Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

So, i have played all of the AC games to date (excluding the spin-offs) its probably my favourite series to date. The thing is, i'm not a massive gamer, i have about 2-3 games that i can be bothered playing and AC is usually one of them so i was overwhelmingly excited for this release.
I haven't completed the game yet but i am around 75% of the way through so i thought i'd share my opinions.

The first thing i've got to say is that the graphics are unbelievable. The frontier is gorgeous, either when draped in sunshine or covered in snow, you have to take time out of the story and have a wander around to really appreciate it otherwise you'll just be sprinting through it to the next mission. But when you do you are totally immersed in the giant (and i really mean giant) forest setting littered with small towns and shadowed by massive cliffs. Colonies are beautifully designed, the contrast between bustling Boston and recently burnt down New York are made clear with the stunning visuals adding to the overall atmosphere and immersiveness of the experiance, its truly a big accomplishment.

But a good looking cake has to taste nice too, so how do the new gameplay tweaks (they are just tweaks) stack up? Well, overall, they aren't bad. The new combat system is as close a copy of what you get in Arkham City as you'll find, which isn't a bad thing at all. It invites you to actually attack your enemy with fluid moves that are good to watch, instead of waiting to counter as in previous games. The human shield move is particulary pleasing, to do, albeit sometimes over-used. A small issue i have is sometimes you feel a bit detached just bashing X (Xbox 360) whilst Connor flips over enemies and seemlessly takes them down one by one.
The next tweak is the free-running. This, for me, is the most infuriating part of the game and where most of the glitches you'll have heard of occur. Ubisoft have decided to just use the right trigger for all free-running, instead of the sprint option in the previous titles. The effect is mixed, sometimes it works great and sometimes you'll find yourself shouting "Get off the fence!" when Connor grabs onto something you were merely running past. The next downside is that a lot of the leaps from buildings are misjudged, you'll find yourself overshooting the next rooftop over and getting fall damage from splattering over the pavement. This is particulary infuriating when in stealth mode and a jump is missed and you land right in the middle of a group of guards.
Continuing with free-running, the big thing was the tree-running (see what i did there?). Well, its not as a revolutionary way of travel as they might lead you to believe. There are short, tree-running sections like the white towel parts in the cities which sometimes leave you wondering whether you actually gained anything from that short spat in the canopy when you had to go out of your way to find a way up and ended up going around your target destination instead of to it, but it takes nothing away from the game in the bigger picture.

Now, the story. The layout of the story is a lot different to previous games in the series which see you skirting around historical events and people instead of being directly involved. Well in AC3 you are smack bang in the middle of the American Revolution, i am a History student and have done some of this period but even for me the tons of characters thrown at you was a little hard to take in. It seems like they have moved away from the Eden pieces story and just focused on the History, which is a bit disappointing. A piece of eden "key" is introduced in the prologue when you play as Haytham Kenway, Connor's father, and its the reason you go into the Animus as Connor to find but i am on sequence 9 of 12 and as of yet the protagonist isn't even aware of its existence. Instead he is focussed on defending his people, taking part in the revolution, mostly oblivious to what Assassin's stand for (except killing Templars) and just being generally moody. Believe me, he is a far cry from Ezio Auditore. But in fairness, it was always going to be a hard act to follow. The only real continuity throughout regarding "The First Civilisation" is through exploring the caverns you are in with Desmond, which have been more interesting for me and the only way of moving the story of the series forward.
So all in all, it feels more like a history lesson than an AC story (so far at least) and something that easily could have not even been an Assassins Creed game.

Aside from the main story, though, there is plenty to do. Developing your Homestead, similar to Monteriggoni, is very pleasing. If you wish you can trade with the colonies by sending convoys with goods made by the people who have come to live on your land by way of side missions. You also have access to a fully authentic ship, The Aquila. These are by far the best thing to do if you don't fancy a story mission. The graphics, the battles, commanding a ship and crew whilst on the high seas is something else, really a lot of fun.
There are many other side plots, too many to go into. But you have the Assassins Guild again, recruiting new assassins takes a lot longer, requiring a few tasks to be completed before they join your cause. There is hunting, with which the spoils you can trade or craft. Convoys guarded by Redcoats are littered across the frontier that can be looted. Not to mention deliveries, treasure hunting, forts, other guilds and more. You'll never not have something to do in AC3.

In conclusion. Its a great game, and had it not been for AC2 it would easily be the best in the series. But the story is less immersive and feels more like a distraction than progression, and some glitches let it down. But its definately worth playing, the good features outweigh the bad in most respects but to really appreciate what you're playing, dive into the other elements alongside the main story and the bugs won't bother you that much.