Assassin’s Creed 3 has been out for over a week, and is about to get completely eclipsed by Halo 4, and then Black Ops 2. Sadly I’ve only had a few days to play it. Oh the life of a collage student is truly a tough one when a man can’t spare more than a few days to play video games. I’m sure you’ll weep for me. Anyway, I’m nowhere near far enough through the game to give anything close to a review, but I can go over some of the major changes I’ve noticed thus far, and discuss what makes AC3 different, if only slightly, from its predecessors.
I think the immediate thing you’ll notice is that the graphics have been given quite the upgrade. It’s quite a sight for sore eyes after three games of mainly the same animations. The game immediately throws a beautiful cinematic at you, roughly explaining the last four games that lead up to the one you’re currently playing. Afterwards we can begin to see the updates graphics in action. It reminded me mildly of playing L.A. Noire; and what I mean by that is that the facial animation seems to shine. Not the best I’ve ever seen, but definitely memorable. It’s the subtle movements of mouths, or the twitch of an eyebrow that really impresses. And the frontier scenery really is beautiful when you take a moment to look around.
Running and climbing, which could easily sum up the majority of time spent in all of these games, has been streamlined, finally. The right trigger has been adjusted so that the harder you squeeze, the faster you run. You don’t have to worry about holding three buttons when you want to escape enemies anymore. Climbing has been given a similar treatment. You jump, climb fast, and leap over objects automatically, something that I think should have been thrown in a while ago. It definitely adds to the over all feel of the game to not have to worry about whether or not you can make a jump, or if you’re holding down the right button combination. Climbing becomes second nature, a feature that really makes you feel more in tune with the game.
Naval missions are now a part of game play, and I must say I find them rather enjoyable. It breaks up your normal traversing of the colonial landscape and offers a nice challenge on the open sea. Controlling your ship, The Aquila, is both fun and challenging, and fighting enemies at sea is thrilling and fast paced. And the allure of the lost treasure of Captain Kidd is too strong to resist; you find clues and go sailing off in search of pirate bounty! I might end up finishing all the naval missions before I move onto the rest of the game!
There are some other upgrades and new mechanics that might be worth mentioning, but I don’t want to give away too much of what the game is made of, (also I need something to talk about in my review!) I’m not even a quarter of the way through and I already love this game. If you can find the time, and the money, between Halo 4 this week and Black Ops 2 next week, I would definitely recommend picking up Assassin’s Creed 3, and continuing the battle between the Assassins and the Templars.
(Image courtesy of controlleronline.com)
Gamenomics & Comicology 