Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

After beating ACIII, I was going to take a break from going through the series but then realized, the remastered version had a whole other game with it. I read up about the story online and had to jump right in. Originally, this was a PS Vita game and since I had no Vita and wasn't playing Assassins Creed back then, I completely missed out.

The story is unfortunately not very interesting, it felt like I could guess the main twist very early on. I did like Aveline as a main character and it was cool that they gave her some new mechanics like charming guys for various bonuses, shooting blow darts and changing disguises. I ended up using the blow darts a lot once I got them. There are interesting moments in her journey so I didn't hate the story or anything but I think with this being originally a portable game, they couldn't or didn't want to get too deep with the plot.

The portability did bring one change that I loved though, the almost mission based structure that this game has. Yes, it has the open world mechanics with side missions and other collectables you can run around and grab, but being able to do a mission in a smaller world felt so much more my speed than the huge open areas in most games that you have to navigate back and forth just to get to the next mission. I know I may sound old but honestly, I hate that every game is open world now. It was cool with GTA but I still prefer missions or levels or even just a little hub, if you have to make it slightly open. Open world games usually feel dragged out with everything they throw in there and yeah, you can ignore it all but then you still have to keep going from point A to point B and they throw stuff at you in between, just let me do the missions and move on to the next one!

Ok, I'm done ranting.

All that to say, I like the more mission based structure this game has, with a smaller world to navigate.

The combat is still the same Assassins Creed style that people love, it flows, it feels good and it annoys me at times, like always. Sneaking around is still fun and even more so with this game letting you climb trees and poison dart people. I was worried that this game would have the boat combat from ACIII but thankfully it doesn't. May be controversial but I hated the boat combat in that game.

It's a pretty good side story and a decent companion to the third game. I just wish the story was more engaging but I'll never hate a game that lets me kill slave masters.

7/10.

Porting a game like Liberation to consoles is going to come with some very noticeable compromises - especially with how much of the gameplay made use of the PS Vita's exclusive features. But with that in mind, Liberation still proves to be a pretty good time. It's flawed beyond its handheld roots, but Liberation is still an Assassin's Creed game with some interesting ideas within its grasp.

Liberation tells one of the most interesting and unique stories in the series. It's more than just revenge and finding pieces of eden. The story mixes a slave narrative with elements of a conspiracy thriller. There's also a lot of interesting themes and symbolism throughout, almost feeling akin to the thematically-driven storytelling of AC1. The script is decent and the characterization is fairly well-done, but unfortunately a lot of these positives are overshadowed by the unpolished negatives. Despite Liberation having a genuinely good narrative, it's the presentation of that narrative that hurts the most. Cinematics are stiff and the voice acting is all over the place. Also, the way the story is told can feel a bit disjointed and abrupt at times - especially when it comes to timeskips, though this is something that other Assassin's Creed games have struggled with as well.

The open world and the gameplay is pretty solid for the most part. Liberation introduces some cool gameplay systems that are unique to this game. Most notably, the persona system. This taps into an interesting element of social stealth and also speaks to the themes of the game. But other than that, most of the game plays like Assassin's Creed III, but in a better world and scenario. The open world is fun to explore and much more fun to traverse than in Assassin's Creed III. There's also a decent amount of fun side content to engage with. But again, the gameplay is sometimes held back by the game's handheld roots. Certain missions have replaced their handheld features, but don't always translate well with a console setup. And also the jankiness of the presentation comes out a bit rougher in console format.

One of the most consistent factors of this game, though, is the atmosphere and art direction. Looking past the janky animations and some odd textures, Liberation looks quite good on the ACIII Remaster. There's better volumetric lighting and the coloration of the environments is a bit more vibrant, too. But the sharper look doesn't take away from the epic and expressive atmosphere. The game is ambitious, but still grounded in its deeper themes. While the soundtrack can be a bit theatrical at times, it makes up for it with its more spiritual and cultural moments.

Liberation is hindered by its janky presentation. The story is deep and symbolic, but the theatrical voice acting and scuffed cinematics make it hard to take seriously. The handheld spirit also doesn't translate all that well on a more powerful console with higher standards of quality. The game does redeem itself with the persona system and implementing Assassin's Creed III's framework into a slightly better sandbox. As well as the beautiful soundtrack, atmospheric environments, and vibrant art direction.

As a fan of the AC-series I was looking forward to the first game for the Playstation Vita; see how the franchise would tickle the possibilities of the hand-held device. But the result is in fact a disappointing piece of a fast and unfinished production that, very likely, had to be finished for Christmas. No matter of ready or not.

You'll get thrown into the story without any sort of introduction to the situation or the characters. Extremely fast and uncomfortable and that is also the main problem of the storytelling with all of its symptoms. There are many logical errors and many unsolved questions throughout the game, including a mysterious family tragedy about girl between two worlds and the connection to templars and assassins. Some parts of the story are told straight, some parts confusing and not really satisfying.

The game play lacks in so many points, that I don't know where to start. There is no possibility of upgrading armor and weapons, but therefore a strange trading system. The idea might be nice, but it works not well and there is just one single location in the whole game you can use. A situation that becomes even worse because of the countless bugs of "Liberation". For example getting a blind map though you already discovered the whole area. Guards recognize you though you status is absolutely discreet and it happens more than once, that the game crashes. Or as reported, it may happen that your savings mysteriously got lost.

I will not kill the whole game. Indeed of the errors and the lack of storytelling, there is atmosphere and some kind of entertaining suspense. And because the player is controlling a girl, the game play offers some interesting features like playing different social roles. But don't expect these features will help you to overlook the poor quality.

Greetings from Lithuania.

The only reason i played this game in 2019 was that i received it for free along with "Odyssey". Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (2012) was a very poor game. I finished it, but i couldn't skip this mess anytime and would have saved some time and brain cells. This game has a worst mechanics in the entire franchise, and playing it for me was clear that this game had a very small budget - this is why it felt rushed, unfinished, full of bugs and etc.

Overall - do not bother with this poor game. Its the worst in the series by far.

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.