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Release Date: November 13th, 2012 Movie Release Year: 2012

Assassin's Creed III

Overview -

The original 'Assassin's Creed' was a unique but flawed game that set up an interesting world and premise. Unfortunately, the play mechanics were not as precise as they should have been, leading to a title that held more promise than pleasure. Ubisoft, realizing what could be, perfected the formula with 'Assassin's Creed II'. Not only was the gameplay more engaging, but the new lead, Ezio Auditore, immediately became one of the leading characters in all of video gaming. Ezio was smart, dedicated, irreverent, and deadly. Through 'Assassin's Creed II' and its follow-ups, 'Brotherhood' and 'Revelations', players got to know Ezio intimately. With 'Assassin's Creed 3', the series offers a new protagonist for the first time in years, and the results are decidedly mixed.

OVERALL:
Rating Breakdown
VIDEO
AUDIO
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
Wii U Proprietary Disc
Video Resolution/Codec:
720p
Audio Formats:
Dolby Digital
Release Date:
November 13th, 2012

Video Review

Ranking:

A lot of discussion has come up about the Wii U's graphical capabilities. There's no doubt it could output high definition images, but the question is how it would fare against the existing consoles. Well, the good news is that 'Assassin's Creed 3' looks gorgeous on the Wii U. The title is quite demanding, and the Wii U matches it at every turn. Hi-res textures abound, and you can see for what seems like miles out in the wilderness. Characters are drawn with an extraordinary amount of detail. The Wii U pulls this off with nary a hitch. Load times seem a little longer than in previous titles, but the trade-off is I rarely saw any pop-in and no frame-rate drops or screen tearing. There may be debate about whether or not the Wii U can keep up with the upcoming consoles from Microsoft and Sony, but there's no doubt it can tackle the toughest that the current crop of consoles can handle.

One odd decision on the part of the developers was to try and imitate depth of field by making backgrounds blurry during cinematics. However, they went completely overboard, turning almost everything that isn't the main character into a fuzzy mass of pixels. This doesn't happen during gameplay, but it can make the cinematics tough to watch.

There's another element to playing on the Wii U, and that's remote play using the GamePad. It's pretty amazing to play a game as advanced as 'Assassin's Creed 3' on a device the size of a large paperback. For the most part, playing on the GamePad perfectly mimicked playing the game on the television. However, every so often the frame rate would drop and there would be massive screen tearing. It didn't last long, but it was disappointing to see, since GamePad integration was meant to be seamless.

'Assassin's Creed III' also offers several 3D options. I have a 3D TV, and tried both side by side and top and bottom 3D, but neither looked particularly good. Ghosting was rampant and I quickly got a headache, something that doesn't happen with most 3D material. 3D gaming may be possible, but doesn't feel very practical.

Audio Review

Ranking:

The world of 'Assassin's Creed III' bristles with life, as does the film's soundtrack. I must have spent half my time in the cities simply listening to conversations that NPC's were having. The wilderness bustles with the activity of all kinds of creatures. And the roar of the cannons when sailing the seas feels like a thunderclap. The large cadre of voice actors populates the world with distinctive and memorable performances. Noah Watts infuses Connor with a reluctant sadness that perfectly fits the character's disposition. Paul Hopkins makes Paul Revere a convivial chap who will charm your socks off. And listening to Nolan North as Desmond Miles, you'd never think it was the same man who gave voice to Nathan Drake in 'Uncharted'.

I should applaud 'Assassin's Creed 3' for branching out from the immense success of its predecessors. And in terms of theme and story, I'll sing the game's praises all day long. But in their attempt to make 'Assassin's Creed 3' the ultimate game in the series, Ubisoft favored breadth over depth and the gameplay suffers for it. However, even with all of its faults, 'Assassin's Creed 3' still manages to hit some remarkable heights. The Wii U version of the game looks and sounds beautiful, but aside from remote play on the GamePad, takes no advantage of the console's main input, and the pro controller feels a little less accurate than the Xbox and Sony controllers. If you only own a Wii U, then 'Assassin's Creed 3' is a no-brainer, as it's one of the top three launch titles available. If on the other hand you own an Xbox or a Playstation, you'll want to stick to those for this assassin's outing.