Assassin's Creed III Liberation - PlayStation Vita

The Brotherhood Finds A Home On Handheld

2012-10-30T16:01:00Z

The Assassin’s Creed series is one of the biggest success stories of this hardware generation. The historical open worlds, stunning visuals, and cinematic moments showcase the best of what console gaming can provide. While it offers an outstanding experience on the big screen, that ambition has not translated well to handhelds. Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation is the first portable entry to feel like a real Assassin’s Creed game – even if it isn’t among the best of them.

Most of the series’ hallmarks are present in some form. You run around a bustling city, assassinate slavers and business rivals, and search for an artifact from the First Civilization. At the heart of the action is Aveline, a heroine with plenty of personality and a cool arc – especially once the story starts exploring the gray area between Assassin and Templar. The experience doesn’t feel like a low-budget imitation of the real thing, though it admittedly isn’t as polished or extensive as what you find in Assassin’s Creed II or III.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Aveline’s main mission takes her between New Orleans, the bayou, and other locations, but she encounters a handful of diversions along the way. The main money-making loop involves her father’s shipping business. You load up ships with cargo, and then sell that cargo at a different port after the ship’s abbreviated real-time voyage. This addictive mechanic replaces the money you automatically get at intervals in other games, but I like how it requires more participation than simply sitting back and watching the money roll in. I only wish the shipping empire were accessible from more locations; it is inconvenient to hoof it across town to administer your fleet.

Other side missions involve enhancing your shipping, curing poisoned villagers, buying out rival shops, and finding collectibles. Without the constant and automatic influx of money, the value of these tasks is questionable, but they contribute to the sense of activity in the world and keep you occupied when you aren’t slicing through your enemies.

Liberation features a combat system similar to the one found in Assassin’s Creed III, reducing complexity while still making you feel like a capable killer. I miss the ease of Ezio mowing through a group of guards in seconds, but Aveline’s chain-kill ability is a good compromise. Instead of being a natural part of your moveset, it is a special ability that you activate in order to clear out a bunch of attackers in one satisfying swoop. The renewed focus on countering keeps you on your toes, but aggression remains an option. New tools like the whip and the blowgun are great additions to the arsenal, and Aveline shares Connor’s affinity for hatchets.

When Liberation follows the lead of other Assassin’s Creed titles, it excels. When it tries to carve out its own identity, it stumbles. Aveline’s unique hook is her three personas: the assassin, the lady, and the slave. In theory, the abilities of each encourage you to swap them frequently. In practice, the interplay between three personas’ characteristics is poorly thought out. For example, the lady can charm guards, but can’t climb anything – no scaling buildings, leaping fences, or clambering onto the dock if you fall in the water. Every persona has some sort of handicap like that, making them each seem like one-third of a true assassin instead of giving Aveline access to her full range of abilities.

Apart from the single-player campaign (which took me about 12 hours to complete), you can participate in an asynchronous multiplayer mode – but the less said about it, the better. It’s shallow and boring and should be avoided. Another low point is the Vita-specific features; they occasionally feel gimmicky, but more often they are just plain broken. The camera doesn’t detect a bright light even when held directly up to a bulb, the tilt function turns a simple ball-rolling maze into a disaster, and pickpocketing with the rear touchpad rarely works. Liberation serves as a case study in tragic implementation of the Vita’s unique capabilities – probably not what Sony and Ubisoft were hoping for from a system exclusive.

Despite the issues, fans of the series should still seriously consider playing Liberation. None of the worst problems are embedded into the core gameplay. Combat is fun, climbing and navigation work well, the story feels like a natural part of the AC universe. The tie-ins to Assassin’s Creed III are minimal (mainly one mission near the end), but Liberation may hint at what areas the series is exploring next. It isn’t a required piece of the puzzle, but I had fun with Aveline and enjoyed seeing her part in history unfold.

Assassin's Creed III Liberation Video Expands On Controls

2012-10-27T16:32:57Z

The Vita exclusive Assassin's Creed III Liberation release on Tuesday, and this video will give you an idea of how the game plays, and how it will interact with the PlayStation 3 version of Assassin's Creed III. There isn't much new information in the video, but it does expand how the game plays, and outlines exactly how Aveline will be interacting with Connor.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

[via PlayStation Blog]

Aveline's Story In Assassin's Creed III Liberation

2012-10-18T16:03:00Z

The latest trailer for the Vita game showcases the story behind heroine Aveline.

Assassin's Creed III Liberation comes out for the handheld on October 30. Click here for the game's previous trailer revealing more about Aveline and the city of New Orleans in Liberation.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Exploring Assassin's Creed III Liberation

2012-10-08T17:19:00Z

Ubisoft wants to make sure you remember the publisher is releasing a PlayStation Vita game in the Assassin's Creed universe. A new developer diary released today for Assassin's Creed III Liberation gives players a look at protagonist Aveline de Grandpre and the New Orleans setting

Assassin's Creed III Liberation is out October 30.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Assassin's Creed III Liberation Trailer Shows Off New Vita Features

2012-08-15T00:25:00Z

The newest trailer for Assassin's Creed III Liberation shows gameplay, and all kinds of new features like deep water swimming, and touch-based canoe gaming.

Also, if the screenshot above is any indication, it looks like Liberation will feature a colonial era Robert Downey Jr.

Assassin's Creed III Liberation is coming exclusively to Vita in October.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Assassin's Creed III Liberation Accolades Trailer

2012-07-11T16:52:00Z

The newest trailer for Assassin's Creed III Liberation provides a look at some of the game's combat and environments. This version stars the series' first female assassin, Aveline, and takes place in 18th century New Orleans. The game is available October 30.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Liberation Impresses On The Vita

2012-06-07T08:40:00Z

The first thing to know about Liberation is that it looks and sounds like a full Assassin’s Creed release. If the game had not been announced as a Vita title, I think I would have assumed it was going to be a console release, because it looks fantastic. The game is being built with the same engine as Assassin’s Creed III, and if they’ve scaled anything back graphically to fit the game on the smaller system, they’ve done an excellent job hiding it.

Our demo begins with Assassin’s Creed’s first female protagonist, Aveline, making her way across a series of roofs in New Orleans towards a gathering of Spanish soldiers in the middle of spat with some of the locals. The city is in the middle of an uprising against the Spanish. Spain was given Louisiana by France after the Revolutionary War, which doesn’t sit will with the residents of the state.

After jumping on a soldier from a rooftop, a fight breaks out. Combat looks like the defensive sword fighting seen in previous Assassins titles. The biggest change from the console versions of the game appears to be the new chain kill bar. Ubisoft said that the name of this new combat mechanic may change by the time Liberation releases, but chain kill bar is an apt description. After performing a number of assassinations, you have a charge bar that will fill allowing you to pause the game and physically tap your opponents on screen. After the game resumes, Aveline automatically chains a series of attacks together to kill everyone you tapped. If enemies are far away, Aveline uses her gun. If they are close, she uses her blade. It recalls a similar system that appeared in another Ubisoft game, Splinter Cell: Conviction, that allowed Sam Fisher to take out multiple enemies in quick succession.

After dispatching the enemies, Aveline moves onto a new section; driving a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of New Orleans. Her cargo is a series of explosive barrels. Enemies fire on Aveline setting her cargo on fire, so she has to rush to her destination in hopes that the barrels don’t explode before she can get where she needs to go. She has a specific location where she wants to the barrels to blow up, after all. To speed up the horses, you have to tap the side of the screen. I asked if you have to use the touch screen exclusively to snap the reigns, and Ubisoft said that it wants to give players the option to use either the touch screen or the buttons for those kinds of actions. At the moment, however, touch screen is the only option. The touch screen was also used to select and equip assorted items in your inventory. Ubisoft said it will likely incorporate the back touch panel in some way, but didn’t have anything to show off in the demo we were seeing.

Our demo ended with a quick romp around the city to see some of the sites. Aveline took a walk through Jackson Square, climbed St. Louis Cathedral, rotated the camera to take in the open city, and did the all too familiar jump into a hay bale below.

Assassin’s Creed III Liberation is coming to the Vita on October 30.

(Please visit the site to view this media)