Yesterday we had the fantastic, gorgeous, fun and amazing Dishonoured. Steaming along on with the Top 10 for 2012, it's been a rather highly debated title, but hey, it beats Burnout: Most Wanted...so prepare your tomahawks and hidden blades, because it's

"One kills a man, one is an assassin; one kills millions, one is a conqueror; one kills everybody, one is a god." ~Jean Rostand

You would have had to of been deaf and blind to not know about Assassin's Creed 3. The revolution was hyped almost near the level of Halo 3 or Black Ops 2. With some of the most amazing trailers and pre-release art ever, I was extremely pumped for this game. Even after the delays on PC, and a plethora of bugs not limited to massive FPS drops and control issues, I was not disappointed by this, the 5th outing for Ubisoft's current flagship series.

The unfortunate problem was, due to the PCs late release, much of the story was spoiled for me. However, turns out the writers seem to have subconsciously taken this into account, with many things still surprising me, and keeping the story interesting. You'll probably get around anywhere between 10-40 hours if you just focus on the story, with the extra missions and objectives taking up anywhere above an extra 10 hours to complete. Although this padding should mark the game down, in AC3 it leads to some very interesting side quests, such as the naval missions or the homestead missions. I have to admit, though, Desmond's last mission (Desmond has a series of missions in between sequences in the Animus) was possibly the best mission of the entire game, and definitely worth the amount of time spent to get to that point. Finally, you get the feeling he's a real Assassin.

The combat system got revitalised, and it can be tricky to work out, but once you've got the hang of it, I promise you won't be disappointed. Watching our hero Connor take down two guards simultaneously with their own heads NEVER gets old. The inclusion of both subtle and normal quick-time-events is actually a welcome change for once, giving you time to decide which way you're going to annihilate you enemy next, or allowing you adequate time to defend against a bear or cougar attack.

On that matter, the hunting system is actually a very fun part of the game. Being able to walk into town after having killed a bear is a rewarding feeling, particularly when that bear has probably caused you to desynchronise at least 3 times prior. Jumping on those bloody wolves from the treeline is hilarious, up until the rest of the pack sinks their teeth into you. Even rabbits and antelope pose their own challenges, but either way, practice makes perfect. Freerunning was modified. It's slightly depressing that freerunning is now only one button, but Connor's move set is impressive to say the least...far more flexible than Ezio or Altair, and with the addition of being able to climb trees, it's much more fun than previous Assassin's Creed games. Although, I don't recommend climbing the trees in Boston or New York...it's not as fun as the Frontier or Davenport Homestead, where you really get to test Connor's skills.

With the PC version, I got the most graphically enhanced version of the game. Running DX11, it's beautiful. It's not like Dishonoured or Borderlands 2, where they go for a specific art style, but it's definitely a game that boasts it's beauty all over the place. The water and sky look amazing, and the characters are extremely detailed, just as much as the cities. Even just compare the blood textures between the PS3 and PC version, and you'll see SIGNIFICANT improvement. Even at the cost of quite a significant amount of FPS.

So, what's Zeph's opinion on the game? "An excellent series that has fumbled slightly on what it was built on." Damn right.

Overall, this game is impressive, although it has quite a few minor hiccups on the technical side. People complain about the story being boring and about the ending being terrible (almost ME3 level). The game was clearly not optimised for PC (as seen similarly with Ghost Recon, both games ported by Ubisoft Kiev), and so many issues surrounded launch. But, when you get past it, this game is brilliant, and if you're a fan of the series you won't be disappointed.

8.5/10

Up Next: Border Security never had so many weapons. Ever.

P.S.: Oh yeah, there's multiplayer too, but I ditched it once I found out it included pay-2-win...

P.S.S.: Soundtrack of the year. I will hear no objections. This is a soundtrack to die for.

Sources:

Quote: http://www.brainyquo...s/assassin.html

Logo Image: http://www.esperino....ner-614x239.jpg

All screenshots were taken by Extreme110.