Although AC3 might have been a great game, story and design flaws keep it from being anything but a mediocre sequel.
So what is Connor, whom we follow since he's a kid, like? Much like the stereotype of a native person, he's uneducated and naive. Although we aren't treated to his first steps in civilization (though it may be amusing to imagine him trying to grasp the concept of firearms), this childish naivety never leaves him. He sees complicated, conflicted men as heartless monsters and never listens to anything he's told. This, coupled with his lack of purpose, makes him not only forgettable, but extraordinarily annoying. It may suffice to say that although every time he kills one of his adversaries he instantly learns they meant well for him and his people, he continues to mow them down, only accepting putting a tomahawk through a britons head as a good solution. In a world of tricky truths and convoluted lies, Connor happily makes assumptions based on his narrow viewpoint of the situation, then proceeds to murder people based on those assumptions.
One of the themes of AC3 is supposed to be how there are no rights or wrongs and how most situations can, and should, be solved by negotiation rather than bloodshed, and the game puts those points across pretty well. We see a templar try to protect native tribes by purchasing the land their villages are standing on, and such situations arise often in the game. However, most of them are wasted by the main character, who upon learning that his enemy is not who he thought jauntily continues his killing spree. And worst of all, the storylines never outright proves him wrong. Although it's often punctuated how many of his supposed foes were good people, this is never expanded on, which is a pity. Instead of weaving his way through a complex landscape of different ideas and beliefs, our hammy protagonist chooses to hack his way through it with an array of predictable weapons. And in the end, he reaches his goal anyway, although he doesn't seem too happy about it (possibly because he never shows any emotion at all.
But enough about the character, now let's talk about gameplay - one of the series stronger points. Combat has been "redesigned", which mostly means it now features little "counter now" indicators that show up when an enemy attacks and health regenerates automatically instead of needing medicine. Fair enough. One of the other changes, however, is how certain enemies can stop your special attacks if not weakened enough. I'm sure it was supposed to be a good thing, and failing that, to increase the difficulty of battle, but it's hard to find your rhythm in a fight when every attack or counter you use against a redcoat officer end with him blocking your blow and punching you in the face, with nothing you can do to stop him.
The worst thing about combat, however, is the weapons. As a primary weapon, Connor can use his fists, a hidden blade+knife combo, a small weapon (tomahawk or dagger) and a large weapon (sword, axe or club). Although this may sounds exciting, the truth is there is no perceivable difference in using a dagger, sword, or hidden blade. Combat is shallow and repetitive and consists mostly of pressing the counter button when someone attacks you, and then killing as many enemies as you can during your kill combo before an enemy stops your attack and punches you in the face. And when sneaking up behind an enemy, you might find yourself dumbfounded when faced with a choise of three weapons that handle exactly the same. And to make things worse, there's at least eight different swords any a variety of kinds of every other weapon, and the only difference between them is some of them do a little more damage and some strike a little faster.
There is no more variety in secondary weapons - Connor has a bow (good for silent hunting but borderline unusable in combat), a pistol (loud but fast, although it takes a long time to reload), some poison darts (kill without arising suspicion), rope darts (pretty much useless, although in the exactly right conditions they let you hang your foe off a tree), smoke bombs to escape pursuits and trip mines to set traps for unsuspecting patrols. Sadly, rare is the occasion that you would actually need to choose between a bow and a pistol, as both handle similarly. To make it worse, the weapon choice wheels are now gone, and replaced with a bulky and slow menu. There's nothing less climatic than pausing your game for five seconds to choose that pistol you wanted.
As usual, your alternative to a fight is running. However, running away has suffered much since Revelations. Ignoring the fact that your character no longer needs a button prompt to start climbing (which might lead to annoyance when instead of evading a redcoat patrol by sprinting into a narrow alley Connor runs up a buildings wall, finds nothing to grab hold of, and falls), enemies seem a lot more perceptive this time around. By such, when you scale a tall apartament building to try and break pursuit you might instead find that your enemies have no problem with following you from the ground, occasionally shooting at you with their muskets. And since the minimap does not show enemies who chase you, it's hard to know if you can make it around the corner before your assailants can shoot you in the back. And although Connor is agile enough for his usual, peaceful climbing, his parkour moves are too slow for evading armed enemies. Coupled with the fact that most enemies require only a single blow to kill and Connor has a LOT of health (occasionally capable of shrugging off whole barrages of musket fire), you'll probably find yourself sticking to fighting most of the time.
In fact, it's highly probable that the only time you'll use stealth is when it's enforced by "Don't get detected while you..." missions. AC3 is by no means a stealth game, and don't expect it to.
You might remember using a flying machine or a chariot in AC2, or being pulled behind a horse in Revelations. The new games features no such moments. Instead it opts to include naval battles which, although they only use a few buttons, prove to be a fun pastime. Another well realised (although useless) element is a hunting mechanic, which lets you use snares, bait, cover and surprise attacks to hunt animals, which in turn yield "valuable" body parts.
Other side missions aren't nearly as polished. Over the course of the game, you will be encouraged to collect eagle feathers from treetops, trinkets from all over the place (this is the in fact the best developed sub-plot, featuring some of the games best missions), liberate districts of Boston and New York by performing menial tasks (like carrying several ill civilians to a makeshift hospital), beat up certain individuals to get the respect of Boston Brawlers, debunk Frontiersmen' legends (Which let you find out the "truth" behind Sasquatch, sea monsters, flying saucers, and more), deliver mail and packages, assassinate targets for money or gamble for boardgames. Most of these side-features, however, don't give you any incentive to use them, which is a pity.
The assassin brotherhood system also makes an appearance and lets you liberate whole states from Templar control by sending your recruits, yet gives no actual rewards except the ability to call for help in a pinch (though you'll rarely use it, seeing as most fights can be easily won by yourself).
The worst, however, are the homestead missions. You see, our hero lives in a mansion with his mentor, and the peace of land around the mansion is slowly expanding into a village as Connor saves civilians and they come to stay with him. Although this may sound intriguing, this is merely a method of gaining in-game many by crafting items and selling them (either with simple 'sell' option in a store or a needlessly-convoluted-and-never-fully-explained convoy menu). Since the crafting system, although it's painfully complicated and you don't get a tutorial to it, is the only way of acquiring some useful items, you may in time start wondering why is it that you can't craft a second pistol holster for your character (hint - it's probably because your tailor is not level 3 yet, and you don't have the exact type of wood in your inventory, because you didn't do a certain mission in New York that lets your carpenter supply it to you.)
To make things worse, the plot is... Well, let's say "complicated". It feels as if the story of Connor was crudely pasted onto a historic background of the revolution. One minute you will seek revenge upon your mother's killer, and the next you'll be going into long debates with George Washington while you sit on battlements and do nothing. In the end, you may feel like rich historical background hurts the game instead of improving it. What doesn't help is the lack of strong, interesting characters, which may lead to confusion as you try to remember who exactly is it Connor is talking to, and why you should care.
Many of the story missions have received internet ridicule for being snore-inducingly boring, and rightly so. Often you'll find that if you want to have fun playing the game, it's not in the main plot. A typical sequence may consist of you riding a horse alongside a historical character while listening to them, eavesdropping on a guard while hidden in a bush, two cutscenes and a run to the other side of the city. The game does not give you nearly as much freedom as you would expect from an Assassins Creed game, although the visuals of the city aren't as bad as you would think.
To sum it up, AC3 is not a bad game. It suffers from rather uninspired design and plot and a two-dimensional protagonist, and is not as well polished as it might have been. Some interesting story and gameplay developments make it a must for any fans, however it might not entertain you nearly as much as you expect. Buy at your own risk, or better yet, wait for it to get cheaper. It's not going anywhere.