Few games have disappointed me as much as this game. When AC was at its peak, this game seemed like a huge next-step, but in the end fell completely flat for me, and really started, in my opinion, the decline of the franchise, barring the next game. The game looks great, with amazing renditions of Colonial America, and a great adaptation of the freerunning system to the less urban and more sparse setting, with fantastic animation work to boot. Slight improvements to the gameplay made for a more engaging combat experience versus the 1-button counters of the previous game, even if the new combat wasn't exactly great on its own. The introduction of ship combat, while a bit awkward narratively, presented an excellent blueprint that Black Flag would iterate upon to great success, and the foundations here are a strong addition to the gameplay loop of the franchise. Sadly, all of the praise ends here, since what has defined the good AC games from that bad has been the narrative, and AC3 is the first game in the series that, for me, truly dropped the ball when it comes to the story being told.

The game starts out very promising, with the first few chapters being rather on-brand for strong narrative with interesting questions being asked with regards to the setting and the series themes of control vs freedom, a theme that is ripe for exploration in the burgeoning US of A. Sadly, that strong start quickly falters, with the game choosing to skirt around a lot of the more damning explorations of American history that this era and these characters could achieve. The fact that the protagonist, a Native American, is so casually integrated into this setting without exploring the true tragedy that befell these people at the hands of this nation and these historic great men just strikes of cowardice for a series that has up until now done an excellent job of exploring history. In the end, the story here feels much more like an amusement park history ride, a theme that the series would sadly replicate going forward. The present-day narrative also comes to a head, and sadly that end is also a disappointment, so much so that the series would essentially abandon that element of the storytelling moving forward, another casuality in the franchise narrative.

Overall, AC3 fails to really bring anything particularly noteworthy to the table. The story is bland, toothless, and unengaging. The gameplay, while improved by a new engine and tech, is let down by the fact that the setting fails to illicit the same sense of wonder that previous settings would, and the core combat loop lacks any real engaging mechanics. While the next game in the series would use a lot of the foundations built here to better results, AC3 feels like the turning point in the franchise, where the old style of storytelling was replaced with cartoon meet-and-greets with famous figures pf history, and the ballooning of the game world with activities and collectibles has become the new norm for how the game is structured. Assassin's Creed was never the same after this game, and while Black Flag would stand-out as an all-time series high, it would take a while for the series to right the ship after the course change that this game initiated.

The jump to Xbox exclusivity will always leave a sour taste in my mouth regarding this game as a loyal fan since the PS2, but while the game is not nearly as bad as it sometimes comes off, it lacks much to really make it stand out in a franchise of truly great heights. The visuals are impressive being the only mainline title of the series of 7th gen hardware, and the music maintains the high bar of quality the series is known for. Probably AC6's greatest mark on the franchise is the strength of the gameplay, with mechanics designed around actually using the vast amount of allies and support that make the climactic moments of this game feel truly epic.

Unfortunately, a lot of that praise ends up feeling moot when so much of what makes this game good is done better in other Ace Combat games (minus the actually useful allies), and those games support all that with more engaging stories, an area where AC6 sadly falls short. The story of this game tries to replicate a bit of the magic of how AC4 told its story: following civilians and characters not shown directly in the gameplay, barring some moments of contact with the larger narrative. This disconnect worked for AC4 by keeping the story personal and on-message with the game's themes, but here, most of the cutscene narrative just feels half-baked, and at worst it just feels a bit juvenile. The fact that the in-game narrative also lacks any real engagement, outside of a few standout moments of gameplay, leads to a game that overall fails to engage with what has made Ace Combat such a beloved franchise: a strong, thematically appropriate narrative about the nature of conflict.

In the end, AC6 is a decent game in its own right, with strong gameplay and some standout missions, but it fails to create a strong personality for itself, and that ends up making the game feel much more hollow than it otherwise would. Anybody looking to get into the series for the first time would be served well by this entry, especially being one of the more modern titles, but I doubt it would create as many lifelong fans of the franchise as some of the games that came before or after.

An awesome fusion of the skate-based tricks and movement of Tony Hawk and the constant push-and-pull gunplay of Doom Eternal. While Rollerdrome never pushes the limits of either of its inspirations, the combination of strong enemy design, uniquely useful weapons, and movement-based mechanics, ensure that Rollerdrome is a constant rush of adrenaline to play.

Its biggest fault is the sometimes annoying challenges that gate progression to the next set of levels, which range from either tedious and uninventive to just frustrating to pull off. Still, the challenges do a decent job of forcing you to engage with the true depth of the gameplay, enough to get you over that learning curve that can make Rollerdrome initially feel a bit frustrating to enage with. Once you're over that hump though, the game becomes this constant rush as you weave between enemy attacks, pick your targets, plan your route, and keep up your combo.

Rollerdrome is an awesome concept on papaer, and once you learn how to manage the game's mechanics, you're in for a wild ride.