Assassin's Creed III

Since it's release in 2007 the Assassin's Creed series has seen numerous updates such as new locations, historical figures, and characters. Desmond Miles, a bartender from New York, has gained the knowledge and skills of his ancestors Altair Ign-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze but now a new assassin must rise to help Desmond on his journey, this hero is Ratohnhaké:ton. He's better known as Connor, the son of a British immigrant and raised by his Mohawk mother, now caught between the struggle of the colonist who are spreading throughout the Northeast, the American Revolutionary Way, and his own people. Assassin's Creed III takes a lot of chances in both narrative and gameplay but overall creates a thrilling adventure for fans and newcomers.

Assassin's Creed III sets you before, during, and after the American Revolution from 1753 to 1783. This brand new location and time period is absolutely teeming with things to do in the open-world provided. History comes alive as you climb ancient buildings, hide within the forest of colonial America, and sail throughout the Atlantic ocean engaged in sea combat. You're set to enjoy this world as you see fit and set up elaborate assassinations that end each chapter.

Expect a long tutorial, Assassin's Creed III attempts to fully establish Connor's background from innocent child, lost teenager, and finally vengeful adult. Unlike past assassins Connor tends to be more stoic and cruel, but he won't be the only character you play as. Each character is wonderfully written and voiced, but unlike past Assassin's Creed games these characters feel distance. But once the back stories are fully fleshed out and limitations are removed is when you appreciate that the game provided you with this information. Throughout his journey Connor will need to interact and participate in significant portions of the American Revolution, like The Battle of Bunker Hill and The Boston Tea Party, in order to complete your real objective. But Connor has little interest in the fight for independence, his motives require him to take sides in order to track and eliminate targets on both sides, this is a fight between the Templar and Assassins.

Since you will be playing as Connor with a large portion of this journey it's easy to forget that this is venture belongs to present day Desmond Miles. Desmond is now at the end of his adventure and must stop a global disaster. Unlike Assassin's Creed: Revelations these segments are mandatory but absent of the horrible first-person puzzles of Revelations and actually get to be a modern day assassin with the skills that he has acquired. By creating connections between both of these stories to reveal a expected truth about mankind.

Assassin's Creed III is definitely the biggest and most ambitious Assassin's Creed game to this date. The story spans a series of years and seasonal changes dramatically alter the environment: forest covered in snow; fields rich with blooming flora. The streets of is equally stunning with people, noise, and activity injecting life into the artificial setting. These incredible marvels have a array of problems such as clipping textures in character models, environmental pop-ins, and graphical issues that make you wonder if the depth of field is actually a mask to cover these problems. But these are only minor inconveniences to a utterly stunning game.

The developers at Ubisoft Montreal have turned this notorious branch of history into a open-world playground for you to explore. It's all about giving you assortment of acrobatic abilities and equipment to traverse a range of rooftops, hunt in the forests, and sail the seas during the Revolutionary War. These elements truly shine when preparing to assassinate major targets in the story missions by collecting information, locating a specific location, scouting the area, and finally killing them. Outside the main story you are free to explore to find pages of Benjamin Franklin's almanac, complete side missions, and to follow up to myths told by strangers. Outside that you can build and maintain a homestead by populating it with people that will provide you with equipment and products that you can use or sell using a caravan.

The locations throughout Assassin's Creed III maintain the same high quality that the series is known for. You'll travel to a large amount of areas but will spend most of your time on the streets of Boston and New York. Within the frontier you will find a large amount of animals that you can kill and skin for usable material. Unless you are invested in the homestead economy hunting is mostly practice for sneaking and killing.

The controls of Assassin's Creed III has been simplified. The parkour has been improved to allow for quicker movement through obstacles that look impressive. New climbing techniques such as tree hopping and automatic climbing abilities make traversing the environment on any plain easier but not without its faults. Like past Assassin's Creed games you can still find yourself unexpectedly jumping off ledges and foolishly running up walls without anything to hang on to. Combat has been refined to include the classic parry and counter system but now has some brutal killing animations with each weapon you wield against man and animal. You don't have to use a manuel lock-on mechanic and parry attacks when an indicator appears overhead an enemy. Each attack has a significant amount of weight to it, making each strike feel less like transparently fast and unnatural.

Connor may be a skilled warrior but the best assassins take to the shadows and strike without notice. Connor automatically crouches in tall grass and peak around corners. These are put to the test during high-profile assassinations which require you to kill targets without being found. There are stealth, parkour, and combat issues that were previous left as a minimal in games but show up frequently. Minor glitches such as character animations running in place or animals running in place. Assassin's Creed III mask these muddy issues with its large amount of content and incredible presentation. This is especially present in the naval battles when waves bash against the ship and crew members hard at work. In some missions you can board enemy ships and battle with the crews.

Multiplayer returns was first introduced in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and makes a return in Assassin's Creed III with new modes, characters, and customization options. Traditional modes such as death-match, team death-match, and capture the flag. New modes include domination and wolfpack which you and allies kill computer targets in a synchronized manner to gain the highest amount of points possible. While objective games offer variety to the mix the idea of hunting your target while avoiding being killed is still highlighted throughout multiplayer games.

As you complete matches and complete challenges you gain experience points to level up and Abstergo points to purchase new abilities and cosmetic items. Each agent has a collection of specific clothing and weapons that can be obtained by leveling and earning Abstergo points or you can purchase these upgrades using micro transactions. The multiplayer is a decent treat for those seeking to test these assassin skill against other opponents but won't have you straying far from other multiplayer titles.

Assassin's Creed III is an incredible game that attempts to push the boundaries of previous titles in the series. It achieves so much but unfortunately this leads a moderate degree of inconsistently due to lackluster missions, training assassins, and graphical hiccups. The voice-acting and soundtrack maintain the same high quality as other Assassin's Creed games, so whether you tracking a target or just exploring the area your eyes will be treated. Assassin's Creed III takes a lot of chances and brilliantly constructs a story that will have you playing until you reach the end.
 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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