Journalism has had a strange swing in regards to voice, style, and source in the last few years. Much of free lance journalism is done over the internet now, with large portions of contributors not necessarily being required any further evidence of an ability to write than maybe a BA in English or a limited portfolio. The seemingly rampant influx of writers who barely fact check, source, disclaim, or otherwise act professionally in the writing sphere has lead to a large number of disgruntled readers (and writers,) some of which band together in an effort to change what they dislike about those news resources and their policies. However, the mix of non-professional writers does have the potential to lead to positive changes, one of those being the insertion of new ideas by the layman author. All tiers of professional and unprofessional writing can attribute to the Text (the conglomerate of all writing that shapes the opinions and works of those that contribute to it, like a cycle) and in doing so help bring ideas rarely mentioned to the forefront of discussion. This, ultimately, is the intent of those who dedicate themselves to writing, and those who strive for the betterment of their readers by attempting to broaden their horizons.

Writing Theory aside, what does this have to do with internet feminist Anita Sarkeesian? Even further, what does this have to do with video games? Video games reviews have, in a word, become stagnant. Most gamers rely on first hand accounts of what the game has to offer by their fellows, typically on a restricted rating system, and through people who largely have no idea how to recommend a game, let alone type coherent sentences. The way of gaming magazines and journalism through print means is largely shallow (save ‘zines like Game Informer and their ilk that still manage to survive) so most users and writers turned to the internet years ago for reviews, news, and other content. The role of gaming journalists in the online sphere, once strong, has only now started to shuffle back to its feet after the unearthing of hidden agendas and undisclosed relationships that happened in the last year. Credibility for many has been shattered, and it will take time for those organizations to recoup their reader base. For this reason, gamers turn to their peers, be they shitty 2/5 star reviews with one run-on sentence or in-depth, lengthy discussions on the world differences between the three major installments in the Elder Scrolls series.

For years, independent writers on Youtube have been gaining traction, beating the user reviews and journalists in regards to relevancy and spotlight, not only in gaming but nearly every other venue of intellectual interest, be they of study or hobby. Feminist writer and speaker Anita Sarkeesian is one such example who has become more popular due to her videos on feminism and, most recently, feminism and female representation in video games. Her visibility has undeniably benefited not only from her work on the “Tropes vs Women” video series but also due to the #GamerGate debacle that she was contingently a part of for being a controversial spokesperson in gaming at the time. Since then, she has become fairly cemented in her place as a writer of gaming as well as feminism and has recently attempted to write a general review for a video game, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate[1], which was released in late October of this year. This piece is different from her others concerning video games, notably because she makes an attempt to discuss what is regularly mentioned when it comes to a general review, the technical aspects and the success and failings of Ubisoft’s collective efforts in their product.

Sarkeesian, to the unastounded audience of many, only briefly touched on these technical aspects, deciding to mainly focus on the story aspect of the game, characters, and commentary on the political correctness and inclusivity of the game’s cast. Ignoring the language and structure of the review in terms of writing (which is clumsy as a written piece but comes across fine as a script,) there is a rarely spoken understanding between a reviewer and an audience that Sarkeesian (at least in regards to this review in particular) has misunderstood or ignored. When reviewing a product of any kind, it is best for a writer to discuss anything of import or any aspect of that product that can be distinguished as the defining traits for its use or the experience it gives the audience. When you review a book, you don’t just talk about the characters and their dialogue; when you review a blender you don’t just discuss how well it makes fruit smoothies and how it looks; when you review a video game, you don’t just talk about the social representation of characters and story progression. A proponent speaker for women’s rights does not always make a good video game reviewer.

But I digress, let’s actually discuss what is in the piece itself and see what she has to say about the game. As a gamer who has not played Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, I would come to her review for what would amount to a recommendation on my general interests. It is basic middle school essay format that tells us to re-summarize our point at the end of a piece of writing so that the thesis is summed up for our audience and leaves them feeling grounded and clear with what they should take away, and Sarkeesian does this:

Despite all its problems, Syndicate deserves to be acknowledged for its cast of characters and particularly for its treatment of women. The game’s narrative leaves much to be desired, but Syndicate gives us an image of a world in which the existence of women as people is treated as completely normal. And that is certainly refreshing and sadly strange in a AAA gaming climate that still so often struggles with representing women as actual human beings.

As far as summaries go, it’s a fairly accurate one. More than half of this review is specifically concerned with how the female characters as well as other types of “minority” characters are treated in the game, both in terms of the game world and the writing of its creators. Out of eleven body paragraphs, six and a half are dedicated mostly or completely to the discussion of women and minorities in Syndicate as well as other older Assassin’s Creed games, leaving one and a half for mechanics, one and a half for story, and one discussing violence. At best, this is an analytical piece; at worst, this is an unfocused and biased review.

While Sarkeesian mentions Aveline and the game she stars in as the protagonist, she brushes the significance of her heading the game due to it being released initially for the handheld Vita only (though its popularity later saw a full console release) and completely fails to mention Shao Jun, the protagonist from Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, possibly due to the game, which was released April of this year, being download only for PC and new consoles. Despite the game matching nearly everything she wants for an Assassin’s Creed game (strong female protagonist, racial minority, headliner of her own game which is not a spin-off of a previously created game) it’s not good enough because it’s not part of the main story. That is assuming that Sarkeesian put time aside to do research before writing the article, which isn’t always a given with Internet journalism.

According to Sarkeesian, these efforts towards inclusivity in terms of both race and gender matter less than Evie because they do not star in a game that is a part of the main canon storyline. While this is disingenuous, there is something to be said for a pair of siblings as the main protagonists, put on equal footing in terms of playability, story significance, and writing in a game with this much press coverage and advertising. She praises Evie’s character design and writing, specifically detailing how she doesn’t fall prey to a sexualized set piece that is a common assumption for token female characters in games. She does lament at the loss of screen time the female twin gets as the story goes on, but she otherwise gives a glowing grade for the character.

After discussing Evie’s fair portrayal in the game, she moves on to discuss minority and gender representation in the game. While mentioning the inclusion of respected individuals that wouldn’t normally be held to such high esteem in the mid 1800s, she dismisses this by saying that the game has never really striven for “realism” or “historical accuracy” by citing the main plot involving the Apple and breaking 100 foot falls by landing in piles of a soft material, be they leaves or hay. This is misleading. The Assassin’s Creed series, on the contrary, has in the past made great strides to be as historically accurate as possible within the parameters that they set up for their unique plot, particularly when it comes to historical persons and events. The first Assassin’s Creed game notably screwed up the timeline by having Robert de Sablé assassinated two years prior to his actual death[2] and received criticism for it, though it was minor. As briefly discussed by Dorkshelf’s Eric Weiss[3] and more so by MakeUseOf’s Harry Guiness[4], the writer’s at Ubisoft began to really delve into historical accuracy during Assassin’s Creed III, particularly in regards to the Native American background that Connor hails from. Focusing on the accuracy of the environment, language, customs, and people of the time became a much higher priority, hiring historical experts to lecture and give instruction during the early developing and writing phases of each game. They have continued hire historians for all of their games thus far. Furthermore, the likelihood of oppressed peoples in a vigilanty group like the Assassin’s Guild is easy to imagine and understand. It is worth noting, however, that Ned Wynert (the transman that Sarkeesian mentions) is not a part of the Guild, and the likelihood of him not facing discrimination during the game is suspect, despite his high standing as the head of a crime syndicate.

What Sarkeesian references in regards to these “inaccuracies” is irrelevant, namely in discussing game physics, which will always have some degree of non-realism to them in order to make the game, y’know, fun. It’s unrealistic for Evie, Jacob, Ezio, and every other protagonist to fight off what amounts to entire armies worth of Templars throughout the game and still be no worse for wear, but to hold that against the game would be ridiculous. So, when she uses this as a spring board to discuss how the inaccuracies regarding minorities in positions of power not be questioned during times that they normally would being okay, her disingenuous comparison really shows.

She also mentions an important mechanic missing that has been a part of the franchise for many of its games: hiding within groups. In particular, she announces the positivity she feels for the removal of groups of prostitutes that were introduced as a mechanic for hiding within a controlled crowd or group during Assassin’s Creed II. Their removal for Connor’s story in III made sense, considering the likelihood of coming across brothels in the warring Americas was pretty low, though their inclusion in 1800’s London would be less so. Despite this, UbiSoft elected to remove them, likely due to pressure from critics as well as the mechanic being less useful as the game’s stealth grows. Which raises the question: are there still groups in the game, did they alter the blending mechanics to make up for it, or must you rely on groups of scripted NPCs now? Sarkeesian doesn’t answer this, despite broaching the topic.

Broaching the topic of the vigilanty nature of the Frye twins, Sarkeesian seems to condemn the game for its use of violence in order for the twins to assist the Guild in satisfying their goals to free London’s poor and oppressed. While her declaration that the twins are simply “replacing one crime syndicate with another’s” isn’t really wrong (that has been a gray area throughout the games, particularly after the events of Brotherhood,) using that as a reason to condemn the inherently violent mechanics expected of an Assassin’s Creed game comes across as fickle. The notion of scrapping violence in a game whose very title means an institution of beliefs held by those whose sole job is to murder others is laughably strange. It is a better complaint used elsewhere.

The last two body paragraphs briefly describe the environment of the game, the carriage races once, the standard mechanics of climbing the buildings to discover new areas, and the few bugs that were encountered during gameplay. While one might consider these to be more important in a video game review, especially the bugs and glitches that all but rendered the previous game in the franchise, Assassin’s Creed Unity, a laughing stock, Sarkeesian barely mentions them, almost as if their inclusion was hastily added in after being overlooked in order to address her feminist critique.

By the end of it, I realized that Sarkeesian had committed one of the cardinal sins of reviewers, something that no one wants to do when they try to give their opinion and recommendation on a product. She left me at a loss. As a potential consumer, one who has history with the gaming franchise she discusses and has been genuinely wondering if Syndicate would be the game I needed to get back into the franchise, Sarkeesian did not tell me what I needed to know as a possible buyer. She gave me an unfocused feminist critique of a game that I have not played with the occasional mention of mechanics that feel like an afterthought, information thrown in in order to make the critique sound like a review. So, despite The Verge’s Adi Robertson’s insistence[5], no, this is not a “cool new genre of video game review.” When you are left with questions pertaining to how the game runs, the controls of the games outside of the standard set, and any indicator on whether the game is worth your time and money by the reviewer, you have failed to write a meaningful or helpful piece of literature. Sarkeesian’s piece is a feminist checklist critique of particular story trying, and failing, to disguise itself as a review and nothing more.

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Sources:

[1] – Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Review – Feminist Frequency

[2] – Robert de Sablé – Wikipedia

[3] – The Power and Perils of Historical Accuracy in Assassin’s Creed – Dorkshelf

[4] – The True History of Assassin’s Creed – MakeUseOf

[5] – Anita Sarkeesian just created a cool new genre of video game review – The Verge