Assassin's Creed III: A Whole New Killer - Preview
by Gordon Bryant , posted on 07 June 2012 / 3,722 Views
There were two booths for Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed III at E3: the Single Player and Multiplayer experiences. There was a relatively short line to play the multiplayer, but getting into the single player mode was an experience worth waiting in line for!
Single Player
Some of the new Assassin's Creed III features and abilities were shown in the Ubisoft and Sony conferences earlier in the show, but until you're there watching it played in real time, or playing it yourself, you can't really understand the extent to which subtle differences in the game make Assassin's Creed III significantly better than its already-outstanding predecessors. While the multiplayer was an open playable demo for all, the single player demonstration was only able to be watched while a Ubisoft employee showed off the features and explained the changes. While this may be a bit of a downer, Assassin's Creed has always been as much about looking fantastic and authentic as it has been about playing very well, and it definitely looks like it delivers.
There were three parts to the short demonstration: The Frontier, Boston, and the naval battle teaser. The Frontier aspect of the demonstration showcased how the hero Connor interacts with the environment, including tree and rock climbing, hunting, and using environmental cover to ambush prey of both the two legged and the four legged variety. After hiding in some tall grass to hunt a deer, Connor collected the meat and was attacked by a pack of wolves (oddly reminiscent of a scene from Tomb Raider). As the wolves attacked, Connor was able to dodge or counterattack, taking them down one by one. When the battle was over, he returned to a small camp where he exchanged the meat with a local merchant, completing his mission.
But the Frontier element wasn't over, as Connor immediately spoke to the leader of the camp who sent him on a mission to kill a templar in a nearby British camp. After effortlessly weaving his way through the barren trees; a mechanic that looks to be even smoother and more refined than any free running we've seen so far in the series, Connor throws a noose around a redcoat's head and jumps down from his branch, using the rope to violently hang him. This is a new mechanic you've likely seen in the trailers, but seeing how well it's used during actual gameplay is uplifting. This ignites a small fight between Connor and a group of about 8 redcoats; the hand to hand combat in Assassin's Creed has always been cinematic and had a certain flow to it, but nothing in the series to date compares with the fluidity in Assassin's Creed III. It has all led to this, and I have to say it looks fantastic.
After the fight, one of the enemies escapes, forcing Connor to give chase and follow through the trees, once again showcasing just how well integrated the trees are in the game's freerunning mechanic. Slipping between two branches, rebounding off them, and kicking back and forth to go up is fantastic. After killing the escapee, Connor climbs up a rock cliff that has better looking platforming than Uncharted, then makes it into the redcoat base camp where he ignites a black powder keg as a distraction and gives chase to the templar, eventually killing him. Ubisoft has told us that the game is very momentum based, and killing enemies while giving chase doesn't seem as clunky or distracting as in previous games. This time around, instead of stopping to slash, Connor will do a run by, or stab with his hidden blade while basically tackling an enemy, never losing momentum when he goes back to his main target.
Once the templar was killed, they showed the second half of the demonstration, which was showing the first of two major cities in the game: Boston. While we certainly didn't see the entire town, I get the feeling Boston won't be as massive as any of the cities in previous Assassin's Creed games; that said, I think the existence of the rather expansive and immersive Frontier land area more than makes up for that. While this aspect of the demo wasn't nearly as objective based as the first half, we did get to see some awesome new features, such as the ability to run through the inside of some buildings to break line of sight and hide, much in the same way jumping in haystacks did in previous games. There also seem to be many more ways to assassinate enemies, such as the corner assassination where you hide around a corner and have someone lure the target, allowing you to ambush him. There's also an interesting ability to call in partners who are dressed up like the redcoats to make it look like they're escorting you into the enemy base as a prisoner. It's a lot of little things, but it really adds up.
They did show the naval battles with a short one minute trailer at the end, but once again, if you've seen the trailers you've already seen it and they didn't give us any further information on this aspect of the game.
Multiplayer
Like previous entries, Brotherhood and Revelations, Assassin's Creed III will be including a multiplayer aspect that will continue to expand on the features and options of the previous versions. In previous iterations of the Assassin's Creed Multiplayer, you killed for points and that's how you won; Assassin's Creed III will still have the deathmatch and team deathmatch modes, but I got a chance to try out a new mode being added for Assassin's Creed III: Domination.
Anyone who has played the last few Call of Duty games knows and understands how the domination mode works, but for those who are unfamiliar with the mode, it's a form of king of the hill. I played a 4 on 4 match against the other players on the floor. There are, like Call of Duty, 3 points to capture, creatively named A, B, and C; to capture these points, all you have to do is remain inside them until the dial fills up and it becomes yours. To get experience points, you either have to make an offending kill within the capture area, or defend your territory by killing attackers while inside the capture point. Killing people outside of the capture points nets you no experience, but is still satisfying.
Like with the other Assassin's Creed multiplayer games, stealth is your greatest and deadliest asset; using smoke bombs to escape or defend yourself is key, as is blending in with other groups and stacks of rags. Blending the fast-paced domination mode with Assassin's Creed stealth-based multiplayer gameplay is genius and really adds another strategic element to an already incredibly fun game mode. I may not have played much of the Assassin's Creed multiplayer in the past, but I could see myself putting a lot of time into this come October 30th.
Assassin's Creed III's many tweaks, fixes, and additions keep it feeling fresh and every aspect of the game culminates in what I feel could easily be the pinnacle of the series. Now I eagerly await more information on Assassin's Creed III: Liberation for the PlayStation Vita; that game may not be as vast or refined as ACIII, but it has its own expansive world, story, characters, and setting, making it yet another must have title.
