Assassin's Creed III review - Telegraph The promised grand battles can see a bit underwhelming too, with Connor usually at a safe distance, either manning a cannon or dodging fire as he scoots around the outside of a battle. It's rare you get to be in the thick of things, at least on land. Boston and New York are relatively weak locations also, made up of identikit buildings and featuring a frustratingly obtuse fast travel system. The cityscapes of Italy are sorely missed. It's lucky, then, that the majority of the game takes place in the Frontier, with Connor leaping through trees, clambering up cliffs and trekking through the snow. There's a complex hunting and baiting mechanic, although it's criminally underused (often it's easier and more productive to simply sprint up to animals and stab them), but it still makes for an interesting, fresh location for the series. However, there are two locations in Assassin's Creed 3 that really stood out, and in fact made the game for me. First up is the Homestead, an enclosed area which Connor calls home. Here, you can deal with the daily trials and tribulations of its new inhabitants, engaging in smaller, more intimate quests in order to build both a small village, and a successful trading post over which you have control. While the main plot speeds along at quite a pace, the Homestead bits really let you get a feel for the characters who've moved in, and also shed a fair bit more (needed) insight on Connor as a person. The other location is simply 'the sea'. The naval battles. The pirate treasure. The fantastic, explosive, death-defying escapes from burning forts or collapsing glaciers. The scream and whistle of cannon fire flying overhead as you and your crew brace yourself on board your ship. The ship controls themselves are fantastic; the camera's still fixed behind Connor, at the wheel, so there's a sense of being in the thick of the action while Men O' War come hurtling down on you as you unleash fire on these leviathans of the sea. Cinematically they're excellent, the control you have over your ship is fantastic, and they're far and away the most exciting part of the game. It's unusual to find something entirely optional to be the must-have draw of a game, but both the naval battles and the sidequests relating to Captain Kidd's treasure are definitely a strong contender for 'best reason to play Assassin's Creed 3'. On land, the combat and free running have had a bit of an overhaul, although it's not immediately notable. The free running now only requires you to hold one button to sprint and climb but it doesn't really eradicate the problems with leaping off handholds when you don't want to, or occasionally flailing clumsily. It's not a big deal, it's never been a consistent problem, but there were still times where I found Connor flinging himself face-first into the ground when I simply wanted to leap to the next branch. Combat's been simplified too, although largely functions in the same way. Now it's a bit too easy to take down swathes of guards, although it's still satisfying to pull off a string of blocks, counters and executions. Elsewhere, the multiplayer mode is as fantastic as ever. The new Wolfpack mode is somewhat reminiscent of Sega's The Club or Resi's Mercenaries mode, tasking a team of players with killing a bunch of targets and performing bonus objectives in order to extend a timer, allowing the match to continue. The Assassin's Creed versus multiplayer is a tense, subtle affair, tasking you with sneakily killing your opponents in a crowded area. As always, if you go tearing around levels, leaping off rooftops, you're going to get spotted pretty quickly. There are a bunch of modes here, with some that are pleasingly minimalist in terms of HUD and guidance towards your targets. This makes matches into exciting, slow-paced struggles for survival, made all the more ominous by the frenzied whispering you hear as soon as a pursuer is close. On the downside, some of the maps aren't quite as interesting as in previous games, and a few of the multiplayer characters look too similar to one another, which is a bit of a pain when it comes to identifying targets. They're minor gripes though, and with plenty of customisation and loadout options gradually unlocking the higher you level, there's a lot of scope for the competitive assassin. So Assassin's Creed 3 is a funny beast. There are definitely some disappointing elements, and it would have been nice if some of the mandatory story missions were a little better (although there is some excellent content as well). The opening sections are fantastic, although (unusually for a prologue section), it's best not to talk about them for fear of ruining certain story aspects. If you're willing to go off and do the optional activities, then Assassin's Creed III's single player really shines, and there's just so much content here that even despite the negatives, it's well worth your time. Couple that with another consistently excellent multiplayer component and you're left with a game that may leave you frowning on occasion, but nonetheless one that still has a lot of fun on offer.