Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 41 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 788 Ratings

  • Summary: Pursue your enemies through 1775 America in an ever-changing environment. From the legendary battlefields of Lexington and Concord and the bustling streets of Boston and New York, to the snow-covered Appalachian wilderness, you’ll wage war in a stunningly mutable environment. Whether you’re re tracking your quarry’s blood trail through fresh snow, or taking advantage of driving winds and thick fog to hide your attack, liberty is on the line, so unleash your killing power in Assassin's Creed 3. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 41
  2. Negative: 0 out of 41
  1. Oct 30, 2012
    100
    With the game's mix of a hugely interactive open world, a compelling setting, and a finely tuned combat system, I'm eager to return to delve even further into the Animus.
  2. 100
    Assassin's Creed III takes everything that worked well in previous titles, sprinkled in a touch of Red Dead Redemption, tweaked the combat to be as smooth as Batman: Arkham City, borrowed the cinematic and character development of Uncharted 2, and polished it all off to be one of, if not the very best, game of 2012.
  3. 85
    Assassin's Creed III builds strongly on the series but fails to take a giant leap of faith into any real new territory. A new plot, the Colonial America setting, and sheer volume of things to do outweigh the disappointing bugs and glitches.
  4. Nov 5, 2012
    70
    It feels like Ubisoft's teams forgot everything they learned from excellent titles like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Die-hard fans of the franchise will find a lot to like here, but everyone else should go back and try the older, and better, Ezio-focused games.

See all 41 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 57 out of 277
  1. This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I can't say that I was expecting much from new "Assassin's Creed". Neither I can say that all previous games in the series were bad. At some point they had their problems that made me wish to see the credits rolling. New changes that we could see in the trailers were fascinating. Ship sequences, new protagonist, wild life, new to the series environment and, of course, new time period and setting made fans wonder what the game would be. Playing as two protagonists, who were on the opposite sites of conspiracy gave a fresh look on the main story. Connor, a native citizen of new world, is as good character as Ezio in AC II, but yet Connor manages to let player understand hate and moral choices more than you could image earlier in the series. Storyline of 18th century is mixed with gameplay in the future, that finally became as important and interesting as any other in the game.
    Gameplay was significantly rebuild adding some new features like quick death scenes using different animation from time to time. Fighting scenes became very cinematic not letting you take eyes of your screen. During the game you will also have to command a group of soldiers that are defending their line.
    Other important part that should be mentioned is warship navigation. Although there are only few sea fights in the game, and it is not a flaw, they are the ones you can't forget because they are epic.
    The first thing that comes to mind when I think of AC III is Connor running with his axe in the grass, suddenly appearing behind enemy soldiers and assassinating them. This memory is so strong that it is easy to forget about some minor bugs that appeared during walkthrough. I would even say, that AC III is the buggiest game in the series (after some flaws in first AC), although these bugs were never critical, but they took me out of the game to realize that I was back on my coach. Probably they all were fixed in following patch that I never installed.
    "Assassin's Creed III" is a must buy game for each AC fan and any gamer who likes detailed and original world of a game. I have to add that 3rd big installment of assassin is in my top 5 games list that were released in 2012.
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  2. Assassin's Creed III.
    Note: I have decided to include 2 new segments to this review, because there are some things that I can't consider good
    , or bad.
    Good Points:
    + The Period of time, the American Revolution is a great time to explore how an assassin and templar brotherhood could have installed there. Haytham Kenway, he's an excellent character and just impossible not to like. The comeback of more than 1 city (although you had Capadoccia in Revelations, you practically played all in Constantinople) and the different characteristics of each individual place. The Frontier and the addition of animals and hunting is amazing. The Seasons, now you can have snow and is just beautiful. Climbing trees, it is very useful when you have to scape from something or you just don't want to go on the snow (or whatever reason you find). The Length of both, the story and all side quest, which gave a lot of fun hours. Naval Battles, all (even those who rated this game with a 0) know that this is a TRULY good point. The vast inventory (including heavy, small, normal weapons and also a lot of range weapons). The American Assassin Brotherhood; This time they gave importance to how you meet them and why they decided to join the Brotherhood, giving each Assassin a different background. The Present Day gets really fun on this one, by giving you missions to retrieve power sources. Soundtrack, I always say it's amazing, but I have no word for this one IT'S BRILLIANT. (sorry for that). The Forts, it's really fun to liberate them and take away all Red Coats. Noah Watts and Adrian Hough, they make and incredible voice acting giving it emotion and a really interesting atmosphere. Benedict Arnold missions are just OK and we're lucky that they're free because I wouldn't recommend them if you had to pay for it. The Assassin Suit, is definitely the best Assassin outfit so far. The outstanding graphics, this is visually the best AC game so far. The AnvilNext Engine, it makes the game more realistic and powerful than before (it is also a bad point, check why)
    Bad Points:
    - The Game truly starts at Sequence 8 (considering you unlock New York, the final location, in this sequence), which is a shame, because you don't get full liberty until half of the game. Sequence 1, memory 3 is way to long, there was no necessity of making the ship travel so long. The pacing of the story is very slow and you'll probably get bored in some part of the story. Making board games as part of 100% synchronization, it's awful! Nobody wants board games obligatory. The game is "in parts" you have to buy 1 DLC (Hidden Secrets) to have the full game. Horse Riding, is horrible and in the frontier worst; Red Dead Redemption succeeded to make and incredible horse riding, why can't this game?. One of the most bugged games I have seen, why couldn't they delay the game to make it without any bugs or glitches or leave it with just a few?. The AnvilNext Engine, it was overwhelming for the game in some moments, like now there's a lot of people in the city, but they disappear mysteriously while they're walking (I mean, what?). Stealth, it is totally gone, you kill a guard and the whole city knows it. There's no background music while you're not currently in a mission, and you're just playing for fun, and it helps getting you bored.
    (+ New Segment) Middle Points:
    Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor), I can't say if he is either a good or bad point, because he is so complex and it is up to you to tell if he is a good or bad character. But before, I most tell you something: Ratonhnhaké:ton had the worst imaginable life and I can't say much more without spoiling you anything; before you judge him you most know that people who get that trauma turn to be really bad people. HomeStead Crafting and sending caravans, I don't know if you're going to like it, but for me it was an easier and most interactive way of winning money and trading things than previous Assassin's Creed Games. The Ending, I can't explain how is it a middle point without spoiling, just know that there's a 50 that you like it and 50 you don't. Synchronization ranks; now is more than 1 synchronization objective, so it's sometimes frustrating and sometimes a nice challenge. Simplified Gameplay, now the game has simplified the buttons and for expert AC gamers is boring at times, though if you're a newcomer you'll probably have a great time.
    (+ New Segment) Personal opinion:
    I think this game was awesome, but had flaws like Ratonhnhaké:ton smiling 3 or 4 times in the game, or the game being so slow. The Ending was very shocking for me and I didn't know how to deal with it. Gameplay mechanics we're simplified and that I didn't like.
    Final Score:
    Assassin's Creed III is the biggest, ambitious and inmersive AC game, telling an interesting story and adding some cool things. However, the game didn't fully completed it's ideas and somethings we're changed way too much. The Graphics, design, story are beautiful.
    Average Score: 8.2
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  3. For full review, visit http://www.tumblr.com/blog/hardcoreturnedcasual

    After three full Euro-set AC games, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III
    III finally broke the mold and made the trip to the New World. And oh, this is such a lofty, ambitious title.. rife with possibilities. It is undeniably jam-packed with content so much so that the main quest almost feels like an afterthought.

    I really wanted to love it.. There are so many amazing games out right now and I don’t have a lot of time on my hands to play them all, so giving AC3 a shot despite the negative reviews was a leap of faith on my part. I wish I could say that my faith was rewarded. What I got from my ultimate risk was a game that was fun in spurts, but eventually felt like a chore here’s why.

    CONS (see full review for more)
    -Side quests and item collection doesn’t feel important enough-

    I was focusing on the main missions in my playthrough, but that usually doesn’t keep me from getting ANY item/armor/weapon upgrades in a game. The crafting and item upgrade system was not integrated into the main storyline at ALL, and I actually had to look at a walkthrough to see how to even begin to get a new melee weapon.

    As for side quests, I felt cheated. The end of game references your “merry band of thieves”, but I never had one because i didn’t care enough to assemble them. There was that French guy from the main quest… but one man does not a band make.

    In AC2 I wanted to unlock every weapon and fix the mansion town completely, because I was steered towards the beginnings of those processes. This was not the case in AC3.

    But I must say that my main bone of contention lies with the armor upgrades. Even just for aesthetic purposes! Where were the ancient suits of armor, begging to be unlocked? This omission detracted greatly from the short main story as well I like to get drawn into upgrading my character so that I know what I’m getting for my extra trouble. Then, I can feel powerful in mandatory story missions.

    PROS (see full review for more)
    -Hub world-

    Hub worlds are a lost art. From Demon’s Souls’ Nexus to Hyrule Field in Ocarina of Time, they always seem to add an extra dimension to great games. To a lesser extent than those mentioned above, the cave in AC3 has more parts to open up and explore as you advance in the game’s main quest.

    CONCLUSION: Ubisoft is now a big, prestigious studio that has clout, budget and had lots of time to work on Assassin’s Creed III. This many inconsistencies and glitches gameplay failures is inexcusable. It’s just not as epic and grand as the other AC games felt.

    From what I understand, there’s a lot more to like if you have time to sink into this game. Exploration may be a lot stronger without the pressure I felt to complete the main story. Crafting new weapons and armor is interesting and likely very fun. Animus hacks for unlimited ammo, health etc. seem like a great way to extent the games shelf-life as well.

    While worth a playthrough and undoubtedly better when you delve into more side-quest distractions, the main game of Assassin’s Creed III leaves a lot to be desired and was largely disappointing.
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  4. "Who is responsible for ruining this once great franchise?" I'm going to get right to the point. This game is by far distances the worst in the series, it's simply not a good game, not only is it a bad AC game, it's just a bad game, period. You see, when there was backlash a year ago about Skyrim, it got a low score from fans here on Metacritic but not because the game was bad, it was because the game was bugged. When MW3 got a low score, it wasn't because the game is crap, it was because it was the same game being released year in and out. Earlier this year when Mass Effect 3 got poor ratings, it was because it had a terrible ending, not because the game was bad. Assassins creed 3 on the other hand suffers from everything those games got scrutinized for, and more. The story and ending are absolutely awful, the story in this series easily went from a very well thought out sci-fi/historical NY times best seller to a high school short story assignment which would have been graded an F, and unlike ME3 which had a great story not including the ending, this game suffers from poor story telling start to finish. The gameplay, there is hardly anything new here, what previous versions of the series did, they did well, here not only did previous gameplay mechanics get worse, but the little additions they brought in were either boring, or handled very poorly, with respect to naval battles. Unlike MW3 where everyone expected it to be the same, and was being sold as such with minor tweaks, AC3 was being sold as a bigger leap from AC2, than AC2 had from AC1, which is a complete and utter lie. The bugs, this game has so many bugs, it may not rival the likes of Skyrim on PS3, but there's a huge difference, Skyrim was actually a fantastic game, this is not. I have been a huge fan of the series since the first game, I've played every single game several times, watched short videos, read comics, played the handheld games. I have been a huge fan, AC2 is easily my game of the generation. AC3 on the other hand is my flop of the generation. It's missing so many core features previous installments had, from the non existent ambient music playing while exploring to the complete lack of stealth. The game is a mess from start to finish, it's really hard to invest yourself in the world or the characters, it's hard to care about them, Connor is absolutely boring, Desmond's story is a joke, the ending a disaster. You get tossed around so much during this game that it makes it feel like you are jumping from one thing to another, there's no clear path to anything, and it's not that there's a lack of hand holding, because that's all this game does for you is hold your hand, make sure not to let go as well, because if you try to approach an objective in a way you see more suitable, you will fail. You have to do it the way the developer wants you to do it, they want you to be their puppet. Well, I'm sorry but I refuse to be one and this will be my last AC game. Whoever was in charge of hiring the team that worked on AC3, forfeit your life savings, get on your knees and beg Patrice Désilets to return because he was the visionary behind this once great series. Even those who worked on Brotherhood and Revelations knew what the game was about, and they had much less time to do it all. This team, given 3 years showed us that they are nothing but a team of failures and their lack of experience really really shows. Heartbroken. Expand

See all 277 User Reviews

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