Assassin's Creed III is one of my favorite games in the series, following the young Assassin Connor during his life as he goes from his early life living with his tribe to becoming a full Assassins during 18th century Colonial America. Assassin's Creed III simplifies and make parkour more fluid being able to climb and run across trees, mountains and clifs. Combat has Connor dual wielding weapons as well as wielding a wide variety of weapons such as muskets, swords, pistols and more. Adding ever more mechanics such as weather, hunting and a homestead which you can help build up and grow makes the world feel much more lived in and believable. Assassin's Creed III is great with a fantastic story, characters, gameplay and alot of side content to do.

93/100

there's very little when it comes to nice things i have say about this game so let me begin with something that i did like before getting into it fully. Connor as a character is interesting and among the best across the series bringing a breath of fresh air to things. i'll go one further and say that Haytham was also solid and i enjoyed their relationship dynamic. if it wasn't for this i'm not sure if i would've been able to finish this, even when rushing the mainline content as i did in the end.

with that out of the way, what the hell happened here? i've never considered myself an Assassin's Creed fan (I was interesting but highly flawed while doing massive damage in terms of influence for the medium, II was a surprise improvement but just fine mainly, Brotherhood and Revelations were solid music listening/multitasking games but gave diminishing returns) by any means but the games had felt mechanically sound for the most part before this. Assassin's Creed III throws everything and the kitchen sink into its gameplay systems and nails nothing.

perhaps my biggest complaint is the setting shift. i'm not going to get into the story or anything of the sort here but from a gameplay standpoint, it was a complete mistake in my opinion. taking a series known for its movement systems and putting it in a place where you have barely any vertical movement options is one of the most baffling decisions i can think of. they attempted to remedy this with tree climbing (which again feels busted as does most of the rest of the gameplay here <3) and scripted movements through buildings when entering a door or window but it's a poor replacement. when you get out of the more residential areas of the map into the wilderness it gets even worse as it's just vast empty space which is miserable to navigate (especially when it is snowy).

elsewhere stuff like the combat takes a step down too. combat in the previous entries was never a strong suit but it was at least painless in the mediocrity. here you can see movements made towards trying to improve everything but it doesn't pan out to me. i'm not sure how much of it is III itself or maybe the remaster being fucked up but the game feels like it has this weird animation priority to all of its movements which leads to problems with counters not even registering half the time. some contextual environmental based attacks were added among other things but as i have brought up like three times now elsewhere, it feels half baked. Connor is an absolute beast in combat so most of it goes by quickly still but i 100% would've taken what we had before still.

this leaves me with the pacing which might have damned the full thing in the end. i have played and loved a lot of slow burn games over the years so know that it doesn't come lightly when i say that this is one of the slowest games i have ever played. you don't even get around to playing as the actual main character for a couple of sequences into the game and then you don't even get your actual assassin's robes for another few after that. i don't mind a build up for things but when the surroundings are so rotten it just was too much. you bounce from one gameplay element to the next constantly in a state of tutorials for what feels like 75% of the game.

somewhere within all the bloat the game sees fit to introduce a half baked hunting system which barely works, naval combat (which i hope is improved in Black Flag or that shit is going to be miserable too lmao), and even a crafting system that i somehow didn't even notice or come across with nearly 22 hours in the game. just a smothering sense of excess. literally don't know how this game even came together, even as it is within Ubisoft's unhinged annual release format of the time period. genuinely feel so bad for anyone who was working there.

gonna need a long break before i move onto Black Flag at this point.

very underrated AC game.
some people find start of game boring but i liked it.
combat in this game is sooooo good.
connor is kinda bad protagonist but also overhated.
campaing is awsome with good story and characters.
campaing is also great gameplaywise.
world in this game is also very good

I know this series gets a lot of flack, but I've always enjoyed these games. I wouldn't call them guilty pleasures, because that is a BITCH term for BITCHES, but I definitely don't walk around with my AC Fan shirt. I guess as a non-American, I found the setting interesting, and I thought the plot was one of the better ones up to that point. The new climbing system felt really fluid, especially compared to the stop and go nature of the Ezio games. Sure, it's buggy, poorly paced, and suffers from the typical Ubisoft overstuffing of useless collectibles, but it's still a very enjoyable experience.

Esse jogo era um dos meus Assassin's Creed favorito, decidi rejogar ele e não achei tão bom quanto lembrava ser, mas não deixa de ser um ótimo jogo, por mim o Haytham devia ser muito mais explorado nesse jogo, por mim deveria até ter um jogo focado somente nele, mas como a saga seguiu outro caminho, acho muito improvável e até sem sentido a Ubisoft voltar nos Kenway, nesse jogo que as batalhas navais começaram a surgir e eu não me lembrava o quão desagradável era a mecânica do navio aqui, ainda bem que não foi o foco do jogo e melhoraram isso no 4, Connor não é um personagem muito carismático mas passa longe de ser ruim, a DLC do Rei Washington também é bem divertida, nada além disso. Assassin's Creed 3 sofreu por estar na divisão dos jogos mais populares da franquia, com o Ezio vindo antes e o Black Flag sendo o mais aclamado da franquia.

gostei muito do jogo, connor diferente do que muitos dizem, é SIM um personagem maravilhoso, apenas é diferente do Ezio e Edward que são completamente carismáticos, brincalhões e etc. Acho que é uma das melhores épocas da franquia, a guerra civil americana é MUITO interessante, e com personagens históricos, o jogo conta com um mundo moderno o mais interessante da franquia, o machadinho é MUITO FODA. O jogo tem sim muitos defeitos e alguns são: as cidades são muito feias, o combate é muito difícil, o fps cai bastante pois não parece que foi otimizado em alguns momentos

Como Assassin's Creed me fascina, creo que es un juego muy bueno a pesar de sus carencias en el parkour, algo vital en la saga.

Aún así, las actividades de mundo abierto me han parecido desaprovechadas, el combate es frustrante cuando todos los enemigos bloquean tus ataques y te quedas sin balas (algo habitual) y creo que las armas arrojadizas están muy por debajo de otras entregas.

Eso sí, la historia es brutal y me sigue fascinando el papel de Connor y Haytham.

After three years of Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Games basically playing in the Middle Ages and set on different locations in Eurasia, 2012s Assassins Creed III is a bold leap forward in a couple of ways.

We still get to follow around Desmond in the modern day story, but Desmond has changed quite a bit; he is now in charge and calling the shots, as he finally knows what needs to happen. We also learn something about the father-son relationship of Desmond and his father William, which gives both a bit more depth. And one of the absolute high-lights: We get to go on missions with Desmond as well, who now can move and act like an assassin as well - this was what I was always hoping for - not only reading about what the modern day assassins where doing in their fight with Abstergo in E-Mails, Books, etc. - but actually experience them; finally we get to! However the story about the Isu becomes more and more confusing and hard to follow and keep up. And the end is weird (and it'll just get weirder).

In the historical timeline we follow Haytham Kennway in 1754 from London to the New World - the 13 British colonies; but we not only get to experience Haytham, but also his son Ratonhnhaké:ton 'Connor' Kennway. This way the game manages to cover the entire revolution, starting with the war of the French and Indian War in 1753 that set the stage for the American Revolution from 1765 - 1783, and the constitutional meetings afterwards.

Connor is the main character and torn between two worlds, feeling as outsider in both, and therefore seeking belonging with the Assassins. However, the Brotherhood has broken up and Connor only finds an reluctant last Assassin named Achilles Davenport. But with his help he becomes an Assassin, ridding the colonies of the Templar who in the chaos of the Revolution try to take control over America.

Assassin's Creed III is the first time we get a different and more modern time period, a totally different culture, and get to play two main characters successively. There are also quite a few surprises. Connor is a character that is really interesting and one that I could relate to from the first minute. And we get to relive a super interesting time period, which I (as a German) knew hardly any details (different to the Crusades [which always peaked my interest] and the Renaissance [same thing]). So, for the first (but not last) time while playing AC3 I spent my off-game time watching documentaries about all the different aspect and details of the 7-years war as well as the Revolutionary war. And it was really fun and helped me recognize so many additional game play details that I really appreciated.

We also get quite some new gameplay features: I think this game had one of the best parkour and free-runing abilities, that finally not only included buildings, but also trees, cliffs, etc. And you could basically climb everything, not just certain paths that where highlighted with a different color. The environment is much more engaging and allows hiding in all kinds of terrain. There are weather effects like snow and rain, that also influence the gameplay, and as a main part of frontier life was hunting, there is also a hunting mechanics, including skinning the animals [oh boy - I was doing that for 1,5 years as I just came from RDR2 and I though I was done with this for good :( ]. To being able to hunt, we get new weapons, like bow and arrows or muskets, besides known weapons; but we also get to play with two different weapons, that allow for a multitude of incredible kill animations. Besides those we can also use enemies as human shields against firing enemies and get a new gadget, the Rope Dart, that allows for some crazy new killings. There is again a mini-game that is a build- and economy-simulation (this time it's the home of Achilles that is our mission base), and another one in the return of Recruits that can help you with your missions (one of the coolest feature from Brotherhood). And then there are the games in game: You get to play different board games with different opponents. And for the first time ever we get a ship, and can do naval missions; some of them where pretty hard and sometimes I hated the AI of the other ships, but all in all, the ship battle was pretty cool, and more differentiated (and therefore more challenging) than any following part. I really enjoyed it; so much that afterwards I was considering getting a model of the ship (unfortunately there isn't one).

All in all I had a lot of fun with this game. I could identify with Connor from the get go, I got interested in the historical events and started watching a lot of documentaries, and I felt that there where a lot of new mechanisms - while some good previous mechanisms where revived as well. I had fun with the modern-day story as well; I'd go so far to say there is a huge parallel in Desmond and him being torn between Isu, Abstergo and Assassins, as well as his relation to his father, and Connor who is fighting with the same problems in a totally different situation and time. Missions are really variable as well, and we get so many different scenes, so the game never gets boring. In the end, this is the first game that does not say Assassins are good, and Templars are bad - but rather that there is a lot of gray in both fractions; as well as in people considered heroes of history (such as George Washington, and other famous historic people). This is also rather new and interesting thought.

My most important downside where a couple of bugs that disturbed the otherwise perfect game, as well as two game mechanics that were rather frustrating: 1. a lot of tailing missions, that were really difficult and had to be restarted a lot of time (especially when you wanted to also meet the challenge) and 2. the Boston tunnel system missions, which where incredible hard to do due to the really bad/missing maps in this area.

My review also includes the DLCs:
- Hidden Secrets
- The Tyranny of King Washington (20.04. - 24.04.)

This is the last Assassin's Creed game I played on release before stopping the series. I never finished, and it has been 9 years since I played the original, so I can't comment on how different the remastered version was. Right off the bat though coming from playing the games before this in the series, the models for the present-day characters seemed ... off. I can't place it they just didn't look like their typical characters to me like Ubisoft did a slight redesign on everyone including Desmond. The early game was not very engaging to me and I didn't care for Haytham at all. However, once it switched to Ratonhnhaké:ton I did enjoy things more. Major pro to this game is being able to pet the animals, essential feature. I enjoyed playing through Ratonhnhaké:ton's life from childhood and it was a nice way to introduce the character. Hunting was fun and a great way to earn money early game. I also loved how big and exciting a lot of the battles and combat sequences felt. The simplified fast travel and assassin recruit missions were a nice quality of life improvement that saved a lot of time. The land convoy system at the homestead was bugged so badly for me that it was unusable. Most of the side missions weren't as fun to me as the other games however the homestead missions were a stand out for me and I really enjoyed them. Speaking of bugs, there were a lot more that I noticed in this game than in previous iterations. You'd think they would have fixed them in the remastered version but sadly it made the game unenjoyable at points. The captain kidd missions were fun but not as great platforming sections as the tombs in previous games. While the game's graphics looked wonderful, the new lighting in the remaster made some areas near impossible to navigate and should have been accounted for in certain areas that result in playing in complete darkness unable to see anything. The present-day story was pretty interesting getting to travel to different places and really utilize Desmond's skills, along with for the first time making me like Shaun Hastings. The ending though ... not much I can say about that. Along with this Ratonhnhaké:ton didn't really get a satisfying ending nor a story that really focused on him as a protagonist which coming after Ezio wasn't the best move. I appreciate that we at least got an epilogue for him though. I still really enjoyed the gameplay and the story, but it's hard to compete when the Ezio trilogy did so many things better.

In regards to the Tyranny of King Washington DLC, I had a lot of fun with all the different animal powers. The eagle flight ability was so incredibly satisfying to use and movement felt fluid. Again even in the DLC I was getting bugs. Pretty annoying HUD bugs kept plaguing the screen, and the ending cutscene looked like it wasn't rendered in the remastered graphics and was maybe the original but I'm honestly not sure what happened aside from it looking noticeably worse than the rest of the game. I actually did enjoy the story, but wish we had something that wasn't just an alternate universe. Regardless the gameplay was really fun and diverged itself from some of the typical Assassin's Creed formula.

Sights & Sounds
- Some character and clothing textures look nicely updated, but a lot of the open world (particularly the Frontier area) looks pretty bad and polygonal
- There are lots of strange visual bugs, ranging from distance fog and water reflection not agreeing, to spagettification of enemy models when you knock them into walls
- The soundtrack is appropriate but not terribly exciting
- Voice acting is largely good, but non-main characters can sound a little wooden

Story & Vibes
- The setting is intriguing and one of the highlights of the game. Running around the colonial US and taking part in historical events would be fairly engrossing if it weren't for all the immersion-breaking bugs
- For an AC game, there's not much intrigue. It really dampens the emotional impact of the end-of-game events for both Desmond and Connor

Playability & Replayability
- The flow of combat could be really fun, but the rope darts trivialize the challenge of opponents that can parry your counters or block your attacks
- If combat were a little more challenging, I think the stealth mechanics would feel a bit more useful
- Skills and abilities aren't necessary since combat isn't hard
- Naval battles were pretty fun
- No real reason to revisit this one after beating it

Overall Impressions
- I'm far beyond the required specs, and I still had to mess around with process priority/affinity to get rid of frame rate issues each time I booted the game
- Lackluster story and poorly balanced gameplay overshadow the few bright spots

Final Verdict
- 4/10. Unless you're a diehard who really wants to know the AC lore, maybe consider skipping this entry. If you do play it, maybe consider doing so on console if possible. Playing it on PC is a buggy mess. Hell, you can't even play it at all on Steam unless you own AC Odyssey to activate it.