Hit the town
When on foot such forests offer more excitement, providing opportunity for much free-running across beams, logs and branches – not to mention providing plenty of handy hiding places from which to ambush troops. Indeed, Connor's deadly toolkit includes all manner of gadgets to silently pick off unwitting patrols.
Wheel life
Town sections offer a couple of new tricks too, the most fun being the chance to throw yourself into open windows and out the other. The necessary low heights of buildings – early America hardly being renowned for its towering skyline – means that once you're viewed as suspicious by guards, getting away is far from simple.
It's an issue worsened by plentiful adversaries, their capacity for cat-like climbing and the many rooftop spotters dotted around camps.
Nothing for mills around
Hence, Connor will be chased by gangs of guards shouting such witty lines as "So slow!" over and over, which might as well be accompanied by The Benny Hill Show theme tune.
As with the horse-riding, such scenes serve only to dispel the illusion. Consequently, you become overtly conscious you're playing a game which lacks just that last little bit of polish, something that would turn a mostly enjoyable experience into a seamless one.
Heads up
Verdict
Earlier I speculated that AC3 marks the beginning of a new path for the series and of that I remain convinced. The new dynamism in terms of animation, mission variation and scope bodes well for the series and in Kenway they’ve hit upon a noble, if stern, warrior.
Now Ubisoft must tighten such irritations as overzealous AI and slightly too expansive environments – why not open up the world still further with building interiors too? Most of all, it must continue to surprise us and, in this respect, AC3 is worth playing if only for the odd moment of incredulity as, time and again, the developers throw the kitchen sink at us. ®
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Assassin's Creed 3 game review
COMMENTS
Re: Still playing the last one
Take your time.
I have played all the (released on the PS3) Creed games and was pushed by the wife to buy this one on release day.
Verdict: I'm sure it is good, but the bugs are annoying the hell out of me.
They seem to have released this too early. It blatently has not been bug tested to anything like the level it should have.
The first 2 days loading times were horendous, and gameplay frequently crashed or didn't work properly (like a mission to fight 8 soldiers where the attack button would not work) Another time we walked around with a random sword sticking out of our chest and 80% of the ladies seemed to lose their skirts when we went close to them (I quite liked that one actually).
It has got better the last couple of days, due to the obligatory patches, but still remains very, very buggy.
Just because companies can fix bugs with patches should not mean they can also release games that are patently unfinished. Does Sony or Microsoft have no quality control measures in place to prevent such things? It seems not.
Re: Anything like Dishonored?
Assassin's Creed (the main series) does have a focus on stealthiness. Some of the later games in the AC2 branch even require stealthiness to achieve "100% sync". I suppose that particular feature is present in AC3, which I haven't bought yet.
Anything like Dishonored?
I just finished Dishonored and loved every minute of it. I haven't played any of the Creed games though. Is this game anything like Dishonored, in terms of the stealth and sneaking around aspects, where it's best to avoid a fight outright?
I have enjoyed all of the AC games immensely from the beginning. However, I feel a little jaded that they have gone to the US for this one.
Of course, it had to happen at some point, it just feels to me that there are so many other places and points in history that could have given a much more satisfying backdrop for anyone who isn't from the US. Take Scotland for instance, Edinburgh and the surrounding areas have a very deep rooting in the Templar mythology as well as the south of France and India etc.
However, I am sure this entry in the series will be just as riveting as the last four games, I will even give Liberation a go as well (was suitably impressed by Uncharted on the Vita).
I'm sitting this one out
Although it was entertaining, and quite good, 'Brotherhood' left me with a very unsatisfied feeling after I finished it. The end fight really ruined it for me. The assassins I had carefully trained until they reached their maximum level were gone; unusable. I didn't get the swordfight I had been anticipating and preparing for. Nor did we ever get a scenario in the entire game which closely (or somewhat) resembled the teaser movie.
Instead you were running about with the apple which could do nothing more than turn enemies on each other. Sure; if you let it run long enough (and you had the health for it) you could kill someone instantaneously. But as such close range and such high costs that it was basically useless.
As such I skipped revelations, also because of the reviews pointing out the somewhat misplaced sections where you'd have to defend your structures against an armada of vehicles. That sure doesn't look very assassin like.
It looks like they made something quite interesting with this one, but with the experience I have so far I'm going to sit this one out. So that should I decide to pick it up the bugs will be fixed and the price will have dropped. I just hope it will be more satisfying than Brotherhood was.
