GOTY 2012 Best Action Adventure: Assassin's Creed 3

The action adventure genre is one of the broadest in the games industry and this makes it hard to decide if a title belongs in this category or if it features more elements from genres like shooters or RPGs.

While quite a few action adventure games have appeared this year, one of the most impressive is Assassin's Creed 3.

Ubisoft Montreal promised a lot of brand new features and options with the latest entry in its hugely popular Assassin's Creed series.

From the new protagonist, Connor, to the new historical setting, the American Revolution, as well as a sprawling open world that can be explored in different ways and provides all sorts of activities, ranging from hunting to fighting on the open seas.

Assassin's Creed 3 is huge game, as not only does it tell the story of its main protagonist, Connor, but it also concludes the plot involving his present-day ancestor, Desmond, and gives more insight into the relationship between the Assassins and their sworn enemies, the Templar Knights.

While the story does stumble a few times and the conclusion of Desmond's adventures are rather disappointing, the gameplay does much to improve the position of Assassin's Creed 3.

From the smoother yet more complex combat system, to the streamlined exploration and free-running mechanics, plenty of changes have been made to the game's core mechanics.

Without a doubt one of the biggest is in regards to the open world, which now features sprawling cities like Boston or New York, but also a huge Frontier filled with different environments and lots of wild animals.

Besides the rather lengthy single-player, Assassin's Creed 3 also stands out with its multiplayer mode that refines on the mechanics seen in the previous titles, while adding some novel new modes, like Wolfpack.

While it certainly has its flaws, Assassin's Creed 3 is the best action adventure game of the year.