This post was originally written on January 30, 2010.

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage is a trilogy of short films that serve as a prequel to the flashback sequences in Assassin’s Creed II. Each video is about ten minutes long, and, going against everything gamers have ever been taught about live action movies based on video games, is actually pretty damn good.

The main character in Lineage is Giovanni Auditorie of Florence, the father of Assassin’s Creed II’s protagonist Ezio. Giovanni is part of a secret brotherhood of Assassins, and serves as an advisor/enforcer for the leader of Florence, Lorenzo de’Medici. A banker by day and assassin by night, the series shows one of Giovanni’s last missions as he attempts to find the killer of the duke of Milan, who is murdered in the opening of the first episode. The entire conflict is not resolved in this series, though, requiring viewers to purchase and play Assassin’s Creed II to find out just what’s going on with Lorenzo’s other advisor Umberto Alberti, who is keeping secrets from the statesmen, and the mysterious Rodrio Borgio, who seems to be at the heart of the conspiracy that led to the Duke’s murder.

One of the things that really surprised me about these movies is that the actors look and sound just like their video game counterparts. Having already played and completed Assassin’s Creed II before I watched the series, I was completely taken aback by this. The only actor who doesn’t look exactly like their game counterpart is Ezio (the main character of the game), but he’s in it so shortly it didn’t really bother me. The other characters are spitting images of those in the games. The one that most impressed me was Rodrigo Borgio, who sounds, looks, and even moves just like he does in the Assassin’s Creed II!

There are other little things that really make this part of the Assassin’s Creed series. During the movies Giovanni does many things that the game allows you to do. He uses the same kind of throwing knives, same sword, and there’s even a scene in which he drops a coin to distract a guard, something I did many times in the game (all people in a small radius will flock to the money you drop in the game, sometimes allowing you to sneak past heavily guarded areas). His climbing is well choreographed as well, appearing almost identical to Ezio’s way of climbing.

The settings also look spectacular. So much like Florence, Rome, and Venice do the settings look that you would think they were shot on location, not in some small studio in Canada. From the rooftops to the cobble making up the sidewalks, these places look just like their game counterparts as well. At one point I even recognized an area in Florence that I had once explored during the game.

The series also provides quite a bit of foreshadowing of the events in Assassin’s Creed II. Though I was told to watch the series before I played the games I didn’t, which I think turned out for the best in the long run. You’ll be able to understand the story better if you’ve already played the game (unless you’re some sort of Rennasiance historian), and you’ll appreciate it’s homage to the games all the more. The bit when Borgio buys an apple was especially amusing to me.

All in all, Assassin’s Creed: Lineage is a really good series of short films, but I doubt you’ll appreciate it if you haven’t played Assassin’s Creed II. However, if you were thinking about picking up the game, you might want to give these films a shot. They might just convince you to pick up the games. Just make sure to go back and watch them once more after finishing the game.

You can find the entire Assassin’s Creed: Lineage series as one video, or three separate videos on Youtube. Watch the videos released by the Assassin’s Creed username, though, as the Assassin’s Creed UK videos have poorer quality.