RETRO – Indians, rebelling colonists, and British soldiers fight for the control of 18th century America’s land, while in the background we participate at the never-ending conflict between Assassins and Templars. This time around we take control of Connor Kenway a half Indian, half English young assassin, who gets embroiled in the revolutionary war, which formed the United States.

History, sci-fi, adventure and an exciting tale about Assassins and Templars are the main elements which formed the Assassin’s Creed franchise. While being in an incredibly detailed historical open world, we always control assassins with either murderous task assigned to them or other mission goals, which are meant to save humanity from an imminent catastrophe.

A for ancestry

In almost all Assassin’s Creed games (the only exception is Assassin’s Creed: Liberation for PS Vita) we control the ancestors of Desmond Miles, a 21th-century young bartender through a machine called the Animus. The main sci-fi storyline which links together all the Assassin’s Creed games is deliberately kind of convoluted but the actual story of every game is always about the same concepts: honor, revenge, a fight for power and justice, etc. It’s no different this time around either: our main hero, Connor must stay alive and prevail in an extremely dangerous historical period while saving his tribe and loved ones.

He must participate in the revolution which started the birth of a whole nation and also investigate his dark heritage and the real cause of the conflict between the Assassins and Templars. And of course in Assassin’s Creed III we also control Desmond Miles again in modern time missions to fight the Templars and save humanity. Oh and let’s not forget the intriguing beginning of the game, where we will control an entirely different character as well…

A for assassination

So the storyline is once again top notch, but what about the gameplay? Like in every other episode in the open world of the title we have to roam the big cities, while walking on busy streets with citizens bantering, climbing to houses and running on rooftops. Besides killing key targets, we have a vast repertory of tasks: stalking and eavesdropping on people, free some others and helping various people in the different side quests.

So it’s the core concept of a sandbox game, but the main difference between this chapter and the previous ones (besides the obvious change of milieu) is the addition of the wild country outside the cities which is a lot more developed than in any previous games.

Because of Connor’s Indian ancestry, we learn to climb trees and run on their tops, how to hunt and stalk a different kind of animals. We can also sell their hides and meat in shops, take part in the merchant mini-game, to amass a significant amount of money and explore the countryside. Fancy a classic board game? You can do that as well with different kind board games at your disposal in pubs, and outdoor with some chaps who’d just die to lose their money to you. So once again we can do a lot of things besides advancing through the main storyline.

A for awesomeness?

Like in every episode of Assassin’s Creed the epical scope of the gameplay is evident with enormous cities and country sides to explore, fighting with different kind of enemies, with different weapons and taking part in cool mini games. Gameplay wise one of the coolest and most surprising additions is the ship sailing: with our crew we can sail in the ocean, driving the ship itself, lowering and raising sails, and taking part in naval combat. Sailing ships in this game is just totally awesome.

Hunting animals is cool to some extent, but after a while, I lost interest in shooting deer and assassinate bunny rabbits while jumping courageously from a tree’s top. Seriously it’s a cool concept, but I felt it somewhat out of place in an Assassin’s Creed game. The beginning of the game is also rather slow to develop itself: controlling Hatham Kenway (the other guy…) was kind of interesting, but leading kid Connor as he grew up in his tribe was a little annoying.

Yes, after a while all of this fits in the whole game, but still, Assassin’s Creed III takes its time to be exciting, while almost every other game in the series (including the handheld titles) took you instantly in the midst of the action. Still, after Connor grows up, we are back again to an excellent AC title, with a lot to do and many people to assassinate, others to save.

S for sloppiness

There is, however, some things which are a big letdown this time… While it’s understandable, that all Assassin’s Creed games are incredibly ambitious titles with a huge amount of data to handle, still it’s an unpleasant surprise, which Assassin’s Creed III is considerably less polished than the other episodes and bugs and glitches abound in it. Even the first Assassin’s Creed was less buggy which had the less polished title of the series so far, and it was the first one.

Also some of the glitches are not just taking away your suspension of disbelief, rubbing your nose into the fact, that you are actually playing a computer game, but also really annoying, with Connor on foot and especially on horseback getting stuck in some places, animals behaving strangely, lips sync missing from cut scenes, etc. Come on Ubisoft, you did a pretty good job since freaking Assassin’s Creed II in 2009, ironing out bugs, what’s this sloppiness?! Besides bugs, the graphics of the game somewhat lack for a 2012 game, even considering the animations which are still excellent and the enormous size of the world to explore. It’s not an ugly game at all, it’s even rich in detail and colors, but some textures are blurred, there’s a distinct lack of resolution on the edge of the characters, and the shadows are somewhat messed up too.

A for triple A?

Don’t make me wrong: Assassin’s Creed III is still an excellent game. We have an epical story, with also some WTF moments included, an extreme amount of gameplay, with the naval aspect being the best, excellent combat and animations. Still, it’s a shame, that it couldn’t make the “leap of faith”: it’s far from being such an upgrade as Assassin’s Creed II was the first episode. It’s still a must-have for Assassin’s Creed and action-adventure fans alike.

-BadSector-(2012)

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft

Genre: TPS, action-adventure

Release date: October 30, 2012

Don’t make me wrong: Assassin’s Creed III is still an excellent game. We have an epical story, with also some WTF moments included, an extreme amount of gameplay, with the naval aspect being the best, excellent combat and animations. Still, it’s a shame, that it couldn’t make the “leap of faith”: it’s far from being such an upgrade as Assassin’s Creed II was the first episode. It’s still a must-have for Assassin’s Creed and action-adventure fans alike.