Assassins Creed 3 Review

 

 

   Assassins Creed has been a very successful series since the AC1 release in 2007. Following Desmond's story as he travels back in time using the animus. Each game was pretty good but there was always some issues with each one. AC1 was to boring, AC2(one of the best in the series) seemed like it dragged on towards the end, and AC Revelations added many unnecessary features. Not saying they are bad, in fact it is one of my favorite series. There was many little mistakes in each one. And Assassins Creed 3 is not any different but the many improvements outshine those little mistakes.

  Desmond's story finally ends in Ac3 but don't worry Ubisoft is probably working on a whole new game with another guy. There are many playable missions as Desmond in the present. I really liked playing through them because I always wanted to play in the present as an assassin. After the long story with Desmond the ending is really disappointing and that is all i am going to say.

 

 

   Lets get to the American Revolution where the main portion of the game takes place. Most of you might know by now that you get to play as another character at the beginning.(not going to say who this is because it would be a big spoiler for those who haven't played the game yet.) The first few hours of the game are really slow and a lot of people have complained about this. I can understand why but I was fine with it because the story is really good. Ubisoft should have gave us more freedom during these first few hours; it was very linear which is not normal for a AC game. There was also nothing to do during free roam except for a few courier missions, and collecting pages for Ben Franklin. It is highly recommended that you keep on playing because there is a big surprise and the action starts to pick up. After the plot change, I could understand why they had to do the beginning and it gave a whole nother respect for the story. Conner's character is believable and the story is emotional. I do feel sorry for Conner but he is ,by far, not the best character. I miss Ezio with his fun personality and his way with the ladies. You will not hate Conner like Heller in Prototype; in fact I like his native American background. Hes just not the same as Ezio and Altair.

  One of the greatest improvements is the graphics. Ubisoft has created a new graphic engine called Anvill next and it gets the job done. It not only gives the game a beautiful look but allows for hundreds of people to be on the screen at once. This is amazing and I find myself standing at the top of a tree to take in the views.

  

 

Along with this new engine comes many glitches. I have not encountered many myself but there has been many articles talking about them. Ubisoft is doing a patch soon that should fix 100 issues. Here is a link if you want to look at them: http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/726389-Assassin-s-Creed-III-Thanksgiving-Patch-Spoilers-Forums Assassins creed 3 has improved on many aspects of the game and these improvements ,in my opinion, overlook the many small technical issues. The platforming is the best in the series. The climbing is fluent and easy to control; also the days of randomly jumping to your death is over. You will find that climbing trees will be very helpful. Conner can get the jump on a redcoat convey or avoid the thick snow bellow. The controls are just as reliable as climbing up buildings in Boston. The combat has also been through a huge update. Now you just press square to attack and circle to counter(for ps3). Altair was very skillful in his sword movements, Etzio was quick, and Conner is like a bear! His moves are devastating. Often he will stick his sword through a enemy's face then stab him twice. I guess he just whats to make double sure they are dead. There is many more improvements like assassinating on the go, and running through buildings to escape the 500 soldiers chasing you. And you can actually use guns in this one even if they take about 5 minutes to reload.(not really but it seems like it)

   The great thing about Assassins Creed 3 is the vast amount of things you can do. The frontier is all wilderness which is new to a AC game. Here you can hunt many animals but you have to be sneaky about it . Some animals will fight back like the wolfs and bears. This is a disappointment because it uses QTEs. The frontier is ,overall, a great place to free roam around either in rain or snow.

 

 

There is also a homestead you can play around with. Which is basically a big area of land where Conner and Achillis live. There are homestead missions which I enjoyed. At the end of each mission you invite a person to live on your land. This person can contribute to your supplies based on their abilities. I never found myself using those supplies because the crafting is confusing and boring. Once you get tired of all the nature haed over to Boston or New York. This will bring you back to the classic Assassins Creed feel. Across all 4 areas of the game are many things to do and collect. Such as treasure chests,feathers,almiac pages,liberation missions, homestead missions,hunting,liberate forts, viewpoints, and even naval missions.

  The naval missions are one of the best additions to the game. The controls are easy and you get the pleasure of blowing up enemy ships. The weather will effect the way you sail for example the wind may push you in another direction and the waves will alter your course. You can also go to different islands in search of treasure.

 

 

There is a change to board enemy ships and slice people with your tomahawk several times. The new time period and native american background gives Conner excess to many new weapons. Including the tomahawk, Bow, pistols, and my favorite the rope dart. This can be used to choke people while you are hiding in the trees or bring enemies closure to assassinate.

 

 

   Once you get done with the campaign and disappointed by the ending; you can get all that anger out by stabbing people in the face on multiplayer. Assassins Creed multiplayer is definitely a masterpiece where you have to use skill instead of brute force. There is also new modes offered including wolf pack.

   

 

Assassins Creed 3 is truly a masterpiece. The slow beginning begins to make since and you can appreciate the story. The gameplay features and time period will quickly overlook the small issues. The graphics are amazing and the variety of things to do will keep you busy. Multiplayer is a different kind of experience that you don't want to skip. Assassins Creed 3 deserves a 9.9 and is one of the best installments of the series. You can't beat human shields!

 

Black Ops 2 and Dishonered reviews coming up!

 (we have changed the video bar to call of duty black ops 2)