Assassin’s Creed 3 Review
Developer Ubisoft
Publisher Ubisoft
Platform Ps3, Xbox360, Pc, WiiU
Release Date Out Now (Soon PC & WiiU)
After the last two Assassin’s Creed titles (Brotherhood and Revelations) which were essentially two large expansion packs to Assassins Creed 2. Designed purely to allow the team to properly finish out the stories of Desmond, Ezio and Altair and to also end the series connection with its European roots.
With Assassin’s Creed 3 not only do we have a new hero Connor Kenway but we also have a brand new setting as for the first time the series jumps to the US of A and this is all built on a new game engine, exciting times.
We are still following the main story ark of Desmond who is linked to all the Assassin’s through his blood line, as December 2012 fast approaches and with it the “end of the world” it is becoming more and more important that Desmond unlocks the secrets of his ancestors.
The first three or four hours of the game are essentially a mixture of a tutorial to get you up to date with the controls and new game mechanics but it also acts as a bridge to connect the previous games to a new continent as it is quite a leap to move to America without some explanation.
These first few hours are quite slow, the team have to cover a lot and in turn have to force you into something that is very un-familiar to the series and that is linear gameplay. While the missions are far more linear than you are used to you still get to experience the new crowd mechanics and get to bask in the stunning visuals created by the new engine.
Without getting too much into the story you play as Connor throughout various stages of his life. This time scale is quite vast covering decades and along the way it does intertwine with real life historical figures and events in the same way that the series has always done, with its loose hold on facts and often comedic take on important historical figures. Once you are through the initial tutorial sections it does open up into a vast open world experience again.
As the years pass we also get to experience different seasons. We see the forests covered in a blanket of snow in the winter come to life in the summer with astounding beauty. What the team have achieved is nothing short of phenomenal, creating vast open wildernesses to explore while also filling up cities such as Boston and New York and even taking to the high seas for some naval battles. As you would expect from an Ubisoft game everything is stunning and the small issues with draw distances are easily overlooked.
In terms of gameplay it is still much of the same, you still make use of the city as if it was a playground climbing buildings with ease. Missions are still ultimately the same with lots of tracking of high value targets and gathering information while remaining anonymous, while using side missions and collectibles to buff out the gameplay time. Some improvements to the combat system are noticeable but again it is still the familiar block and counter approach.
This is both the main success of the game and strangely enough at the same time it is also the biggest issue with Assassin’s Creed 3. It is a huge game and plays incredible well as all the game mechanics have been incredibly refined over the years. This ultimately only works to highlight the lack of new ideas in the game and as a result the series has not done enough to re-invent itself choosing to rather stay “safe”.
Fans of the series will be instantly able to pick this up and play it but after another forty-ish hours of climbing and assassinating from building tops, but this is on top of the hundreds of hours already spend climbing and assassinating from building tops since AC1 which makes it all feel a little unsatisfying.
The new setting is just not enough to refresh the series although it does have its moments that are jaw dropping-ly epic especially the missions taking place during the massive battle or when you take to the sea but again there is just that little piece of magic missing to make the game unforgettable.
Are we done with Assassin’s Creed? I hope not but are we done with it in its current format? I do believe it is time for Ubisoft to move on and start to look at doing something amazing and new for the next generation using this engine.
Multiplayer does offer some new extra life to the series and sees the return of fans favorite Assassinate mode in which you and the other human players must remain hidden as they try to hunt each other. Wolf Pack mode allows you to team up with other human players to take on NPC’s in a score attack mode and while the multiplayer modes do hold a lot of entertaining hours it is still really a single player game at heart.
Overall: Assassin’s Creed is a massive and at times epic addition to the series but it does fail to capture the magic and a lot of that is down to it being quite hard to connect with Connor when compared to the lovable rogue Ezio. The story can lull in places and the gameplay is starting to get a little stale but these are small complaints and in fairness are only highlighted by Ubisoft’s incredibly high standards set early on in the series. It is still a game that everyone should play.
SCORE 8.5/10
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