Dave At FilmRot

Initial Thoughts on Assassin’s Creed 3

I’m about 6 hours into the game and it’s been a while since I’ve played an AC game. I played through maybe a quarter of Brotherhood and didn’t play Revelations at all. AC2 is one of the few games I’ve maxed out achievements in and one of the finest overall experiences I’ve had with this generation. Needless to say I had high hopes for the next numbered Assassin’s Creed game.

To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. The game has a Metal Gar Solid 2 character switch in reverse, something I wasn’t prepared for but didn’t really mind until it started to drag. What’s really putting me off right now is the sheer amount of bugs left in the game. It’s very disheartening when you load a game up only to be met with a massive Day 1 bug patch. The AnvilNext engine just does not look as good or as polished as the last version and I’ve seen weird bugs like characters floating 2 feet in the air and my own PC shooting up 10 feet for no reason. I’ve seen enemies spawn right in front of me out of thin air, causing me to fail a mission. I mean, this is stuff that is supposed to get ironed out in fucking Alpha, for crissakes.

Then there’s the bug that is currently plaguing me. Early on in the Connor campaign (the actual TRUE campaign as promised by the advertising) he meets Samuel Adams, whom teaches him how to lower his Notoriety. A mission starts that has Connor escorting Sam to a printer so they can stem the flow of wanted posters. Sam notes that the Redcoats have set up checkpoints and they need to find an alternative route. Connor offers to take to the rooftops and meet him there, but Sam says he should learn the tunnel system. He then says, “Follow me.” Here’s the rub: the mission has Sam programmed to FOLLOW CONNOR, so when Sam tells Connor to follow him, Sam just stands there like a dipshit. I have reloaded my save and the result is the same. I know people have gotten past this mission so maybe I’m not seeing or doing something right, but after 30 years of gaming I expect that when a NPC says, “Follow me” he should fucking move on his own to where we should go!

Ugh! So disappointing.

Addendum: I got past the point in the sequence but it was still confusing. Apparently the map marker was taking you to the entrance tunnels. I thought, based on the conversation at the beginning of the mission, we were going to the printers. It made more sense because a ton of redcoats surrounded the map marker and Sam Adams hinted that the game didn’t want me going to the rooftops. I had to hop over a building anyway and almost failed the mission as I waited for Sam to catch up. So not really a bug, just piss poor execution. :(