Let’s get this straight. I’m no gamer.
I still own the Super Nintendo my parents brought home in 1992 and am a little disappointed to admit that I never actually beat Bowser in the last level of Super Mario Brothers.
It’s a personal defeat I often look back on. I hope Princess Peachl is safe.
So when I picked up an XBox 360 controller and began to play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, I was floored. Slightly terrified, but floored all the same.
Though I knew not to expect pixilated two-dimensional figures and backgrounds blanketed under a pastel blue skies filled with child-like renditions of clouds, the sheer detail of the game surprised me.
However, it wasn’t the graphics that caught me off guard, but the historical context on which the game was based.
Set in 16th century Constantinople, I played the role of Italian Nobleman Ezio Auditore da Firenze who also happened to be a leader of a secret sect called the Assassins. My mission as a gamer would be to carry out particular tasks that ultimately led to regaining control of civilization over the Templars.
I was in a turbulent time. The Ottoman war for succession to the throne was in full swing. Sultan Bayezid II had already named his son Ahmet the heir to the throne but his ambitious brother Selim would not take the decision sitting down. Instead, he amassed an army in an effort to take the throne for himself.
In the course of play, I meet Prince Suleiman, son of Selim The First and the future Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He would become my ally.
Yes, Sultan Suleiman and I were buddies. I was momentarily in a history lovers dreamland.
The complexity of the story was a far cry from my moments of despair when I would lose Yoshi to those wretched gaps in Super Mario Brothers. You know, those moments when you actually mean to jump with Yoshi but instead jump off of him causing him to fall into the crevasse only to realize you needed him as soon as you reached the other side.
Anyway, I digress.
I now faced the fall of the Ottoman Empire and a controller that seemingly had more buttons than I have fingers. Things were getting serious.
While Ezio is meant to be played as a master assassin and stealthy protagonist, scaling buildings, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, I found myself more interested in walking the streets of a beautifully rendered representation of Constantinople.
Not only was the historic city a backdrop for the storyline, it was alive. Unmistakable historical landmarks loomed oer the crowded streets that bustled with commerce and occasional chaos. Civilians dressed in period appropriate garb appeared as they would in the 16th Century Islamic state.
I took a moment to explore my surroundings. Not only did I encounter clearly Muslim characters draped in Islamic dress of the time, I even visited a local mosque.
I was fascinated by the representation of Islamic history and Muslim figures in a mainstream, award-winning and wildly popular video game.
Most video games today use some type of historical backdrop. However, the purpose of the backdrop is largely to justify the types of weaponry the character is provided or to provide some semblance of reality to an otherwise fantastical world. In essence, the history represented is heavily disjointed and generally limited to a few symbolic buildings or items and perhaps a few foreign words if set outside of the English speaking world.
I’m pretty certain I was supposed to be using my master assasin abilities to do more than walk around 16th century Constantinople and “ooh” and “aw” at the detailed architecture, lively streets, shops and hob nob with Sultans I read about in history books.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how the creators of the game at Ubisoft developed such an intricate representation of a city and situation that existed centuries ago.
I decided to do a little digging.
As it turns out, the game creators of Assassin’s Creed took long tours to the locations that were represented in the game. They spent countless hours working with historians to ensure that the representation of the architecture and individuals was accurate. Of course liberties were taken to work with the story line, but a large part of the background was researched like a writer might conduct research for a work of historical fiction.
In this case, the designers were not simply concerned with creating a believable backdrop, they were also concerned with making it fully interactive as well.
In an article on Wired.com, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Art Direct, Raphael Lacoste talked about the process.
“To achieve our goals, we engage in long and intense periods of research using historical documents, maps from the era, illustrations, paintings, travelogues, etc. We’ve also had the good fortune of being able to travel to these locations and get a real sense of the sights, sounds and smells of these amazing cities,” he said. “Naturally, it’s impossible to create an exact replica of these locations, but we have always managed to construct immersive environments that allow the player the total freedom to explore historically accurate and immense settings,” he said.
The characters are just has heavily involved in the happenings of the surrounding environment as they are with their proposed missions. The ability to explore is seemingly endless.
While the significance of this may be lost on those who desire to play a linear game, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations seems to attract an entirely different type of gamer - one who’s interest in the latest weapons upgrade is equaled, if not trumped by the intrigue of the weapons historical significance.
There are few games on the market that approach history the way that Assasin’s Creed sets out to. Understandably so. Most gamers are American men between the ages of 14 and 30 and traditionally speaking, that particular demographic is not generally assumed to be concerned with the intricacies of historical accuracy particularly in the Eastern world.
Plainly speaking, you likely won’t find that demographic tuning in to the History Channel on Friday nights.
Is there potential that games like Assassin’s Creed: Revelations to inadvertently inform an unsuspecting demographic on historical places and figures under the guise of award-winning action and adventure?
Perhaps.
This might just be the video game equivalent of hiding vegetables in mac and cheese.
In a time when an entire generation is fed imagery of Muslims in derogatory cinematic roles, it is interesting when the Muslim character in a video game is not a antagonist but instead a beloved ally of the protagonist. It’s even more interesting when the character is a historical figure who lived in what historians consider the golden era of Islam.
While many may not view the game as I did, an outsider to the gaming world and unconcerned with the intricacies of Ezio’s ability to wield a sword or save an entire civilization, it’s impossible to ignore that as Ezio, you are taking part in what you might otherwise only read about in school.
While I didn’t gawk at the Hookblade as a new way to navigate the terrain or fight an opponent, I did marvel at its representation as an Ottoman modification to a classic Hidden Blade.
As I made my way to secret locations where I met with other Assassins, the prospect of looming danger didn’t excite me so much as the idea that all of the secret locations are set in real-life monuments, many of which I could visit today.
“We visited the real-life monuments that players will visit in the game, such as the magnificent Hagia Sofia and the amazing view from the Galata tower over the Bosphorus river. We also visited many museums to see the weapons of the era, and took in the magnificent opulence of Topkapi palace,” said Lacoste. “We are only truly satisfied when we feel that we have created an in-game rendition of these cities that truly conveys the beauty and history that we felt when we visited them ourselves.”
The appreciation for historical accuracy is always worthy of some respect.
With the history of Islam so largely misunderstood, there is something to be said about the successful design of a historically accurate 16th Century Constantinople that is neither unreletabely intellectual nor completely void of intelligence.
While we demand it in documentaries, news reports, and textbooks, the content of those mediums may not be reaching the masses. Popular culture as it manifests itself in movies and video games has an enormous impact on the perceptions of entire demographics and while many don’t set out in search for historical context on the next level of the latest iteration of a video game franchise perhaps there is room for a quick lesson or two where you may least expect it.
Now, off to save Princess Peach.
I’ll leave Constantinople in the hands of Sultan Suleiman. The rest is history.
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