Assassin's Creed III Review

[Erttheking]

TheEscapist really needs to improve the quality of their reviews, not a single mention of glitch or the choppy frame rates.

Those are not rare glitches either, it pops up at a consistent rare that force you to notice and be annoyed. Did Greg really play through enough of the game before he reviews it? I do agree that it's the best AC game yet, but all the graphical and mechanical glitches should cost the game at least a star down.

You know, people were always saying how Skyrim was one of the glitchiest games out there, but I never had any trouble playing the game and never ran into a single one and I couldn't help but wonder what everyone was talking about. It's perfectly possible that he just didn't get any, glitches aren't universal.

OT: Well, good to hear it's so good. I got it yesterday and I was looking forward to playing it...but I lost power because of Hurricane Sandy. I'll play it when I get the chance.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Sorry,playing AssCreed 1,can't hear you over the interesting philosophical conflict between Altair and his enemies.
All I want is "assassinations",good ones,like those in which you can use stealth the entire time,the series always has had the potential to accomplish that,but they never do it,ever.Just add more distractions and be done with it.Also is Connor the only assassin in the entire game?No mention of the development of the Templars as an enemy faction,but I guess that falls into spoiler territory.And another big mini-game,because the last one didn't already show the "what do we do now" panic of the devs.
I guess I'm missing the point that people accept these series as "dickhead with a hood in past eras".I'm disappointed.

What's your problem with them again? They're fun and interesting, that's why I play them.

 

[The White Hunter]

Still hugely disappointed at Ubisoft for deciding to set the game during the gawdem American Revolution. Really it is NOT as big a deal to the rest of the world and it seems to me the French Revolution would have provided a far more interesting (and far more morally grey) storyline.

Though I'm curious to see how "equal opportunity" the plot is as the review was fairly spoiler free, it seems to me that painting the British as the "bad guys" seems far to simplistic and doesn't really fit the more politically neutral tone of the rest of the series.

I was in favour of Victorian era britain, early on in the industrial revolution!

 

[razer17]

Hmmm. I personally feel 5 is a little too much. There's a lot of little niggling issues. Getting caught on random debris when chasing people, occasional framerate drops, guard chases seem to last much longer than they did before. This is probably still the best AC game yet, but it's more of an evolution rather than revolution, and that alone, to me, means 4.5 is the cap.

And in case I haven't made it abundantly clear, the thing about the scores is just my opinion, I'm not saying the reviewer is wrong.

 

[Greg Tito]

TheEscapist really needs to improve the quality of their reviews, not a single mention of glitch or the choppy frame rates.

Those are not rare glitches either, it pops up at a consistent rare that force you to notice and be annoyed. Did Greg really play through enough of the game before he reviews it? I do agree that it's the best AC game yet, but all the graphical and mechanical glitches should cost the game at least a star down.

I experienced no graphical glitches or loss of framerate. The whole game feels really fluid and natural, actually, which is an achievement in itself with such a large world.

What version did you play? I've heard the PS3 version had more technical issues, but I played it on the Xbox 360.

 

[Rainboq]

I KNOW I'M GONNA GET MASSACRED BUT... Doesn't anyone else wants this whole time machine thing to stop? I want a game in Desmond's time! Let's control HIM, the whole game, urban setting! The grand finale to the series!

I'd like to see one set during the buildup to either of the world wars, one set during the Spanish civil war or up to the assassination that triggered World War One (Think of how morally grey it'd be if the Assassins sparked World War One to fight the Templars?

1, it has already been established that the Templars caused WW1 & 2 for their own gains and means of control. 2, can you please tell me what your avatar says? It looks funny.

It says "Chaotic good - You guys can all go to hell, I'm going to rescue Helo." And what if the Templars made the powder keg, and then tricked the Assassins into killing a certain arch Duke?

And is it meant to be Michael bay? For some reason every time I zoom in it become all pixel-ly. And that could work really well. Also what's a powder keg?

Also, a powder keg is a saying to describe an extremely volatile situation that will ignite and possibly explode beyond what some might call 'the Godzilla Threshold' very quickly.

 

[Terramax]

Meh, the gameplay still looks slow and clunky. I think I'll stick to Tenchu and Shinobido.

 

[Terramax]

5 stars? Doubt it deserves it. How much the escapist gave to AC, AC II and AC Brotherhood?

You haven't played the game.

True. But a reviewer has an obligation to explain why a game is supposedly perfect in every way to justify such a score. In this case, he didn't do so.

 

[Marowit]

Am I the only one who thinks Assassins Creed is really boring?

I'm pretty bored by them too. If they were more Hitman-style where you can use stealth I'd own all of them. It's really too bad too, because I want to enjoy them.

The Navy combat looks like it could be fun though, and if I had friends that owned this game the Multiplayer sounds like a lot of fun.

thanks for the review.

 

[Winterbird]

It would have been much better to set the game during the Seven Years' War rather than the American Revolution, especially considering that the protagonist is Half-Native American.

 

[ExtraDebit]

TheEscapist really needs to improve the quality of their reviews, not a single mention of glitch or the choppy frame rates.

Those are not rare glitches either, it pops up at a consistent rare that force you to notice and be annoyed. Did Greg really play through enough of the game before he reviews it? I do agree that it's the best AC game yet, but all the graphical and mechanical glitches should cost the game at least a star down.

I experienced no graphical glitches or loss of framerate. The whole game feels really fluid and natural, actually, which is an achievement in itself with such a large world.

What version did you play? I've heard the PS3 version had more technical issues, but I played it on the Xbox 360.

I'm on the xbox 360, installed on hard disk, lots of graphical glitches and slow downs. Maybe everyone's standards are different but for me anything below 30fps is unacceptable, I rather have textureless graphics at 60fps over photo realism at 15.

And that's why AC3 runs on most of the time, 15 to 20 fps with the occasional drop spikes down to 10fps.

 

[T3hSource]

What's your problem with them again? They're fun and interesting, that's why I play them.

My problem?Their story was OK,could have been great,but they devolved into a damn mess of ideas and twists.They still haven't fixed core problems of the formula,instead they just add more diversions,more padding,so you could feel it justifies your 60$/? purchase.Multiplayer is something completely different,it just continues The Ship's concept of stabbing.Now ask yourself why are the "fun and interesting",I have my reasons and justifications,can you point out yours?(not to me necessarily,but to yourself)

 

[Greg Tito]

5 stars? Doubt it deserves it. How much the escapist gave to AC, AC II and AC Brotherhood?

You haven't played the game.

True. But a reviewer has an obligation to explain why a game is supposedly perfect in every way to justify such a score. In this case, he didn't do so.

The Escapist does not believe that 5 stars is a perfect game. Nothing on this Earth is perfect. To us, 5 stars means an exceptionally excellent game that may have a few faults that you should expect to have a ton of fun with.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/7149-What-Our-Review-Scores-Mean

 

[Greg Tito]

I'm on the xbox 360, installed on hard disk, lots of graphical glitches and slow downs. Maybe everyone's standards are different but for me anything below 30fps is unacceptable, I rather have textureless graphics at 60fps over photo realism at 15.

And that's why AC3 runs on most of the time, 15 to 20 fps with the occasional drop spikes down to 10fps.

Strange. I didn't notice that at all and I didn't even install it on the hard drive. Perhaps it is just a difference in perception. I notice framerate more on my PC when I'm sitting a few feet from the screen, but when I'm on the couch on a console, I usually don't see it.

Out of curiosity, how are you measuring framerate on your Xbox? I've never heard of a app or tool that lets you do that but it might be useful in the future.

 

[SextusMaximus]

What's your problem with them again? They're fun and interesting, that's why I play them.

My problem?Their story was OK,could have been great,but they devolved into a damn mess of ideas and twists.They still haven't fixed core problems of the formula,instead they just add more diversions,more padding,so you could feel it justifies your 60$/? purchase.Multiplayer is something completely different,it just continues The Ship's concept of stabbing.Now ask yourself why are the "fun and interesting",I have my reasons and justifications,can you point out yours?(not to me necessarily,but to yourself)

Wide, sprawling beautifully designed and crafted work which clearly took hours of patient, passionate hands to design. You can go anywhere in the city / cities, pick fights with guards and choose your strategy to swiftly assassinate each one going unnoticed, brutally devastate them in hand to hand open combat or kill a select few and run away in to a chase. The gameplay is fun and flaws are few and far between (in gameplay). Granted the story could be worked on better, but I think it allows you to create your own story within the world, are you a murderer fueled by bloodlust, or a saint filled by wanderlust and virtue?
That's why I personally find it fun.

 

[ResonanceSD]

5 stars? Doubt it deserves it. How much the escapist gave to AC, AC II and AC Brotherhood?

What's the problem? Greg gave the exact same score to Dragon Age 2

Hopefully 3 deviates from the formula that 2, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 ran with and isn't basically another expansion pack.

So, uh, no mention then of the countless bugs? Poor frame rates? Lacking drawing distance? Broken A.I.? Character animation that doesn't always work? Sound issues? Repetitive missions?

No? Nothing? Just five stars?

But then you go to town on Medal of Honor (an arguably bad game, don't get me wrong) for these exact issues?

And here you are. Note the game, author, and score.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8701-Dragon-Age-II-Review

 

[Hazy]

So, uh, no mention then of the countless bugs? Poor frame rates? Lacking drawing distance? Broken A.I.? Character animation that doesn't always work? Sound issues? Repetitive missions?

No? Nothing? Just five stars?

But then you go to town on Medal of Honor (an arguably bad game, don't get me wrong) for these exact issues?

Thank heavens, I was beginning to think I was the only one thinking this.

Maybe PC gaming has spoiled me, but Assassin's Creed III's graphics are downright deplorable in some areas.

Also, these controls are still as finicky as ever. Attempting to run in anything other that wide-open pastures or rooftops might as well result in Connor putting on a blindfold. The last thing I want to do while making my grand escape is run into some item that was nowhere near me and plummet back down.

 

[karoliso]

I'm sorry but this felt more like a commercial rather than a review. I'm assuming you're a journalist that gets paid for your work and I expect the coverage to be a little less one-sided, not gushes of excitement. 5 stars? Really? I don't buy that. It's Dragon Age 2 all over again.

This entire thing was wrong and the author should feel ashamed.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

5 stars? Doubt it deserves it. How much the escapist gave to AC, AC II and AC Brotherhood?

What's the problem? Greg gave the exact same score to Dragon Age 2

Hopefully 3 deviates from the formula that 2, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 ran with and isn't basically another expansion pack.

So, uh, no mention then of the countless bugs? Poor frame rates? Lacking drawing distance? Broken A.I.? Character animation that doesn't always work? Sound issues? Repetitive missions?

No? Nothing? Just five stars?

But then you go to town on Medal of Honor (an arguably bad game, don't get me wrong) for these exact issues?

And here you are. Note the game, author, and score.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8701-Dragon-Age-II-Review

And this folks, is how you get yourself into pointless trouble through a pointless grudge over a pointless review for a pointless game.

OT- Finally, a game set in the American Revolution. I am seriously excited as it is a period of history I never see given too much spotlight in media, and never accurately. From what I've seen they do a pretty good job keeping it from being too out there. Also, they are addressing the hypocrisy of a nation fighting for freedom while still having slaves, among other things. Though I don't know just how they'll make it a truly ambiguous story while still portraying any of the figures accurately, as making just about anyone involved in the conflict into a mustache twirling villain just can't work, and that is essentially how the series has been portraying Templars.

 

[ResonanceSD]

OT- Finally, a game set in the American Revolution. I am seriously excited as it is a period of history I never see given too much spotlight in media, and never accurately. From what I've seen they do a pretty good job keeping it from being too out there. Also, they are addressing the hypocrisy of a nation fighting for freedom while still having slaves, among other things. Though I don't know just how they'll make it a truly ambiguous story while still portraying any of the figures accurately, as making just about anyone involved in the conflict into a mustache twirling villain just can't work, and that is essentially how the series has been portraying Templars.

Funny, after playing 1 and all of the AC2's, I never once got the image of moustache-twirling villains.

Not much to twirl, for a start.

or here.

In addition, you mention the ambiguous story. Why would you even want one? The idea is to take a period of history, and say "here's what happened". That's been the entire premise of Assassins Creed to date.


Also, what was the pointless trouble you referred to?