The Last Assassin: New Assassin’s Creed Exceeds Expectations
The assassin, robed in white, silently observes the movements of a patrol of British troops in the frontier between New York and Boston. He moves swiftly through the trees, seeing the perfect point at which to begin his attack. Quickly, he throws a rope dart with deadly precision at the rearmost redcoat and drops down from his perch in the trees, swiftly carrying the redcoat up into the trees to hang until seconds later the life leaves his body. The assassin quickly draws his bow and fires upon the other rear guard before the rest of the patrol is alerted. The redcoat falls silent beneath the whipping wind, and the assassin continues to stalk the patrol.
This is what many players will come to love in the newest addition to the Assassin’s Creed franchise. “Assassin’s Creed 3,” released Nov. 6 the fifth game in the series, is one of the biggest launches and most ambitious games ever produced by Ubisoft, according to gamezone.com. This new game has taken successful elements from both the first “Assassin’s Creed” and the Ezio trilogy of games, including further extension on the multiplayer aspect of the game.
As with all of the past Assassin’s Creed games, this one also features two separate stories, one inside the machine known as the animus, and another outside the animus in the modern world. The whole idea behind the story on the inside of the animus is to go through ancestral memories of the games protagonist Desmond Miles. Desmond and his group of modern-day assassins are searching for secrets about the ones who came before, who are beings of a higher power, so that they may in a sense save the world.
However, not many players care too much about the story and action, or lack thereof, outside of the animus. In this story in the animus, the player takes on the role of Connor, a young Native American whose village and mother were killed by a group of colonists who, unbeknownst to Connor at the time, were in the Templar Order, sworn enemy of the Assassin Brotherhood.
As with all of the Assassin’s Creed games, the story is very engrossing. However, it is particularly so this time because it focuses on more recent happenings in history. The player gets to interact with iconic characters from history like Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and even George Washington. The player participates in many of the events portrayed in textbooks, including the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s ride to alert the minutemen, and the battles of Lexington and Concord.
One thing that has changed since the last few games is the economy in game. The way you attain funds to purchase weapons and tools is vastly different and more intricate in design than in previous games.
Aside from changes to the economy, Ubisoft has brought back a wide-open area for players to run through. This aspect has not been seen since the first “Assassin’s Creed.” It gives players a bigger sense of freedom, and the frontier is where a player can stalk British troops and essentially assume the role of Rambo, setting traps and conducting guerrilla warfare.
Ubisoft has also continued to bring back the usage of assassin recruits, which make missions inside city walls infinitely easier to accomplish. One completely new aspect altogether in this game is nautical warfare. The player is given a warship equipped with all the basics, and it is left to the player to accrue funds to improve their ship. Nautical warfare in this game is done fairly well, having missions where the player can board other ships after destroying the mast and assassinate the captain. All in all, the naval addition to the game should be well-received by many players.
On top of all this, hunting has been brought to the game. When in the frontier, players can track and hunt all types of game, including bears and cougars. Hunting adds a fun aspect to the game in that most of the animals players find provide a greater challenge than most troops players will face in battles.
Aside from the single-player campaign, Ubisoft has brought back the multiplayer, where players can hunt one another and receive points based on the quality of their kills. The multiplayer maps have seemingly gotten smaller, however, and thus increased skill is needed to score high points.
In addition to that change, the way players track each other has changed as well. No longer are players given a compass that basically points the way to their target; now, a portrait is all the player gets, and when the target comes into sight, the portrait will light up, forcing the player to thoroughly check their surroundings for a potential kill. This change should provide a greater challenge for many fans of the multiplayer side of the game.
From the story to the combat system, “Assassin’s Creed 3” meets and exceeds expectations and has people clamoring to play, and the fact that the game broke the previous Ubisoft pre-order record held by “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” only bolsters the potential of having another game developed, according to gamezone.com.
