By Juan D. Perez—
Assassin’s Creed 3 is the first game in the notable series that abandons the charismatic Etzio as the protagonist. Now they have introduced Connor, a Native American with mixed European blood.
After three games starring Etzio having ended on such a sour note, UBISOFT decided to finally make a number 3. This one is big and beautiful, leaving behind the European and Middle Eastern settings for the New World America during the Revolutionary War.
The colonial setting is a nice change but it lacks that essence of pre-civilization ruins that decorated the previous versions of the Assassin’s Creed games—and as for Connor, he’s a bit too naive for my taste. But, his innocent, optimistic, black and white views of the world and notions of freedom will cause you to develop a connection for his story that compels you to play.
However, that is not what you want to know. You want to know if the game is good; well, sit back, relax, and read.
First there’s its story; it begins with a brief recap of the story in the world of Assassin’s Creed and the events that took place in the previous games so you get a full understanding of events so far. When you are done with the cliff notes of the past games you don’t begin as Connor right away, but as a man named Haythm.
For the first five hours you play as him and it’s just a tutorial. But this tutorial is a story arch that does a great job setting up the game’s story, the motivations of Connor, and a twist of what is going on in the Assassin’s Creed universe.
The story also applies more depth with Desmond and what the whole point of chasing down the apple of Eden was for in the past few games. As for the main setting, what it lacks in historical depth it makes up for with the setup of a more realistic and human take on our founding fathers, and a different perspective on American History during the revolutionary war.
I would go into more depth but that would ruin the story, so let’s just say you meet a very different version of George Washington than what you’ve read in the history books, and you get to participate in some of the most influential events during the Revolutionary War. As far as the story goes it’s a good narrative worth playing through.
Next, we look at gameplay; the structure has changed a bit, but is still mission based with nice little interludes before and after each mission, just as in the previous games.
As for the combat, it’s still the same but much more challenging and the new death animations add a bit of spark when fighting.
The setting also changes the way Connor traverses the world. In the previous games, you had tall monuments and dense buildings allowing for fun rooftop antics; but here it’s limited to just houses and trees with wide open spaces that are too large and force you to waste too much time getting from point A to point B. That opens up a new aspect not seen in the previous games—hunting.
In this game you have the opportunity to go out and hunt animals and treasures, which is okay, but you may miss the big complex jumps of the previous games and the small dense areas that gave you so many options on how to travel and complete missions.
Next, it’s upgrades. In previous games you made money by purchasing stores and collecting rent, but here you have to develop your farm, recruit residents, and deal with a new economy system that is more cumbersome than fun.
As you work on developing your farm, after a few optional story elements, you begin to develop a sense of accomplishment that you didn’t get from the previous games. You actually begin to take interest in developing your farm not only for the upgrades, but for the personal touches it adds to the depth that is Connor.
One of my favorite new additions to the game is the naval elements; with ships you get to have fun battles reminiscent of old pirate films. This is a first for the Assassin’s Creed universe and it is fun upgrading your ship and engaging in emotionally charged addictive naval battles.
I found myself replaying naval battles just to try and fulfill the optional elements of mission objectives, a nice new addition that is sadly not utilized enough.
Lastly, we have your arsenal. It’s primitive and lacks that Da Vinci touch from the last few games. The missions become challenging and frustrating to complete with such a limited weapons and tools selection, but the positive trade-off is that you’re forced to look more carefully at your surroundings as you carry out missions.
For gameplay and the world it’s good, not great. The new additions add depth but they are more frustrating than fun, with the exception of Naval Battles. Bottom-line, it feels a little too different than what I’m used to from the previous Assassin’s Creed games, but it’s still fun.
Is it worth a look? I’d have to say absolutely. Even with all the changes, both good and bad, it’s fun. The story pulls you in, the new elements add depth, and looking at American historical figures more realistically makes this game worth it.