Well, in my new abundance of free time I have managed to burn though the last two AC games Revelations and AC III and here are my impressions. First of all, I was very confused as to why Revelations needed to exist as a separate game. The gameplay features only two evolutions in the hookblade, which admittedly is a welcome addition, and various bombs that you can construct. The variety of the bombs you can use is impressive, however totally unnecessary and feel just like a "Hey, here's some more shit you can do, but you don't have to do it" addition. The story is totally bland, and the characters drearily forgettable and Constantinople feels just like a color washed Rome. In my humble opinion, the story segment could have just been presented in a cut-scene during the last game, or via some other means like a short film. This AC game is probably the least enjoyable one of all.
In contrast, AC III does feel like a game that stands on It's own. The setting is fresh, new and very expertly crafted. The frontier and the cities feel very vibrant and bustling, brimming with detail. The gameplay has It's ups and downs: the controls are simplified, but the context sensitive actions often misinterpret your input which results in moments of frustration, the combat is more static and less fluid. The ablity to freerun through the canopy is a nice touch, however the rooftop parkour has lost some of its appeal, due to the V shaped roofs and the reduction of housing density. Naval combat is a blast, which makes the fact that the missions are highly repetitive and lacking in imagination very noticeable and regretful. ACIII has a TON of things to do, but the developers forget that choice alone does not produce quality. Most of the sidequests are simple go and fetch/kill missions which are so dull they might as well not could have been omitted to prevent cluttering the game. The trading/crafting system is a disaster, mainly because the lack of need for new gear and cash and the user unfriendly interface and inefficient mechanics for example the lack of a 'sell all; option. One other aspect of the game really shines out though - the writing at certain points is brilliant, and makes you look past the shoddy pacing and Connor's lack of depth. The return to the Templar/Assassin philosophical dichotomy returns with great applause, a feature that I found lacking since the first AC. Connor is very much overshadowed by his father and as a result I found myself wanting to play a game with Haytham as the main protagonist. Overall I fell like ACIII is a step in the right direction albeit a very shaky one. A game with very high potential marred by terrible design choices and unappealing padding. I hope the dev's get their shit together... Shouldn't you have learned by now to avoid these rookie mistakes?
