14 DAY TRIAL // Assassin’s Creed 3 was released earlier this week around the world for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 home consoles. We’ve already posted our review and praised its huge scope, while criticizing the complicated mechanics it has added on top of the already tricky ones seen in previous games.
Now, it’s time to go in depth with the game and talk about its lengthy tutorial.
Seeing as how Assassin’s Creed 3 is a long game that can easily take over 20 hours to complete, and one that boasts all sorts of mechanics, from combat, to free-running or micro-managing your homestead, Ubisoft Montreal decided to ease players into the experience over the course of around 4 hours.
Right from the get-go, you control the current day protagonist of the series, Desmond Miles, as he once again straps himself to the Animus machine in order to explore the memories of his ancestors.
After that, you’re immersed into a sort of prologue section, in which you control Haytham Kenway, one of Desmond’s ancestors, as he makes his way from England to the British Colonies in North America.
You’ll get to spend quite a few hours with this character and, after a pretty major twist, you finally get to control Connor, the actual hero of the current game.
Don’t think you’ll immediately start assassinating people, as you’re first tasked with guiding Connor through his childhood and then through his complicated teenage years.
Over the course of several sequences, you get to learn about free-running on the Frontier across trees and natural environment, hunting wild animals, and making full use of your surroundings.
After that, you finally become an official Assassin. The learning isn’t over just yet, however, as you’re soon taken through your first Naval Warfare mission, and must then start managing your Homestead.
While this may seem like a critique, the lengthy introduction of Assassin’s Creed 3 just serves to highlight the massive scope of the game and its intricate mechanics that take a pretty long time to learn and an even longer period to master.
What did you think of the opening of Assassin’s Creed 3? Try to refrain from spoiling anything in the comments section below.