7. New Character Animation
I guess one of the biggest pitfalls Ubisoft faced when designing Connor Kenway was making him feel different than the previous characters. Altair and Ezio essentially do the same basic things as Connor (climbing, free running and killing) itd have been easy and dare I say tempting to create a character that moved in the same basic way, or in so similar a way that the differences were negligible. But thankfully, that really isnt the case. Connor is so much more animalistic, so much more bounding and aggressive in his movements than either of the previous Desmond puppets. So much so that the classic formula begins to take new life before our very eyes; that old excitement is reborn; that desire to just traverse the city with no particular goal in mind returns in full force. When Im playing AC III, I almost feel like I did when I played II for the first time: liberated. Not to mention the brand new battle animation, which again exposes Connors ruthless, animalistic style through brutal and awe-sinpiring kill-animations (seriously, he is vicious with that tomahawk). On the road to AC IIIs release, Ubisoft were keen to mention often that theyd completely rebuilt the character animations for AC III from the ground up and they really werent exaggerating. Connor is his own character, in look, in feel, in spirit and for that, Ubisoft must be commended.