Assassin's Creed 3

The Assassin's Creed series have always been games of mystery, crammed with secrets, puzzles and references. But now we're approaching the end of the tale, and Ubisoft has promised us a proper ending. In Assassins Creed 3 we see the final chapter of Desmonds story line as he regresses back to the time of The American Revolution and takes on the memories of a Young Connor. Our modern-day Assassins are now also installed in America, inside the precursor Grand Temple. A short intro does its best to clue you in, but if this is your first Assassin's Creed game, go and read a couple of wikis or, better still, go and play ACII. 

Whilst playing as Connor the map is split into four main locations. The Davenport Homestead is your base of operations. Homestead Missions are a regular feature on the map, and involve convincing skilled strangers to join your growing village. Most of the map-unlocking synchronisation points are similar and repetitive as the game goes on. That said, there's great variety in the towns, from the pox-riddled ruins of New York, to the bustling harbour markets.

The fighting system is very similar to other Assassins Creed games, Connor has a selection of weapons such as tomahawks, swords and secret blades which can be upgraded at different venues around the game map and using only 2 buttons for different forms of attack and 1 button to block is really easy to pick up. The town guards are very aggressive towards Assassins so this makes avoiding a fight increasingly difficult as you progress through the game, even for the most stealthy of players. 

The biggest location by far is the Frontier. with cliffs, valleys, forts, villages and hundreds of animals it makes it a truly gorgeous place to explore it also provides Connor with an Assassin's Creed first, Tree Climbing! Hunting is also located in frontier, this lets you hunt and skin animals for it’s hide and are used to sell to merchants. Another new feature is the fantastic Naval battles, this sees Connor take command of a ship and due battle with others. Steering the ship is surprisingly sleek and firing at enemies is simple enough, this fairly arbitrary feature of the game actually ends up being one of the most enjoyable. 

The main story takes around 20 hours, however if you add side quests and exploration you could easily lose 35 hours in this campaign There are all the usual Assassin's moments of frustration. Connor repeatedly jumping into a pile of hay during a tough chase scene. Failing to catch onto countless ledges and triggering guards whilst incognito. But all of this is forgotten in epic third act. And the epilogue will simply leave you thinking “Oh God, What’s next?” All in all a sturdy outing for the Assassins Creed series, some minor flaws but ultimately very entertaining, a solid 8 Out of 10.