A lot of people defend this game. I defend... aspects of it... people are obviously entitled to their own opinion, and I still respect those who do enjoy this instalment in the franchise. I just felt a little underwhelmed by it.
I guess one good thing to come out of this game is the historic setting. It is a different, yet also surprisingly good choice for a game that bases a lot of its gameplay on parkour. Despite a lack of tall buildings, there's a frontier where you can swing from tree to tree as you hunt animals, or follow Redcoats that march into battle.
The other good thing is Haytham Kenway. You play as him for the first three sequences, and then you wish the game was about him, instead. He has the charm and charisma, also the bad-ass-ery that makes him the 18th century equivalent of James Bond. Also, the twist at the end of the third sequence... Totally saw that coming (!) Then you play as his son, Connor Kenway. That's when things start to collapse. Connor has little to no personality, and when he does, he's only shouting, or whining about being an assassin. Essentially, he's AC's Anakin Skywalker. Y'know, before he became Darth Vader. And while he admittedly does have a cool arsenal of weapon (Especially the bow and the tomahawk), that's not enough to make him interesting. With that said, I think the cultural background of the character is very interesting, and adds some diversity to the game, and we do learn bits of information about it through Connor. The rest comes in the data files of the Animus, though I wish they explored it more with the character.
The naval combat is pretty fun, too, though, by Black Flag, it gets a lot better. I'm skipping over this so I can address my biggest problem with the game. But before I do, as it says already, SPOILER! Okay... They kill off Desmond Miles.
That's my biggest problem with it. I know that the modern settings in AC weren't as interesting as the historic settings. That's obvious. But they are just as important to the game as anything else. A lot of the main story is there: They have to prevent the world's end. This is also set in 2012, three years ago, now... Now, I was expecting something grand. Some big finish to Desmond's story. He stops Abstergo and saves humanity from suffering the same fate as the first civilization.
Well, they save humanity, but one of the First Civilisation beings, Juno, as in the Roman Goddess, is released. But that's it. It doesn't seem to be looked over again after Black Flag. (I haven't finished Unity yet to completely know.) At the same time, Desmond dies. Now... the way they handled it wasn't... spectacular. He just puts his hand on something, and gets his brain fried. Something more extravagant would've sufficed.
In fact, no, they shouldn't have killed him off. He might've been given a more mixed reception, but the game was about him, and his ancestry. What happens, now, then? The player is now the hero. To be honest, that's a cop out. I definitely would've preferred a set protagonist, with a developed character arc, like Desmond, even if people found him grating.
I'm getting off topic a bit, I know.
All in all, I'd say the story is a bit disappointing, the main protagonist is boring, but the gameplay and the historic setting is worth it. I give it 7 out of 10, mostly for Haytham.
I guess one good thing to come out of this game is the historic setting. It is a different, yet also surprisingly good choice for a game that bases a lot of its gameplay on parkour. Despite a lack of tall buildings, there's a frontier where you can swing from tree to tree as you hunt animals, or follow Redcoats that march into battle.
The other good thing is Haytham Kenway. You play as him for the first three sequences, and then you wish the game was about him, instead. He has the charm and charisma, also the bad-ass-ery that makes him the 18th century equivalent of James Bond. Also, the twist at the end of the third sequence... Totally saw that coming (!) Then you play as his son, Connor Kenway. That's when things start to collapse. Connor has little to no personality, and when he does, he's only shouting, or whining about being an assassin. Essentially, he's AC's Anakin Skywalker. Y'know, before he became Darth Vader. And while he admittedly does have a cool arsenal of weapon (Especially the bow and the tomahawk), that's not enough to make him interesting. With that said, I think the cultural background of the character is very interesting, and adds some diversity to the game, and we do learn bits of information about it through Connor. The rest comes in the data files of the Animus, though I wish they explored it more with the character.
The naval combat is pretty fun, too, though, by Black Flag, it gets a lot better. I'm skipping over this so I can address my biggest problem with the game. But before I do, as it says already, SPOILER! Okay... They kill off Desmond Miles.
That's my biggest problem with it. I know that the modern settings in AC weren't as interesting as the historic settings. That's obvious. But they are just as important to the game as anything else. A lot of the main story is there: They have to prevent the world's end. This is also set in 2012, three years ago, now... Now, I was expecting something grand. Some big finish to Desmond's story. He stops Abstergo and saves humanity from suffering the same fate as the first civilization.
Well, they save humanity, but one of the First Civilisation beings, Juno, as in the Roman Goddess, is released. But that's it. It doesn't seem to be looked over again after Black Flag. (I haven't finished Unity yet to completely know.) At the same time, Desmond dies. Now... the way they handled it wasn't... spectacular. He just puts his hand on something, and gets his brain fried. Something more extravagant would've sufficed.
In fact, no, they shouldn't have killed him off. He might've been given a more mixed reception, but the game was about him, and his ancestry. What happens, now, then? The player is now the hero. To be honest, that's a cop out. I definitely would've preferred a set protagonist, with a developed character arc, like Desmond, even if people found him grating.
I'm getting off topic a bit, I know.
All in all, I'd say the story is a bit disappointing, the main protagonist is boring, but the gameplay and the historic setting is worth it. I give it 7 out of 10, mostly for Haytham.