A declining entry in the series where primary development time seems to have been simply in creating the environment.

User Rating: 7.5 | Assassin's Creed III PC
I have played every AC game up to this point and this one is just a bit clunky and not as well created as other entries in the series. While the environment is beautifully done and demonstrates the effort of the creative team, the game play is lacking in many ways and feels dumbed down compared to other games played.

The addition of the ship battles was a nice addition but several other things appear to have been radically simplified. Here's a quick list:

1. Fighting is simply a one button affair. You can get through the entire story line quite effectively only using your hidden blade.

2. Scaling walls is not really needed or even interesting. It seems this previously main feature of the game has been drastically reduced. Sure, you can jump around the trees in the forest but who cares.

3. Many of the side options off of the path of the main story aren't all that interesting and just feel rushed and simplistic.

4. Main story missions were extremely simple compared to the previous games. Without revealing anything, the "last fight" was an absolute joke and nothing less than anti-climactic.

5. Money is pretty much worthless and not needed in many cases.

In so many ways, this game feels like a scaled back version. Other than the story that does certainly fit, it still follows a fairly straightforward step-by-step process that even the earliest entries did better.

For all the hype around this game, it is a bit shocking to me it has received such good scores. It really is just a big step back and, in my opinion, the worst entry in the series.