Assassin's Creed 3! - Page 4

Here's a really good making of video which shows off the combat quite well. I like how you can now choose what counter move to use and that certain enemies are resistant to different counters. Now at least there will be some thought involved instead of just mindlessly tapping the counter button and killing everyone.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/09/26/making-assassins-creed-iii-part-2

It all comes full circle. AC inspires Batman's combat, and now Batman inspires AC's combat.

Like I said earlier, I had never been a fan of this series - but the commercials and gameplay footage is just too awesome to ignore.

This commercial for the game actually gives me goosebumps.

I liked the 4th of july trailer better to tell you the truth. above seems like some uncritical marketing slubs rip-off of sonys brilliant "Michael" ad.

Ick. I hope there's meant to be some irony behind that video. The hero is Native American. Pretty much all of that patriotic BS could more realistically be applied to the treatment of the Native Americans by the colonial settlers. Supposedly there's also a former African slave who works with Connor in the game. Yet another group disgustingly mistreated by the colonials and subsequent "Americans." I hope these ads aren't a sign of what we can expect from the game.

I've said this before, but this series always has been cognizant of the real history of oppression, colonial exploitation, and capital-industrialist abuses. Seeing these many commercials, though, has me worried that they've thrown all of that out of the window this time. Either that, or they're misleading people into thinking they're getting a pro-America game, when in fact it's an anti-oppression game.

With the history of the games commenting on the Templar and free masons, I doubt it be possible to do that sort of 180 without totally disregarding the whole premise of the series.

Which is why I find these latest ad campaigns so bizarrely misleading. They're selling the game as uber-patriotic, when in fact the series has consistently been highly critical of patriotism, nationalism, religious dogma, colonialism, capitalism, etc. in all their forms. Clearly the American marketing campaign is trying to tap into pro-American dogma to sell the game. Ordinarily I wouldn't be surprised to see a video game company using "rah-rah" patriotism to sell a game (see CoD and its ilk), but in this case it runs fundamentally counter to what the series is about. The series' calling card is in its disclaimer at the beginning of every game: "Inspired by historical events and characters, this work of fiction was designed, developed and produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs." A commercial like that spits in the face of that sentiment.

Clearly I care too much about this series.

Either that.......or they're just trying to make a cool commercial that appeals to casual gamers/AC noobs like myself.

Tomayto tomahto

They just released a video with a bit of Connor's backstory. Does a better job of adding some nuance to what "freedom" means in the series. Maybe not as sexy as the other commercial, but at least more faithful to the series.

Also, I've been giving AC Revelations a second shot. I originally gave up just a few hours in because I didn't like how it started (linear sequences, too many cinematics, too same-y). But now that I'm 5-6 hours in, I'm really liking it a lot.

It feels like a direct extension of Brotherhood (even more than Brotherhood felt like an extension of AC2). The setting and revised mechanics are fantastic. It's an even further fulfillment of the promise of AC1. I feel like the Ezio games have consistently been trying to match the promise of the first game, and Revelations is even closer to that original promise. The much-lambasted "tower defense" sections aren't nearly as bad as you've been led to believe. Maybe not the best idea for the series, but far from a disaster. Same goes for the first-person puzzle sections. I actually like them. They fit well into what the game is about, and are a great way to reveal the personal history of Desmond. It would have made sense if Revelations and Brotherhood had been combined together into a single game. Of course, Ubisoft would disagree.

For a series that's pumped out new iterations each year, it's amazing that Revelations is as good as it is. If you, like me, were holding off on this one because of negative reactions, don't. It's every bit as good as AC2 and Brotherhood, and is far from just a "holding pattern" for the series.

I'm ashamed to admit I've never played ANY of these games. But for some reason I'm really curious about trying out the latest one. Are the stories connected, can I get away with missing the first few or do I need to start from the beginning?

I think there's a "collection" on the way, ala whats they're doing with Killzone. In the same boat and going to jump in, then grab that.

This looks too incredible to pass up. Interesting time period, My home state, Open world with everything from naval battles to running around the Berkshires and Appalachians. I'm sold!

Yeah I figured as much. I've missed so many games this gen, it's cool that we're getting these bundles now at good pricing. I never played Killzone 1, barely touched 2 before selling it off, haven't played 3. May as well get that collection too while I'm at it lol....

As an aside, I suppose that's why I'm *gulp* not in a rush to get to the next generation. There's TONS of games I have yet to play from this gen, including a massive backlog going back to LAST gen. I don't feel like I'll ever catch up!

There's an ongoing frame story that takes place in the present. But the historical stories are (mostly) self-contained. AC3 is starting fresh with a new historical protagonist, but it will have an ongoing backstory. You could probably catch up quickly through YouTube or a Wiki. You'd miss out on a lot of the experience, but that would also involve a lot of playing (20-30hrs per game x 4 games = 80-120hrs).

So I'd say, if you haven't been curious enough to jump in before (and you are now), just start with AC3. They may provide some quick way to catch up with the present-day frame story. If not, just read up on it.
The collection will only be for the Ezio games (AC2, Brotherhood, Revelations). According to many, those are the only games in the series worth playing. However, I strongly disagree and still think AC1 is the best in the series, but with some major caveats. You have to be willing to play without minimaps or the main map in order to "fix" the game's many problems. Check out the mini-guide I put together on how to do this, if you're interested.

Subsequent games in the series have found better and better ways to encourage players to try playing this way. Brotherhood and Revelations both find clever ways of getting players to do the kinds of things I suggested in this mini-guide for the first game. It only took Ubisoft five years to figure it out. They did at least send me a t-shirt for the effort, though.

EDIT:
BTW the t-shirt says: "I spent 60+ hrs playing and replaying and replaying a game that everyone else hated, spent a lot of that time figuring out how to fix it, and all I got was this t-shirt."
Edited by confidenceman - 10/5/12 at 6:49pm

Once again they portray the game as America, f yeah! I have a feeling this could be a controversy of sorts once the game releases and millions of people are shocked that they have to kill "Americans", too. That commercial gives the impression that you're going to be solely helping the rebels gain independence from the Brits. And as Ubisoft have said many times, this is definitely not the case.

Since this is such a big departure from what the past games have been, I'm sure Ubisoft is prepared for an onslaught of new customers. Therefore, I almost guarantee they'll get you up to speed with a story recap or something.

Exactly.
They did something like this for Revelations. But even if the plot is relatively straightforward, it's hard to capture the sense of depth in a five-minute recap. I hope they can convey a reasonable facsimile.

Just finished AC Revelations with all of the single-player trophies in about 33 total play hours.

Best playing AC game in the series by a long shot. Best environment. Best control mechanics. Best mission structure. Best AI. Best weapon/combat mechanics. Best visual tech. My only two complaints are the lack of story and the abysmal scripted action sequences (first and last Ezio levels, and the Altair levels).

Regardless, I'd still rank it a very close second for best in the series. Truly great game that got unfairly shafted by early knee-jerk reactions. And all of those complaints about the den defense sequence fail to mention that they're incredibly easy to avoid. I played through the whole game, got all the trophies, and still only had to do the tutorial den defense. I can only imagine that all of those reviewers either don't know how to play an AC game, or they were just blasting through the game and killing everything in sight to get through the game in the shortest amount of time.

Point is: I can't wait for AC3.
Edited by confidenceman - 10/17/12 at 7:31am

I loved AC 1 and 2. Never played Brotherhood or Revelations because of a lack of time. If I were to pick up one of those before AC3 to get kind of caught up which would you suggest? Probably don't have time for both sadly.

I've played (and platted) all three. I don't really recall Brotherhood's story, but remember thinking that Revelations revealed more. Perhaps read a wiki summary of Brotherhood and play Revelations.

You mean when Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

If you're just playing them for the main storyline, both games' main story quests are relatively short (6-8 hours). But IMO, if that's the only reason you'd be playing them, your time is better spent just watching vids and/or reading the wiki.

Otherwise, what's the rush? Play both and take your time. Both ACB and ACR are fantastic games and worth spending a lot of time with (I spent about 30-35 hours with each). Is there some pressing need to get to AC3 right away? It isn't going anywhere.

I just don't game much anymore(getting married might have something to do with that!) so it's mostly a time thing. If I put as much time into all 3 as I put into the first 2 it will take me forever to play them all.

Why is that a bad thing?

Hmm, no reviews yet. That's not usually a good sign.

Yeah, I was hoping IGN would at least have a review up today. I have this pre-ordered but may cancel if reviews do not look good. May prefer to get Halo 4 in its place and most of my gaming time lately has been tied up with Borderlands 2 anyway.

Joystiq's review is up: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/10/30/assassins-creed-3-review-declination-of-independence/

Not to mention, you'll be able to pick ACIII up for <$30 by February, judging by how quickly ACII, AC:B, AC:R dropped in price. That's what I'm holding out for, as I've done every year.

Both Brotherhood or Revelations offer different and unique experiences, along with lots of subtle backstory elements you likely won't get from a few cutscene vids or a wiki synopsis.

With Brotherhood, you have Ezio in his prime in a massive open world Rome and surrounding countryside, carrying out missions in some of the world's most famous monuments. Absolutely breathtaking. You also get a lot of interesting interactions with Desmond and crew in present time, including some lengthy platforming sequences.

Revelations gives you new gameplay elements and others that were introduced in ACII and Brotherhood but now fully evolved. Again, breathtaking and very colorful settings as you go on the trail of Altair's secrets. There are also a series of Desmond missions that gives you a lot of information about his and his family's past. And if you are interested in giving multiplayer a crack, Revelations should be the more active of the two (being more recent), and there are many improvements over Brotherhood's MP.