Finally! A new era, new protagonist, refined controls and a big breathe of fresh air!
I personally love this era for a game, I was always fascinated by the American Revolution and to play a game where you interact with George Washington, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin and many other historical characters from such an amazing event in history is awesome.
Desmond's story continues, thankfully not as Ezio again, not hating but I love the change of scenery and main character. You now jump in the animus and take control of Desmond's ancestor, Ratonhnhaké:ton, who is half English and Half Mohawk Indian. Thankfully he adopts the name Connor. Connor seems to be the most appealing of Desmond's ancestors. Altair was more of a guy who took orders, though he questioned what he was told he still followed through with obedience. Ezio was a young ladies man, cocky, arrogant and he took to the Assassin's to avenge his Father and brothers' death at the hands of betrayal. Connor actually wasn't raised by an assassin, nor did he even know what it was until he was in his late teens. His drive to do what he does comes for the good of the people and more for the good of HIS people. I don't want to spoil anything but he is often defending his village from the British and the Templars. As a child his village is attacked, his mother killed and he vows revenge against Charles Lee, the man responsible.
Aside from playing as Connor you also take control of Desmond. Unfortunately the Desmond parts leave you wanting more as they are linear and short. It is cool to play the role as an assassin in a modern day settings and I look forward to seeing if they will eventually got that path.
This game takes place in Boston, New York, Valley Forge, Bunker Hill, and the frontier. Sadly Philadelphia is only in the game for a few minutes as you attend the Continental Congress. I'm from Philadelphia and I was disappointed that the city isn't playable in this game. It would have been awesome to see the city like it was in the 1770's.
Gameplay is much more solid in this game. The fighting controls seem less sluggish and remind me of the Bataman Arkham series combat controls. You can now do double counters and enemies attack much more often even when you are in the middle of performing a kill on another enemy. Free running seems smoother and you no longer have to hold X with the R1 button as it is now only R1. I've noticed Connor isn't as fast as Ezio or Altair and he doesn't seem to jump as far either, but he can run through the treeline which is awesome as well as cut through buildings in the town. He also has more of a savage, gruesome fighting style and he seems to be the strongest of the three. He features new weapons too such as the tomahawk, pistol, and rope dart. I did notice this game seems to have a few bugs here and there, nothing to break the game but some noticeable ones such as sometimes characters mouths don't move when they talk, or people being stuck in an object in the environment, nothing major but I didn't see these things as much in previous installments.
You have your standard main story missions like all other AC games but they've added allot to do to keep you playing after the credits roll. There are liberation missions ranging from stopping Red Coats from evicting, taxing, or harassing American citizens, you also have to carry people infected with the pox to a doctor and burn pox infested blankets, kill rabid dogs attacking people or distract merchants while starving children get something to eat from them. There are also assassination contracts as well. You have a Homestead that you must upkeep and you do missions to bring in new people to improve the land. treasures make a return in this game and you have to pick certain locks to open some. There are also 7 forts in the game that you can take over and claim for the Patriots. There are naval missions where you battle other ships, it's pretty cool. You can collect the Poor Richard's Almanac pages for Ben Franklin or find trinkets for some gnarly old crazy pirate dude in exchange for maps to a secret treasure. There is also a hunting system implemented. So like I said there is allot to do to keep you playing.
I haven't really played online so I can't say how it is yet but all in all this is a very good game, the story's ending is a little underwhelming but everything packed into this game is well worth the price. This is in my opinion the best of the series.