Assassins Creed III
Reviewed By Tristan Tancredi
The Assassin versus Templar war continues in the latest addition to the Assassins Creed franchise, Assassins Creed III.
Beginning where Revelations left off, AC3 takes off with Desmond Miles and his gang of new age, tech-savvy Assassins unlocking the secret location of the "First World People" with the Apple of Eden. From here, Desmond enters the Animus once more to discover the whereabouts of the final key to the puzzle.
Brushing up on where the story is at before AC3 is highly recommended as it is a deep, highly detailed storyline. One that isn't easy to understand. We recommend watching this clip before getting started:
Once understanding the story (if you can't don't worry, you will still have heaps of fun), strap yourself into the Animus and embrace the 1700's of North America. American Revolution Era.
I'm going to tip-toe purposefully around the storyline of AC3, simply because I'd hate to give away any of its secrets, but here goes.. Basically, after a long introduction you find yourself as a young Half-Native American, Half-British boy Ratohnhakéton. As you delve further into the storyline, Ratohnhakéton matures into an Assassin and acquires the Westernised name of Connor. Ultimately it is Connors role to 1: Assist the American and French against the Templar influenced British Army, 2: Extract revenge on the Templars.
As well as the major storyline, there are extensive side missions, including Brawling, Liberation, Thieving and Hunting Missions.. Just to name a few. You can also find scattered notes of Benjamin Franklin throughout New York and Boston (As well as Franklin you also encounter historical figures Samuel Adams and George Washington).
The Assassins Guild is back again. In AC3, to recruit your sidekicks you need to complete the Liberation Missions in New York and Boston. Once you're team is settled, the world is your oyster (Well, the East Coast of America anyway).
AC3 is basically split up into four environments: Boston, New York, Frontier/Homestead and The Open Sea, all of which bring something different to the table. Boston and New York are the traditional AC environments, the Frontier/Homestead bring tree-climbing and hunting to the mix, whilst the Open Sea enables Connor to captain a navy vessel. All environments are finely detailed, hugely interactive and a definite step-up from previous games in the series.
The only environmental issue we all agreed on here, revolves around New York and Boston and their lack of notable "landmarks". Fans of the series will remember climbing to the top of Il Duomo, or creeping beneath the Colosseum. New York and Boston simply don't have memorable landmarks to the extent of Rome and Florence.
The combat system is loosely based on Batman Asylum/City with a large emphasis placed on countering enemy attacks. The traditional hidden blades are back, as is the introduction of the Tomahawk (Connors favourite weapon and personally my favourite to use). A variety of swords and guns (that take way too long to load to ensure any real damage) are at your disposable, but no weapon is as unique or fun to use as the rope dart.
The Rope Dart enables Connor to kill enemies silently from the treetops. The coolest part is wrapping the rope around an enemies neck and then dropping from the treetops, thus lifting the enemy up and hanging them from the branches. Pretty wicked huh?
A new initiative in the AC franchise by Ubisoft is the ability for Connor to pick up and use weapons that are lying around the environment. Claiming a Muscat and slicing two enemies at once in hand to hand combat is pretty hair-raising stuff. Especially with the neat in-game cut scenes of various killing maneuvers.
Another major update to the franchise is the ability to free run through the treetops. Whilst enjoyable and refreshing, there are only certain "paths" of tree branches that can be crossed. This makes the "tree-running" aspect of the game quite linear. But hell, it's a decent start to an intriguing game play initiative.
With a game of this magnitude, the occasional glitch is to be expected. And not surprisingly Assassins Creed 3 has it's fair share of them. Environmental glitches are plentiful, yet are not the games biggest issue or concern. Not by a long way. The title of the games biggest concern is rewarded to none other then the all too frequent and lengthy loading times.
Noticeable in the initial stretch of gaming/movie sequences, the lengthy loading times become a true patience tester. By the end of my AC3 experience that white loading screen became the bane of my existence. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, nonetheless, it is very frustrating.
Every fast travel, every mission sequence, every character interaction, hell, even every time you open a door, that white loading screen will rear its ugly head. Sometimes in excess of 15-20 seconds.
Another major annoyance occurs during the Assassins Creed 3 side missions and the lack of map icons for current missions. Often there will be no indication on the map of where to go for the next objective. Leaving the gamer with nothing left but to traverse the map hoping to run into the mission start. For example, after completing the Boston Brawlers objectives you have to meet someone at "The Brewery in Boston". With no map icon indicating its whereabouts, it requires both good luck and patience to find it.
After doing a little bit of investigation (reading gaming FAQs) it seems that this issue may not be a glitch but in fact, a game design. I don't know what's worse, a gaming glitch or some shoddy game play initiatives by those at Ubisoft. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. Thankfully, these issues are only encountered outside of the main story.
Onto the AI in AC3 and it is carefully designed and executed. External characters float around the environments going about their day to day lives, enemies execute varying attacking strategies and characters on the homestead go about their daily chores in a realistic way. One gripe with the AI, when it rains, the inhabitants of NY and Boston remain outside. Now I'm no historical whiz, but I'm pretty sure people from the 1700's weren't immune to catching a cold.
Online, and it's much the same as bygone titles in the franchise, albeit even better. Assassinating targets whilst blending in with the crowd is the name of the game here. Really fun stuff that will bring you back time and time again.
Despite all of it's flaws and misgivings, Assassins Creed 3 is still an enthralling, deeply engaging, open world experience. The park our elements are refined and smoother then they have ever been, the "Batman Style" combat system works well and the story is from the top shelf.
Rounding out the trilogy (yet leaving the door ajar), Assassins Creed 3 is an enormous game riddled with issues, yet an enthralling story, exceptional graphics, strong historical contexts and solid game play outweigh the negatives to deliver a brilliant game.
Now, back to my game of Bocce with George Washington.
Game: Assassins Creed III
System: PS3
Developer/Co-Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
