Come and join the Revolution in the best Assassin's Creed game since AC2
Shortly after Revelations, Desmond, his father William, Rebecca, and Shaun find the Temple in a cave in New York. Desmond activates a large portion of the equipment, as well as an apparent timer to the event expected on December 21, 2012. He then falls into a fugue, at which point he is, once again, returned to the Animus and goes back to 1750 to join an ancestral Assassin in Britain, a noble named Haytham Kenway. We join Haytham as he steals a sort of "key" from a man he assassinated in an opera house and is sent to America.
But he isn't even the hero of this story, that would be a Native American named Connor. We join him in his childhood where we see his home village is attacked by a group of Colonists, and his mother burned alive in her own home. Years later, a teenage Connor is told by the village Elder shows him a sphere, which allows him to communicate with Juno. Juno informs Connor that his tribe are guardians of a Temple, and unless he leaves, his village will be destroyed and his people slaughtered. He then journeys across the frontier to reach the elderly Achilles Davenport, a retired Master Assassin. He reluctantly recruits Connor into the decaying order. Years of training pass and Connor becomes an assassin, and he must put an end to the templars' plans and avenge his home and mother. For the most part, this is probably the most interesting story in the series since AC2. Connor is a decent character but you will find that he isn't nearly as interesting as Ezio from the last few games. The only part of the story that is truly bad is the ending, more specifically Desmund's ending. The other problem is the game itself starts off at a crawl. The Haytham parts feel slow and tiresome but at least it kicks off the plot.
One thing you will notice is the combat has been completely revamped since the last game. One thing that Assassin's Creed has been weak at is the simplified combat system but has tried to improve on it with each game. Luckily, they completely changed it to get the most fluid combat yet in the series. It's almost like the Batman Arkham games where you can pull off combos upon hitting one person with your sword. You can counter like always but when you do, the game freezes and you have the option to kill/hurt them, disarm them or simply throw them to the side. It's faster and more fluid, making it the most fun combat in the series.
The game's environment is a thing of beauty. You only have two large cities to roam around in; Boston and New York but they both look fantastic in all of their late 18th century glory. Like previous games there are multiple things to do like side missions, finding collectables, shopping and of course, parkouring across the rooftops. If you get tired of the city, there is also the woods to explore now. Now you can climb trees instead of buildings which is more fun than ever. Once again there are errands to complete here too, but the best part is you can also hun animals from rabbits and deer to bears and elks. Much in the ways of Red Dead Redemption, the only purpose of hunting is to gain a profit for yourself. You can use your bow, hidden blades and even set traps for the smaller animals. Once again, the game's environment is as immersive as ever and the frontier really helps add to the game's style.
The main story spans over 30 to 40 years in time, mostly taking place during the American Revolution where you can fight in famous events before, during and after the war. Events like the Boston Tea Party, Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and so much more are present. The game isn't 100% historically accurate and unfortunately, some of these battles aren't as fun as they sound but it's still a blast to actually partake in these historical events and the missions themselves are fun to play through. What's even more fun are the naval battles. Here, you captain your own ship and your goal usually involves sinking every ship in the area and/or protecting other ships so they can safely pass. You must command your crew to raise/lower sails, fire your canons and even duck down to avoid enemy fire. Out of all the extra gameplay that Assassin's Creed likes to throw into their games, this one stands above the rest. The ship controls are tight and each mission will leave you begging for more. Each mission gets more difficult so be sure to upgrade your ship every now and then.
Much like Revelations improved on Brotherhood's multiplayer, Ubisoft improves on the multiplayer even further here. Besides the usual cat and mouse modes from previous games where you must assassinate an assigned target while avoiding being assassinated yourself, there are over 12 modes, one of which is Domination where players hold certain points on the map. Players utilise stealth and advance assassination techniques to get more points like always but there are differences such as now, when your assassin is close, you'll hear whispers in the air which can really get you paranoid, but at least you have fair warning. Multiplayer was always interesting in this series and now, it is more fun than ever.
The major problem with this game is there are plenty of glitches and bugs to go around. However, there are little to none that are game breaking and none of them hinder your enjoyment of this fantastic addition to the Assassin's Creed series. With an improved combat and multiplayer, immersive environment, excellent naval battles and the gameplay that you all know and love, Assassin's Creed 3 proves to be one of the best in the entire series. It is definitely worth a purchase to any fans of the series or even fans of action/adventure games, even if you haven't experienced an Assassin's Creed game yet.