Summary
Video game ads in the UK areboring.They usually follow a pretty bog-standard recipe: cinematic footage played to a brooding narrator hinting at the story with vague buzzwords like “corruption” and “brutality”, before a release date awkwardly shuffles onto the final slide. Then there’s a brief pause to let you soak in just how much you’re going to forget this ad in a few minutes.
Not Ubisoft Brazil. TheirAssassin’s Creed Shadowsad is an all-time great, positioning Yasuke and Naoe as the leads in a fictionalPower Rangers-style Tokusatsu show. They don’t slide on their armour all stoic and dramatic-like; they jump into a crowd of enemies, brandish their weapons, and, in a flurry of cheap practical effects — which is a compliment — their armour suddenly appears.
Yasuke daylights as a teacher, whereas Naoe appears to be a painter. Or maybe a librarian.
You’ve got all the Power Rangers hallmarks, like the two sheathing their swords as they walk away from an explosion, completely unnecessary backflips, quarries — so many quarries — a catchy metal theme tune (just swap “Go Go Power Rangers!” for “Strike as one!") and even the beginnings ofa huge Megazord fight. If you’re not sold on Shadows yet, I’ll let Ubisoft Brazil do the talking.
It’s Not The First Time Power Rangers And Assassin’s Creed Have (Kind Of) Crossed Over
Remember Desmond? That really underrated modern-day characterwho tied together the story of Assassins and Templars perfectly? Arguablythemain character of the series. He was played by none other thanNolan North, and Nolan North has been ineverything. If you want to tenuously connect two franchises for an article (ahem), he’s your guy. Anyway, unrelated to that tangent — did you know Assassin’s Creed and Power Rangers already shared a link?
Nolan North, again Desmond, played Goldar and the Red Overdrive Ranger in Power Ranger: Super Legends, an action-adventure PS2/PC game released for the series' 15th anniversary in 2007. It featured characters from across the show’s over-decade-long history, stretching from Operation Overdrive back to Mighty Morphin (though it missed out the incredible Dino Thunder and Mystic Force).
It wasn’t the best received, launching to an aggregate score of just 44, but at least Shadows is faring better, eh? Now about that Yasuke and Naoe Sentai show…
