I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood again because of the recent release of the single player centric ‘The Da Vinci Disappearance’ DLC. The content itself is quite fun, and a darn sight better than the expansions released for Assassin’s Creed 2. As I’m once again firmly ensconced in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, I decided to look around at the various other properties that UbiSoft has put out for the series, namely Project Legacy, the Facebook game connected to UPlay, and through that, the Assassin’s Creed games.
I can hear you groaning already about the fact that I’m playing a Facebook game, but Project Legacy isn’t Farmville. While the interface is really simple (you spend Action Points on a given sequence to achieve 100% synchronization) it really feels like an Assassin’s Creed game, boasting an Animus-like interface and featuring some shady dealings on behalf of the Abstergo Corporation, who’re putting you through the Project.
Even though Project Legacy is fairly basic (so far, anyways, I can see glimmers of more complicated gameplay on the horizon), it got me to appreciate that Facebook can actually be valuable to a video game experience. BioWare has done something similar with the Dragon Age games, but Project Legacy was the first one that actually enticed me to play. While I’m fearing the moment when the game begins to plug me for micro-transactions, I’m enjoying my experience expanding my understanding of the Assassin’s Creed universe.
Perhaps that’s the key to these sorts of things, though. Facebook is a great method for creating awareness for a given product, and consumers are more likely to utilize a service if they have something to gain from it. Project Legacy unlocks a couple of special items in AC:B, and so far has demanded nothing from me but my time. Typically I’ve steered clear of the Zynga crop, but UbiSoft seems to understand what gamers want from social media based add-ons.
I’m going to keep playing the game to find out more about Project Legacy, but I’m wondering if any of you have played it? What do you think of it? Do you have any thoughts on the increased presence these sorts of things have in our hobby?
