Assassin's Creed III

As the holiday season approaches, our thoughts naturally turn towards violence and revenge, which is why it’s so fitting that we have two titles out featuring assassins doing their bloody work and doing it well, thank you very much.

Assassin’s Creed III lays well-loved protagonist Ezio to rest and takes place in colonial America instead of Renaissance Europe, but retains much of the free-running, jumping, leaping and stabbing from earlier games. These are both bad and good features, respectively. I know it’s difficult to write protagonists as little more than sulking, brooding emo stabby-types (just look at the bulk of the game’s players), but Ezio broke this mold neatly by being a charming guy all round, and to go from him to Connor, the half-British half-Native American hero in AC:III, is a harsh devolution in character.

That said, the free running is still a pleasure to do. Instead of jumping from architecture, you’re now up in trees in the colonial frontier, stalking your target from ships as much as towns, and the combat is familiar to most who’ve been through beat-em-up games before. On top of which, it looks just stunning, each new scene and vista lovingly crafted with the finest pixels.

On the down side, the act of assassination, ostensibly what the series is about, is pretty minor here. Politics, minigames, naval warfare, building up your economy, are all much more in evidence, as if the devs expected their core audience to grow up just like they have. Some of it’s fun, sure, but it makes the game feel scattered with so many side-projects going on.  There’s a lot put into making the world feel cohesive, but not so much for the gameplay.

For looks alone, AC:III is worth your time, it is a visual treat, has some solid storytelling (hooray for ambiguous morality!), and when it plays smoothly, it plays very smoothly indeed. Still, sorting out the personality crisis (both with the dull hero and the various minigames) should be a priority for next time round. [Alex Cole]