'Assassin's Creed III' Review: I am (More) Disappoint

     Like thousands of other gamers at a thousand other Gamestops, I picked up Assassin's Creed III on Monday at midnight. I was so psyched for this game. For years I poured over the lore and speculated as to what was to come. I crafted a costume to wear to the midnight release. I was ready to see how the story ends... *sigh*. Brace yourselves, Assassin's Creed fanboys, this blog is about to live up to its name... (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)

Meh - The Story DID NOT Live up to Expectations... Especially the Ending
     Ubisoft... WHAT ARE YOU DOING? It feels like they brought in someone completely different to write this one. Yes, the twists are pretty crazy; the whole, "I've just been playing for two hours as the bad guy!" really threw me off (in a good way). I liked Achilles and how he taught Connor the ways of the Assassins. I liked how a lot of historical events were tied into the game, making Connor the reason many of these events unfolded the way they did. I really enjoyed the 'present day' missions. Then, we came to the end...

      I'd heard that Ubisoft said that this would be the end of Desmond's story. Well, yeah, he's pretty dead. But how he died is absolutely ridiculous. The ending was one of the worst endings I've ever seen. It set itself up to be a "multiple ending" story, then railroaded you into the one that seemed like the "bad" ending. The explanation of what happens afterward was very vague. What happened to Rebecca, Shaun, and William? Did they defeat Abstergo and the Templars? Who is Juno and what exactly did she do to get herself locked up? I have no doubt in my mind that they're setting us up for yet another game (or games). Instead of an ending to the story, we're left with more questions.

And where was this part? Did I miss it somewhere?

EXTRA: Now that I sit back and think, the whole series has been setting us up to release Juno from her prison. From the very get go, both Abstergo and the Assassins have been looking for the place she's locked up in. MIND BLOWN. But now that she's out, what's going to happen? This is a great twist, but also a brand new piece of the story. Again, the ending didn't answer anything, but left plenty of questions. I sense the series will get even more ridiculous if they continue to make more...

     Another issue: Lucy. I hate how they wrapped Lucy's story up. "What's the deal with Lucy?" "Oh, she was an Abstergo agent." "And?" "And... you should probably get back in the Animus." For a character that most everyone got really attached to, and whose death at the end of Brotherhood caused many a fanboy to cry out in anger, they did a terrible job of tying her story up. My biggest issue with this is that she's never mentioned as part of the main story. You have to interrogate Rebecca, Shaun, and William until they spill the beans, and even then the 'beans' are small and not very filling. Their explanations didn't fill me with any sadness or a sense of closure. In the end, one of the most prominent characters became little more than a footnote on a forgotten page...

     Yet another issue (and possibly speculation for the next game): The assault on Abstergo. I might be alone here, but when William said he'd go alone to get the last power cell, my paranoia immediately took over and I thought for sure he was an Abstergo agent. He went alone so that he could set up a plan to get the Apple of Eden out of Desmond's hands, or to get rid of the troublesome underling, Vidic. My paranoid mind went there, because of how the series has trained it to do so. I've come to question everything about these games. What is it... "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." The problem arises when they don't do anything with that built up paranoia and just let it go the way it seems to be going, which is how most of the story has progressed so far.

Also missing were these giant battles I was so looking forward to...

     For most of the game, I didn't really know who to root for. The lines between Assassin and Templar seemed really muddied this time around. On several occasions, I found myself siding with the Templars, and a few times the game forced you to ally with Templars because our goals were "aligned". Connor's story became more about vengeance and less about doing things for the greater good. At some points, it didn't feel like an Assassin's Creed game at all.  However, the story as a whole is decent, and is one of my lesser grumbles.

SECOND OPINION: Perhaps I was too hard on the story. To be honest, it's not that bad. The ending is terrible, yes, but the story up until then is actually pretty good. The voice acting is spot on (even if the character models look terrible sometimes). I can't really say it was a terrible story because it closely parallels Ezio's in AC II. His family is killed, so he hunts down those responsible and executes some Renaissance-y justice. The reason it didn't feel like an Assassin's Creed game is probably because we've been playing as Ezio for three games, and to not have him feels really weird. It may also be because Ubisoft insists on changing the HUD every game. Seriously, pick one and stick with it...  

     Most of my complaints focus on how unpolished the game is...

Blech - This Game Engine is the Very Definition of "Unpolished"
     When I heard that Ubisoft had created separate team to work on this right after AC II came out, I was excited. They said that they had overhauled all the graphics and the gameplay, upgrading them on several levels. The trailers looked really good, and I was looking forward to seeing the game in action. Now that I've played it, I'll be honest... I liked the AC II engine a whole lot better. Yes, the graphics were a bit dated, but they were still good and really didn't need an overhaul. These new graphics are shiny, but not much else. The mouth and facial animations are decent, but there's a strange glint in everyone's eyes, which is really unnerving. Then there's the clipping issues... OH, THE CLIPPING ISSUES.

     I don't know how this new engine can be considered an improvement. Someone drops a box on the ground and I walk right through it. I go to skin an animal in the forest and it sinks about a foot into the ground when I approach. Capes clip through horse's backs. You can walk through curtains. The cutscenes are an absolute nightmare. Connor opens the carriage door and some random passerby walks right through the door. Later, as Connor walks towards the gallows, a guard steps out in the way and Connor and two others walk straight through him. When people aren't clipping through each other, there are these strange flashes in the cutscenes where the screen goes completely white for a second. As I walk down the road, people pop into and out of existence, sometimes not three feet in front of me. Gone, just... *POOF!*

SECOND OPINION: I popped the game back in and played for a little while, just to see if doing some of the side quests would change my mind on how I perceive the game. Unfortunately, it didn't have that result. In the paragraph above, I explained that people just disappear right in front of me. I hadn't paid too much attention to it until I finished the game, but it's even worse than I thought. On more than one occasion I have watched whole streets full of people go empty right in front of my eyes. I thought, "Maybe its a limitation by the hardware of the X-box." But my brother, who has it for PS3, has the exact same thing happen to him. He also has a terrible texture pop in problem. I watched as he climbed a tower whose textures took more than fifteen seconds to show up. He was almost to the top of the tower before the textures finally appeared. 

     I also had a problem with one of the "Liberation" missions. I was given a target, so I went around him to take him out from behind. As I fired my musket, he disappeared. I was stuck in the mission, unable to continue. I had to reload a checkpoint and do it all over again. This character pop in and out is unacceptable for a game of this caliber...

     Then there are the floating muskets, clipping muskets... muskets in trees...

I've encountered such weaponry before...

     At one point, I bought a new outfit, you know, to change things up a bit. It looked great... until I went into the next cutscene. Suddenly, I was jerked out of the immersion by, "Where's my spiffy new outfit?" Unlike AC II or Brotherhood, which show the different outfits in the cutscenes, the AC III cutscenes revert Connor back to his default outfit. I was running around in a black and red outfit, but had a white and blue one in every cutscene. It broke the immersion and increased my disdain for the game each time.

     How this game ever cleared quality testing is a mystery. It really does look like they shoved this game out just to get it out. If the game wasn't hard enough on the eyes, it made up for it by being hard on the brain...

Meh - The Controls and Gameplay are "Derp"
     I don't know if I've ever fought so hard with a game before. Most of the time, my commands have a sort of delay. I go to place a bomb or something of the sort and Connor just stands there for a moment. I'm like, "Are you... Are you going to do it? Do I need to press it again or...", then he does it. Some of the controls don't always work like they're supposed to. For instance, the "meat shield" ability. I'm in combat and about to get shot by a firing line, so I run up to someone nearby and mash the buttons. Nothing happens, and a second later I get a lead shower. I've gotten it to work a few times, but it just doesn't work when I need it to. Then there's the "pick up weapon" stupidity. You have to hold down the "run" button, then press the "interact" button. Half the time I end up running past the weapon I want to pick up, or run around in circles until I finally grab it. I will say that I did like the upgrades to the combat, even though it wasn't until the last chapter that I figured out how to use it properly.

SECOND OPINION: Now that I've gone back and messed around a little with it, I really do like the combat. You do have to know what you're doing and who you're fighting, but once you do it's a piece of cake. Some of the kill variations are crazy, and the effort and attention they put into them is astonishing. Meat shield still doesn't work when it's supposed to though...

Whoops... That's your fault, Reginald...

     As for gameplay, several of the objectives are vague. At one point, I was supposed to capture a target, but the directions said to "chase" the target. So, I chased him. Halfway through my second loop around New York, I realized that we were going in circles. I continued to follow, thinking that it would probably end in a cutscene or dead end when the target got tired. After FIVE times around the same city block, I figured this wasn't the case. So, I set up a trap and shot him on his way out of an alley. Oh no, game over. So then I tried those spiffy new rope darts. The third dart killed him. Then I tried beating him up as he was coming out of the alley. He pushed me over and kept going. For over ten minutes I ran around New York, trying my hardest to figure out what I was supposed to do. I finally ran after him as fast as I could and mashed the "punch" button. Then I tackled him, and the game continued.

     Simply changing the word "chase" to "capture" or "catch" would have been so much clearer. Perhaps I was a little bit slow on this one, but that really doesn't matter. The directions were vague, and made that particular part a real pain.

     Another issue: many of the assassinations seemed very cheap. When I assassinated someone, it didn't have the same feeling as that of the other games. A lot of the time, it was because of the Q.T.E.s ("quick time events"). I felt they cheapened the experience of hunting down and killing your target. I miss the days of stalking a target from the rooftops until the most opportune moment arrives, then leaping down on top of them and taking them out. I can understand Q.T.E.s for the animal attacks, but they were really unnecessary for the assassinations.

     I will say that the Naval battles were a blast to play. It was simple, yet incredibly engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed blasting an enemy ship to splinters, then boarding it and taking out its commanders. They could make a game out of that alone, and I think a lot of people would buy it. Definitely an improvement over that awful "tower defense" game from Revelations.

Aye, avast! Hoist the mainsail! Swab the poop deck! Prepare for boarders! Um... yeah, I'm all out of sailing jargon...

JUST... NO - Fast Travel is Horribad 
     I have never encountered a more backwards fast-travel system before. In order to get from Boston to New York, I have to go to a waypoint at the edge of Boston. One loading screen. Then I have to turn around and run into the Frontier. Two loading screens. Then I have to go to a waypoint at the edge of the Frontier. Three loading screens. Then turn and run into New York. Four loading screens. That's four loading screens to get from one place to another. Later on, I found you could use the harbors to get from city to city. Even then, I have to use a waypoint to get to the harbor, then use the harbor to get to the place I want to go. Two loading screens. That's still one loading screen too many. Why can't I just pull up the map and click on where I want to go?

SECOND OPINION: Nope, still horribad. I actually stopped playing my second playthrough because I realized I'd have to put up with the fast travel eventually. That's how much I hate it...

     Speaking of an unnecessary waste of time...

Blech - Poor Game Direction
          Several cutscenes didn't really make a whole lot of sense. The scene at the end where they go to dig up the 'key' was so short and poorly executed that it really didn't make much sense to put it in there. There are also several sequences where a cinematic ends and it plops you back into the game... so you can run to the door, exit the tavern, and wait another few seconds for another loading screen to pass. Why didn't it just put me outside the tavern? Then at the end, there's a cutscene, twenty feet of running, then another cutscene. Were these short sequences of running really necessary? Why didn't they just put it all in one cutscene? Each time it happened, I couldn't help but feel it was a waste of time.

     Then there's the issue of translation. Normally, the Animus translates whatever the native language is into English. It did so with Altair in the Middle East, then again with Ezio in Italy, Rome, and Constantinople (with a few words bleeding through and remaining in the native language). Why then, was all the Mohawk language still in Mohawk? Now, I'm not racist; I have nothing against Native Americans. However, why change this part of the game? There are still points where Connor talks to the French and they speak English with a few French words thrown in for flavor. Isn't it a part of the Animus's job to translate?

What was your name? Raton... Ratonhnh... Ra... You know what? I'll call you Connor.

     To go along with the fast travel foolishness, the Homestead area was poorly designed. For one, when you fast travel there, it plops you down several hundred meters from the manor itself. Then you have to run through the forest and swim across a lake to reach it. I feel like I have to do a triathalon every time I want to go home. Is it so much to ask to make the Manor itself a fast travel destination from anywhere on the map?

     Another waste of time is the hunting. While it was different and looked good on paper, it didn't translate well into gameplay. One of the best things about Monteriggioni and Rome is that they generate money automatically, without your input. With hunting, you have to manually go out and get goods. Then there's crafting and trading... AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT! I'm too busy killing dudes to worry about upgrading my home. Upgrading Monteriggioni or buying shops in Rome would make me more money automatically, but the Homestead didn't work that way... at least, I don't think it did. I didn't really spend too much time in the Homestead. As I said, no one has time for that...

I swear! He had the tomahawk in him before I found him!

Good - The Music is Really Good, a Constant of the AC Series
     Finally a green rating, right? The music is really good, yet again. The intensity of the music during a chase scene made it feel all the more urgent to get away. It's the kind of music I'd want to be playing if I was running away from someone.

Mixed - Multiplayer
     I'll tell you right now, I've never played any of the Assassin's Creed multiplayer. In my opinion, Assassin's Creed doesn't need multiplayer, especially this game. I feel that the resources used on the multiplayer took away from the main game, possibly causing it to be as bad as it is. Had the developers put more time and effort into the game engine and graphics, maybe they wouldn't have been so bad.

That does look like quite the party though...

Final Thoughts
     Halfway through the game, I was ready to be done with it. It felt like a chore to play, but I kept going to get to the ending. I was eager to see the end of the story, but with an ending like that, Assassin's Creed IV is most likely right around the corner. I was ready for this thing to end, but Ubisoft apparently doesn't know when to quit. I miss Ezio now; his stories were always so much better. Even after I gave Revelations a thrashing, it's still so much better than AC III. I'm sure that the fanboys of all the major game magazine companies will give AC III a fantastic review, a 9 out of 10 or better, but this is just not the case. Ubisoft has become a money grubber like all the rest, releasing filler titles while fanboys soak it up and shell out the cash. I fear it's become an annual title, like Call of Duty. If you had been waiting for an end to an epic saga, you'll be sorely disappointed. Because of all these problems, both in story and gameplay, I can't recommend this to anyone, fan or not.

Do I Recommend It?

No, the bad outweighs the good this round...

SECOND OPINION:
Yes, if you're a fan of the series, but you will more than likely dislike the ending. 
If you want a really good Assassin's Creed experience, go get AC II or Brotherhood.

     I know a lot of people will probably blast me for this, but this is how I feel about this latest installment. It just didn't live up to the expectations we had for it, and the game engine was so far from properly finished it makes me cringe. I'm going to play it again, now that I know how it goes, and I'll post a rebuttal if anything changes...