I had always been fan of Ninjas and their Techniques . Right from Ninja Gaiden which was released in Video Game Cassettes to the ones that is released to PS3 now . But overall there aren't many Ninja games out there . Only a few , which can be counted off easily . But the trouble with NG was that it was a PS3 & PS2 ( i.e) Sony Exclusive . Xbox did come out with its version of Ninja Game known as ' Ninja Blade ' Which had awesome dramatic moments in them that will make your jaw drop . And thank god it was available for PC too .My thirst for Ninjas were quenched a little . And right when I was becoming to thirsty again this game popped up in the radar . Although it was initially supposed to be XBLA game out for 360 fans alone i was disappointed . Bcos I saw the gameplay and for a side scrolling game this game was really ultra cool .
Graphics was stunning in a hazy sort of way , that you can easily distinguish between different grey areas that are marked in the levels . Lighting is the best part in the game and the difference between moving in shadows and in brightened areas have been show clearly .
So coming to the story part . The Protagonist Ninja is suddenly awakened from his dream when his clan is attacked by Armed Forces . You had just got the Tattoo that is supposed to make you one of the deadliest Ninja ever . The ink which was used in the tattoo is supposed to be from a rare desert Flower that has the capabilities to give you extraordinary power but at the same time can drive you over the brink of madness.So its customary for the person who dons the Ink to commit seppuku ( suicide by disembowelment ) before the Ink takes control of the person . So Ninja rescues his clan and his master Azai from the clutches of the Armed men . Azai reveals that the attack was carried out by a wealthy and ruthless adversary Karajan . So Ninja travels to the layer of Karajan along with his female companion Ninja , Ora .
When Karajan is finally killed, Ora guesses the true motive of Azai was to steal the technology from Karajan and use it for himself to make the Clan more powerful . She makes The Ninja to rebel against Seppuku and go after Dosan who had administered the Ink and knew of its true capabilities But he is captured by desert bandits and after Ninja saves him they come to know tat the Ancient flowers no longer exists but has been destroyed and this was the truth that Azai was trying to conceal . The Ninja vows to take revenge on Azai and when he finally meets up with him , Azai reveals its the ink that is making the Ninja to see such hallucinations and the character Ora never existed at all . It was just a manifestation of the Ink to prevent the Ninja from doing the necessary . Finally the players are given a choice to embrace the Insanity or to squash it by sacrificing themselves .
Gameplay surely has to be appreciated because the controls execute with such smoothness that you will feel like as if you gliding over the walls and vents that you scale . That too playing with a controller , My god !! Its pure heaven . And do remember that this is a stealth game , So if you try taking your enemies head on you are going to end up dying . Stealth kills are absolutely lethal here . You have the silent/ Perfect kill and imperfect kill where the dying enemy cries out as he dies and thereby alerting anyone in the vicinity .
Based upon the successful completion of your mission objectives , optional objectives sneaky way of movements without getting detected at all throughout the game you will be provided Honor ( XP points ). You can use it to upgrade your skills , Which involves the Bat's Prey ( death from above ) , Rising snake ( Sweep kick enemy into air ) , Twilight Gate ( Deal death from other side of door ) and etc,, .As your skills increase your attacks grow more deadlier and stealthier . And you start using your environments to your advantage .
The Ink
You also have a variety of Ninja tools in your Arsenal ( 4 can be carried max at a time) .
1) Darts ::
The most useful and abundant one are the darts . While others are of limited number , the darts can be used infinite number of times without getting depleted . You can lock on 3 targets at a time with the darts and can be used to take down light and fuse boxes from a distance . Taking down lights is very useful as it allows you to sneak close to your enemy without alerting him to Ur presence at all. But it can't be used to kill a guard but only to attract him .
2) Smoke Bombs ::
Limited in no , but can be used to sneak past Lasers or to quickly disappear from the view of your enemy when he spots you .
3) Noise Maker ::
Can be used to distract your enemy in into looking the other side so that you can move past him silently or sneak in closer for a silent kill.
4) Caltrops / Spike Trap ::
Can be dropped in the path of Enemy and when he walks over it , watch him getting impaled with spikes from below. When an enemy dies in the view of another guard you may terrorize him and he may start shivering and shouting going into full blown panic mode . quite deadly to watch seeing that you have such power over the other guy .
5) Farsight ::
An ability with which you can see through walls and other areas / track a connection of lever to see which is the right one .Very useful at some places.
6) Mark of Serenity : :
This the most coolest ability of the ink that you will get in the last part of the game when you get the final ink Tattoo .Can be used to disappear from one place and appear on another without disturbance in the middle. Essential to get past Stalkers and deadly traps that are unavoidable .
Guard Dogs ::
The game is fairly easy where you can get stealth kills easily . It becomes slightly difficult when the Dogs come into patrol which can sniff you out of your hiding place easily and thereby alerting the guards to your position. Better stay way away from them or quickly take them out before you take down their masters .
Shield and Elite Guards : :
The ones with the shield are really irritating bcos they can immediately make a area of last disturbance bright with a flare . But Can be easily taken down from behind or above . Elite guards are deadly and its extremely difficult to take down even with a silent sneak attack . They have to be confused / dazed first before you can slit them part .
Stalkers ::
These are the Ninja's with special equipment . They have a far sense of movement and come with Night Vision goggles which make them a absolute hell to pass by .they move fast and quick and and are almost equal to you in their speed and agility and skills . You can t take them out even with a sneak attack as they will easily detect any movement around their vicinity .Best Bet : Avoid them at all costs .
Bandits ::
Ora, Ninja and Dosan
The game gets upgraded into another level of difficulty when you come across the Bandits in deserts . Although these guys are similar to the ordinary guards the real problem with them is their ability to fill their place with Bomb Traps and weak scaffolding tricks . Its easier to spot then with your Farsight Ability but still these traps makes it almost impossible to sneak past without alerting guards .Grrrrr!! moments of the game for sure .
Scroll Quests :
Scroll challenge
These are the ultimate challenge to your Ninja skills and your ingenuity . They don t have enemies but your main objective is to get a scroll which is in the room but protected heavily by Lasers and Traps . You have to make use of every skill that you have trained in , in order to crack the Room's puzzle and get the scroll alive . Absolutely loved this part in the game . Its WOW :D
Pro's ::
1. Follow the path of Ninja who can reside in darkness and makes his appearance only when necessary .
2. The graphical representation of each level is amazing and confusing , that it makes you wonder how it was designed in the first place .
3. Controls are so smooth to execute that it will be like a hot knife through butter when you move your character around the levels .
Cons's ::
1.Sometimes the controls can be so responsive that it may be the cause of your demise .
2. A Very short game .
So hats off to Klei Entertainment for giving us such a beautiful game . Although the mechanics resemble Shank , this game is way above its level in Graphics and gameplay ;-)
For the Review of the FC3 DLC , Please ClickHERE .
When I first cam to know of the game I didn't have that much expectations to it . I mean Far Cry was the best game I had ever played . FC 2 was a excellent too , but it gave you the depressed feel everywhere around . Just one look at the game is enough to push you into depression . So when i saw the pre-release pics of the game I was impressed , because once again is FC is coming back to green regions and it looked pretty colourfull. So My hopes got up a little ..
But believe me when I finally started playing the game I was blown away by it . Let me take you through my experience . First thing you will notice about the game is of course the Graphics . Even with the first opening Intro Video you will realize that running this game in a ordinary PC is impossible .You need to have a decent entry level GPU from Nvidia or ATI to get a playable Frame rate in Low settings . Even the videos and cut-scenes that happen in the game are so demanding that non - enthusiastic Gamers will surely get pissed off when the Game starts stuttering at some places . Make sure you have a good Processor and RAM because those have to be taken into consideration too , since the Loading time will be pretty long already . So its better you have the hardware to make it as fast as possible.
Video Graphics Quality is absolutely stunning which comes in 5 preset modes ( Low, Medium , High , Very High and Ultra )as well as a custom mode . Not to mention the other options like V sync , and MSAA or HDAO and Anti aliasing options that are available . If you want to see the game with its full glory you will need atleast 8 Gigs RAM , GTX 680 / ATI 7950 and I7 3rd gen processor .Without it its going to be pretty hard to run this beauty in Full hd with everything enabled .The environment looks stunning with beautiful grasslands , flowers , Water and Falls with Butterflies and insects flitting here and there and not to mention the beauty of the sun that makes you feel like you are in the enchanting Island actually instead of virtually.
Hell you can t even throw a grenade / Molotov or use a flame thrower without you getting affected by it . Becos since you are in open grasslands the grass around you is going to erupt in flames when you use one of the weapons . And then you have to make a run out of the immediate surroundings in order to escape unscathed from the fire ;-) such is the reality of FC 3 .
A look at how the graphics settings differ
So coming to the story , Jason Brody and his friends Grant, Riley, Liza, Daisy, Oliver Carswell and Keith partying on the islands. and they decide to do a skydiving stunt which results in everyone getting scattered through out the Island .In comes Vaas , the pirate lord of the Island and captures everyone deciding to to ask Ransom for their lives from respective child's parents and then selling them off slaves . Jason ( You ) who starts with Riley your elder bro escapes from Vaas's men and try to make a run for it , Riley Gets shot in the process and dies while you make it out barely alive .
Lisa
You are rescued by Dennis who is a member of the Tribal people that call themselves as The Raykat. From then its your journey and mission to find all of your friends and escape out of the Island or you can get to be in the Island itself following the path of The Warrior . The choice is given to you at the end . What impresses me in this is the lateral transformation of Jason Brody from a city bred , cowardly and cultured guy to lethal , cold and daring Killing Machine .It doesn't take place abruptly . If you dash into a fire fight initially you are going to die , but slowly as you gain experience and develop your skills you will slowly start stalking the enemies like a true Warrior .
friends Grant, Riley, Liza, Daisy, Oliver Carswell and Keith
I absolutely loved the experience of it . It was truly reveling and beautiful to experience .You will get to see the similar features of AC III in this game too. Vaas was the perfect Villain you will ever come face to face in any game that is yet to be released . His dialogues and delivery mixed with the primitive slang simply stuns you and makes you realize these kind of Physcotic Nutjobs are not to be messed with . You will absolutely love the cut-scenes where he comes into screen . But seriously he must take lessons from people as to how to kill a guy properly :D You will get to know as to what i am talking about once you start playing the game ;-)
VAAS - The Perfect Villian
1. Radio Tower Unlocking / Viewpoint synchronization ::
This is exactly the same as that of AC series . At first your map will be invisible to you , but as soon as you climb a radio tower and disable the enemies Link in it , you will be shown with a dramatic view of the areas surrounding the Watch tower which gets unlocked and thereby making it visible in map . But do remember that , one tower unlocks only a small portion of the Island surrounding immediately to it . Its absolutely cool to look when they show the regions you have unlocked with the tower , especially the music that rolls when they show you the surroundings . And after you have unlocked the tower you can use the Zip line to slide from the top of it exactly like Leap of Faith ;-) which gets you to the ground more easily than climbing all the way down .
Zipline Shootout
2. Hunting::
Hunting was introduced recently in AC III of which we all are quite aware of . It comes back here too. Since you are stranded in a Island which is filled with Exotic creatures and animals of all types , you are bound to come face to face with them sometimes when you cut across the path through the trees and bushes . Even skinning the animal after you kill it is there too, but there stops the comparison , because after this they have introduced a beautiful concept in this game called Crafting . Although Crafting was available with AC series and other genre games too , there its just an option . And when game gives an option to do something that is boring and quite unuseful to the current single player one is playing , almost 90 % of the Gamers wont do it ( including me ;-) ) . We feel its boring and a waste of time . But the beauty of the idea here is , in this game you are forced to craft from the skins of wild animals to survive . How ??? Well let me tell you
Komodo Dragon Attack
Instead of just skinning the animals and using it to sell them at general shops and stores for money , you can use them to craft a Pouch to carry more money , more ammo , more than one weapon of your choice , Arrow quiver , Syringe Pouch and what not . But wait , it doesn't stop there . Killing the same type of animal wont allow you to upgrade all . Each Pouch craft requires the skin of a particular wild animal . Ammo pouch may need a Cassowary skin , Russacks which are used for carrying all your loot can be enlarged with skin of Leopard or you may need Tiger skin , Dingo pelt , Dog pelt , Even Tiger Shark Pelt or Bear Pelt or what not . You will come across different varieties of animals as you explore the Island and each requirement aims in fulfilling it in order to satisfy your basic needs . I mean think about it , How cool is that , Instead of forcing you to do the necessary they give you an option to do it. And if you are wise enough to realize it , you will make use of it and succeed or fall short and die .
Croc Attack
The most scariest predator that you will come across are the crocodiles , Man these guys are literally invisible lying quiet without any movement . Just when you near them they try to gobble you up and you have to mash a button in order to kill them by stabbing a Knife through their head. Sheesh ! !the first time it happened it literally scared the bejusus out of me ! !!! . Damn ..
Shark kills can be funny and the most difficult . For eg : sharks can be found only in Deep Waters . So when you swim deep you don t have a weapon to fire underwater .( WHY UBISOFT WHY ??? ) The only option is to tease or bully the shark into making it come for you and then mash your buttons to finish it off . But believe me unlike the croc which ca be easily taunted these guys are pretty sharp and you have to take some bites from them before you get a go at them .
Shark Attack
Initially when you start with a single pistol and Machete you will feel less confident and will die mostly when you come face to face with a bear or a tiger . But as you upgrade your Weapon pouch you get to carry a total of 4 weapons . Believe me hunting is very important in this game , and if you don't hunt you are going to end up dying .
3. Weapons ::
i) Bow and Arrow ::
When Crytek first announced the use of Bow and Arrow in the latest version of Crysis 3 , I was skeptical at first . Because from all the games i have seen in the past , I have never seen an older game where a FPS uses a Bow ( Entirely my opinion , there may have been games that I am ignorant of ) , maybe a Crossbow but never a bow . Even if t was there , I would have only seen it being used in a 3rd person Shooter . So when I saw the trailer of Crysis 3 and its gameplay mechanics I was pretty much excited to say the truth .I got to saw how powerful a Bow and Arrow can be . In FC3 you get to experience it before Crysis 3 ;-) Silent and deadly when you want it to be , at the same time can be used to cause chaos when necessary . Normal Arrows are available and so are Modified arrows which can be crafted and carried around . Like if you attach a grenade or Molotov at the arrow tip , it becomes a flying projectile / RPG which is very useful in taking down a Heavy in a firefight . Believe me , before I got the Heavy stealth Kill Skill ( Which requires a Tiger Shark Skin ) these babies pack a punch in taking down those guys . But still the arrows were really awesome and perfect to be used for a stealth kill from a distance . You have many skills that needs to be upgraded first in order to start using the Bow and Arrow effectively .
ii ) Machete ::
The first weapon you get access to. This baby is a mean beast when it comes to saying ' Hi ' to an enemy up and close . Although the stealth Takedown is quite famous in games of this generation and not something new , FC team had made it a little more exciting in getting these take downs . Initially you are provided with the quiet approach and stealth take down from behind . But as you upgrade , you will get to kill two enemies from jumping from above , Take down an enemy with a Knife and throw his knife on the one who is before him , or take the slashed guy's Gun from his hip and use it to take down multiple enemies in front or Slash the guy's throat and pull the grenade pin of the guy's grenade and push him towards his buddies and there by earning more XP and a beautiful execution style kill. You also can take down enemies from below the ledge or from underwater . The smoothness with which you execute this makes it one one of the beautiful concepts of FC 3 . Its absolutely deadly to watch and feast ( Check out the video below for varieties of knife kills ). But sadly this does not work on animals , You get to use the only slash and hack technique that is famous in FPS genre .
There are no FPS games without a sniper in them , and tats why most prefer the combination of a Sniper + Assault Rifle +knife . Tats how I would customize myself . So you have this huge collection of guns in your stores and the outposts you liberate. But the catch here is , like a superhuman SAM :P you will not be able to carry every weapon tats available . Like I said before you get to carry a Max of 4 weapons and so you get to choose wisely . For myself I usually had the combination of Assault Rifle + Bow + Sniper Rifle + A hand Gun which is extremely useful while sliding down a zip line and taking out enemies with one hand . On the other hand you do have the entire collection of guns in your arsenal. Like RPG's . different types of shotguns , grenade launchers , Flamethrowers etc ....You have a body Armor too which can be worn but believe me tats not effective at all .
iv ) Skills Upgrade ::
Like every game out there FC3 is not new to Skills which are bought with XP ( Experience ) . Everytime you kill a guy ( blade kills earns more XP than gun kills ) or finish a main mission or side mission etc , you get XP awarded to you . Initially the amount of XP required to get a Skill point will be less . But as you start getting more Skill points the amount of XP required for a Skill point will increase . The way they have entwined the no of skills learnt with the tattoo in your arm is quite cool and realistic . Every time you upgrade a skill your Tattoo gets updated too , There are 3 types of skills that you can enrich upon and select from ,
The Shark, The Spider, and The Heron.
The Shark: Focuses on first aid, and killing :
The Heron: Focuses on long range and mobility
The Spider: Focuses on stealth and survival
Depending upon the way you can increase the skill your gameplay may dramatically change . It may take a lot of time to get all the skills upgraded but believe me you can do it , Not like other games where they promise you something and then will keep on prolonging it until u feel frustrated with the effort that you end up throwing your controller down .Once you get all the skills you will feel like the Ultimate hunter with nothing to be afraid of at all .
a ) Knife Takedown Upgrades ::
Like I said before you will start with initial Melee /Silent takedown of one guy but later you can upgrade your knife skill to take down more than one . All you have to do is press the arrow keys in the manner which is displayed on the screen for you to take down all guys with one machete. And Later this gets upgraded with a Knife throw takedown to kill a little distant enemy and which when upgraded can also be used to kill guys with a gun that is a take from a guy whom you had knifed just then . Its so cool to watch .I really liked getting the Knife kills :D
Heavy Takedown : :
This is the most beautiful of the skills you will ever get . Because before this when ever you try to take a outpost silently these guys never allow you to do that . Before getting this upgrade this guys can be killed only with grenades or C4 and thereby squashing our plan of taking over an outpost without triggering the alarm . It really pissed me off . If you really get lucky you can take this guy down with a precision shot from sniper to the back of his head . But once you get this , Oh sweet Lord !! . You wud feel that ' This would be the best thing that ever happens in the game ' .
You will get the usual life Upgrade too . When you initially start with 2 bars of life you will end dying easily of course .But these upgrades increases your life to a maximum of 5 bars and the heal skill is very effective too , Initially the heal will cure only 1 bar but as you upgrade it will heal 3 bars max . And the way they have shown the way you heal yourself is quite innovative too . If you lose health by falling from a higher ground your arm or fingers get twisted which will be healed by twisting your bones back into shape or if you start losing life Becos of a fire you will be asked to extinguish the fire by tapping it out or when hit by a bullet you use your knife to remove the slug from the wound and tie a bandage over it . Hell even while driving when you want to heal you do it with your mouth and one hand driving . Now if that ain't realistic , I can never guess what is :D
4 . Outpost Liberation ::
A lot of outpost will initially be under the control of militia groups . The only way to liberate them is to kill everyone in it . But you have to do so without raising the alarm or a group of reinforcements are going to arrive in a fleet . So initially when you try to take a outpost be careful and remember to first disable the alarm without getting spotted at all . Once that is done start taking down enemies silently with your bow or Knife or with your guns ( make sure your silencer Mod is attached ) .You can also go in with guns blazing , but you will require to expend more bullets and battle more enemies which may result in you dying without any bullets to fire from . So unless you have upgraded your ammo pouch or have a Extra Rounds per Magazine Mod attached to your gun think twice before making yourself visible to the enemies . And also do keep in mind that the XP awarded after liberation depends upon the way you have taken the outpost . No Alarms triggered +Undetected will earn you the most XP possible .
Shoot a Caged Animal to cause Chaos
You can also get help from the animals which are kept in a cage in some outposts . All you have to do is shoot at the cage and watch the Predator do your job for you by taking down your foes ;-) quite cool to look . Whats the use of liberating this Outpost ?? Well it gives you fast travel locations and shops from which you can buy and upgrade your weapons from . And also the more you liberate the more you can roam freely around or through the jungle without anyone spotting you and firing at you .
Jason Brody
Pro's ::
1. Enjoy the beauty of a tropical Paradise all open for you to explore .
2. Discover Side missions , supply drops , Loots all around hidden in inaccessible caves and buried deep underwater .
3. Come face to face with a Tiger or bear on land / Croc or Shark in water and battle for your life in the primitive way .
4. Be blown apart from astounding graphics and detail , thanks to Dunia 2 Game engine used here , which borrows heavily from Crytek's Cryengine 3 .
5. A solid 22 hrs of gameplay minimum which you would thoroughly enjoy and get addicted to .
Con's ::
1. The side missions can start to feel repetitive after sometime .
2. Graphics is so demanding that not all entry level Gamers can play this unless you have a basic decent GPU in your system or an Xbox / PS3
3. Even Enthusiastic Gamers have to tweak their drivers in order to run the game with all the eye candy enabled .
So tats it guys . So if you want to enjoy a beautiful game that makes you go crazy initially but slowly draws you into it and makes you addictive , then I suggest FC 3 is the game for you .
Hats off to Ubisoft for presenting us with a new Genre of FPS game . This year is turning out to be really good for them what with releases like AC III and FC3 tagging the best game of the year awards while EA on the other hand falling flat on its face with poor titles like MOH : WF and NFS : MW 2012 .
Another epic Release from Ubisoft and developed by Ubisoft Montreal , Assassin's Creed III is one of the best games that the gaming industry had ever witnessed till time . Making use of the new Game engine ' Anvil Next ' the game's environments looks stunning and real time when compared to its predecessor versions. First time there will be a change in the weather as you move around in the game with rain , snow , lightning , and cloudy areas . The game was supposed to be in production from 2010 as soon as the AC II got released .
The entire story take place during the American Revolution from 1753 to 1783 . Players take the role of
Ratonhnhaké:ton aka Connor and also start the game with Haytham Kenway who later on becomes the leader of the Templars. Connor is a half English and Half Mohawk who is born to Haytham and Ziio of the native tribe. The present story takes place from where Revelations left off with Desmond Miles and his team in finding the Temple which houses the mechanism to prevent the end of the world by 2012 . In order to make the mechanism to work Desmond requires a key and to find which he goes into the Animus and bleeds into the life of Haytham Kenway whose blood line is then continued by Connor .
Desmond Miles Above Stadium
Contrary to the belief you start the game with Haytham ,whom you will think will be your player character and who will get to don the Assassin Outfit after some time as we saw with Ezio .But whoa you will get the shock of your life when he turns out to be a Templar . I mean even the game title pops up with the dramatic music when Haytham enters into America for the first time ..Sheesh . But later you will get to know its actually his half blood son who will become the Hero of the story.
But it will take a long time to reach that . Haytham is so smooth in his words and refined that you will start to miss him after sometime , because Connor will be the exact opposite of him. Who is young and foolish that he rushes off into all things without even thinking it through . There is no grace in his speech , atleast tats what I felt . Ezio rocks when he says 'Rest in Peace ' everytime he kills off a guy . But Connor says something in his foreign language that will start to get irritating after sometime.
Gameplay ::
Young Connor running on a tree
So coming to gameplay . Anvil sure is the next level engine in this game . I mean there is a fluidity in your character movements that was somehow lacking in the older versions of the game . The way that Connor moves is so smooth and easy with lithe gracefulness , that you will spend half of the game admiring his running :D. Not to mention the tree Parkour you now get to execute . My god . Being a native Connor is graceful while moving in trees as he was with the ground movements .It will be difficult at first to get a knack for moving from tree to tree without falling down , but once you get the hang of it , it would be the best . It looks so cool when he rests with a pose on the tree when you leave yourr character perched on the tree without moving him for sometime.
Running between crowds had never been easy wit AC due to the stumble and real time effects that was implemented in your character . But Connor can be easily made to move without hitting people at all through the crowds.
Fighting Style ::
Another major aspect of the game which had seen a remarkable change is the fighting style of Connor . Introudcing for the first time is Tomahawk , traditional for Native tribe. Connor looks so cool wielding it that it becomes your most favorite weapon as soon as you go along . A new parry system is introduced which will successfully deflect attacks coming from every direction . But in order to successfully hit your enemy you must do a perfect counter when the enemy attacks . But not to worry the game displays a red icon above the head of the enemy who is above to attack you and when you counter correctly the game dramatically slows down during which you get to decide what form of attack you can use on the enemy . After a successful counter if you press B you will throw your enemy in the intended direction , if you press X , then you will finish him with the actual combo which is for the particular weapon . and if you press Y you will use whatever secondary weapon you have in your selection to destroy the guy.
The chain quick kills is also present in this game where when you successfully execute a counter kill you can chain the quick kill to the enemy close to you by simply pressing the direction and X. One of the coolest things in the entire series of AC.
1) Tomahawk ::
You will get to use the Assassin's special one or a blunt one or a native one . But the movements of Connor is absolutely ravishing to look . Especially the way he spins the weapon in air when you take it out of your sheathe . So cool. Each attack looks deadly with this weapon and when you take down the last enemy the camera slows down with a dramatic slow mo.
2) Hidden Blade : :
Hidden Blade - Concept Art
The most famous and awesome weapon of AC series , This time it has been a little upgraded from the previous version. You still have the dual blade in both of your hands . But the hidden blade now can be rotated and used in normal fights as if you are handling your short knife. I still remember trying to get a counter kill in the previous versions with the hidden blade . Which would be so hard to accomplish that if you don't time it perfectly you will be slashed open by your enemy.
Hidden blade - Very useful against Predators in Wild
3) Bow and Arrow ::
The traditional Bow and Arrow of the native still makes an appearance this time . Gone is the cross bow and throwing knives but now we have the silent but lethal Bow with the quiver with you every time . It is more powerful than the cross bow if used correctly and can be used mainly to hunt animals silently.
Connor taking aim at a deer
4) Rope Dart ::
A new weapon which has been introduced this time which executes so coolly and awesome to master. Connor throws a dart which is attached to a long rope . When you stand at a higher position most probably a tree branch you can throw this at the enemy below you and then then jump on the other side thereby pulling your enemy effectively up by his neck and leave him hanging with the other end tied to the ground. It will be the coolest entry when you want to battle a battalion of soldiers.
5) Musket ::
The traditional English Musket with a sword at its end that can be used to fire a shot . When a group of soldiers aim at you to fire you can usually use a enemy who is nearby as a human shield in order to escape unscathed. U can use them as melee weapons too.
Another fluid movement that has been introduced is the ability to jump through open windows and run through the household in order to escape from the visibility of the guards who are chasing you .It will be so cool and most effective because simply running will not be enough to escape from guards who are chasing you . That is the one aspect of the game which I found out to be very difficult in this game.
6) Hand Combat ::
Hand to hand fight has been improved a lot in this game . I mean the usual counter disarm is there . But now Connor executes some special moves that looks exactly like WWE moves :D .It will be so cool to look at . But i never got to experience it that much . Still it was enticing to look at .
Counter attack has also been upgraded , Like when more than one guy attacks you at the same time and if you counter it successfully Connor will execute his own stylish and dramatic takedown of all the three guys without receiving any kind of input from you guys .It will be so awesome to look.
Fighting never had been such a pleasure with Connor's stylish and graceful moves .
Eavesdropping ::
This never was this much difficult in the previous versions. But now they have upped the talent required for this . Because most of the time you have eavesdrop on moving targets which is the most hardest . These guys are so sharp that they they will easily recognize you . And your blending technique will work only at some places while the other places you have to hide by trying to hide behind a box or wall and peeping out ( another new feature). Although this will prove difficult only when you are trying for 100 % synchronisation while playing the mission. If you don't consider the optional objectives then the game won t be a challenge at all.
That full sync option in AC series has always attracted me . Instead of compelling the players to play in the only way designed by Developers, Gamers are given a choice to choose between their own clumsy way of doing things or The Real Assassin's way of doing things .Hats off to the team for that .
Naval Battles ::
Connor will get to commandeer and ship for the first time . A ship which runs on sails and wood . Breadth taking to experience when the we have to battle against Rogue winds and rocks in the sea projecting out. Not to mention enemy ships who start firing with cannons . You have to align abreast to them in order to give an order to fire from your side Cannons . You also have a small slingshot gun for taking down smaller and more maneuverable vessels which acts mostly like a precision shot.The way you use your full sail and half sail matters a lot when it comes to quick turns and proper navigation in rough seas. Quite enjoyable experience .When the enemy fires at you , you can give a command to duck which protects you and your crew as well as the ship from taking any kind of damage. The ship which Connor has in Davenport Homestead is Aquila which will be available always for travel.
You will get to experience the real Historic battles which occurred in the american History . Like the , battle of Bunker Hill, Naval battle Chesapeake bay which had happened in real time. When they said AC series is a better teacher of History I scoffed at the idea . But experiencing the battles I have to say that I was astounded. You will get to meet Benjamin Franklin , George Washington and other major Epic Historic Characters who have been brought back to life , thanks toUbisoft Montreal developers .
Anvil Next engine takes our breadth away in the reality based movement of Grass in Frontier and Davenport . Not to mention the snow which makes your journey harder like hell while moving through layers of it . Make sure u stick to your path when you travel the forest regions because not only the path will be difficult but you will come to face to face with wolves or bear or other kind of predators that roam the wilderness.
A quick look at the Anvil Next Engine Capability ::
Hunting ::
Another new aspect of the game that has been included in this game and which had come around remarkably is the Hunting talent . Since Connor is brought up from wild , he has the ability to hunt animals for food . Smaller animals are very hard to catch before you get the Hidden blade . Without the blade you have to rely entirely on your hunting skills to capture the pray.
1. Bait :
You can use bait to attract deer or small animals like Rabbit or Foxes to come closer to you as you hide in Overgrown bushes . When the target gets too near you can hit them with a blow from your blunt weapon to get them down. Although you have to be careful because if you are too close to the bait then the animal will get spooked by you and will take off in another direction .
2. Snare :
A small trap which can be combined with the bait to capture an animal. If you can t find any animal nearby , you can analyse a clue that can be a near by plant which has fruits which forms the major food item for Rabbits . Once you get to know that all you have to do is lay down your snare and after sometime you will find a prey snared into it . The main use of hunting animals is to Skin them . As their coat and Venison can get you a good price in Shops. Although you have to be a little careful . Because neatly killed animal coats will fetch you a larger price than the one which had been mutilated beyond any saving .
Young Connor Setting up a Snare
3. Analyse Clue :
Connor also amazing talent to track enemies or prey by analyzing clues that are found . You will first come to know of this when Connor plays hide and seek with his friend when he is little . Quite interesting and useful talent to lay a snare for Deer or another animal that nearby .
You can also use your Bow and Arrow to hunt animals . You will come across bears , wolves , Elks and deer , rabbits , foxes . Out of which I found Wolves as the dangerous ones . Because these guys travel in packs and as a result if you fail a QTE with your hidden blade when a wolf pounces on you , your life will almost be gone . Another failed attempt by its friend and Vola , you will get desynchronised .So watch out for these guys when you cut through the path next time.
Connor skins a Deer
The story of the game is good and even has its epic moment in it but the climax of the game was a little disappointing when compared to the awesomeness of the gameplay which you had experienced . I mean the last fight was too simple and the fight with Haytham was such a pathetic attempt .I don't know why they did that . But I felt that the end of the game was too choppy and abrupt .
Connor and Achilles -Mentor
Character wise I found Haytham Kenway more interesting and felt proud to play with him than I felt with Connor. Haytham is the perfect Brit who has a roguish , good looking face with a superb drawl of the Brits . You will love the way he talks. And I found out that his views and ideals were mature when compared to Connor . Who acts just like a child and his voice too is a little simple . Ezio was awesome in it . I don t know why but I didn't like this guy very much when it comes to his voice.
Haytham and Charles Lee
You would be amazed at the enormity of the open world that the developers have provided for this game .You have the city of Boston and New York to travel and explore , Frontier that acts as a path way to the different regions you can enter. Davenport Homestead , home of Achilles and where you get trained with you Assassin skills .The game really is huge . I mean it took me a solid 8 hrs to complete just the main missions .When you take the side missions and quests into account its going to provide you with another solid 8 hrs of gameplay for sure .
Pro's ::
1. Its Assassin's Creed III , yeah baby :D ..That excitement will always be there when you open the game everytime .
2. Connor moves so slickly and gracefully that you will just play the game just to watch him run and slash through his enemies with his Tomahawk.
3. Epic Historic Battles will be shown with detail and you will get a chance to experience them first hand.
( AC series was always a better teacher of history than what the real teachers in classes did :P )
4.Get a chance to navigate a real ship and awesome sea battle that can never be rivaled with the before games.
5. Anvil Next Game Engine helps a lot to make the environment look stunning and awesome with changing weather conditions.
Con's ::
1. Story's ending was a little abrupt.
2. Connor's character and Voice was a little disappointing .
A game which ought not to be missed by anyone especially Gaming enthusiastic.
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