Assassin’s Creed III PC Review

When I first started playing Assassin’s Creed III at the start of this week, I was really disappointed by it. I can’t quite put my finger on the problem, it just felt boring and uninspiring. For those of you who follow my weekly game reviews will know I spent last week buried in the world of Hitman Absolution, which was highly entertaining through out. The change in pace kind of caught me off guard and at first this just felt like typical Assassins Creed gameplay with no new features.

Skipping around Boston and beating up a few soldiers from time to time was entertaining enough, so too was meeting Benjamin Franklin, although I feel his role was only included because of Da Vinci in the last game. It wasn’t until around the 4-6 hour mark that I really started getting into the game and I was quite honestly starting to loose motivation with it, there was nothing really “new” here apart from some tweaks. I was hearing similar feedback from friends who have the game also. This quickly changed though.

I’m not one for spoiling stories if I can avoid it, but things change in Assassins Creed and they change for the better. Once you get out into the wilderness and start hunting animals, skipping through trees and having fist fights with bears, you’ll be hungry for more ACIII faster than you can say Tomahawk. There are some brilliant plot twists throughout too, which lead up to a brilliant plot of revenge and determination that sets the pace for the largest portion of the game. To put a very long story short, the developers have really out done them selves here. The game may start slow, but it builds a solid foundation that lays the path for greater things.

The graphics are often breathtaking too, not only in the stunning landscapes but just the sheer number of NPC’s that populate this rich world. The animation is more fluid than ever too as jumping, climbing and fighting blends together better than ever. A special mention goes to being able to spend some more time as Desmond too, it’s nice to really get out of the Animus once in a while and really stretch your legs in more “modern” settings.

I was warming up for tearing this game apart earlier this week, but now I look back on the first few hours of gameplay and I’m thankful that I stuck this one out, a rewarding title and a rewarding story, just be willing to put in the hours to discover all it has to offer.