Assassin’s Creed 3 may be ever so slightly glitchy every now and again, but it manages to be an infinitely playable game that delivers great gameplay, a brilliant adventure and the kind of graphics that will make you stop and admire the scenery as much as you’ll want to saddle up your horse and head out looking for adventure. Released on the Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows it’s genuinely a must play game, adding even more genius to the Ubisoft series.
Storyline
The plot begins in the 21st Century as returning character, Desmond Miles, as he and a small group of assassins enter the Grand Temple to use the Animus – an ancient technology created by an advanced race that suffered near oblivion during a global disaster thousands of years before – to relive the events of his ancestors in a bid to unlock the full power of the Temple to prevent a recurrence of the apocalyptic disaster from striking again in 2012.
Desmond pretty much become his ancestors in the past, including Templar master, Haytham Kenway, and his son, Ratonhnhaké:ton, known as Conner, to find clues to the technology they need to save the world. You travel back to the 18th Century in a sprawling adventure that sees you travel from London to Boston, New York and other parts of Colonial America. The timeline of events span the period of the beginnings and end of the American Revolution taking you on a stunningly brutal journey in the past.
The only cautionary tale to add on the storyline is that it can get a little complex at times as it jumps around, so you’ll need to pay attention to the cut scenes to make sure you understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Assassins Creed 3 storyline review: 4.7/5
Gameplay
You play the game as the incredibly agile and battle hardened characters in third person perspective do you can see then free running or kicking colonial ass in stunning detail. You have a massive open world environment to roam around in, including 18th Century Boston and New York, as well as their frontier surroundings.
There is an impressive range of activity that Haytham and Conner get to take on from climbing into the crows nest of a ship to see the city of Boston as you port or taking a horse out to ride off for a mission in the frontier. However, everything is controlled very simply so no matter what you do it’s all pretty intuitive giving you the freedom to explore and get through missions without worrying about complex controller actions.
There’s also a relatively straightforward tutorial feature that explains what you need to do when a new skill presents itself. You’ll need to focus to keep up with the speed of the game, but in general you should be able to advance quite quickly whether you’re a novice or an old pro at the Assassins Creed style of gameplay. Once you had a couple of skirmishes or climbed a few buildings it all starts to fall into place for you to attack the game full tilt.
The gameplay sits somewhere in between the mission and free roaming of the Grand Theft Auto series (without the cars) and the stealth and fighting of Metal Gear Solid, only with 18th century weaponry. It’s incredibly addictive as you’re drawn in to the historically themed storyline, incredible action and stunning open world environment. While there are the odd one or two glitches that can impact your game playing, they pale into insignificance very quickly.
As well as red coats and packs of wolves to battle, an estate to grow, horses to ride and a significant number of missions to make it through, you’ll get a chance to take to the open waters in Conner’s ship, the Aquila. From here you’ll get to travel to the Caribbean and get involved in a whole mess of naval warfare, introducing a whole new element to the gameplay.
As well as the main storyline, there’s also plenty of side missions to get involved in, as well as online multiplayer action to keep the game going long after you complete it. You can online as a part of a team or you can go it alone to take all comers with a variety of game modes that include assassination targets, escape themes and capture the flag style territory based games.
The gameplay has a few extra features on the Nintendo Wii U version of the game, thanks to the touch screen visuals of the game pad. You can quickly switch between your weapons inventory on the move using the touch screen, as well as see more of the map to plan your routes better, but you can also take advantage of the off TV function of the gamepad to continue playing if someone else wants to use your television.
Assassins Creed 3 gameplay review: 4.8/5
Graphics
It’s hard to say a bad word about the graphics in Assassins Creed 3 as you’ll genuinely be open mouthed in awe at time thanks to the stunning countryside. The only real negatives are the minor and rare glitches that can crop up and the limited detail of facial definition in cut scenes, which is one of the few times you’ll be sure you’re playing a computer game instead of directing the action in a big budget frontier based film.
The animation of movement, combined with a slick refresh rate and amazing definition in the characters helps to add to the immersive nature of the game. However, it’s the detail during gameplay that really impressed, including the interaction with environmental features like trees and bushes and the lifelike trot, canter and gallop of the horses you get to ride around on.
Assassins Creed 3 graphics review: 4.5/5
Assassins Creed 3 is literally a must play game, whether you’ve got a 360, Wii U, PS3 or Windows PC. It’s got a sharp storyline, looks amazing and is laced with a wide range of impeccable gameplay features. It’ll keep you massively entertained while you’re playing and consume your thoughts when you’re not.
Assassins Creed 3 review: 4.7/5
