What’s interesting about the series is its successful use history as a game mechanic, and its ability to construct realistic environments around the largely fantastical story. The evocations of cities such as Jerusalem and Rome, while not always painstakingly accurate, have a sense of place and life that is almost unique in the video game sector. Unsurprisingly, the design team talk of long field trips to each location, with artists taking thousands of photos and hours of video footage. While researching Florence for Assassin’s Creed II, co-writer Corey May studied Machiavelli’s contemporary history of the city, and consulted an array of historians. In a blog post on the process he wrote, “The Vasari Corridor is not in our game. Nor is the Uffizi. They hadn’t been built yet. The façade of the church and clock tower in Venice’s Saint Mark’s square didn’t look quite as they do now. San Gimignano had more towers. And on and on.” (via Assassin’s Creed and the appropriation of history | Technology | guardian.co.uk)