Start Session
Let's start it this way. Okay, we all know the Assassin's Creed franchise. I say "franchise" instead of the faster "series", because these games have built such a large and wide open fan base over time. In the short seven years since the Assassin's Creed was formed, it managed to stealth capture the fingers of the hardcore, softcore, and the casual gamers. Even one such as myself was captivated by these games, but never found time to try them, until now. It is surprising that a game like this never made it out long ago. A very badass and immersive game that puts you up as an Assassin part of guild type thing. Really quite a marveling and dynamic series over a very short time.
We mustn't forget the main story line, taking place sometime in the future from our present. If you don't know what I mean, be so kind as to pause right here and wiki the story line. We have seen the first part of these games set in "pre-firearm" eras, just blade to blade. I would say the time of firearms is a pretty big point to pull out of the changing of history. Time will keep rolling by, but does Assassin's Creed III fair up as well as the previous titles or are we looking at the next Call of Duty franchise?
In Session: Sequence 1 Story
That is not a Revolutionary war era image! This is the wrong game! Like I said, look up the plot on Wikipedia. For those who don't know already. You really play as Desmond Miles who enters something called the Aminus and is able to live through the eyes of his Assassin ancestors. He fights the Templars, who had previously forced Desmond to help them, but now he needs to save people. Putting that vaguely, I don't know what is a spoiler to this game or not. At least the game does a very good job of telling the newbies, like me, how the story went and goes around. The game's concept is very nicely presented and well played out. Some parts at the beginning are very strange and almost laughable, but the narrative pushes past that without hesitation and manages to deliver two unified and unique story-lines.
The characters are also well developed and detailed. The first guy you play as will deceive you and pull a different plan than you originally thought. He does that again too. You could say that the Native American Assassin, Conner, may seem like a stagnant character acting much like Hayden Christensen in Star Wars, but remember, English was not their native language. I would say it was a great portrayal of a Native American dealing with the "white man" and having to know the language. To wrap this up, great writing acting, detail, and development. Game writing is getting better and better, like books or more so!
I didn't even know you could do that!
In Session: Sequence 2 Gameplay
What is it to be an Assassin? I don't know, just stab people that something tells you to. Like the Dark Brotherhood! The Creed is much more than get contract, get paid. The Assassins kill who needs to be killed, for the good. For those who don't know how to play, the game does a fine job of telling the player how to play, but then it drops off in the middle. It's like they thought anything that was new should be explained, not every gameplay mechanic from before. I got two more points to complain about before we go on to the good. This game has just about as much annoying glitches like Red Dead Redemption. These glitches don't render the game unplayable in the slightest. Though it sure takes away some of the immersion and is very aggravating. One time, I used 2 rope darts during a chase scene and I reloaded the checkpoint to the time before I used the 2 darts and they were still taken away from my count of 5. Same thing when I dropped my Tomahawk from a knife disarm. I reloaded the checkpoint so I did not do that again, but I still had the knife a disarmed after the reload. You can tell that bug fixes where rushed in development, not good.
Sorry about all that, but I had to get my point across. After getting over that, the game is very fun and it's very challenging to pull off the full syncs. To finish my complaints, the game features the ability to furnish your home and build objects. Maybe to get the 100% completion, it might be wise to build and sell items. I found no need for it, if your going just to play the game just for the story. It's no Skyrim home, Ubisoft! Don't even try. I just found it unnecessary to have. Assassin's Creed III also has a multitude of side missions and chores one can do to earn money. Some points in the game feel like working, but it is still very rewarding to hunt game, and save the 13 states in the same course. I see this game having much replay-ability for the storyline and the fun, smooth gameplay. Red Dead Redemption is very similar to this game in terms of continual play after main completion. Expect many more hours of play than your first intentions.
Sequence 2: Memory 2 Naval Battles
Let's take a look at the only really new and, on so many levels, awesome game mechanic. The Naval battles. Yes, you can use ships to fight other ships like in the movies! An interesting tid-bit here: The Naval battles were practically broken to play testers, but thanks to the Ubisoft company in Singapore (really? there?), we can enjoy this cool game play mechanic in our very copies of the game. To say it plainly, these battles are so fun and realistic looking, you will not be able to cease sailing and battling on the high seas. There is also a few missions you can go on with the ship that's not directly part of the story. I hope to see something more like this in future or even a DLC pack with more Naval missions. Truly some great work you Frenchies! Oh, and, uh, Singapor-ians!
Sequence 2: Memory 3 Multiplayer
Now I never thought of Assassin's Creed as having amazing multiplayer games. I played the Revelations multplayer beta and thought it was okay, I wasn't really into it. Especially in lack of my Assassin detecting skills. I was never good at surviving in this kind of multiplayer, so I moved on unimpressed. Now that we are in the firearm era, you would think using guns would be an option. But, no, they don't let you use guns at all. Other than that, it was the same and I again, was not all for it. Sorry, just my opinion on how it felt. Not much was added except different looks for everything. Good news is that you don't have to even touch mulityplayer if you don't want to. The main game gives you way plenty of stuff to do over again and complete. It's really no loss, just try to add something new and interesting next iteration Ubi.
In Session: Sequence 3 Art
During the "show room" promotions of Assassin's Creed III, you could tell that this game was going to look and sound utterly epic on a one to one level. None of these trailers and gamplay videos enhance the truth, they just muttered it. This game is huge and glorious, with many different locations to explore and potential fights to pick and loot to find. It's not nearly as big as Skyrim and it may even seem smaller than Red Dead Redemption. For a stealth adventure open-world game, it is absolutely gorgeous and perfect in almost every way. Some of the graphics and textures lag a tad on render, but nothing too serous. One ugly visual is what I called the "memory boarders". Those boarders are the barriers where game does not allow you to go in. It seemed to just make the world look totally fake and straight out of dream. Just don't go too far off the trail, literally.
Here something I don't go over a lot: the sounds and music. The music adds a very rush-y tone, much like chase music from Pirates of the Caribbean, but none of the eerie music. Because the main character is a Native American, the game has some traditional sounding music place in appropriate areas to add more dynamics. The sounds of the environment and actions of the world around create the ideal atmosphere for the game and the locations. Everything from the artistic standpoint, other than the above, feels so real and exciting. Plus, beavers sure sound so weird!
End Session
Assassin's Creed III feels and plays great for both the veteran assassin and the greenhorn. With a few minor easily fixable bugs and texture slowdowns, it's a great experience for any gamer. For a first timer like myself, I felt very invited to kill... people, heh, I meant, to play the game. I also had a great, different experience in a game that doesn't need too much change from time to time. Multyplayer is not very moving, but single payer gives you a lot to try again and complete. Not to mention the beautiful music and atmosphere this game contains. If you're a big fan, get it, no get the super-dee-duper specially edition-al collector-efic package of the best version of Assassin's Creed III and love it like the rest of 'em. For the newbies, take some research notes down, because you're in for something really different. Assassin's Creed III slices up 5 eggs out of 6.
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