Assassin's Creed 3

[Sabretooth]

What a boring game this was. Maybe it's just that I'm not too familiar with American/Colonial history, or that I was feeling woozy, but I couldn't tell half of what was happening in the Connor story.

 

From what I could tell, 90% of the missions were linear set-piece runs, minigames or grandiose fights. The "stealth" sections, also, scripted last about 5 minutes each. What happened to actually staking out your enemies? Being left to your devices in an open world to take down targets?

 

The game also fails to tie-in the side-quests, bloated as they are, with the main game. How exactly did Connor's being a naval captain and economist-land-developer help the main game? Why does Connor, master assassin, personally manage accounts, crafting, trading and so on rather than - I don't know, hiring an assistant? I mean, he got a miner, hunter and farmer that way.

 

The side-quests aren't bad in themselves - I especially enjoyed the naval battles, but I finished the game without many of them, because I simply couldn't be bothered. The only side-questy stuff I've ignored in the past is the bomb-making in Revelations, which was as unnecessary as a cancer tumour that I'm afraid has taken over this game.

 

There was no point to the meticulous complexity of the bomb-making mechanic in Revelations, just as there is no point to all the side-stuff in AC3. Can we just get back to assassinating already?

 

I liked the interpersonal relationships in the game, between Connor with Achilles, Haytham and Lee (as well as the minor characters, like Putnam, Lafayette and that sailor dude). Sharing the love for Haytham, badass character and voice acting. Those scenes were handled really well, and I liked the overall theme of Connor's idealism and how lonely he is in that, compared to just about everyone in the game. But the overarching story, if you asked me to narrate to you, would largely be a blur for me.

 

Technical stuff was good - great lighting in particular. I loved the Frontier - it was boring, but it felt more organic and natural to move in than Skyrim. Voice acting ranged from great to amazingly bad. The bugs ruined it for me though. Connor running where I don't want him to, trying to climb where I don't want him to, not taking cover in the bushes when he's walking in them - I encountered at least 3-4 bugs an hour on the PC.

 

The interface is useless on the PC. Binding everything to the E key, the work of a master genius, means that when you try to counter an enemy, Connor decides it's a great time to pick up a fallen rifle. Changing weapons means holding a button to enter a completely different screen - because using the full set of numbers was such a pain. Even on the map, moving the marker requires dragging it with a mouse. Why oh why is that a better idea than using the bloody mouse?

 

I don't know if this is just franchise burnout, but I thought AC3 was the weakest, most boring game in the series so far.

 

-- END REVIEW-RANT --

 

Connor is as wooden as they come.

This is something I'm having trouble deciding. On one hand, he does speak in monotone, have a boring and fixed personality and a non-existent sense of humour. On the other though, I really like how that contrasts with the world. He is trying to play it safe and be a judge-vigilante-warrior-hero in a world that doesn't believe in it.

 

The clinching point for me was at the end, where Connor, after everything he has been through, realises that even though he fought for his village's continued existence, his own people just moved shop, and Juno had never intended him to fight for them. That made me feel really sorry for the poor, straight man.

 

[stingerhs]

well, i thought that the game was fairly well done. i like the changes to the control scheme which helped to simplify the game a bit while adding some depth at the same time (Xbox 360 version, here). combat in particular was much more fluid as enemies seemed to actually want to attack you at will instead of waiting for you to counter them all the time. the tree running in particular was a nice touch, and after some practice, its not really all that hard to get Conner running in the right direction (although its still not perfect).

 

and the naval missions?? spectacular. i'm a big fan of that time period, and i'd have to say that if they had done a game without the naval missions, the game just wouldn't have fit the period very well. this was the apex of the Age of Sail, and to not include at least something similar would've been a huge disappointment. my only complaint is that it doesn't really suit Conner to have been a privateer captain. i thought that they could've worked the story around so that Conner was driven from the northern Colonies and forced to become more of a pirate captain so that he could force his way back in, but its a minor issue at best.

 

my last thing to note is also my biggest complaint with the game. why does everyone in the game have this whole "good intentions/bad execution" thing going on? Sam Adams is very idealistic, but omg he owns a slave!! Washington is a strong leader and a charismatic example of what the Revolution stands for, but he attacks and burns "helpless" indian tribes (nevermind the fact that they were actively aiding the British). the point that i'm making is that the game seems to be obviously written to magnify their flaws. they make them out to be power hungry with no real intention other than the benefit of themselves, and that they're not all that different than the Templars themselves. from a writing perspective, its a good idea, but it makes the historical aspect more of a backdrop than the reality the game is trying to portray.

 

in the end the game is a lot of fun. i think that i enjoyed Assassin's Creed 2 a bit more, though, and the game has quite a few flaws in the design and writing departments. just remember, though, that even though a game isn't GotY material doesn't mean that its a bad game. this is a good one that fits into the series rather nicely, and its definitely worth playing.

 

7.5/10

[*~*Darth pOOba*~*]

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this game, 10 outta 10 if ya ask me. I thought the story was phenomenal, the gameplay was very fluid, and I loved the naval missions. The only thing though is all the glitches, I’ve never played a new game with that many problems (I got it for Xbox) I’ve downloaded both updates and things still go wrong. I wonder if people even tested the game. The combat system has improved immensely, before you could just counter your way to victory, in this game you had to actually think about it. I never died in a fight in Brotherhood or Revelations, but in this one I sure did.

 

Desmond’s story: Well, there certainly was more of him than the previous games. But of course Desmond’s always seemed lacking somehow. But I did like how they finished out his story.

 

Connor: Altair was driven by duty, Ezio was driven by revenge, but Connor fought simply because it was the right thing to do, and that’s why, in my opinion, he’s better than all of ‘em. I’ve heard a lot of people say how Noah Watts gave a poor performance as Connor, but I could not disagree more. I could hear the emotion in his voice, the pain and the anger he felt. You could tell Connor cared deeply for his people and the cause for which he fought. I also loved that when Connor was amongst his people or in his village they spoke the language, which I think is simply beautiful.

 

I loved how Ubisoft presented the history and the fact that they chose a Native American as a protagonist, which is something we rarely see. And set during the American Revolution? I don’t think that has ever been done before, something very risky but I believe they pulled it off even with all the criticisms they received. I also really liked how they made you think, at least they did me. Things like: the patriots might be fighting for freedom but most of them own slaves, they might be fighting for equality but if you aren’t a white male you’re considered less important or a lesser being.

And the plot twist? Phew! This game was really good, I’m gonna buy every DLC, expansion pack, what have ya.

 

And well, Connor is a sexy beast…….