I don’t know how Assassin’s Creed 3 fits into the greater Assassin franchise for me. It gets overshadowed by the bigger hits like Black Flag, but I wouldn’t consider it some underappreciated gem, it’s just lukewarm. It set up everything that later colonial games would build upon, which means it seems plainer in comparison.
This is also a pre-Unity Assassin’s Creed game, which means the gameplay is that weird kind of clunky. It’s not game breaking, but everything from parkour to combat feels unintuitive. Anyone who’s played an AC game probably has an anecdotal story about how they jumped off a three story building when they were trying to climb up a steeple or grabbed onto a stack of barrels when you’re just trying to book it from the guards. Climbing trees is a big part of this game, since you don’t have a vast Italian city to scurry around. Trying to climb up the trees can be a bit fidgety, but it does feel pretty sweet when you can start a fluid free run across the treetops. I get the idea behind the system, they were going for a free flowing feeling of just being able to effortless run, but I would prefer a little more control of the character.
The combat is that rhythmic, counter and attack setup that I think Assassin’s Creed pioneered. Like the treetops, when it works it feels good going around tomahawking people, but there’s plenty of times when I would hit the counter button, only to not counter and get bayonetted in the back. I think it’s because, unlike the Arkham games where when you hit the counter Batman doesn’t do anything until he counters that attack, you can hit the attack button in AC which cancels the counter. I dunno, just a guess. That being said, I was never a fan of the combat in the earlier AC games. This is also before Ubisoft made viewpoints fast travel spots and I had completely forgotten the whole underground sewer bits you have to trudge through to unlock travel points. Let’s say I’m glad they changed the system in later games.
There’s other gameplay modes, such as the much loved naval combat. Coming back to this after Black Flag did take a little getting used to, but it still holds up as being fun. You get to sail around, sinking ships with Mr. Gibbs. There’s also a merchant system where Connor, your Assassin, can run a trading company. It’s a lot of looking at digital spreadsheets. It’s not interesting at all, but you can use it to make a decent stack of cash in ten minutes. In the similar vein, there’s the Recruit contract menu where you send your assassin lackeys out to do off screen missions, basically it’s another spreadsheet manager.
There are three main areas you run around in, colonial Boston, New York, and the Frontier. I’ve always said the best thing Ubisoft does is create open worlds. You feel like you’re part of the colonial era as you walk around Boston. Lots of Jon Townsends walking around and British soldiers marching the streets. The buildings look great and you can visit famous locations, like the Old North Church. There’s town criers spouting news and advertisements that bring you into the world more. Again, not a lot of music in this Assassin’s Creed game, I don’t know why they are so anti-ambient music. The Frontier scratches that itch for me to play frontiersman. There’s actually a set of side missions where you debunk Daniel Boone’s tall tales. It was so cool to have Daniel Boone in the game. These side missions are a bit of a letdown. You get a mission like “find the Headless Horseman”, you go out and find the ghost only to discover it’s a real man, and that’s it. You don’t chase him down, you just shrug your shoulders and that’s it.
Okay, that’s the gameplay, now onto the history. This game is what really got me into the Assassin’s Creed series because it was set during the American Revolution. Like Black Flag, the history works well with the Assassin storyline. Ubisoft did an interesting move and has you playing as an American Indian, a member of the Mohawk tribe, who is given the English name Connor later on. He gets to be a part of that exclusive club with Night Wolf & Turok. But it is really interesting to play as an Indian, because while Connor does exclusively help the Patriots, he’s not part of the cause. It helps make the Templar/Assassin fight not just be an extension of America/Britain. There’s a few Templars who are part of the Patriot army, but they are usually traitors or schemers, you won’t be assassinating Ben Franklin. Most of the missions see Connor being a part of famous events, such as the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, or the winter at Valley Forge. The missions around them have some varied gameplay, like manning a canon or commanding a musket line. My only gripe is you never get to be out on a big battlefield with lots of musket lines. It would’ve been an epic moment. You meet lots of Founding Fathers as well. Ben Franklin is pretty absent, but you spend most of the first half hanging with Sam Adams, who always reminds me of Seth McFarlane in this game for some odd reason. You also bump into Paul Revere, John Hancock, Lafayette, and others. I learned a bit more about Israel Putnam who was portrayed as a sort of Patton-esque general. This was one of the first AC games where it took me an extra hour to beat because I stopped to read all the encyclopedia entries.
With recreating the Founding Fathers, Ubisoft did have a tricky balance to strike. These men are near mythic figures in the American psyche. They could portray them as the myths or go the angry college professor route and treat them as villains, but Ubisoft finds a nice middle ground, showing them as real people. Connor brings up slavery and the injustices of colonial America, and Sam Adams hand waves them off, just like a real politician. Washington is shown as the humble, sometimes to a fault, leader who really cares for his people, but has a less than stellar record with the Indians. Honestly his best scene is at the end of King Washington DLC, probably the best scene in the whole game. I wish they would have given Washington a second character model for indoor scenes. He address Congress, sits in his study, and plays yard games in his big, heavy, commander coat.
As for Connor’s personal story, he is the son of an Indian woman and a Templar, Haytham. You spend the first two chapters playing as Haytham and honestly, I think he was the one we should’ve focused on. Connor has some issues; for me he seems to spend a lot of time being dragged around to the historic events, not having much agency in the beginning. He’s also a victim of the “stoic Indian” stereotype. He’s usually just angry all the time or being moody, every once in a while his dry sense of humor shines, but again, he’s a lukewarm Assassin overshadowed by Edward, Ezio, and the like. The story really picks up and takes a shape towards the end when Connor works with his Templar father to hunt down a traitorous Templar. They play really well off each other; Connor, the defensive, but naïve son & Haytham, who’s that mix of charming & jackass only the British can master. Again, Haytham has an actual personality and his flippancy is a lot more enjoyable to Connor’s angst.
Connor does have one of the cooler looking Assassin robes, but I still don’t like the Assassin duds, so I immediately went to unlocking a more realistic outfit. It kind made the game feel more like an Indian with a vendetta out to save his village than a Templar/Assassin beat’em up. The story really is about Connor seeking vengeance against the Templars that burned down his village. One of the issues with the story is it feels like there’s a lot of balls being juggled. Connor is both trying to save his village, but also fight for the Assassins, rebuild the order, help the Patriots, and run a small community. Some focus in his character would’ve been appreciated, the village seems to get put on the back burner when I’d prefer a more native centric story.
One of the features I really liked in AC 3 that never really showed up in any other games is the Homestead system. Sure it’s more stuff to muddle Connor’s plot with, but I really liked setting up the town. You meet all these unique characters who I still remember fondly. They have fun personalities and they work and live together like a real community. As you complete their missions and help them with their problems that range from mundane to extraordinary, you learn more about them & it really feels like a little community you’re a part of. It ends with your Assassin mentor dying and everyone assembling for the funeral, and I’ll admit that scene still gets me.
You also recruit six unique assassins for your new Colonial order. I wish they would’ve played into the story more or maybe have the assassin recruits also be part of the Homestead. For the most part they have their one scene where you recruit them and they may appear in the background of certain cutscenes, but that’s it. They seem to have some effort put into their characterization that gets kind of wasted.
This is also the final game of the Desmond modern storyline. I never cared for them, when ever you get kicked out of the Animus, it’s basically 30 mins of just fighting to get back into colonial times. The whole all-powerful first civilization who came before us trope is one of my least favorite and I tuned out to most of Juno’s monologues. While I’m glad to be rid of Desmond for the Abstergo Entertainment storyline in future games, it does seem a little unfair he didn’t get a game just to himself.
A quick word on the fact I played the “remastered” version. It’s been awhile since I played it on the PS3, but the PS4 version looks standard with some prettier lighting on it. This is basically just a port to the PS4 with a little spit shine, but hey, it comes with Liberation bundled in.
All in all, this game is doomed to be a middle of the road AC entry for me. Everything cool about it; the history, world, and homesteaders are balanced out by the less than stellar stuff like Connor and the quantity over quality gameplay. Still this got me into the Assassin’s Creed series and will always hold a spot in my heart for letting me to hang out with Sam Adams, Washington, and company.
