Assassins Creed 3 Review

Assassin’s Creed 3 is the next big step in the Assassin’s Creed series. The game does some new things and adds a new main character named Connor. The war between the Assassins and the Templars is eternal. Will you step in an join the fight?

Story

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In Assassins Creed 3 you play as Desmond and join his fight against the Templar’s. This is done through the use of the animus which can send Desmond back in time so he can relive an persons life. In this case you will be playing mostly during the American Revolution.

For this time period the game introduces a new protagonist named Connor. He is an Indian who is trying to protect his village from the Templar’s. This leads to him joining the Assassins Order and becoming an assassin. The game spans over multiple years and it shows on Connor as he ages throughout the game.

Since the game takes place during the Revolution you will get to interact with various famous people from then such as George Washington and Sam Adams. The game makes a point to show you that these people may look great in the history books but they all had trouble during the Revolution. There are points in the game where Connor basically says “You’re welcome for winning you the battle”. This only happens on occasion and the game doesn’t just toss you into
the battle for New York expecting you to single-handedly take it. Connor plays some key roles in the war but more importantly he plays a believable role.

The game gives you a set of key targets Connor needs to will the eliminate the Templar presence around New York and Boston. You have a run in with the main enemy on many occasions. He is a very arrogant man who thinks he is better then nearly everybody. Just like prior games you take out his men first then at the end if the game you get to face him. While you try to help the revolution he tries to undermine it. Connor attempts to warn the patriots but they ignore him for the most part. It is one of those annoying things where you know you could kill him if the game would let you but due to the story he gets to avoid and confrontation with you.

Helping with the revolution and stopping the Templars as Connor is the main part of the game hut Desmond makes a return outside the animus as well. This time you are on the hunt for power cores that open a giant door in some Eden ruins. You only play as Desmond outside of the Animus a few times but it is required. The Desmond story isn’t terrible but I really hate that YOU have to do it every few assassin sequences.

Gameplay

[line style=’ridge’ top=’10’ bottom=’10’ width=’100%’ height=’1′ color=’blue’] Ah one of the best things in the Assassins Creed games has been the ways to kill people. Do you want to be sneaky or just run in and stab people. Both options still remain but the open combat has become very fluid and the emphasis on countering is still there. This time it is more about what you do after a counter. Each enemy has a different weakness and it wont take long to figure out that the counter kill method can only get you so far. Enemies also have a red icon over their heads right before they are about to strike giving you a chance to counter. Perfectly timed strikes on one enemy to another can get you in a kill combo as well. Basically you kill everyone with every attack you land.

Of course the other method of killing is with the assassin tools. Yes you still have the hidden blade and you can dive off things to assassinate people. For the first time in Assassins Creed you can climb trees and assassinate people from there. You are also introduced to knew tools like the Rope Dart and bow. Both of these items are most effective from stealth. The rope dart lets you snag someone and drag them to you if you are on a ledge or branch you can drop down and use the rope like a noose. There are plenty of weapons and upgrades to buy as well letting you play how you want. There are a few times where you have to be stealthy but for the most part the game will let you play how you want.

The free running has been improved when you are climbing or running in trees. It is very easy to get used to and take very little effort to do it effectively. The same cannot be said about running in the streets. Often times when I’d try to make a quick turn to run up a building or fruit cart I’d just run into it or not turn as sharply as I thought I should an run into people. There is so much going on in the streets though it is forgiven in my eyes. Travel on foot is alleviated by the ability to fast travel to various spots on the map. You will have to unlock most fast travel points though the game will let you travel to any port on the map. This is good because horse travel in the game is terrible. They really should of looked at a game like Red Dead and figured out something better. The horse CANNOT jump off the tiniest of ledges and when traveling in the wilderness it is almost pointless to even have your horse. It does alright on the road but it still feels really slow. Honestly after about a few hours I didn’t even bother calling my horse anymore and just stuck to running through trees and fast traveling.

Something newly introduced into the game is ship combat. I was amazingly impressed with this part of the game. You have control of your own ship and you get to do various missions if you wish. The game forces you to use the ship only a handful of times other than that it is optional. Basically for the ship you have a mini side story and you are hunting a Templar ship captain. More and more of the missions are unlocked as you progress from sequence to sequence so you can’t catch the captain until the end of the game. You steer the ship and aim the cannons and swivel guns when you are on the water. At first it is pretty simple you will need to take down some small boats the die in a hit or two from the main cannons. As the game progresses however you will be facing ships on scale with yours and sometimes three at a time. In order to beat them you get the option to upgrade various parts of your ship like cannons, sails and the hull. They are pricey but if you want to win easier you will at least want a couple upgrades. After you beat the side missions for the sea though you won’t really have much point for the ship so don’t break the bank upgrading it. It is a very fun distraction and implemented very well.

Multiplayer

[line style=’ridge’ top=’10’ bottom=’10’ width=’100%’ height=’1′ color=’blue’] Honestly I’ve never been the biggest fan of the multiplayer in prior AC games. Most of the time it was me trying to play sneaky with a few others doing the same and the rest of the players running around not sneaky at all just killing us with no tact. While that was still largely part of my competitive experience online I had a few good matches. It is a ton of the same which I enjoyed for a few matches but with not much new I didn’t have much reason to go back. You still have the free for all and the relic collecting game modes. They added a game mode called Domination where you have to hold the 2 of the 3 spots in order to get enough points to win. If you are trying to defend a spot you can attack but if you are attacking a spot you can only stun. It is an interesting addition but not enough to keep me coming back.

The new co op mode in Ac 3 is called Wolfpack. Basically they game gives you targets and you and your team will have to kill them. You have a limited amount of time and if you can get to a certain score you get more time. Get to round 25 and you win. The game rewards you for playing with variety. Most of the time everyone was running around in total chaos just killing everything. Other times we all marked our targets and did something they call a sync kill. Basically a cut scene kill with all four of your team. It nets big points and it cool to watch. Unless you are premade though don’t expect this to work to much.

Either mode you play you are netted currency called Abstergo credits. These can be used to buy different weapons and clothes for your characters. A lot of the unlocks require you to beat various challenges in order to gain access to them. You will always have something to spend your coins on because there are plenty of unlocks. If you are a completionist you will have plenty to do.

Graphics and Sound

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The game looks really good. Both the wilderness and the cities are done very well. In towns you can see tons of people walking and doing things without any hiccups to the gameplay. The people look natural in everything they do which is great. You will always have someone to blend in with or sit next to when you need to hide. In the wilderness you move through the trees so fluently and gracefully. In the snow you move or run a bit slower and you will lift your knees ups to compensate for the snow. Overall the game looks good even for all it does.

The water when you are on the boat looks great as well. When the waves are crashing into the ship it looks realistic. When a storm hits it looks natural and gives you a sense of urgency. The ship combat is easily one of the best new additions to the game.

The background noise in every zone is spot on and makes you feel like you are in the game. If you are in the wilderness you hear the animals and the rivers. While you are in New York or Boston the crowd will talk and the background gives the sound of people going about their days. If you are near the sea you can hear the seagulls squawking.

The voice acting for the main story is pretty spot on. The conversations between each character during the cut scenes is done really well. Connor comes off as an assassins trying to save his people, Haythem comes off as a somewhat uppity noblemen, and Washington is very humble about everything.

That said outside of the main story I did notice some bad voice acting. It almost seemed like the guy doing Connor’s voice just wasn’t as into it as he should have been. When I would talk to Achilles or any of the homestead people there just wasn’t as much emotion as was shown during the story. It isn’t super terrible by any means but I did pick it up.

Like the previous Assassin’s Creed games the weapons clink and clang like they should. The pistols and cannons sound spot on. The waves crashing against your boat and the weather effects are also done very well. Overall the sound quality was really good.

Closing Thoughts

[line style=’ridge’ top=’10’ bottom=’10’ width=’100%’ height=’1′ color=’blue’] Ok now to some nit picking. I’m not sure what they plan to do in the next Assassin’s Creed 3 but something needs to be done to multiplayer. I just do not see very many people getting into it and sticking with it. It always seems that you are either completely outplayed or you have 10 idiots running around stabbing anybody they can. It works but it could be fixed.

I had heard a TON about glitches in this game. I put in over 40 hours and very VERY rarely had any issues. I did play on ps3 and the only time I had to shut my game off is when I got glitched in a tree. Other then that only minor issues that got fixed when I switched zones.

Honestly while the game had a ton to do there are only four areas to explore. Like I said there is a ton to do in these zones but I feel more could have been added.

Overall I would recommend this game to nearly anyone. Give it a shot and I highly doubt you’ll be disappointed.

[infobox style=’success’ static=’1′]This review is based on a retail copy of the PS3 version of Assassins Creed 3[/infobox]