Assassin's Creed: Heritage Collection - PC

Here's a bumper pack for anyone looking to get caught up Assassin's Creed. In the box are Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, Revelations and Assassin's Creed III. The game stars Desmond, a modern day chap learning to become an assassin by living through the memories of his ancestors.

Assassin's Creed's story centres around Altair, an assassin in the 13th Century Middle East who, along with his fellow assassins, is trying to end the Crusades by suppressing both sides. The action is spread across three medieval cities where Altair must climb, jump and ultimately kill his way through missions against the backdrop of a stunningly animated and rendered ancient metropolis.

The cities allow absolute freedom of movement in the mode of GTA, with careful attention given to the tiniest of details to produce some of the most realistic graphics ever seen. The movement and look of each character (and when we say character, we mean "person to appear on screen") has been carefully modelled to emulate real human motion, with the AI prompting them to constantly react to you in a realistic way. As you move through crowds, you have to be careful not to draw attention to yourself, as anything untoward can bring the guards down on you in a heartbeat.

In the second game in the series, when Italian nobleman Ezio Auditore ad Firenze's family gets betrayed he aims to seek vengeance against the corrupt class that once suited him. With nowhere to turn to satiate his anger, Ezio turns to the ways of the assassin to teach his foes a lesson.

Brotherhood picks up Ezio where II left off, but with a couple of key changes. Firstly, you can recruit new assassins. This brings a new element of strategy to the game, as well as a new layer of characterisation. As you recruit new allies, you'll be able to send them off on missions around the city to further your cause against the Templars and line your pockets, as well as get them to offer support on your own missions by providing distractions or even fending off attackers! This was also the game that brought an online multiplayer component to the game.

Revelations takes Ezio's story even further, with another crucial addition to the game. While the previous game introduced the Brotherhood (which makes a return in Revelations), the big new concept here is the Dens. Dens are hotly-contested areas in which you have the option (or in some missions, requirement) to attack to gain some ground against the war with the Templars and Byzantines. As well as attacking and taking dens, you'll be charged with defending them. These missions see your own areas get challenged by enemy forces. This is probably the biggest change to the Assassin’s Creed formula - tower defence gameplay from the third-person viewpoint of Ezio, the Den commander!

Last but not least, III takes the series forward through time again. This time, it's revolutionary America that provides the backdrop. The leap in time brings new gameplay elements with it. For the first time in the series the player can brandish and use two weapons simultaneously. In keeping with the game's location and time period, hunting plays an important part in the game.

But it is the American revolutionary war that gives the game its main drama and drives the narrative. Connor inhabits the world of and interacts with characters such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Paul Revere while travelling between his native Mohawk village, the colonial frontier, Boston and New York. The Eastern seaboard will also be a theatre of conflict, and Connor can captain a ship and take part in naval combat. Connor does battle with the forces of evil as a member of the Assassin's brotherhood. more