Assassin's Creed Review Part 3

Introduction

            Welcome back to the third part of my review of the Assassin’s Creed series, this time I’ll be taking a look at Assassin’s Creed III without spoiling too much on the story and talking about what has changed and what has improved. So, without further ado, let’s get started!

A fresh new start

            After the end of the Ezio trilogy, a new protagonist was definitely needed in the next Assassin’s Creed, not to mention a new setting as well. This setting would turn out to be the American Revolutionary War, where the Patriots, from the Continental Army rose to revolt against Great Britain’s rule, led by iconic characters such as George Washington and Edward Braddock, both of which led the Continental Army and the British Army, respectively.

The British soldiers depicted in ACIII

            The conflict between the Assassins and Templars also continue in Assassin’s Creed III, with the Assassins siding with the Patriots for wanting freedom and because the Templars support the opposite faction while the Templars sided with the British Army as the British Army is indirectly helping the Templars achieve their goal of Order.

The Templar Cross, in case you were wondering.

            The player is one Connor Kenway (his real name being Ratonhnhaké:ton (pronunciation: Ra-too-un-ha-key-tun), I am not typing that again), a boy who was raised in the tribes, its location being right in the middle of many of the conflicts between the two armies, and is thus regarded as a strategically good position and giving land advantage during the revolution, making it a target for both sides.

Connor as a child

            Connor is playable as a kid all the way to his adulthood within the story. As a kid, he witnesses the burning of his village and his mother’s death. Thankfully, at least, his village stands after the burning but the death of his mother left him driven with justice against the men who have done the deed.

Connor's mother: Kaniehtí:io, I don't know how to pronounce that.

            When Connor turns into an adolescent, he trains his childhood friend in the art of hunting and tree climbing, two of the things that are new in Assassin’s Creed III, thus also teaching the player how to utilize these two new mechanics effectively while moving on with the story.

Connor as an adolescent.

            An elder from the village soon informs Connor that the tribe’s duty is to prevent Templar discovery, and thus sets Connor on a quest to find a man who can train him to become an Assassin and carry out the tribe’s duty, which eventually leads to Connor going on a Templar manhunt, with one of them being Haytham Kenway, his father…

Haytham Kenway, finally a name I can type AND pronounce.

What’s changed?

            Assassin’s Creed III introduced a new engine, known as AnvilNext (AC:R used Anvil). The new engine allowed for bigger worlds, with the game featuring three different locations, Boston, the Frontier (forested areas with hunting opportunities), and New York City, built in a 1:3 scale.

Boston in winter

            Climbing and scaling has also been overhauled in ACIII, with the uneven surfaces of rocks and trees being fully climbable and scalable, making for fluid movements and climbing for the player and allows for more exploration options.

Tree climbing for the first time since forever~~~~

ACIII also introduced naval combat, something brand new in the Assassin’s Creed series, where Connor captains a ship and does several missions in the opens seas. Weather conditions such as snow, rain, and sunny have also been included within the game and the weather can always change in a split second (not sunny to snow though that’s insane).

Rain's so heavy but no one brought an umbrella

Combat has also seen a great overhaul in ACIII. Moves in combat are more fluid and flows from enemy to kill to enemy kill more smoothly. Double counters have also been introduced in ACIII, where two enemies may both simultaneously attempt to attack the player, and if the player manages to react to it, he’ll initiate a double counter kill.

Combat in ACIII

Health in ACIII does not regenerate during combat and only does so out of it, meaning there aren’t any magical health potions the player can use by pausing the game just as the sword of the enemy comes down just to drink that red potion, nope none of that.

More combat

Weapons in ACIII have been separated into melee and ranged; with melee having four open slots the player can assign different weapons to, such as the Hidden Blade or Connor’s trademark weapon, the Tomahawk, among others. For ranged, the introduction of hand-held guns (they used to be wrist mounted in previous games) and Connor’s bow can be assigned to the one slot available, and is usable through the press of a button and changeable through the press of a button.

Connor's bow

A variety of enemy tiers have also been introduced in ACIII, from basic troops such as Loyalists who wield muskets and forming firing lines and Scouts who attempt to disorientate Connor by flipping over his back, to more elite troops such as the Officer, who counters any basic attack and can only be killed either by disarming or counter, the Grenadier, who wields a battle axe and throws (surprise, surprise) grenades and can only be killed by breaking his defense, and finally the Jager, an elite troop who counters EVERYTHING besides a counter and gun/bow combo (sounds so nerd gamer gawd). There are more enemies, of course, but in essence every enemy has a different skillset and some require specific actions to take down.

From left: Grenadier, Officer, Loyalist

A Jager. Not. Pleasant. People.

Summary

            With a new setting and a brand new character with multiple drastic changes to the gameplay mechanics through the use of a new engine, Assassin’s Creed III aims high and is successful in its attempt.

            Assassin's Creed III received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the visuals, narrative, combat style, hunting mechanics, naval missions and Homestead system, while complaining about the game's glitches and some of the missions' prescriptive layouts. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 85.56% and 85/100, the Xbox 360 version 84.92% and 84/100, the Wii U version 83.00% and 85/100, and the PC version 80.75% and 80/100. Alone, the game sold 12 million copies as of February 7, 2013.

The multiplayer is alright, in case you were wondering

            Connor’s story would then set the stage for the sequel to follow up on, where the player takes control of Connor’s grandfather during his time, in the golden age of piracy in the 18^th century Caribbean, but that would be for the next part of the series review.

Edward Kenway

            Thank you for reading part 3 of the review! As always, do leave a comment of anything you like/dislike about the review and I’ll have a look at it. The final part will be out soon but until then, happy reading!