We got a look at the world premier demo of highly anticipated upcoming game, Assassin’s Creed III, and we were certainly not dissapointed. In a packed theatre Ubisoft showed us some of the various improvements that have been made to the game, from movement to combat.
In Assassin’s Creed III you play as Connor, a half British and Native American mulatto, caught in the middle of the American Revolutionary War; the demo opened up on the scene of the Battle of Bunker Hill. From the onset our auditory and optical senses were overloaded with what can only be described as pure awesomeness.
Movement in Assassin’s Creed III is courtesy of a revamped and rebuilt animation system that just might perfect the stealth/action style that the series has been attempting to achieve. With the new animation system a wide array of navigation techniques become open to the player, such as tree climing and mountain scaling. “We found it odd that the one thing you could climb in real life was the one thing you couldn’t climb in the game.” The controls also appeared to be very fluid and flexible, and for the first time players are given te option to climb over or slide under objects seamlessly as they make their way through the game.
Playing through Assassin’s Creed III one of the biggest things we noticed was the huge improvement in the environment and characters. Huge vistas, realistic trees, and bombs dropping everywhere that caused the screen to shake and Connor to stumble were just a few pleasantries we took note of. Another really big change comes by way of the number of characters on the screen. In previous Assassin’s Creed games the largest number of characters you’d see on the screen was around 200, as oppossed to Assassin’s Creed III where you’d find anywhere from 2000 to 2500 characters on the screen at any given time.
Assassin’s Creed III also features new combat situations such as firing lines and new assassination scenarios. With such a strong opposing force it only makes sense that Connor would have some new weapons in his arsenal, right? Most of us saw the tomahawk, which is only one of several cool new weapons you’ll find in the game. Connor also has access to a rope dart, which is every bit as awesome as it sounds. Ubisoft told us they wanted to really enhance the predatory feeling that the player experiences, and the rope dart does just that. While up in a tree Connor can use the rope dart to hang someone on the tree or perform various other kills and moves. Connor can also capture unwary enemies and use them as human shields, which turns out to be very effective against the firing lines you’ll be facing.
Other minor changes included the doing away with the clunky inventory wheel to the enhancement of the predatory nature of the game all stood out noticeably to present an amazing game. With a rebuilt combat system and the ability to dual wield a combination of weapons, your blood lust wil certainly be satisfied in Assassin’s Creed III.
