The marketing may focus on the fancily-dressed Ezio, Altair, Connor, and Aveline, but the real hero has always been Desmond, reliving their memories through the Animus. Ubisoft has promised that Assassin's Creed 3 will conclude the present-day story of the franchise, and a new trailer hints at how it all ties together.
Aveline, hero of Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, intrigues us. Not only because she's the franchise's first female assassin--but because she can assume many different roles to blend into society.
Born from a French father and an African mother, Aveline is able to take advantage of her mixed race heritage to blend into all facets of historic Louisiana society. That's the basis of the game's "Persona System," which Ubisoft details in this brand new trailer.
Ubisoft's marketing machine has been relentlessly assaulting us with new Assassin's Creed 3 media in anticipation of the game's release at the end of the month. But today, we get a new trailer focused entirely on the game's multiplayer modes.
While Assassin's Creed 3 and Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation will be set in different locales, that won't keep the two main characters from meeting each other in the Vita version, according to lead story writer Corey May.
Ubisoft continues to keep its marketing and video teams busy with yet another trailer for Assassin's Creed 3, this one entitled an Assassin's Journey and taking a bit more of an in-depth look at Connor's Native American background.
After being unceremoniously outed in yesterday's PlayStation Store update, Ubisoft has finally announced official details for Assassin's Creed 3's DLC Season Pass. Available for $29.99 (2400 Microsoft Points) on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Wii U, the Season Pass promises to offer five pieces of DLC over the six months following the game's release.
Two DLC packs will expand the multiplayer experience with more maps and characters. The other three will make up a brand new single player campaign called "The Tyranny of King Washington."
Read more: 'Alternate history' with George Washington as the enemy »
Ubisoft is trying to stay true to the American history aspect of Assassin's Creed 3, at least as faithful as you can be with templars and assassin's melded into the storyline. But the latest trailer for the game is more a lesson on the Boston Tea Party than anything having to do with Connor's exploits.
Assassin's Creed isn't the sort of franchise to radically reinvent itself, but it's had more experiments than it often gets credit for. Since the series became annualized, each game has tried to introduce some new element unseen in the series so far. In Assassin's Creed 3, it's the naval combat. Lead game designer Steven Masters recently shared some insight to how these ideas go from concept to execution.
The PlayStation 3 is getting yet another exclusive compilation to let players catch up on some games they might have missed. But unlike collections like the recent Ratchet or Infamous sets, this one is a third-party series. The Assassin's Creed franchise spun off into a mini-trilogy in the middle of its trilogy, and it's being compiled onto one Blu-ray.
As part of its recent Assassin's Creed 3 mega-media blowout-o-rama, Ubisoft has confirmed the delayed PC edition's system requirements. They're modest demands, but if your gaming PC isn't up to scratch (say, if you're still using Windows XP), you've got until November 20 to sort that out.
Assassin's Creed 3 has been a long time coming. After a short detour into an entire trilogy devoted to Ezio, the hero from the prior numbered title, the series is bringing its dangling plot threads to a close. Lead writer Corey May talked to Shacknews about expectations, twists, and providing closure to Desmond's story.
Minor spoilers follow.
The task facing Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation may be more daunting than the high expectations of Assassin's Creed 3. The series has never really found a portable home, forcing the game to face double-duty in both subverting negative reactions and living up to the legacy. In an extended hands-on demo of the game, my own skepticism faded and was replaced by hope that the positive signs it shows so far are true indication of its potential.
More than any other game in the series, Assassin's Creed 3 is trading on our shared sense of history. It's chosen a historical event that many Americans hear about a young age, through a mixture of legend and history. More generally, it's centered around very recent world history, and some themes of justice, political manipulation, and hypocrisy resonate more closely with modern society than the more distant Crusades and Renaissance ever could.
Assassin's Creed's major plot device is on a trajectory towards finality. The meta-story involving Desmond and the potential end of the world is set to come to a close with Assassin's Creed 3, just in time for the Mayan prophecy. But the series is far too popular to end completely, and the story has a few hooks left to craft more story.
Assassin's Creed never seemed to lend itself to multiplayer, but Ubisoft made it work. Its hide-and-go-seek mechanic, in which players attempt to blend in with dozens of computer-controlled NPCs, was fresh enough to earn some interest, but didn't win over all players. In Assassin's Creed 3, Ubisoft is keeping its multiplayer intact, but introducing new modes with less AI-imitation required.
"I feel like if I did that now, I'd be less interested in playing ASSTHREED so soon. I'd rather ..."
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