Sponsor Spotlight: Assassin’s Creed 3
Between Assassin’s Creed III’s formal unveiling in March and all our coverage since, it feels like calculated torture that Ubisoft…
Between Assassin’s Creed III’s formal unveiling in March and all our coverage since, it feels like calculated torture that Ubisoft hasn’t given us press or consumers actual hands-on time with the game’s protagonist, Connor Kenway. Not counting prior sessions with the game’s naval battles, it was only last week that the developer/publisher finally granted us hands-on time with Connor, the Frontier, and at least one of the urban areas, namely Boston. The fact that Ubisoft was able to tide us over with multiplayer sessions and ship battles speaks to how fully featured Assassin’s Creed III is, yet it was a relief to finally explore and fight in 18th Century New England. There weren’t any treacherous snowy areas to explore and our urban access was limited to Boston, but what we were given was more than enough to fill our three-hour hands-on session (plus those added minutes we snuck in outside of our scheduled session).
The previous assassins have always acted with a sense of purpose, but there’s a new kind of edge to Connor. This preview build thrusted us into the sixth chapter of the game where it’s implied that he just joined the Assassin Order. Serious concerns of a land takeover infuriates Connor, enough to lodge a blade on a column on the outside of his house. This is to indicate to others that war has commenced and this blade will not be removed until after the conflict has been resolved.
Some trailers have revealed that Assassin’s Creed III will feature its share of rock climbing, yet I underestimated how vertical the game would be overall. This sixth chapter presents at least one story mission opportunity for a stealthy cliff based takedown. You won’t be short of 50 to 80 foot drops in the Frontier; the challenge is in finding those key spots where you can make stylish dives. Any other attempts at jumping will be fatal and I admit that it was hard trying to find spots to make safe jumps. In Boston, the verticality of the predominantly two-story urban level design was more than enough to cater toward Connor’s stealthy movements. The aforementioned right trigger platforming made it easy to jump through windows and second floor rooms with that seamless Jason Bourne flair.
One of the highlights in past previews has been variety of character animations as Connor traverses the Frontier, particularly his labored movements through snow. I noticed Connor also has to work a bit harder when running steep inclines and he also lifts his legs high when running through shallow creeks so as to minimize water resistance.
Looking back on the initial presentation of Assassin’s Creed III, I recalled how Ubisoft overly emphasized all the new features that this sequel aims to deliver, which doesn’t always guarantee a wholly positive reaction (eg. Dead Space 3’s E3 presentation). For all the new features, controls, combat, story and setting, there was a welcome sense of familiarity once I took control of this latest addition to the Assassin Order. With Connor, there’s a confidence-building sense that the player will have even more tools and skills to work with, which I suspect will be crucial as the war edges closer to 1776.
