Assassin’s Creed 3

Assassin’s Creed 3
Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

About This Game:

Assassin's Creed III is a 2012 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Microsoft Windows. It is the fifth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and a direct sequel to 2011's Assassin's Creed: Revelations. The game was released worldwide for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, beginning in North America on October 30, 2012, with a Wii U and Microsoft Windows release following in November 2012.

The plot is set in a fictional history of real world events and follows the centuries-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Templars, who desire peace through control. The framing story is set in the 21st century and features series protagonist Desmond Miles who, with the aid of a machine known as the Animus, relives the memories of his ancestors to find a way to avert the 2012 apocalypse. The story is set in the 18th century, before, during and after the American Revolution from 1754 to 1783, and follows Desmond's half-English, half-Mohawk ancestor, Ratonhnhaké:ton (/ˈrəduːnˈhəɡeɪduːn/), also known as Connor, as he fights the Templars' attempts to gain freedom in the colonies.

Assassin's Creed III is set in an open world and presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on using Desmond and Connor's combat and stealth abilities to eliminate targets and explore the environment. Connor is able to freely explore 18th-century Boston, New York City, and the American frontier to complete side missions away from the primary storyline. The game also features a multiplayer component, allowing players to compete online to complete solo and team based objectives including assassinations and evading pursuers. Ubisoft developed a new game engine, Anvil Next, for the game.

The game received positive reviews from critics, who praised it for its gameplay, narrative, diverse cast of characters, visuals and grand, ambitious scale, while criticism was directed at the unevenly developed gameplay mechanics and the glitches within the game. It was a massive commercial success, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide. Its sequel, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, was released in October 2013, and follows Ratonhnhaké:ton's grandfather – Edward Kenway – a pirate and Assassin operating in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy.

Gameplay:

Assassin's Creed III is a third-person action-adventure title set in an open world in which the player uses a combination of stealth, parkour, and combat to complete various missions. The player takes the role of three characters during the course of the game. The main character is Desmond Miles, a 21st-century Assassin, working to uncover the secrets of a mysterious Precursor Vault that purportedly will protect the Earth from an upcoming solar flare on December 21, 2012. To uncover the secrets, Desmond uses the Animus to live out memories of two of his ancestors which the player controls during these sequences, both set at the time of the American Revolutionary War. The first, briefly played at the start of the game, is Haytham Kenway, a British Templar who seeks the location of the Vault. The second, and the primary character for the game, is Ratonhnhaké:ton, the result of a brief liaison between Kenway and a Native American woman. Ratonhnhaké:ton takes on the name Connor to blend in better with colonial society. When playing as Connor, the player has access to a huge wilderness known as the Frontier (which is 1.5 times bigger than Rome in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood), the cities of Boston and New York City. Portions of the Eastern Seaboard and Caribbean Sea can be explored via the flagship of the Assassin's navy, the Aquila, captained by Connor Kenway himself, with Robert Faulkner his first-mate advising and teaching him in the ways of the sea.

Free running has been simplified to allow for more fluid parkour in the cities and wilderness, such as climbing and running on trees, mountains, cliffs, etc. Close combat has been modified, allowing Connor to dual-wield weapons and take down multiple opponents at once and players no longer need to manage the lock-on mechanic. Aiding this, Connor has access to a wide range of weapons which include muskets, pistols, native weapons such as the tomahawk and bow and arrow, a rope dart (used to pull foes or hang them, while on a tree) as well as the Hidden Blades. In addition, the left Hidden Blade has a folding mechanism for blocking attacks, skinning an animal, and performing high-profile assassinations. Human shields can be used against firing lines of enemies. Medicine is no longer used as health recovers automatically. Stealth is also revamped, allowing players to use natural elements such as tall grass and trees to hide, along with the ability to blend between any two people.

Assassin's Creed III features new weather simulations such as snow, fog, and rain. The seasons can also change i.e., Summer and Winter, which not only affect visuals but also gameplay, as the player will find that they run slower in deep snow. Snowfall can reduce visibility for the player and enemies, aiding stealth. Unlike the past games, this one includes animals varying from domestic (horses, cows, dogs) to wild (deer, wolves, bears). The wild ones are found in the Frontier, and can be hunted for meat or marrow in order to be sold. The quality of the kill determines the price, encouraging the player to hunt silently. For this, traps and bait can also be used.

Economy is now based on the Davenport Homestead, which also acts as Connor's adoptive home. The site can be visited by people such as carpenters, tailors etc. suffering from displacement due to the war. Helping and interacting with these non-player characters (NPCs) will encourage them to settle in the Homestead. From there on, the player can craft various items and trade with them, and then sell the goods to the cities via caravan. The player can also help them build relationships with each other, which will then result in the formation of a small village. The player can also upgrade the Homestead manor as well as Connor's ship, the Aquila.

A revamped version of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's recruitment feature returns as players can enlist citizens to the Assassins' cause by completing "Liberation" missions. They also have a much larger skill set, which allows them to start a riot, provide a covert escort, act as a personal bodyguard etc. Other side missions include collecting Almanac pages, exploring underground tunnels to locate fast-travel stations, joining hunting and fighting clubs, investigating frontiersman rumors about UFOs and Sasquatch, "peg-leg" missions in which Connor goes to underground forts and wastelands to uncover the legend of Captain Kidd's treasure, and others.

Assassin's Creed III also features naval expeditions. Using Connor's warship, the Aquila, the player can navigate the high seas. Control of the ship relies on environmental factors such as wind direction and speed, local presence of storms, high waves, and rocks. Engagements are by cannon, with broadsides covering both flanks of the ship, swivel guns that can be used to damage smaller ships which can also be boarded to find treasure, and chain shots from the broadsides as well to take down the masts of larger ships and disable them. The Aquila is used in the side missions known as "Privateer missions" and is also used in some of the main missions.

The Wii U version of the game has extra features. The player has the ability to change weapons on the go and the map is always visible on the Wii U Gamepad. The Wii U version also supports Off TV Play. With this feature enabled, the main screen is redirected to the Wii U Gamepad.

Online multiplayer returns in this installment by Ubisoft Annecy. Along with returning modes, new ones feature a co-operative mode named Wolfpack, in which 1–4 players are charged with killing certain NPCs within a time limit, through a sequence of 25 stages. It also features Domination, a team mode where players will have to capture certain areas of the map, protecting them from the opposing team.

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista/7/8
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.6 Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Memory: 2 Gb
Hard Drive: 17 Gb free
Video Memory: 512 Mb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3870
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Network: 256 Kbps Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer
DirectX: 10
Keyboard
Mouse
DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista/7/8
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Memory: 4 Gb
Hard Drive: 17 Gb free
Video Memory: 1 Gb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce GTX 560 / ATI Radeon HD 5870
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Network: Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer
DirectX: 10
Keyboard
Mouse
DVD Rom Drive