This game is more than a bomb. It is an explosion. Ubisoft built up the suspense for months, promoting this game as 'revolutionary' and 'better than ever.' The truth is, this game is an unfortunate fail. The story of Connor is poorly scripted, and it is nearly a universal agreement that the main antagonist (Haytham Kenway) is significantly more likable than the protagonist Connor. What's even worse is that I'm not sure Ubisoft intentionally did this. They took the classic Native American personality of stoicism, earthiness, and righteousness and slaughtered it. Connor is an asshole. I loved Haytham's character, and this was consistent. From the second I took the reigns of Haytham I appreciated his intelligence, wit, and humour. His character had a certain charm about him, despite the fact that he was a sociopath (not nearly as bad as Charles Lee, though). I will give Ubisoft props, however, for the incredible twist when I discovered that Haytham and his followers were actually Templars. Once I took control of Connor, though, the game went downhill. The game attempted to paint the Templars as the bad guys - which has been successful in AC3's predecessors - but due to the actions of the Assassins, and mostly Connor's behaviour, I found myself sympathizing with the Templars and wishing that they would win. I felt completely neutral towards the Americans the entire game. I felt like Washington had absolutely no presence, and characters like Adams and Revere actually seemed to be much bigger douchebags than I remember reading about in history books. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve about the story was the way Connor treated Achilles Davenport. It was unnecessarily disrespectful and made me feel more and more spite towards the character I was forced to play as. More and more, I wished that Lee or Haytham would actually put Connor out of his misery. To stop bashing the storyline for a moment, I also want to address the fact that Ubisoft never fails to release an Assassin's Creed game that required at least three patches before it is fully playable (and I use the term 'fully' very, very loosely). I received the game the day after its release and was forced to download a patch before playing. One day later. It is very difficult to enjoy a game that requires so much repairing. The game is glitchy - and that in itself is an understatement. Women in windows will disappear into oblivion; men on horses will walk without moving anywhere; and orphans on the street get stuck in a terrifying giggle that makes me miss the street musicians from the AC2 harassing me for money. The game is a total flop. I can't even finish the game because it won't let me go to Boston. If that's not a ridiculous glitch, I don't know what is. In short, AC3 is one game that was very highly anticipated, but let down audiences around the world.
