Thought I would post this here too -
Assassin's Creed III - 8.5/10
Pros:
+ An excellent story, especially towards the end
+ A good amount of playtime (playing through the entire life of the main character)
+ Graphically stunning turned all the way up
+ The snow landscapes are spectacular
+ There is finally a weather system
+ The ship missions are a real highlight
+ Combat is fun and we can now dual wield (pistols too)
+ Free running is much smoother and less easily interrupted
+ The soundtrack is excellent
+ Some of the 'present day' missions are actually quite fun, although they can spoil the flow of the game
+ The cities feel alive
+ The frontier is fun and there are some neat additions here
+ The optional objectives are handled much better than in AC2
Cons:
- The first 1/3 of the game feels like a tutorial and is very slow and linear
- The homestead missions are dull and feel like a waste of time (although pad out the story well in some places)
- The engine is poorly optimised (terribly CPU limited)
- Connor isn't very likable (nowhere near as much as Altair and Ezio)
- Crafting is a pointless and boring addition
- Some of the voice overs are of poor quality
- Far too much travel, the world is huge!
- The mini-game of sending out your assassins adds little and seems like an after thought this time around
I personally love this series. Sure, there are lots of niggles. However, if the next installment is ship focused then sign me up!
