10 Video Games That Never Bettered Their Opening Levels

4. Assassin's Creed III

There wasn't a whole lot to recommend about AC III overall, despite its ice-cool premise being one of the best in the entire canon. Instead, Ubisoft's third numbered instalment pulled the rug out from under our feet by starting you out not as Connor from the game's various trailers, but instead you were Haytham Kenway, an all-new protagonist... or was he?

See, it was this genuinely surprising turn of events that made the opening of AC III so memorable. We played as Kenway (assuming he was an Assassin) as he explored the American mid-west by boat, occasionally doing a bit of neck-stabbing ourselves, until it was revealed that actually, in bringing together a bunch of renegade souls, we'd actually been playing as a contingent of Templars all along.

Ubisoft new we'd be picking our jaws off the floor during the reveal too, hence why they slapped a great big "How D'you Like Them Apples?" achievement over the top of the action. It would mark the last intelligent and forward-thinking thing Ubi would do with the franchise, and ended the sequence in style.