Beautiful landscapes, detailed cities, wild animals, top notch combat, amazing dialogue, great graphics, huge world and best of all, intriguing conspiracies. These are a few of the many great qualities you'll experience within the first 10 minutes of Assassins Creed 3.
Assassins Creed 3 is by far the best installment of the franchise. It just happens to be that I am pretty big on conspiracies and especially ones that took place in this time era. The time period chosen in Assassins Creed 3 is a pivotal time in world history with historical icons like George Washington, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin and more.
Assassins Creed 3 is an open world game. A really big world as a matter of fact. The Frontier, is the natural and untamed land that has yet to be touched by civilization filled with wild animals, deep forests and high end cliffs. Allowing you to explore the whole Frontier in awe. The graphics are great, letting you enjoy every view you can get. Lighting is absolutely realistic, especially in the water.
As you free run your way around the trees and braches, you'll notice that the Frontier is full of life. Wild animals running amuck, random soldiers and civilians traveling across who will often ask you for help. Besides staring at the amazing scenery, you can also track clues and hunt wild animals.
Hunting is a new addition to the franchise and it works perfectly. Similar to that of Red Dead Redemption, you can hunt animals and sell their pelt and more to the general store for a good amount of cash. However, the way you kill your prey affects the value. If you get all gory and bloody with your kill, it won't fetch a good price. If you use your hidden blade or your snare, you'll get a better deal.
The cities are full of life. Whatever time of day or season, pedestrians will crowd the street going on with their daily lives. Dialogue passing you by every time you walk past a crowd. I found myself just standing still most of time and listening to how the store merchant had trouble with this cargo because the Tea Party had thrown all the tea into the ocean. You can spend a lot of time just wandering the streets and appreciating all the effort that was put into the atmosphere and environment.
The combat system in Assassins Creed 3 is fluid. I don't mean just in performance, but also how you chain your attacks. Two buttons control your attacks, one for each weapon. You also have a block button and a disarm button. Enemies who are about to attack will have a flashing indicator over their head, prompting you to press the block button. You won't see Connor pivoting or stutter while button-mashing it all fits together perfectly like it was scripted.
This tends to make the combat really easy, almost too easy. However, the style in which Connor transcends from attack to defend is simply stunning which definitely makes up for the lack of complexity in the combat system. As your attacking a certain enemy, and another is about to strike from behind you. Connor will throw his tomahawk over his shoulder and block the oncoming attack. Also, if more than one enemy are about to attack at the same time and you manage to block, you'll trigger a really cool animation where Connor chains all the attacks together in a brutal fashion. All in slow motion, brilliant.
The free running is just as good as it was in the previous installments. With a few new additions, Connor is able to climb up a V shaped trees and structures. The climbing is more dynamic, with newer nooks and crannies to climb up here and there.
For me personally, I absolutely loved the story, plot and the conspiracies around it. I do not wish to talk much about the story because I believe you should experience it for yourself. If you're a conspiracy buff, especially for the New World Order, Templars and the Free Masons, this will be a home run.
Of course there are a few things that weren't up to par in the game. The aiming system is kind of weird. Right when you press to zoom, the crosshair by default would always aim right to the ground and not in the direction I am facing. This proved annoying, especially for me since I used the bow a lot in direct combat.
With such an expansive open world, comes open world glitches. Like floating weapons and dead animals. Small graphical issues. In one of the scenes, we all raise a toast and 2 out of 5 of those characters were not carrying cups. The camera also would lock into place or would be in an awkward angle where I cannot see Connor at all.
These flaws are absolutely nothing when compared to the size of the game. That is the price you pay for such a huge open game. All in all, I don't think you need to hear it from me, Assassins Creed 3 is a must-have for all types of gamers. You will learn much about the American Revolution and its history in addition to a crazy and an unrivaled experience in the game. A definite must-have.
Dont forget to check out the video above and all of our other Assassins Creed 3 articles. We will be uploading more videos and features about Assassins Creed 3 real soon.
