Assassin's Creed 3 Review: Conor, a brave new hero

Genre : Action - Adventure
Developer : Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher : Ubisoft
Platform : PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Web : assassinscreed.ubi.com



Most of the gamers know Assassin's Creed series, even people who are not related to that series. But there are some reasons for that. A story that based on the history, a big open world to explore, stealth, action, Venice, Rome, Istanbul, the unique outfit which is identified with heroes of the game... How many of you remember the excitement of climbing the highest building in the city and jumping down?

This time Assassin's Creed III has bigger areas to explore with a completely new character. Main story missions are based on collecting information, following and killing important people that we meet during the game. Also there are a lot of side missions. If you want to take a break from main missions, you can sail to open seas with the ship that is under your command and fight, you can collect Benjamin Franklin's almanacs, go out hunting, explore the open world, climb to the trees and rocks, etc. You can enjoy the freedom. But freedom comes with a price and all these things that you can do freely get you out of the main story sometimes. You will realize that some side missions are not relevant to the game.

Have you ever thought that why Ezio was the most popular character in the series? We have witnessed the adventure that begins in his youth, his relationship with his family and brothers, his enemies and even his love. We explored Venice, Rome, Istanbul together. We were Ezio. This time Ubisoft introduce us a new character. His name is Connor.
He is also known as Ratonhnhaké:ton. He father is British but he is raised by his Mohawk mother. We take the conrol of Connor from his childhood and control him almost a lifetime. Neither Americans nor British are your friends. You will fight both of them. The game takes place in American Revolution but this is not your fight. Connor's fight is to take his revenge from who took his village and mother from him.

We are taking control of Connor(Ratonhnhaké:ton) from his childhood.

We are not completely free in missions. You have to do what game wants you to do. One single mistake can cause to start all over. In a mission, I blew up an armory in a castle and jumped out through the castle walls. But when I was out, the mission started from the beginning. So you are not free to do what you want.
The Prologue part takes 4-5 hours. That means we got a long-lasting game here. Also that means you have to play a long time to completely take control of Connor. I started the game to take Connor's revenge but sometimes I felt like I was doing errands for American Revolution.

The game contains many changes like animation technology and graphics. In the first mission, you will notice the changes of graphics. Lighting effects, environment design and details are much more realistic. Also main characters' face designs and movements look better in this game. When you are in New York, you will feel like you are in a real living world with crowds in the city.
Unfortunately there are some problems and bugs in the game. First of all, game freezes at the loading screen which is very annoying. Also some people and animals suddenly dissappear sometimes, textures load after you get close, invisible walls and more. This game has more bugs than other games of the series. But don't worry, there is a patch that you can find on the internet. It fixes most of these bugs. But believe me, Assassin's Creed 3 without a patch is a headache.

So what are the most enjoyable parts of the game? Of course free running/climbing and fighting. Free running/climbing part is much more easier now. You can run and climb easily just by holding a button. Also rocks and trees are climbable in this game and it's easier than climbing a building.
Animus interface is more clear than previous games. If there is something around to interact, it seems like a spider web. You can change the settings about things that you want to see on the screen.(Health, incognito, weapons etc.)

Trees and rocks are climbable now. Enjoy the freedom!

There are some changes about fighting system too. In previous games, multiple enemies didn't attack you at the same time. Now you can fight with two enemies. All you need to do is pushing the counter attack button with a good timing and then pushing the attack button. When you do that correctly, you will see Connor killing enemies with a good animation. So you can't counter by pushing one button, you have to block an attack first. Connor is in a war and you will eliminate a lot of people with him. You will focus on killing and fighting in this game more than others.

Assassin's Creed 3's multiplayer is also fun and there is a new multiplayer mode, Wolf Pack. It's a co-op mode and your purpose is to kill enemies with your friends to get a high score. Assassin mode still exist and you must eliminate a NPC before you were killed by other players. Assassin's Creed III gives us new informations about Abstergo and Animus as we play multiplayer. That makes players spend more time in multiplayer mode.

The best way to piss Redcoats off is taking their rifles from them.

As I said before, you have to spend a long time to be completely free. Because game doesn't let you to explore the world freely at the beginning. This is a little annoying. After you take control of "assassin" Connor, the real fun starts. You can join sea wars and hunting clubs or you can team up with some assassins and fight the templars. I suggest you to take time to complete the side missions.

Assassin's Creed III is one of the best games of the year for most gamers. It does a good job with quality main story and the freedom in the game. But some graphical bugs might be a little annoying. Also there are some unnecessary missions in the game. But these things don't annoy you becasue this game is so much fun. Assassin's Creed III is a bit under my expectations but still a very good game. It's the end of the series. Do not miss out!

Here is an Assassin's Creed 3 gameplay trailer: