Assassin's Creed III

Bibliographic Information: Ubisoft. (2012). Assassin’s Creed III. United States: Ubisoft Entertainment.

Plot Summary: Don’t be fooled by the III, this is the 6th release of the Assassin’s Creed franchise.  Assassin’s Creed III leaves old Rome and heads to the New World as you play as a new type of assassin.  Developers spent more than 2 years creating an America ready to revolt against England.  The main character is Connor.  He has a Native American mother and a British father.  Watching as the American Revolution impedes on his people’s frontier, Connor decides to fight for freedom and liberty.  This path weaves through multiple storylines and historic events.  The game also tries to put a different perspective on the American Revolution – as you fight to stop the slaughter and burning of villages.  The theme of this game follows the same idea as the ones before it – Fight for what is right, even if you are overwhelmingly outnumbered.

Critical Evaluation: N/A

Reader’s Annotation: Born to a Native American mother and a British father, Connor’s fight during the American Revolution isn’t going to be easy.  

Information about the maker: Ubisoft was founded in 1986 by Yves Guillemot and his four brothers from Brittany, France. It currently has 26 studios in 19 countries, which makes it the second largest in-house development staff in the world (Ubisoft, n.d.). The brothers shared an interest in creating fun educational games.  Their first game, Zombi, was released in 1989.

    Some of their most successful gaming franchises include Ghost Recon (2000), Assassin’s Creed (2007), and Just Dance (2009), and  Prince of Persia (2010).

Genre: Action-adventure

Curriculum Ties: The closest curriculum connection is History.

Booktalking ideas (one or two):

1. Connor’s heritage (family tree).

Reading level/Interest age:

Challenge Issues: This video game contains graphic violence and killing, strong language, and hints of sexual themes.  

To defend challenged material I would:

1.    Read/watch/listen to the material to become familiar with the content.

2.    Familiarize myself with the Arizona Common Core curriculum standards http://www.azed.gov/azcommoncore/teacher/ to defend how the material can support the learning of these standards.

3.    Refer to the Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

4.    Refer to the collection policy of my library.

5.    Collect reviews from staff/students/patrons who have used the material

Why I included this game: Assassin’s Creed is a very successful franchise, and despite it’s violent nature, it does contain a story embedded in history, which can be beneficial to the players.

References:

Ubisoft. (n.d.) About Ubisoft. Retrieved from https://www.ubisoftgroup.com/en-US/

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