When you’re slipping through trees in a forest, dressed like a warrior chav; Assassin’s Creed 3 sings. Alas, the build up to the chorus is gargantuan. You start the game as Haytham Kenway: the father of the protagonist, Connor. Haytham is a suave Englishman, who can fight and parkour like a boss. He does look daft when perched atop a church spire, but his Bond-like swagger, permeates his being. These introductory sections with Mr.Kenway (say it in the voice of Sean Connery) are enjoyable, mainly because of the character, not the linear tasks you carry out with him.
This introduction into the main game, is then followed by another, where you play as a young Connor. After that, he ages and the cycle continues; then finally, after a bit longer, you actually play as the guy advertised on the front of the box. The pacing is all over the place throughout the campaign, its ambition is often overshadowed by the execution. Talking of execution, there aren’t many assassinations in the game, which is a strange oversight in a game with “assassin” in the title.
The game looks beautiful; and at times, when it all clicks, you can be sat atop a mast in the Caribbean Sea, basking in serenity. The combat system has had a few tweaks: nothing Earth-shattering, mostly making the simple combat, more simplified. A tweak to the running system is welcome however, losing the need to hold down a face button to sprint, opened up the door for prompted jumps. No more will you jump into oblivion, by accident. You will experience glitches in the game, a side-effect of scale (hi, Skyrim!). Glimpses of brilliance often slip through the cracks and give you a taste of what could have been, but often it’s too frustrating to forgive.
