If you aren't excited for Assassin's Creed III at the moment, some new trailers should surely change your mind. Fans have been eager to see what kind of gameplay we can expect from a true sequel to Assassin's Creed II released all the way back in 2009 and Ubisoft really delivered during their press conference. A cinematic, jaw-dropping trailer made Mel Gibson from The Patriot look like child's play as we watch, protagonist Connor, fight alone, through a battlefield of British soldiers to hunt down his Templar target.
Connor wades through a retreating Continental Army, toward the British force, despite the warnings of the revolutionaries. Connor mounts a horse and begins a full on sprint toward the redcoats dodging cannon fire and musket shots until he reaches their lines, unscathed. Armed with his deadly tomahawk and a dagger, Connor is untouchable as he drops soldier after soldier with deadly fluidity. Before long, he fights his way to the Templar Commander and ends his life.
The sequence is truly amazing in terms of visual presentation and just pure awesomeness. Some videos and screen shots of gameplay have shown Connor engaging the Redcoats on an open battlefield similar to the cinematic trailer and I'm sure we can expect the same level of intensity from these battles in game.
The gameplay trailer shows the new 'wilderness' environment which Ubisoft reps explained will be traversed multiple times, through winter, summer, fall and spring. The seasons and weather change and will effect gameplay. For instance, the demo takes place during the winter and high snow drifts impede Connor's movement forcing him to trudge his way through unless he takes another route. The dense forest will provide a completely new Parkour playground for players to explore. Connor swings, jumps and climbs swiftly from tree to tree and the movement looks natural and realistic.
I was almost worried it'd be difficult to make a forest work for the Assassin's Creed style of travel but the demo re-instilled my faith in the setting. The trees don't look awkward or in any way like they are made a special way to enhance the free running. It's almost like the perfect camouflage; the trees make up the forests we will explore but they serve the dual purpose of being the focus of Assassin's Creed III's Parkour. The beautifully rendered forest is teeming with wildlife which we see in the beginning of the demo. Connor hunts down a deer with his bow but the scent of blood draws in a pack of wolves. Ubisoft has explained you'll confront different animals, docile and hostile in the wilderness and that hunting these animals will serve different benefits. You can collect pelts, meat and other materials from the animals you hunt which can be sold or traded.
After hunting the deer and delivering the meat to a nearby, dreary looking Continental camp, Connor speaks with a soldier asking where to find a Templar named Silas. The man answers the question and begins to explain how Connor can help Continental army but the assassin assures him he has no interest in aiding the patriots. Connor sets out into the forest again and locates the the fort, deep in the forest, where the Templar is hiding. From the trees, Connor attacks the group of redcoats guarding the gates and we see the new chain-blade weapon in action here as Connor uses it to strangle one unfortunate soldier.
A slew of new violent kill animations are sure to spice things up; they're one of the first things that caught my during the intense combat. Connor uses his tomahawk and dagger combination to manipulate the bayonet mounted muskets against their users. He directs the fire of the guns at their companions or drives the bayonet into one of the redcoats effectively impaling him. The combat is as fluid as ever and looks freshly satisfying compared to the kill animations of Altair and Ezio which have become stale over the past few years.
Connor makes his way into the fort and locates the target. He causes an explosion distracting the soldiers and throwing them into a disorganized frenzy allowing him to chase after Silas and complete the assassination. The gameplay has so much more to offer this time around and while it's the third game in the series (fourth if you count Brotherhood and Revelations) it almost looks like a new game entirely.
Ubisoft didn't stop there however; they revealed that Connor will take to the high seas in naval combat where you can command your own ship and crew, canons and all. The trailer shows Connor steering the ship as the crew fires off canons sinking several British ships. The action will even include the iconic ship boarding battles that occur in pirate movies. Check out the trailer below and see for yourself. Look for Assassin's Creed III in stores October 30, for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
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