Assassin’s Creed Odyssey under fire for “Cultural Appropriation”

An erasure of ancient culture is upon us…

The Greek Historian Brotherhood, or GHB, has recently filed a complaint in Quebec. One of Ubisoft’s many various unique talents in game mastery, Ubisoft Quebec is responsible for the newest installment in this ongoing franchise. According to the district attorney’s office, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was in direct violation of the terms set when they were chosen as the setting for the game.

The foreign minister of Greece, Nikos Kotzias, pointed out that the depiction of soldiers and warriors in Roman historical times were a misrepresentation of the country. Further, he cites that if people play the game and see the amount of violence contained within, tourism would decrease for the region. In a recent testimony made public by the local newspaper, Kotzias said:

“Greece is a fantastical place richly filled with the culture of civilization itself. To depict the ancient city as a place of gory violence does a discredit to the country. For in the preservation of history, and for the interest in the comon [sic] folk, this video game cannot be allowed to be distributed. Not in our humble country, it is completely outrageous. And more so, it is not truthful.”

In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, you play as twin characters Evie and Jacob Frye, two Spartans who fought in the infamous “300” battle against the Turkish empire. The death animations are some of the most graphic and gratuitous in the history of the franchise. Many Greecians feel like this may make them come across as violent, though that is not the case.

Famous video game sales company in the country, Σταματήστε το παιχνίδι, has recently boycotted the game and refuse to stock shelves with it. They too are unhappy with the title. Recently, the CEO of the company, Ντόναλντ Τραμπ, put forward a statement.

“Ντόναλντ Τραμπ will not be selling Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, as it is a complete fabrication of our history. It is erasing our culture piece by piece, and we cannot endorse it.”

Assassin’s Creed has sold truckloads of money over the years, and this recent example isn’t even the first game to come under fire. Italy had its own complaints about Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the Assassin’s Creed 2 trilogy.

Despite this news, many Greeks are hotly anticipating the title, as slightly buggy open world games with choppy cutscenes have recently become popular over there. Odyssey ticks all right boxes, so it only makes sense that they would want to play it. Hopefully, Greece will change its mind soon enough, or the gamers of Greece are going to rise up.

In case the gratuitous factual errors didn’t make it clear enough, this article is in fact, satire.

Posted in Articles Tagged with: ancient, assassin, assassins creed, assassins creed odyssey, comedy, editorial, fake news, game, greece, montreal, news, odyssey, rome, satire, ubisoft, ubisoft montreal, walkthru

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – Review

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is a multiplayer Tactical FPS made by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, and is a new entry in the series with a focus on competitive multiplayer. You take the role of an operator in one of the many Counter Terrorism Units available in the game, playing either PVP in 5v5 matches, or co-op against enemy AI. While a deeper take on multiplayer is a new way for its series, can it hold up to the name that is the Rainbow Six franchise?

GRAPHICS:2/2

While it is a competitive multiplayer game, Rainbow Six Siege is a beautiful multiplayer shooter, with its maps inspired off common real-life situations, such as houses, cafes, and banks. The levels are really detailed and you can see that Ubisoft worked hard on each map to be unique. Varying in style and immersion, combined with the destruction mechanic, the game can get messy with debris going everywhere, smoke filling the room, and bullet trails nearing your face. It impresses me, all while keeping a stable 60 FPS in PVP, but dropping down to 30 in PVE on consoles.

STORY: 1/2

Because it’s a multiplayer focused game, Rainbow Six Siege lacks a story, which is a bit disappointing, compared to previous installments of the series. The only tidbits of story we get is from each operators’ bios, the initial cinematic, which shows Team Rainbow reinstating due to a terrorist threat, and the final mission in “Situations”, where we are sent to stop a terrorist attack at a university. I believe that this is both a good thing and a bad thing, the bad thing being is that it would have been perfect if it had a story. Maybe if the plot from the now-cancelled Rainbow Six: Patriots was accounted for, we could have had something. But nevertheless, you actually fight this terrorist group in Terrorist Hunt, Siege’s PVE game mode and it’s enough to get you invested at least.

AUDIO: 1/2

The audio in R6S is just okay, while the soundtrack contains some deep beats with bass drops as massive as the walls breached in this game. Definitely not the best soundtrack, but it does capture the serious attitude the game is trying to impose. The best of the audio stands in the gun sounds, most of the guns having distinguishable and realistic sounds, with very few repeats in some of them. The main issue is that you cannot really make out the directional sound of the footsteps sometimes, so using a headset is highly recommended in order to be truly immersed thanks to its audio.

GAMEPLAY: 2/2

For a first-person shooter, the gunplay is way more refined than other games in the genre, mostly because it has a competitive focus as well. Each gun and operator has a unique playstyle, requiring a lot of playtime to master them all. The gunplay and destruction are oddly satisfying, mostly because it shows the attention to detail Ubisoft had when it was in development. It can be played either solo through Situations (short missions with unique objectives) or in Lone Wolf Terrorist Hunt if you got the skills to beat it. Multiplayer features 3 modes; Bomb, Secure Area, and Hostage, all which can be played casually or Ranked, or via Co-Op through Terrorist Hunt in 3 difficulties. A solid experience across all modes in the end.

FUN: 2/2

Rainbow Six Siege is a hard, very deep, fast-growing competitive shooter, but it’s the kind of hard that makes you want to become better. If you aim better and play better, you will find yourself rising in skill and rank on the ladder for each season. Ubisoft is constantly updating the game, with a new competitive season every 3 or so months, with each new season being followed by a giant update drop with 2 new operators (free with the season pass) and a new map. At the moment, Siege has some issues with having 2 season passes and a lack of content. But, while the game may have microtransactions, those are only to get new DLC operators faster (instead of grinding) and weapon skins.

In conclusion, while Rainbow Six Siege may be frustrating at times, it is very fun. This is especially true when playing with friends, which I highly recommend since most random players will avoid communication and land your team swift and fun win.

SCORE: 8/10

(Disclaimer: Review was written in 2017 and had been backdated to reflect release of current DLC)

Posted in Reviews Tagged with: first person shooter, fps, fun, montreal, multiplayer, rainbow six, rainbow six siege, review, reviews, siege, strategy, tactical, ubisoft, video games