Assassin's Creed 3 Review Roundup: Critics Positive but Game Not Revolutionary

Assassin's Creed 3 was released yesterday and with it the reviews as well.

Many were expecting the title to be a revolutionary one especially considering Ubisoft's upward trend with recent titles and while reviews indicate the game to be a strong one, it certainly does not seem to be the revolution many expected.

On aggregate site Metacritic, the game currently has an 85/100 score, a decline from the 90/100 for Assassin's Creed 2.

IGN.com gave the title an 8.5 and stated that "Not everything about the game gels together convincingly and the missions' unnecessary prescriptiveness sometimes undermines the sense of freedom that the rest of the game works so hard to create. But it achieves so much that you can't help but respect it; no other open-world game has ever given us a setting that's as impressive to observe or as full of things to do as this."

Gamespot gave the title an 8.5 as well and noted that the story was rousing and emotional. They also enjoyed the naval battles and the entire production's expansiveness. However, they did note the title contained many glitches and that the hunting mechanics were underdeveloped.

Official Xbox Magazine stated that the title did not live up to its predecessor (AC 2) but was positive about the refined gameplay and the atmosphere it creates.

Some publications however thought the game was perfect including Gamestyle who stated that noted that the game was an improvement on prior installments in every possible way. In their own words, "Quite simply, one of the greatest stories of this gaming generation has just released its greatest chapter." They rated it a 10/10.

Some publications were not as in love with the title including Joystiq who stated that "It's sad to see the game lose sight of its assassin role-playing ideals in favor of bombast, bomb blasts and pig herding, so I hope this is but a momentary stumble while the franchise regains its balance... Assassin's Creed 3 is the kind of game that's just good enough to make you wish it was better."

Destructoid added that "Cohesion (or lack thereof) is the main issue with Assassin's Creed III. There are dozens of secondary elements which make up the content of the game, but they offer little in terms of reward and rarely contribute anything to the Assassin/Templar conflict. While the game is often quite fun, beautiful to look at and empowering to the player, it doesn't offer much challenge beyond the endurance necessary to complete all of the single-player campaign elements."

Read More Reviews HERE.