A brief summary of what has come before plays – it is as I've told you, but it paints Desmond in a somewhat more positive light than
‘Animus Patsy’. It also references the
doomsdate of 12/21/12, but alas, I've begun playing the game on 12/22/12. C’est la vie.
We immediately shift to the van of renegades plus Desmond driving to
their mystery location. When we have
control, the game just wants us to walk forward – is it just me, or is that
somewhat a waste of time? If you’re not
going to let me do anything else, why even let me control him? Also, why is Desmond the only one not
carrying equipment into the dark cave?
Questions aside, when we use the Apple of Eden to move a
secret wall and reach some kind of Temple inside, Desmond has another break
with reality – I mean, Juno talks to him again and he collapses, and his
helpful buddies put him in the Animus.
They chat quickly about ‘Animus upgrades,’ but I’m too
distracted by the way Desmond is standing noticeably hunched over in the white
cloudy Animus atmosphere while talking. The stance is much more suited towards
assassin-y action, and I’m relieved when the Rock Band girl wants me to do some
simple calibration free running. It’s
not a long tutorial before I’m unceremoniously dropped into a theater setting,
as someone named Nathan. We’re watching
a play, or an opera, or something, and I suddenly have to go murder someone on
the balcony. I climb the balconies,
wondering to myself how no one in the entire opera hall is noticing the crazy
dude in a cloak climbing along the balconies right in front of their
faces. It occasionally gets really
dark, and I wonder if my gamma settings are off.
When I pause the game to go to settings, would you believe
it says right there in the objective: “The First Civilization has led Desmond
Miles and his allies here in order to prevent a massive solar flare that
threatens all life on the planet. Now
they just need to figure out how to do it.
Desmond’s ancestral memories appear to hold the answers.” Not only am I miffed that I don’t seem to
recall this information being told to me at any point thus far, but I wonder if I've missed a lot of other stuff by not pausing and reading the mission text all
this time.
Back to the murder.
There is some cryptic dialogue with the victim – now that subtitles are
turned on, I can see that my character’s name is apparently “Haytham.” He
murders a guy that he apparently knows, and steals a circular necklace, passing
eerily by a child witness on his way out.
Haytham is then sent to America to locate a storehouse from the First
Civilization, which the Templars seem to know about.
Wait a second. Isn't Haytham is a member of the
Templars? Even though he had a wrist
blade and some mad parkour skills? I
suppose that is yet to be seen.
On board the ship, Haytham engages in a bit of combat for
training, and expresses distaste for pretty much everyone aboard. Is it just me, or is it terribly obvious that
this guy and his Order are Templars? Is
that something that is supposed to be a surprise, later? Because it’ll be a surprise for me if he isn't, frankly. The odd thing for me is that my allies have
Assassin signals over their heads. I
figured we weren't assassins. Maybe it’s
just me.
