PAX East 2012 – A Look at Assassin’s Creed III

PAX East had a lot of great games to showcase. For example, let’s look at Assassin’s Creed III by Ubisoft, this game carries the legacy of it’s previous titles, but takes the franchise farther by placing the main character, Connor, in the middle of the American Revolutionary War.  Born to a British father and a Mohawk mother, we don’t yet know what drew him into this conflict, but whatever the case, he’s definitely maintaining the Assassin legacy established by former game characters Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad.

After being huddled into a dark, but good sized room we were treated to a video walkthrough of the game by Creative Director Alex Hutchinson who showed us a gameplay scenario-taking place in 1775 at the Battle of Charleston. The objective of this mission was to assassinate a British officer who was also a Templar.

Many of the games core mechanics were rebuilt from the ground up including core combat, character animations and the “predator” style gameplay where you have to find the best path to your initial target.

Visually, the game looked amazing and can showcase to 2,500 characters on screen simultaneously. Given that it takes place during the war, military tactics and style are part of the game so it won’t be uncommon to see British soldiers in a firing line attacking the Colonists.  The level of detail the team took for the environments also is paying off. Trees keep a natural looking shape, but lend themselves well for climbing and what’s being dubbed as “branch navigation” so that you can get closer to your target without being seen.

Lastly, the team isn’t slouching when it comes to weapons. Connor (or if going with his Native American name, Ratohnhaké:ton) has a number of different weapons for each situation including pistols, a bow and arrow, a tomahawk and to maintain the legacy of previous Assassin’s Creed games, the hidden blade.  We were able to witness the full mission to the point of reaching his target and the final scene is, well, breathtaking.

I’m a huge fan of what the Ubisoft team has done with the game this year and I’m definitely looking forward to its release on October 30^th. Want to learn more? Take a trip to the official site for Assassin’s Creed III.

* Special thanks to Stone Chin, Alex Monney and Jay Acevedo for showing me the game! *fist bump*