Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

All in all, Assassin's Creed III Liberation is another excellent console-style release for the PlayStation Vita, and fans of the series who own a PS Vita shouldn't overlook it. It's not as full-featured as the console version, but it makes up for it with a more streamlined experience, an interesting main character and story, and plenty of unique gameplay ideas.

This is easily the sexiest looking, smoothest running and features packed open-world game on a portable. Yes, Liberation may not boast as many side-diversions as ACIII, but more than enough DNA from that GOTY contender has made the leap. PS Vita technical limitations are offset by the fact that we think Aveline's tale is slightly superior to the PS3 adventure. [December 2012, p72]

Liberation is 100% Assassin's Creed. After the "faux pas" of Bloodlines (PSP) and iOS titles, Ubisoft scores a prefect strike with this PS Vita spin-off, with deep gameplay and stunning graphics. After Uncharted Golden Abyss, Liberation could be one of the most interesting titles in Sony's handheld history so far.

This game is the next reason to buy a PS Vita – clever gameplay, nice graphics, more than a pure port. With more game like that Sony's handheld could become a success in the end.

Rough edges aside, it's a genuine portable blockbuster. [Christmas 2012, p.98]

While the team has definitely put in a good effort to use all the features of the Vita, a few technical issues weigh it down. Still, it is a unique experience well worth owning, especially for any fan of Assassin's Creed that owns a Vita.

For me, the biggest problem with Liberation is the story; it felt underdeveloped and stands as a missed opportunity. Despite that shortcoming, and a few technical issues aside, I really enjoyed being able to take what is essentially a full-fledged Assassin's Creed game on the road with me. While not essential to the canon, this game is worth playing for anyone who is a fan of the series.

Even though the visuals suffer in their tininess, none of the basic Assassin's Creeding is compromised. This is a full-blown counterpart to Assassin's Creed 3, with its own setting, style, character, and location. Bravo, Ubisoft.

It's not the revolution we were hoping for, bit it's easily the best portable Creed fix yet. [Holiday 2012, p.,70]

Liberation sounds just as good as it looks, with or without the use of headphones.

Despite not being quite as expansive as the home consoles versions, this game certainly deserves the attention of Vita owners. If we compare this title to other handheld entries, we can see how ambitious Ubisoft was in trying to translate the full Assassin's Creed experience on a handheld.

Assassin's Creed: Liberation is without doubt one of the best products on the PlayStation Vita.

A nice-looking, interesting Assassin's Creed Experience on Sony's handheld. If not for messy storytelling, random game-overs and a lacklustre multiplayer, it would have been a Vita classic.

The strength of Liberation is in its favored delivery of the story which truly represents an Assassin's Creed story in a unique and interesting way. Visually and audibly, the game is astounding, showing off the PS Vita's ability to maintain and perform on a similar level to its console cousin. Though the online is a major blemish and it has its fair share of technical issues, Liberation brings to the PS Vita exactly what fans want and more by showing that the hardware is more of a new way to do it rather than a hindrance.

At the end of the day, Liberation is the first true portable entry into the Assassin's Creed franchise, and thus, is naturally going to be a little rough along the edges. So long as you can deal with some technical limitations, you should enjoy yourself while you wait for Abstergo to craft more simulations for you.

Despite these problems, though, Liberation brings a hugely engaging and interesting gameplay mechanic to the series, one that's informed by the character herself. For that reason alone, it's impossible for me not to recommend this game.

Liberation delivers more of what we know, and mixes it up with new mechanics and an enjoyable minigame.

With an original story, sprawling environments, excellent use of the Vita's touch capabilities and tons of bonuses to find, it's sure to be a premiere game of the console for long to come. If the graphics were more refined and the story less disjointed, it would certainly rival the best the series has to offer.

An ambitious game which imitates the gameplay elements from the original series. Good graphics, interesting missions, three identities... but less than 10 hours of campaign, a poor multiplayer mode and so many fails in terms of programming. It definitely could have been better.

None of the worst problems are embedded into the core gameplay. Combat is fun, climbing and navigation works well, the story feels like a natural part of the AC universe. The tie-ins to Assassin's Creed III are minimal (mainly one mission near the end), but Liberation may hint at what areas the series is exploring next.

After Bloodlines, Ubisoft tries it one more time in a portable Sony device with Assassin's Creed III Liberation, hitting the jackpot this time with a faithful version of the saga which keeps its controls, mechanics, playability and open locations to explore with three different identities: Slave, Dame or Assassin. Great voice-over work and duration, it's a shame that its numerous bugs and glitches ruins one of the most impressive visual games on PS Vita.

Snappy and satisfying, though it loses something of the epic sweep of the home console Assassin's Creeds. [Issue#225, p.64]

The strong core of the Assassin's Creed franchise remains mostly intact here, but the truncated story makes Aveline's character development feel rushed and the twists much more predictable here. Liberation is solid game if you're on the go a lot, but it can't hold a candle to Desmond and his ancestors.

Liberation isn't the stellar, revolutionary experience I had counted on. They just don't do enough with the story or protagonist, the experience feels somewhat dull and lifeless at times, and the game can chug significantly. Still, I think it's critical to point out that in relation to other portable adventures, this is really very impressive.

Liberation could have been a fantastic game and a very worthy entry in the overall AC canon if it had been given a couple more months in the oven. As it stands, it's certainly an enjoyable romp and well worth playing for fans of the series, but the technical issues and sub-par narrative exposition really hold it back. Hopefully future handheld entries in the series will learn from the missteps here and create a true masterpiece.

For those who can't get enough, Liberation is a handy portable companion to Assassin's Creed III, but it is definitely a lighter experience both in physical form and in terms of content.

Great, but not brilliant. It will satisfy the fans of the series or anyone looking for a good adventure, however, the presence of very important bugs and the performance are two unforgivable issues that worsen the general experience.

Doesn't matter which persona you choose, enemies are defenseless. Never before in the history of Assassin's Creed were fights this easy. Countering is optional, not a necessity. Still, we had some fun. Aveline's armory is varied and fun to use. [December 2012, p.86]

Assassin's Creed: Liberation is quite the system mover that it had been hyped up to be. The game looks good but does not run very smoothly. It was good to see the touch controls implemented well. This is a solid experience for the hand held but really is up to the same standard as the other releases in the series. This is one for those looking for something for fans of the series and are after something that can be taken away from the television.

A match for its bigger cousins on the surface. But dig deep and liberation starts to unravel. [Jan 2013, p.80]

The moves and kills you'd expect are here, but the story is boiled down to be easy to jump in and out of. That takes away some of the excitement in playing through it.

Great game from a popular franchise at first glance but a not-so-entertaining title a few hours later. [Dec 2012]

A worthy Assassin's Creed title. Thanks to the three costumes of protagonist Aveline the game has its own character. Unfortunately the game is somewhat spoiled by all the mandatory touch and camera features, which often don't even work. Other weak points, like the stuttering frame rate and the bland story make it that, despite the best intentions, Liberation doesn't quite live up to the stature of its bigger brothers.

It tries to maintain the core AC experience, oftentimes at the expense of performance and stability, and while it largely succeeds in this regard, the overall result is a game caught in the middle of the franchise's past and future.

A solid and well-produced installment that aims for console heights but delivers more of the same. [Dec 2012]

It's a nice Assassin's Creed game on a handheld but the game is far from perfection. But playing as a woman is cool, that must be said. Therefore Assassin's Creed Liberation is worth buying.

Basically, same old Assassin's Creed. But the story is badly told and the new features just do not fit in.

This handheld title is fully comparable with the stationary ones. The controls work great, except in some touch or gyro related puzzles. There are a good number of bugs though and the story is straggling.

Liberation is a full sized Assassin's Creed game for Vita that makes you forget that you're playing on a handheld, and while certain parts require more work the overall impression is really good.

The Vita has gained a full-fledged Assassin's Creed-game, which is a victory for Ubisoft, Sony and everyone who owns the handheld. Few concessions have been made to transform this adventure to fit in your pocket, which deserves praise but also leads to frustration. The open nature of Assassin's Creed doesn't always work well with the Vita, and the handheld specific-functions fail to utilize the Vita-options in an interesting way.

It's almost as though Ubisoft wasn't confident enough in Liberation's story and gameplay to let it stand on its own. The result is a game that is fun to play, but in spite of itself. It's an Assassin's Creed game through and through, and fans of the franchise will find the key elements very much intact. But brace yourself to deal with useless gimmicks and a patchwork story that ultimately holds Liberation back from greatness.

It isn't as good at the core Assassin's Creed loop of picking an icon on the map and then getting diverted by entertaining side content on the way there, but where it does make a play for your attention it generally does so by asking you to, you know, be an assassin, creeping up on people and taking them down without them or anyone else noticing. That's fun.

In many ways, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is suppressed by Ubisoft Sofia's own outrageous ambitions. The plot meanders between ingenious and incomprehensible, sadly settling on the latter for great chunks of the single-player campaign. The gameplay is recognisable and confidently recreated, and there are moments when Aveline's pocketable adventure threatens to outdo its console counterparts – but the experience is mired by a communicative murkiness that's not entirely unlike its depiction of the Louisiana bayou's bogs.

Liberation's narrative is rather picaresque, while the less said about its asynchronous multiplayer mode, the better. Yet it avoids the console game's occasional longueurs to offer something altogether more compact and focused. It may not be a true Assassin's Creed experience on a handheld, then, but this sensibly streamlined game is a fine companion piece.

Assassins Creed III Liberation isn't quite the poster child for Sony's neglected format that many were hoping for, but Vita owners should probably be grateful they get a dedicated adventure of their own. There's no telling whether the same will hold true this time next year.

The portable Assassin's Creed we were waiting for is there, and it's capable. The feeling is there, the story enjoyable, and there's even some extras (commerce, multikills, gameplay altering costumes, touch features, etc.). But it's hard not to point out a clear lack of polish.

Ubisoft gets dressed for success. Or semi-success, at least.

The biggest problem with the game – in its desire to be a big home console game, it forgets its audience, or more specifically, its milieu. Aveline's various missions aren't any shorter than those found in the home console games, unlike the windows of time in which players are likely to consume them.

There is no shortage of clichéd metaphors to explain what Liberation is: it stopped short of the finish line, or if you prefer, it used all the ingredients but got the recipe wrong. Simply put, Liberation is a squandered game, starring an interesting character that goes nowhere.

Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation is a fair game compared to the previous titles released on handheld consoles. And yet, technical problems remains and many ideas introduced by Ubisoft don't work perfectly in terms of gameplay. In the end, players will have the feeling to play a cheap version of Assassin's Creed, similar to the previous episodes, but without the ambition.

If you're a fan of the series or you want to spend time running around stabbing people, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation will suffice, but because it tries so hard to be like a console title, its failure to match the level of depth, breadth or enjoyment you'd expect is all the more heartbreaking.

Though Assassin's Creed III: Liberation toys around with intriguing concepts and centers its story around a character you desperately want to know more about, none of it comes together especially well. Liberation often excels, but it stumbles just as much.

An inconsistent spin-off of the popular series for a powerful handheld is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. There are moments when Aveline shows off her face, but there are also moments of her kicking your face with some technical issues. At the end of the day the game is above average - sometimes it's great, sometimes it's frustrating. It could have hit the spot, if more care had been put into it.

Assassin's Creed III Liberation is possessed of many ideas, and for that, Ubisoft should be applauded. They've managed to pare AC's entire open-world design, with new mechanics to boot, down onto the Vita's hardware, and that alone is worth a look.

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation was a game with a tremendous amount of potential, but it never fully realizes it. At times it borders on brilliant, capturing the essence of the console classics and looking good doing it, yet at others it's a disappointing mix of novelty controls, frame-rate issues and weak storytelling.

Assassin's Creed fans will still enjoy the portable gameplay. Even Vita owners looking to justify the handheld through pure technical power can find a lot to love in Liberation. It's just not the experience you might expect from the franchise.

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is a game with a dual nature. On one hand - we finally have a true, big game from AC series on a handheld console with a lot of new and interesting ideas. On the other hand - the end result is mediocre. You could complain about almost everything: a weak storyline, a faulty fighting system, boring side-quests and some minor technical flaws. All in all - it's nothing special. I don't regret playing this game, but I can't say that it was spectacular.

While Ubisoft's commitment to the struggling Vita format is to be applauded – the console is in dire need of exclusives of this calibre – Assassin's Creed III: Liberation lacks the lavish quality of its big-screen relatives. Hardcore fans will not doubt be more forgiving and will quite rightly warm to the game's feisty heroine, but she deserves a better vehicle than this to showcase her talents.

Its protagonist is an intriguing one, and her mission frequently teases greatness. But it never quite arrives, due to the developers' inability to marry the "full-fledged" Assassin's Creed gameplay to the Vita's form and function.

For all its noble efforts to the contrary, Liberation still feels like a second-rate handheld port where it counts.

The gameplay feels right and contains most of the core tenets of what makes us love this series so much, but the whole experience is wrapped around a disjointed frame that's almost as off-putting as it is inviting. Die hard series fans and Vita loyalists will find some enjoyment here, to be sure, but Liberation's all over the place--and only some of those places hit the right notes.

It is annoying to see how Ubisoft sacrifices the logic of an open world for the sake of a chain of missions with little challenge. Within the blink of an eye open areas become restricted, people disappear and the heroine is not allowed to change her clothes anymore – which, by the way, is a great idea to camouflage her weaknesses.

My gut wants to give credit to Assassin's Creed III: Liberation for being a sizeable, faithful rendition of the Assassin's Creed series on a portable platform. However, I can't overlook the glaring technical issues, and I have a hard time seeing past the forced Vita-specific control gimmicks that mar the single-player campaign. If you're willing to put up with a lot of rough edges, you'll find aspects of Aveline's story to be superior to that of Connor's from AC3, despite the loss of scale in both the literal and figurative sense. I know the Vita is capable of producing better results than this, and I hope that Ubisoft puts some more polish into its next Vita title.

Liberation feels like it was made only to honor the agreement between Sony and Ubisoft that required the latter to produce a Vita-exclusive Assassin's Creed game.

Liberation feels like an unimportant side story in a far more ambitious tale, one that you don't really need to hear. If you've never played an Assassin's Creed game before, then this is a terrible place to start.

It's the glitches and game-breaking annoyances that most let things down. [Christmas 2012, p.96]

The tense atmosphere and fascinating setting makes this a highly interesting installment in the series. Sadly it is all brought down by a long list of technical issues and annoyances that makes this sometimes very enjoyable game a very trying experience.

The entire experience, virtually across the board, screamed of cool ideas and massive potential but Ubisoft may have bitten off more than it could chew. The final product was equal parts sloppy and magnificent. For every moment I set the Vita down to applaud there were similar moments the air turned blue as I cursed in frustration.

Despite all of the criticisms, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation isn't a complete disaster and if a portable slice of Assassin's Creed is what you a looking for then there is some enjoyment to be had. Even so, it remains a huge missed opportunity with its attempts to expand the horizons of the series nearly all fizzling out, not through any conceptual problems but through lacklustre and often glitchy delivery.