After starting AC Liberation, the first feeling one gets is that of surprise. Surprise for the visual quality of the game, its extension, and the level of gameplay, which has nothing to envy to its predecessors. All this is surprising because AC Liberation was not released to be played on a computer, but for PlayStation Vita, although the limitations of the console are almost undetectable in the PC version.
The game is a great adaptation of its predecessors' gameplay to a completely different environment. Rome and Constantinople now give way to a New Orleans that, although much smaller in size, is not devoid of life and emotions; although it is true that the city cannot overshadow any other that has been created by the franchise. New Orleans' surrounding, The Bayou, is a network of shallow lagoons, with mangroves and rotting trees. It is a great stage to get lost and jump from branch to branch and from trunk to trunk. Surely here, if it had been a PC game, the scenario would have been much more fantastic. But, with the in-game result, one feels that The Bayou lacks a level of quality in its development to offer to the player all that such scenario could offer.
Now let's talk about Aveline, our heroine. After playing the game, the prevailing feeling is that Aveline is the deadliest assassin in the entire AC saga. Incredible jumps, enormous strength, and steel ankles make her superior to anyone who crosses her path. The great addition of the game is the ability to switch between three different personalities that Aveline can adopt. It is an interesting idea that opens a range of possibilities but, in the end, they sum little and do not justify the effort of constantly changing personality or trying to achieve the objectives for each specific personality. In any case, it's a good idea, and with a little more dedication, it could reappear in an upcoming game.
A decent setting and an interesting protagonist should be enough to ensure the quality of the game, but unfortunately, Ubisoft has not been able to take advantage of those qualities and has limited the potential of AC Liberation with a fast and complicated plot, a brief development of the characters, and a rather shallow immersion in the life and story of Aveline. The scenes follow each other with almost no connection between them. The player jumps between plots as if he was following a single linear story, which confuses and prevents him from entering the story. The development of the characters, especially Aveline, falls far short. Connor, protagonist of AC III released at the same time, presents a much deeper and more detailed story. In the end, the feeling is that Aveline has not been given all the attention it deserved, which was somehow expected knowing that the game was not going to be released on computer or high-end consoles. The historical moment is also not well introduced, and it is difficult to get a good idea of what is happening without a basic knowledge about that period. This demonstrates the importance of Abstergo in the Assassin's Creed games, as Abstergo does not appear in this game, and we do not know which contemporary character is reliving Aveline's adventures.
All that said, it doesn't hurt to spend a few hours with AC Liberation (in fact, the game doesn't last more than 10 hours), to find out what was happening in the southern United States while Connor led their independence on the East Coast.
