What I expected: A thrilling, *polished* adventure game that takes place during the American revolution. Once the game came out I expected it to be buggy as hell.
What I got: A slow to start, but ends with a bang adventure game that takes place around the American revolution. One of the worst polished games in recent memory.
What I liked: Literally everything on the water. The sea battles are so amazing, and so much fun. The promise of better sea missions alone has me salivating at the idea of AC4.
The setting/story. I love being around the American Revolution, and all the historical figures. They handled it actually surprisingly well. I love how the Templar plot doesn't actually revolve around the Revolution too much. Yea they use certain aspects to their agenda, but it's not like they are fighting for the British OR America. They have people on both sides. I was very concerned about how a Native American would play during the revolution, and they absolutely do address the....oddity that a Native American is fighting for the US.
Collectibles: O boy there are a lot of things to collect. You can upgrade your ship, house, and guns. You also have tons of side quests to do. Some are definitely better than others, but there are plenty of things to do. I spent 18 hours in game, but I think I could have EASILY spent double that. I am surprised to see how much fun it still is to climb all over and sync.
Story Missions: For the most part they are creative and unique. There are a lot of fetch quests, but they do a good job of having some interesting dialog along the way. Directing troops and firing cannons are awesome.
Kill Animations: Holy crap there are some amazingly brutal finishing moves in this game. Axes going into people's lower backs. There is a very big problem with this though....
What I didn't like:
Complete Lack of Polish: Animations don't line up right all the time. No joke the finishing moves line up correctly around 50% of the time. A sword going up a guy's neck and through his skull, cool! A sword going through the air a foot in front of a guy? looks lazy as hell. It's not just the animations though. A lot of the art looks unpolished. There are some incredibly low res textures in this game that get extreme close up camera time. There are some really bad popping, and the screen door method makes it even more obvious.
Story Pacing: While the story itself is very serviceable, the pacing of it is quite terrible. I didn't actually play adult Connor until 6 hours in. Playing as your dad in the beginning could have been cut down quite a bit, but his role is ultimately necessary to set up a nice little twist.
Combat: The biggest complaint I have is that it doesn't seem to be consistent. Some battles I would kill everyone in one blow, and others I would just wail away with them blocking every blow. Perhaps I was doing something different, but it sure didn't feel like it. X is the only attack button I have, which lead to some very boring combat.
Final thoughts: Ultimately, I wish they would have spent 6 more months polishing it. I realize they didn't have the time, and I also realize that they probably wouldn't have sold any more copies because of it. All the art bugs really annoyed me, and broke my immersion often.
How much did I pay: $25
How many hours did I play: 18
Dollar per Hour: $1.39
How much would I pay for this game in perfect hindsight: $20 (Would have paid $60 if it was polished)
Why? The lack of polish makes it feel like a much lower quality game compared to much smaller games that spend the extra effort. The story is really fun though, and I did like the vast majority of the missions. ALSO SEA BATTLES ARE FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
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