloadable games (the next generation in video game delivery) and cameras promising both inventive game play and possible skyping/webcamage. one game called ghostwire will actually employ augmented-reality gaming, which uses the cameras to superimpose the game reality into your “physical reality.” i cannot wait to play/theorize on that.

finally, i am going to ars electronica this fall, and i’m worried about bringing along a full computer. i was thinking initially of getting a netbook for the trip, but i really only want one for the trip, not the long term. with the dsi, i may (note “may”) have a solution, as the dsi might be just the lightweight multipurpose ticket to bring to the festival. now lets just hope nintendo has a blogging platform working by then (plz wordpress?)

an animated summary of my arguements

i’ve been playing with a fun web 2.0 presentation tool called prezi this week. take a look at the slick little animation of my arguments that i composed on the beast in about a half hour. this thing is a very slick tool for showing your audience that slideshows are for cartesian minds, while prezi is for deleuzians. sort of.

http://prezi.com/128668/