If you are a fan of the Assassin’s Creed series then there is one particular character that will stand out above the rest. If you ask any gamer what they know about Assassin’s Creed then most likely this particular character will be the first name they say. That Assassin is Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. With Ubisoft choosing to take 2016 off from releasing a main release Assassin’s Creed game, they have instead made the decision to put together The Ezio Collection, putting together all three games featuring Ezio along with the live action series of ‘Assassin’s Creed Lineage’ and the animated short ‘Embers’ into one enhanced release.

The best way to look at this release is really to go through each game in the series. For me the Ezio trilogy is the spine of the Assassin’s Creed series. Over the three games the story and foundation to the Assassin’s Creed Universe is laid down with their influence still felt in the most recent titles in the game either through story or gameplay. The reaction to the original AC game was mostly positive, however criticisms about repetitive missions and a less than charismatic lead hero in Altair Ibn La Ahad. But Ubisoft listened to the feedback from fans and in 2009, Assassin’s Creed II released.

AC II opens with Desmond escaping from Abstergo where in the first game he had been held prisoner and forced to enter the Animus to relive the lives of his ancestor in the Crusades Altair. Lucy Campbell reveals herself to be an Assassin and rescues Desmond from the clutches of Abstergo. This opening ten minutes has a huge impact following on from the first game as we see outside the room that Desmond was trapped in for the entire first game and start to see the Abstergo operation itself, a huge building with hundreds of Animus devices in cubicles. Desmond is then delivered into the hands of the Assassin’s and we meet who would become long running characters in Rebecca and Shaun Hastings. The objective is to have Desmond become a true Assassin to help in the fight against the Templars of Abstergo, by using something called the ‘Bleeding Effect’ to train Desmond by reliving the life of another ancestor, Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, so he will learn skills as Ezio learned them over his life.

We are first introduced to Ezio at his birth, literally controlling his first moves as a baby before catching up with a dashing, charming and charismatic young Ezio. By moving the setting to Renaissance Italy, the setting is now bright and full of colours and life with a vibrance the first game lacked. The playing area is far larger now with an abundance of buildings and streets to navigate along with side missions and activities that complement the main story quests. Armour and weapons feature more with different fighting styles and counters depending on the type of weapon chosen. Gamplay takes everything from the first AC and bolsters it with a story that opens up a whole universe that Altair’s story merely peeked at. The fight between Templars and Assassin’s is used to great effect as Ezio seeks revenge for the murders of his father and brothers and how this vengeance will shape his life throughout his trilogy. Altair also has a presence as through the pages of a Codex, written by Altair in the years following the end of the first game, where Altair used the Apple, the Piece of Eden from the first game, to learn and study its secrets and writing them down in the Codex that thanks to help from Leonardo Da Vinci himself, creates upgrades for Ezio’s hidden blade.

What was surprising was just how really unchanged the original visuals are in AC II. The colour pallet and lighting has been improved for this enhanced version but honestly, the visuals are no more impressive than if playing the backwards compatible version of the game. Also many of the bugs that the original version had are still within this new build of the game. It would have been nice to see them at least fixed for inclusion in this collection, but with the game itself still being as great to play and experience as it was seven years ago, these niggles can be overlooked almost but they are noticeable.

In what was the start of the annual Assassin’s Creed game release tradition, just a year after AC II came AC Brotherhood, a sequel that carried on the story of Ezio Auditore and Desmond Miles in the first true sequel in the series. We find Desmond now returning to Monteriggioni, the base of operations for Ezio from ACII, with the team still on the run from Abstergo and the Templars. Setting up the Animus 2.0 once again, Desmond goes back into the life of Ezio in order to complete his training but also to track down a new Piece of Eden, and they have limited time as the Templars are moving in.

For Ezio, we also find him returning to Monteriggioni after successfully stopping the Borgia threat in ACII. Full of contentment having gotten revenge for his family, Ezio is able to rest for the first time in 25 years. But a decision made at the ending to the last game has consequences and Monteriggioni is attacked by Ceseare Borgia, the son of Rodrigo Borgia, the main villain in ACII. The attack decimates the Assassin’s; claiming the life of Ezio’s Uncle Mario and destroys Monteriggioni. Forced to run and regroup, Ezio must rebuild the Brotherhood to take on the Borgia’s once again, to end their Templar plot and regain the Piece of Eden stolen in the attack.

AC Brotherhood has had the same enhancement of colours and lighting and more so than AC II, the visuals looks far crisper and better than the original as player models and scenery all look very much improved. Gameplay wise the playing area is limited to that of Roma, one city area instead of the varying regions seen in AC II, but the size of Roma allows for different environments and challenges to overcome during missions. Combat has been changed to a far more aggressive style where attacking is more rewarding whilst previously simply waiting for the enemy to attack and using a counter to instant kill them. Execution streaks also add to combat where you can now chain instant kills after landing a successful one which comes in handy as multiple enemies can now attack instead of waiting for their turn. The rebuilding management mini game that saw Ezio improving Monteriggioni has now become investment in shops as Ezio can now buy shops within Roma which will earn income for him that can be collected from banks.

As with ACII, the bugs that were present in the original build of the game are still present but with the visuals looking as great as they are and all the SP DLC now merged within the game giving so much extra gameplay around the main story, again they can be overlooked but are noticeable to anyone experienced with these games. Seeing Ezio continue to grow and mature as an Assassin is a great element to the story, moving from Vengeance to one of rebuilding a Brotherhood. The side quest of finding and recruiting Assassins to then send them on their own missions out of sight so they can level up is a great little story device to show how the Assassins would operate outside of Ezio’s main story. Being able to call in Assassin’s to help in combat as well is such a great touch and broadens attacking options. The story for Desmond in the modern day finally allows the player to do far more with him as the bleeding effect has trained him to be more agile which is used in the modern day segments. It also has a very dramatic ending which is well worth listening to the extra dialogue as the end credits roll.

AC Revelations is the final game to feature Ezio and far more than AC II and Brotherhood, Desmond has equal time in the story as Ezio, with the whole game having that full circle coming to an end tone and atmosphere. We find Desmond in serious trouble following the impactful ending to Brotherhood. For Desmond it has only been two months since his abduction by Abstergo and use of the Animus and already he has lived through the lives of two of his Ancestors, Altair and Ezio. The price of that is that his mind is crumbling under the pressure of so many memories from three different people. His fellow Assassins have no choice but to put him back into the Animus and use it to buffer his mind, hoping that it can sort the memories and bring Desmond back. Desmond wakes up on the Animus Island, a test program without memory but finds Subject 16, the mysterious character who has been a ghost in the Animus throughout this trilogy. He serves as a guide, telling Desmond he must complete his journey through the life of Ezio in order to recover himself and control of his mind.

At this stage of his life, Ezio is very much more in a place of reflection after defeating the Borgias and at 52 years of age, is more on a quest of understanding and learning than seeking vengeance. By reading through his father’s papers he learns of a Grand Library underneath Masyaf, the home of Altair and his Brotherhood and travels there to only find Templars are trying to break into the library to take its treasures for themselves. Defeating them, Ezio learns that the library requires five keys to open it, which Niccolo Polo took to Constantinople and hid them around the city. Finding that a small Templar faction is present in the city and a battle for the Sultancy between Prince Ahmet and his brother Selim, Ezio meets a young man called Suleiman, the son of Selim who believes that the Templars are influencing this feud for their own ends and that they already have one of the Masyaf Keys.

Revelations is a very interesting game for this trilogy to me where the focus is more on the story being told rather than the gameplay which really is just a continuation from AC Brotherhood with no real changes other than introducing bomb crafting and a strange Tower defence style mini game which can be completely ignored with no hindrance to main story progression. The story is not only the final chapter for Ezio but also for Altair, as we learn more about his years and life after the original game beyond his writing of the Codex used in AC II. Ezio looks back over his life as an Assassin and begins to question it as he simply views his life as going from one fight to another with seemingly now end in sight. The pace of the story allows for the player to also reflect back and by seeing how Ezio comes to terms with his life and decisions made as well as learning how Altair lived was very satisfying for me as a player and fan of the series.

Sadly yet again the original bugs remain which for Revelations leads to several frustrating gameplay moments with enemy AI, especially in certain follow missions, can lead to forced replaying due to the AI essentially failing the mission for you. This was an issue for me when it originally came out and to see this Collection version suffering the very same issues is more annoying than the same in both AC II and Brotherhood. Revelations was always the best looking game of the three and the enhancements made have only made it even good looking though the player model was changed for Desmond and Ezio giving them a strange look to the face. It is a shame that the gameplay issues take the shine off the experience here, but the story is strong enough for both Desmond and his ancestral Assassins in Ezio and Altair to make it still worthwhile playing through. The Lost Archive DLC included ties off a lot of the plot lines left open to round off the trilogy very nicely. The end of Altair and Ezios story come together really nicely to end their time in this series, but with Ezio there is a real sense of completion of a great saga in story telling, and the back bone of the Assassin’s Creed series.

I really enjoyed revisiting these three games and Ezio’s story. Through him Ubisoft was able to tell the story of three Assassins and set up the lore of the series and foundation for all the games that followed. The evolution of the series in story telling and gameplay can be seen through each game and Ezio really became the benchmark character that for me, no other AC title managed to create. It is disappointing that the MP element that was introduced in Brotherhood was not included in this collection as there are many fans of the AC MP mode which was dropped with AC Unity in favour of a co-op system instead. Having all the SP DLC included within each game is welcomed though, especially in Brotherhood as it adds a good deal of extra content to enjoy as well as the main game and side missions.

This collection should not be viewed or indeed considered to be a remastering of the original games; in fact the box art does simply say that they have been enhanced for Xbox One and Playstation 4. So whilst AC II really does not look all that enhanced visually, Brotherhood and Revelations do look improved for Xbox One and PS4. These three games offer so much gameplay for the price of just one game that it really is a no-brainer if you are a fan of the series. If you have played them before then revisiting them now will remind you of just how great the story telling was when these games first came out and if you have not played these games, the reward of experiencing them now will give a new richer understanding of the whole Assassin’s Creed series.

The Ezio Collection is a great way to pass the time until news of the next installment is revealed by Ubisoft and by having the live action film of Lineage and animated short of Embers to bookend the games, you truly have the entire lifetime of Ezio Auditore Da Firenze to enjoy in this collection, a Master Assassin and for me….the greatest Assassin in history.