We return to the Animus to once again relive the memories of our
ancestors, this time in the 18th Century around the time of the
Revolutionary War. Quite frankly, I'm amazed Desmond is even able to
walk straight after how many times he's gone in and out of that thing.
We open up with narration from William Miles, the father of Desmond
Miles, voiced by John de Lancie, catching us up to speed on what's been
going on. I'm sorry, John, but even with your sexy voice you can't help
me understand the plot anymore than I did in the last game. Long story
short, they're trying to stop the world from ending on December 21,
2012. Looking at today's date I'm guessing they were successful.
Desmond and the gang finds an ancient temple located inside a cave in New York, and set up camp there. After you arrive to your designation, and you pass out, a training session begins to familiarize yourself with the control schemes before the game officially begins. This allows new players to get a feel for the gameplay, and old players to get a refresher course. Right away, I already like how running and the usual acrobatics are all one button, whereas before you needed to hold down two at the same time. The controls aren't separated by limbs. You have an attack button, you have a button for your secondary weapon bringing attacking down to two simple buttons instead of all the mashing you had to do just to fight in the second game.
Once Desmond is strapped into the Animus, the game begins to follow the story of his ancestor of the hour, Haytham Kenway, an Englishman who traveled to the American colonies to search for a storehouse of the First Civilization. Haytham is classy as hell, a man of honor and prestige, a formidable opponent and ally, and someone you do not want to cross under any circumstance.
Desmond and the gang finds an ancient temple located inside a cave in New York, and set up camp there. After you arrive to your designation, and you pass out, a training session begins to familiarize yourself with the control schemes before the game officially begins. This allows new players to get a feel for the gameplay, and old players to get a refresher course. Right away, I already like how running and the usual acrobatics are all one button, whereas before you needed to hold down two at the same time. The controls aren't separated by limbs. You have an attack button, you have a button for your secondary weapon bringing attacking down to two simple buttons instead of all the mashing you had to do just to fight in the second game.
Once Desmond is strapped into the Animus, the game begins to follow the story of his ancestor of the hour, Haytham Kenway, an Englishman who traveled to the American colonies to search for a storehouse of the First Civilization. Haytham is classy as hell, a man of honor and prestige, a formidable opponent and ally, and someone you do not want to cross under any circumstance.
Or
you'll find yourself staring down the end of a barrel much like this
one.
It's easy to picture Haytham as a real person in that era because he's
characterized so well, and his voice actor does an impressive job of
bringing the character to life. His story is also an interesting one as
you're in search for a key and on the way you're battling redcoats,
disguising yourself as a redcoat, freeing Indians, helping Indians,
traveling through the snow, starting bar fights, and meeting historical
figures like Benjamin Franklin, and a young George Washington. He would
have been a worthy successor to Altair and Ezio. Only one problem.
You only play him at the beginning of the game!
That's right, after Haytham's scenario we're introduced to the real protagonist of Assassin's Creed III, Ratonhnhaké:ton. Try saying that three times fast. Can't? Don't worry, he gets an easier name to pronounce, Connor. Connor is an Indian of the Kanien'kehá:ka tribe, otherwise refer to as the Mohawk People. If you're familiar with history then you can probably guess where we're going here. Connor embarks on a journey to learn the way of the Assassin Order to defend his people and homeland against the Templars that are trying to take their land right out from under them.
You only play him at the beginning of the game!
That's right, after Haytham's scenario we're introduced to the real protagonist of Assassin's Creed III, Ratonhnhaké:ton. Try saying that three times fast. Can't? Don't worry, he gets an easier name to pronounce, Connor. Connor is an Indian of the Kanien'kehá:ka tribe, otherwise refer to as the Mohawk People. If you're familiar with history then you can probably guess where we're going here. Connor embarks on a journey to learn the way of the Assassin Order to defend his people and homeland against the Templars that are trying to take their land right out from under them.
The reason this falls flat on its face is because next to Haytham,
Connor is immensely underwhelming as a character. He just doesn't have
as strong as narrative as Haytham, let alone Ezio from the last game,
and no one from his village is interesting enough to get us actually
invested in the tribe. The game relies too much on the setting in order
to make the player sympathize with the tribe instead of having actual
characters that we don't want to see get hurt.
Unlike the second game
which could hold its own whether you knew the historical figures being
used or not. There is also a boring and trying set of sequences of
Connor growing up and training, which wouldn't have been so bad if it
was at the beginning of the game instead of coming after a more
interesting character doing more interesting things. If they really
wanted both characters to be playable they should have given us the
choice to select which character we wanted to play.
Unfortunately, things doesn't get any better with Desmond's story. It's confusing. At first I thought this was because I didn't play all the AC titles in order, but nope. People who have played all the games agree that Desmond's story is a convoluted mess and as such can't invest in it either. And when only 1/3 playable characters in a game can grab your attention, you know you're doing something wrong.
Unfortunately, things doesn't get any better with Desmond's story. It's confusing. At first I thought this was because I didn't play all the AC titles in order, but nope. People who have played all the games agree that Desmond's story is a convoluted mess and as such can't invest in it either. And when only 1/3 playable characters in a game can grab your attention, you know you're doing something wrong.
The two big updates going from II to III is hunting and naval missions.
Hunting allows you to use your stealth tactics to sneak up on animals,
take them out from a distance or get in close enough to kill and skin
them. You can also set traps to catch smaller wildlife and predators,
such as bears, will trigger a quick time event. From there you acquire
items that can then be sold at the stores in Boston.
Hunting has a good setup overall and is one of the better points of the game after Haytham, if you're into hunting that is. You can even utilize the trees by leaping from them to help you sneak up on other animals on the ground. The hunting field will be highlighted on your map and to narrow the field to find an animal keep a look out for magnifying glasses that will assist you. The drawback to hunting is while it can be fun, it can also be repetitive and you could find yourself becoming bored before too long. Luckily, it isn't something you have to do, minus the tutorial part, but it is something that helps you out in the long run to get better stuff.
Hunting has a good setup overall and is one of the better points of the game after Haytham, if you're into hunting that is. You can even utilize the trees by leaping from them to help you sneak up on other animals on the ground. The hunting field will be highlighted on your map and to narrow the field to find an animal keep a look out for magnifying glasses that will assist you. The drawback to hunting is while it can be fun, it can also be repetitive and you could find yourself becoming bored before too long. Luckily, it isn't something you have to do, minus the tutorial part, but it is something that helps you out in the long run to get better stuff.
Yeah, I wish
my guy actually had that outfit.
During navel missions you go behind the wheel of a vessel and maneuver
around the open sea avoiding obstacles. Like any good ship you can also
load up the cannons with cannonballs and a swivel gun is set aside for
smaller enemy ship. While sailing you also have to consider wind, high
seas, and weather conditions as they can alter your course accordingly.
By the way there are weather changes in this game.
Aiming the cannons on the ship in order to hit a target is about the most tedious thing in the game. The camera zooms out quite a way and the guys holding the swivel guns are so far off to the side that you can barely see them. To hit larger vessels you have to wait for them to get at just the right spot on either side of you and then let them have it. The objective is simple, sink them before they sink you.
This time we're given two weapons slots to cycle between and are even granted the option to wield dual weapons in battle. If you have nothing equipped you'll go barehanded which can be just as fun at times, and allow you to take down enemies without killing them. The game also has firearms being more common due to the timeline. We have a pistol accompanied with Haytham, and we can also pick up enemy muskets which is good for stabbing people in close quarters and shooting at them from a distance. You have to reload between each shot too because it's the 1700's.
The game also gives you a couple of native weapons once we get to Connor such as the bow & arrow to attack at a range, tomahawk to hack redcoats that gets too close to you, and my personal favorite, the rope dart, which allows you to pull an enemy towards you or hang them from a tree. Take that, poachers!
You can also recruit civilians to your cause through completing Liberation missions that you can call to your side to start riots, act as an escort, a bodyguard, etc. It's pretty handy to have especially if you find yourself surrounded by redcoats and need the helping hand. That's another thing I noticed, as Haytham I could breeze through legions of redcoats without breaking a sweat, but Connor? I actually start to have trouble with more than just a couple of enemies. What the hell?
Another downside to the game are the glitches that make completing side-quests next to impossible. There are also moments where the game isn't in-sync with the action going on on screen. At one part of the game I'm running through the grass and my character suddenly stops and walks to the center of the road so the cut-scene can play. Seriously? They couldn't just have the screen fade to black and then show the cut-scene when I got close? I also jumped into the water to save a guy and after I see Connor jumping into the water the game cuts to a scene that shows him jumping into the water again. I don't remember asking for an instant replay. I can just be talking to people as Desmond and the game will take control of my character to have him walk alongside the person I'm speaking with. Hey, I know how to walk, you don't need to do it for me! Things like this really takes away from the immersion.
The world itself is as beautiful as ever. You have Boston, the Frontier, and Davenport Homestead as just a few examples of places to explore. The weather conditions throughout the game provides further immersion into the world, and a change of seasons makes you feel time has gone by even better than the day/night system. There are a lot of places to explore, and a lot to do which makes it a pity that the main story can be so restrictive and glitches can some time get in the way of enjoying the game outside the main quest.
To wrap this up, Assassin's Creed III has a lot of good things going for it, but unfortunately these things are overshadowed by the bad making it one of the weaker entries in the franchise. After coming from such an excellent installment in Assassin's Creed II, that's very disappointing. My recommendation? Playing the game as Haytham and turning it off when you reach Connor.
Try it
Aiming the cannons on the ship in order to hit a target is about the most tedious thing in the game. The camera zooms out quite a way and the guys holding the swivel guns are so far off to the side that you can barely see them. To hit larger vessels you have to wait for them to get at just the right spot on either side of you and then let them have it. The objective is simple, sink them before they sink you.
This time we're given two weapons slots to cycle between and are even granted the option to wield dual weapons in battle. If you have nothing equipped you'll go barehanded which can be just as fun at times, and allow you to take down enemies without killing them. The game also has firearms being more common due to the timeline. We have a pistol accompanied with Haytham, and we can also pick up enemy muskets which is good for stabbing people in close quarters and shooting at them from a distance. You have to reload between each shot too because it's the 1700's.
The game also gives you a couple of native weapons once we get to Connor such as the bow & arrow to attack at a range, tomahawk to hack redcoats that gets too close to you, and my personal favorite, the rope dart, which allows you to pull an enemy towards you or hang them from a tree. Take that, poachers!
You can also recruit civilians to your cause through completing Liberation missions that you can call to your side to start riots, act as an escort, a bodyguard, etc. It's pretty handy to have especially if you find yourself surrounded by redcoats and need the helping hand. That's another thing I noticed, as Haytham I could breeze through legions of redcoats without breaking a sweat, but Connor? I actually start to have trouble with more than just a couple of enemies. What the hell?
Another downside to the game are the glitches that make completing side-quests next to impossible. There are also moments where the game isn't in-sync with the action going on on screen. At one part of the game I'm running through the grass and my character suddenly stops and walks to the center of the road so the cut-scene can play. Seriously? They couldn't just have the screen fade to black and then show the cut-scene when I got close? I also jumped into the water to save a guy and after I see Connor jumping into the water the game cuts to a scene that shows him jumping into the water again. I don't remember asking for an instant replay. I can just be talking to people as Desmond and the game will take control of my character to have him walk alongside the person I'm speaking with. Hey, I know how to walk, you don't need to do it for me! Things like this really takes away from the immersion.
The world itself is as beautiful as ever. You have Boston, the Frontier, and Davenport Homestead as just a few examples of places to explore. The weather conditions throughout the game provides further immersion into the world, and a change of seasons makes you feel time has gone by even better than the day/night system. There are a lot of places to explore, and a lot to do which makes it a pity that the main story can be so restrictive and glitches can some time get in the way of enjoying the game outside the main quest.
To wrap this up, Assassin's Creed III has a lot of good things going for it, but unfortunately these things are overshadowed by the bad making it one of the weaker entries in the franchise. After coming from such an excellent installment in Assassin's Creed II, that's very disappointing. My recommendation? Playing the game as Haytham and turning it off when you reach Connor.
Try it
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