#MASTER POST: "Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (2012)" Reviews - Part 3

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Push Square.com: Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

You can’t fault Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation’s ambition. Ubisoft Sofia’s sprawling PlayStation Vita exclusive not only faithfully repurposes the free-roaming elimination escapades of its console counterparts, but through the corrupt recollections of mysterious protagonist Aveline de Grandpré it also attempts to imbue the franchise with something new. Frustratingly, a lot of the spin-off’s most fascinating ideas are unfathomable at the best of times.

In an industry that’s devoted to the whims of focus groups and feedback forms, Liberation is an unfortunate outlier. The portable parkour simulator underlines the advantages of play-testing, as it consistently fails to communicate its most complex gameplay systems and plot points. Persevere with the pocketable quest and you’ll eventually find plenty to admire about its ambitious approach – even if the narrative ultimately succumbs to its unnecessarily complex aims.

Indeed, the tale of love child Aveline is merely the surface context for Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation’s gameplay. Ditching modern day protagonist Desmond Miles, the plot is instead presented from the perspective of shady Templar organisation Abstergo. The conceit is that the game – the one that you’re playing – has been constructed as light historical entertainment by the antagonistic corporation. As such, Aveline’s actions are at the mercy of an unreliable narrator. But, as you progress through the game, it transpires that the software has been hacked by an Assassin force, granting you access to the real events of the turn of the century drama if you can locate and eliminate a handful of mysterious NPCs named Citizen E. Are you keeping up?

For as clever as the set-up is, you’ll spend the majority of your time with the title pondering what is actually going on. Unexpected twists, a seemingly never ending list of adversaries, and poor writing culminate to create one of the most baffling plots in years. And yet, there are moments where Liberation shows signs of brilliance which tease what the title could have achieved with a little more restraint.

Indeed, while the overarching fiction fumbles its way through layers of science-fiction mumbo jumbo, the developer tends to forget that it has a fascinating protagonist at the heart of its adventure. Aveline is sincere, likeable, and most importantly unique – but the plot never even bothers to answer the most basic questions about her background. There’s additional information hidden in the game’s customary narrative database, but it fails to delve deep enough into the character’s origins as an Assassin. As such, for all its ostentatious ideas, it fails to explain even the most rudimentary elements of its plot.

Fictional faults aside, though, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation is an enjoyable adventure to play. All of the bells and whistles from the franchise's home console counterparts have been faithfully converted for this handheld release, prompting an impressive on-the-go experience. Sprinting across the rooftops of 18th century New Orleans feels as functional here as it does on the DualShock 3, while breathing down the necks of gullible guards is a particular treat.

In scaling the experience down for portable play, Ubisoft Sofia has sacrificed some of the series’ more recent bombast, which results in a purer experience than the superfluous activities of filler entry Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. That could be perceived as a negative, but Liberation feels more focused than any of its more recent peers as a result. It turns out that the title’s snappier missions and simpler objectives are welcome respite for a series that’s arguably been expanding in the wrong areas for the last couple of entries.

That’s not to say that the handheld release doesn’t have its own share of optional side-quests and mini-games, but they are much more interestingly implemented than Ezio’s short-lived turn at tower defence. One particular highlight includes buying and trading goods in an economy management simulator that’s far more addictive than it deserves to be. Careful transactions provide an easy method of accruing cash, although unfortunately there’s not a lot to splash it on in-game. Still, we appreciate the inclusion all the same.

Liberation’s biggest gameplay evolution is its implementation of the personas system. Like the rest of the title this is agonisingly under explained, but it breathes new life into the series’ tried and tested stealth gameplay. Dressed as a slave, you can blend into groups of workers in order to slip into high-profile areas. Meanwhile, the lady form allows you to charm or bribe unsuspecting guards and take a more direct approach. The final guise available is the traditional assassin form, which gives you access to all of your weapons and skills.

Switching between these three distinct outfits allows you to approach missions in different ways, though there are occasions where the game will expect you to do things in a specific manner. This is most evident at the start of the title, where you’re forced to play as each of the personas for a set span of time. Some may find being restricted to the lady form – which is unable to run very fast or climb – an exercise in their patience, but it all depends on your tolerance for sloping through the streets of New Orleans at a barely brisk pace.

There’s certainly no shortage in visual interest to keep you motivated as you shuffle through the city’s alleys and shopping districts. Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation is a staggering visual experience, packed with crowds of people, animals, and interesting architecture. At times the emphasis on texture detail prompts the game to chug as the Vita struggles to load in all of the appropriate objects, but it’s a small price to pay for the title’s incredible graphical achievements.

Things get even more impressive when you eventually venture into Louisiana’s bayou area, a swamp-like bog populated by murky puddles and dense foliage. Climbing through the trees demonstrates the outstanding number of animations in Aveline’s portfolio, and it does feel appropriately liberating as you dash from one mission objective to another, clambering through the woodland and waters.

Aveline is appropriately equipped in combat too, with an arsenal of blow darts and whips about her person. In truth, the poisonous blow darts make staying concealed a bit easy, but there’s something supremely satisfying about making an enemy hallucinate by simply targeting them from the tree-tops above. The whip is similarly useful, as it allows you to pull enemies in close. Unfortunately, the melee combat itself is still slow and clunky – though that’s a trait shared by the main series.

You can change weapons by tapping the screen, which is one of Liberation’s more useful Vita exclusive interactions. Other attempts – such as holding the system up to a bright light in order to reveal the text on a mysterious document, or using the console’s gyroscope to guide a ball into the centre of spherical puzzle – prove much less successful. The latter, in fact, is one of the game’s most infuriating moments, as you’re forced to wrestle with the console’s motion sensors in order to progress through the main storyline. Pick-pocketing with the rear touchpad feels fine, as does hitting the touch screen in order to automatically target foes for Aveline’s slow-motion special attack.

The title’s complemented by a sweeping score with some truly memorable motifs, but its quality is undone by some awful sound compression on the dialogue. Conversations sound tinny, as do some of the ambient sound effects, which break the illusion of the aforementioned visual presentation. The voice acting is particularly poor too, with forced accents and disjointed deliveries adding to the audio’s woes.

Outside of the primary single-player campaign, you’ll uncover a separate multiplayer experience which sees you attempting to capture and defend global nodes as the Assassins or Abstergo. Its asynchronous, social game-inspired origins make it a perfect fit for portable play, but Ubisoft Sofia’s inability to effectively communicate the mode’s rules make it another infuriating exercise in trial and error. We’ve spent a fair few hours with the mode now, and while there’s something compulsive about sending your characters out to capture real-world destinations in a Top Trumps-esque fashion, we can’t confidently claim that we know what we’re doing. At least the obligatory Near implementation is a touch more understandable, allowing you to trade artefacts found in the single-player campaign with friends and those surrounding you via GPS.

Conclusion
In many ways, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation is suppressed by Ubisoft Sofia’s own outrageous ambitions. The plot meanders between ingenious and incomprehensible, sadly settling on the latter for great chunks of the single-player campaign. The gameplay is recognisable and confidently recreated, and there are moments when Aveline’s pocketable adventure threatens to outdo its console counterparts – but the experience is mired by a communicative murkiness that’s not entirely unlike its depiction of the Louisiana bayou’s bogs. 7/10 [SOURCE]

JUST PUSH START: Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation Review

For the first time in the long running Assassin’s Creed series, a female protagonist will finally take the spotlight in the somewhat spin-off title of Assassin’s Creed III. Releasing exclusively on the PlayStation Vita, Assassin’s Creed III Liberation shows a lot of promise by attempting to bring the Assassin’s Creed experience on the go. Utilizing the PS Vita’s exclusive features, such as the touch screen, gyro controls and the same engine as its console counterpart, can Liberation accomplish meet expectations or will it be another Bloodlines?

Let’s take a look at what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation.

HOT
A Beautiful Standalone Story
The story of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation will put you in the shoes of Aveline de Granpre, a French-African who was born in New Orleans under her wealthy businessman father who gave her a nice and decent life. With her mother being a freed slave after giving birth to Aveline, she disappears mysteriously, making Aveline troubled for most of her life. Through her troubled moments in life, she becomes a perfect target for the Assassin Brotherhood residing in New Orleans to train her to become an Assassin. With what’s been going on in New Orleans and the colonization of the French and Spanish colony, Aveline has one purpose in mind: get rid of them, fight for the rights of the injustice for the slaves and figure out the mystery behind her mother’s disappearance. As always, the Templars will be involved with the mystery surrounding the Assassins. Expect plot twists and some supernatural events to happen throughout the game.

Best Looking Vita-Game
When Bloodlines was released on the PSP, I was disappointed at how empty the game was when it came to its visuals – those repetitive textures and bland environments. If you’re worried Liberation will be the same, don’t be as it’s currently one of the best looking Vita games. Using the Anvil Next engine that Ubisoft also used in the console counterpart, fans can expect the visuals in Liberation to be full of life and vibrant colors. Through the several areas that you will go into like the New Orleans, the Bayou and the Chichen Itza in Mexico, you can expect every bit of detail to its surroundings.

To fully make Liberation a true Assassin’s Creed experience, the city exploration is implemented in this handheld version, though it’s not as big as you have seen on the console version. New Orleans being the primary town that you will be at, expect to explore every inch of it while collecting game’s collectibles, such as diary pages. The game streams perfectly allowing you to think that you’re playing the console version of the game. Not only the do the environments look phenomenal, the character models looks spectacular as well with their detailed facial expressions when talking and smooth movements in the game.

True Assassin’s Creed game
For fans longing to have a true Assassin’s Creed game on the go, Liberation will give you that experience. Gamers who have played every Assassin’s Creed game released should be pleased to hear that Ubisoft successfully put the experience right on the PS Vita. What you love doing in the console version can now be done right in your hand. You can now explore the big city of New Orleans where you can open shop, steal from towns people, do sidequests involving assassination missions, collecting collectibles, climbing through high places to do a synchronization and much more. Pretty much what you will have in Liberation is the same exact experience you’ve probably experienced when playing the console version.

Three Personas/More Ways to Kill
Often in games, female characters tend to be naive, gullible and have a weak nature. In Liberation, Aveline shows the opposite side as in this game she is fierce, smart, tough, but merciful to the opponents that she will face. With her three personas that you will get to play as, you will learn that each of her identities she displays give you a variety of ways to play.

Since Aveline is half french and was born into a rich wealthy family, she will have the ‘Lady’ persona where she will dress up as a noble woman, her hidden blade and parasol gun serving as her weapons, but climbing and running aren’t her forte. Another persona that she will have in the game is a ‘Slave’ persona where she can blend in with other slaves as she does her job – her weapon is primarily a machete and she can climb and run. The last persona that she has is the Assassin, where she will dress up in a modern assassin attire and her weapons are the same as the slave persona and can do various things that the Lady persona can’t. Out of all the weapons that Aveline can use, my favorite is the blowpipe and the parasol dart. In these three personas, you will get to switch between the three of them as you tackle missions.

Use of Vita Features
Similar to what Bend did with Golden Abyss, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation makes good use of the Vita features. At certain points in the game, gamers will be using various controls like the gyro controls when solving a puzzle that involves you tilting it until the ball drops, swiping both the touch and rear panel at the same time to open a letter, using the rear camera under a bright light to reveal the secrets of a letter and much more. The use of Vita features isn’t as annoying as other games as every Vita control implemented in Liberation works just right and it’s easy to get used to.

In addition to the Vita controls, Liberation also uses the NEAR feature where you can send the collectibles you collect in the game via the ‘Game Goods’ section of NEAR. With a lot of them to collect, completionists will find this feature interesting.

Cross-Play Features
Assuming you will also get Assassin’s Creed III on the PS3, one of the benefit of having both the PS Vita and PS3 version of the game is the ability to get goods from each other’s games. One of the benefits for linking your PS Vita to the PS3 version of Assassin’s Creed is that you can get Connor’s Tomahawk as a weapon and the ability to play as him. Also, you can transfer goods and all sorts of items that will make the experience more fun between both games.

NOT
Confusing Multiplayer Mode
Those who are hoping that Ubisoft will put the multiplayer competitive online mode in Liberation will be disappointed. Instead of putting it on the handheld, Ubisoft implemented some sort of other unique multiplayer mode. No, it’s not competitive where you can move your characters to assassinate, but instead you will spend time looking through nodes and capture either the Assassin or Absertgo nodes, depending on which side you choose. At first, figuring out how the online mode works is confusing as you will first have to plot your geolocation and start conquering nodes as you send in agents. The multiplayer mode isn’t worth playing and I find it a waste of time even tinkering around in it.

Frame Rate Dips
With a big and expansive environment in Liberation, one of the things that is hard to prevent is a slight dip on frame rates. At a certain point in the game, there will be times where you will notice that frame rate will drop, though it doesn’t look as bad as other games. The frame rate drops only happen occasionally, but for the most part you can expect the game to stream smoothly.

Glitches and Errors
Another problem that I’ve found in Liberation that is annoying are the glitches. At certain points in the game, you will reach an area where Aveline will suddenly fall out of nowhere in a light screen endlessly. Once that glitch happens, you cannot control her anymore and the only way to regain control of her is restarting the last checkpoint. On my play through, it happened several times and hopefully it will be fixed via a patch. Also, another problem that I’ve encountered aside from glitches are the errors that close the game. During some segments in the game, like after clearing out an area of Templars, the game will suddenly freeze and an error will pop up. When that happens, it will shut the game down, forcing you to restart the game.

VERDICT
Following the disappointment of Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines that Ubisoft released several years ago on the PSP, I am glad that Assassin’s Creed III Liberation turned out to be the game I wanted it to be. The game does not only offer a true Assassin’s Creed game that fans wanted, but it also manages to retain good storytelling, beautiful-looking visuals and great use of the Vita controls to make the game more innovative to play. The only downside that the game has is the confusing multiplayer in which players will not care about and the random encounters of glitches and frame rate drops. Overall, Assassin’s Creed III Liberation is the game that fans should get on the PS Vita as it will not disappoint.

[Editor's Note: Assassins Creed III: Liberation was reviewed on the Playstation Vita. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.] [SOURCE]

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation Review

Cramming a console-sized experience onto a handheld system can't be an easy affair. After just a few minutes of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, it becomes clear that the compromises go far beyond just working with a smaller screen.

Liberation has no substantial connection to the existing Assassin's Creed storyline. Unlike the console titles where you play as the ancestors of Desmond Miles, Liberation makes little attempt to connect itself with the present day. Instead, the game is presented as a historical documentary of sorts, with the events of 1765-1780 New Orleans taking place within a simulation created - and apparently sold - by Abstergo Industries. This approach suits the handheld well, and favors the pick-up-and-play style the title is going for.

You play as Aveline de Grandpré, daughter of a wealthy French shipping magnate and his slave-turned-wife, Jeanne. Because of her father's considerable business and social influence, both Aveline and her mother escape slavery and Aveline grows up with much privilege. Jeanne disappears under mysterious circumstances, and Aveline's father eventually remarries. Aveline is then recruited by an escaped slave named Agaté who trains her, and brings her within the ranks of the Assassin Brotherhood. Aveline is a remarkably unique character, and as an assassin she is utterly ruthless. Unfortunately, her story is so broad that it feels unfinished, and you'll hunger to learn more about her personal struggles, especially in the waning hours of the game.

From her three distinct backgrounds - slave, wealthy business heir, and assassin - come the three different personas which Aveline uses to complete her objectives. Each version of Aveline offers distinct bonuses and drawbacks: The "lady" persona gains suspicion much more slowly, but her flashy garb prevents her from scaling walls. The slave outfit lets you blend in with other working folk, but takes more damage in combat. And the assassin outfit deals out kills with ease, but good luck flying under the radar if guards are lurking nearby.

As is customary in the Creed series, combat is split between stealth takedowns using hidden blades and full-on throwdowns with adversaries using swords, fists, and even a firearm or two. If you can manage it, rubbing out your victims without raising the ire of armed guards is always preferred, but fighting four or five foes at once provides its own sense of accomplishment.

Missions come in two flavors: story missions and side quests. Side quests include things like gathering collectible items and helping slaves escape captivity. Story missions, on the other hand, almost always task you with either taking out a target or forming a plan on how to do so. The series' open world gameplay is alive and well in Liberation, giving you the freedom to approach or avoid each mission at your leisure. Finding the perfect, stealthy route to your victim and taking them down without so much as a scream is exhilarating.

Getting to your objective involves a lot of wall-climbing and roof-jumping. There are plenty of towering structures to scale, offering a better view of your surroundings, and of course, the familiar carts of hay and piles of tree branches litter the streets to give you a nice, soft landing spot should you choose to take the leap. The bayou offers a wealth of trees to climb, which helps offer some variety, but these can be considerably more difficult to scale in a precise manner. Expect to fall hard a few times before perfecting your technique.

As an Assassin's Creed title, Liberation stands tall in its attempt to replicate the console experience. Each location you get the chance to explore feels large and expansive, and you'll never feel like the settings have been shoehorned onto the Vita. The streets of 18th-century New Orleans bustle with activity, the watery Bayou is filled with wildlife and seedy smuggling operations, and even a brief trip to Mexico offers location-specific touches and plenty to see.

While the game's ambition can't be faulted, you'll be reminded that you are in fact playing on a handheld system far too often. Turning down a new street can cause NPCs and objects to suddenly pop into existence, and when the action gets intense, the framerate takes a knife to the throat. Liberation is also a major offender of adding useless, Vita-specific touches that quite simply do not work.

When I say they don't work, I don't just mean that they don't fit into the story, I mean quite literally that they do not work. One particularly egregious offender is a mechanic that demands that you point the Vita at a bright light source in order to read hidden messages on slips of paper. You'll be asked to do this several times throughout the story, and never once does it actually function as intended. Every single time I attempted it, I pointed the system's camera directly at either the sun or a light bulb, and never did the message unlock while doing so. It seems to be completely random, and once it even unlocked on its own while the camera was completely covered and dark. There is quite honestly no excuse for this level of broken functionality in a full retail release.

The touchscreen features - which let you do everything from string together combos to pick pockets - are a mixed bag to say the least. Most of them work most of the time. What it comes down to is that if there's a button assigned to any particular action, you'll want to use it, and if not, do your best not to drop your Vita while fiddling with your fingers.

The included multiplayer mode is also nothing to write home about. If you're expecting a portable version of what past Creed titles have offered - hunting down fellow assassins on crowded streets - you won't find it here. It's simply a stat-juggling game where players work together to control "nodes" around the globe. There is no combat to speak of, and no real action of any kind, aside from comparing your numbers to those of your opponents. When you start the mode you get to choose a faction -either Assassin or Abstergo - and as you can imagine, nobody picks anything but Assassin. The map is completely dominated by red nodes signifying Assassin control, minimizing any real need to play - simply pick Assassin and you're already winning. Yuck.

Bottom Line: It's almost as though Ubisoft wasn't confident enough in Liberation's story and gameplay to let it stand on its own. The result is a game that is fun to play, but in spite of itself. It's an Assassin's Creed game through and through, and fans of the franchise will find the key elements very much intact. But brace yourself to deal with useless gimmicks and a patchwork story that ultimately holds Liberation back from greatness.

Recommendation: If you're into slicing throats, you're going to have a good time, but if you prefer a good story to rivers of blood, you're going to be let down. Liberation just isn't the Vita-seller it could have been. [SOURCE]

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation review: lacking character

Late into sequence two of Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, one of the mission subtitles is "Do the mentor's dirty work." Replace "dirty" with "busy" and you have the entire Liberation experience. The opening scene sees protagonist and first female assassin Aveline chasing a chicken as a child. Then, she falls asleep and wakes up as an adult and starts killing guards, pick pocketing, and infiltrating cocktail parties. Why? Like the rest of the narrative, it's never made particularly clear.

Players knew why Ezio was out for vengeance in Assassin's Creed 2 through Revelations. Liberation alludes to a few plot points, but by and large the narrative takes the backseat to gameplay. This wouldn't be much of a problem if the gameplay was solid enough to stand on its own, but missions and exploring don't feel very inspired. Most task the player with killing X soldiers or dreadful follow-the-target-but-don't-get-caught directives. Some are a bit more elaborate. On paper, starting a riot or setting up an elaborate ambush by blocking off a town square and funneling Spanish soldiers into a trap sounds awesome. Starting a riot is distilled to approaching several burly men in the town square and pressing a button and watching them run off to pick fights. Designing an ambush involves knocking diminutive water towers off rooftops and shooting a powder keg. Because Liberation lacks a sense of urgency or direction though, objectives never elevate beyond feeling like rote chores.

Each historically important setting in the franchise has felt like a character in and of itself. Liberation's version of pre-purchase Louisiana and surrounding swamp feel like Brown City No. 3, not the vibrant settings they could have been. Parkouring around the world loses much of its thrill because movement lacks the fluidity the series is known for. Frame rate drops at a moment's notice, audio often lags behind animation, and Aveline's grunts and exhales as she clambers from tree limb to rooftop and back again cycle through several low-fi voice samples over and over. Yes, at a passing glance, it looks like an Assassin's Creed game, but the wheels fall off once it's in motion.

Technical aspects are the real killer. Voices in particular sound like they were recorded in an empty Kleenex box, but overall, sound is thin and overly compressed. Enemy AI is just as weak. One mission told me to silently eliminate a handful of guards, each at a separate post. Each was surrounded by means to suit the task be it a pile of straw to hide in or a series of ledges from which to pounce. I targeted the enemy below but biffed the jump, instead landing beside him. Even then, he never knew I was there until I drove a blade into his neck.

Glimmers of depth never turned out to be anything more than mirages. Both Liberation's characters and systems lack anything beyond their surface value. When an ally professed his love for Aveline as a last ditch effort to stop her from leaving, it rang hollow. Sure he'd spoken with her in mission-prefacing cutscenes but there was never any indication before this that he was anything more than a friend. Like so much else in the narrative, that familiarity was assumed. It always felt like I'd missed some key plot point or event because I wasn't paying attention, but the reality is it often didn't exist in the first place. Important characters come and go spouting pithy line after pithy line and unlike, say, Leonardo da Vinci in the Ezio-led games, there was never a point where I was looking forward to meeting someone in particular because the characters lack, well, character.

City building and restoration helped give a sense of ownership in past Assassin's Creed games, but the closest Liberation comes to it is repairing what amount to closets scattered about the main city. The closets allow Aveline to change into one of three outfits for the mission at hand: lady, slave, and assassin. In theory, they should each have their own strengths, limitations, and strategies but they don't. Lady limits Aveline's movements, keeping her to the streets like an affluent pedestrian while slave and assassin garb only seem to differ on a superficial level. One mission or another will require a change of clothes, mostly for infiltrating an event or blending in, but that's the extent of it.

This inconsistency filters down to Liberation's implementation of Vita specific features, as well. Once, I had to paddle a canoe through the swamp mimicking strokes of an oar with my finger on the rear touchpad. The next time I was in a canoe, it's almost as if the game realized this was a bad idea and took control out of my hands, no pun intended. I can't say this bothered me one bit given how difficult it is to hold the Vita, guide the canoe's direction with one thumb on the left analog stick, and use my right index middle finger to manipulate the "oars." The touch interface works best when implemented in ways that make sense. Targeting foes by tapping on them works much better than using the left bumper and swapping weapons with the touch menu is awesome.

Opening letters by pinching the console's front and rear touchscreens while pulling to the left? Not so much. Being required to point the rear camera at a bright light to see some hidden object on the letter was even worse. Sitting in a coffee shop with my netbook open, I cranked the brightness of my display on white screen and set the Vita in front of it. No dice. Frustrated and tired of looking like an idiot while pointing the console at this light and that, I set it down on the table. I lifted it up, the camera recognized the light and I "saw" the clue. I tried this several times and it inexplicably worked each time.

While its themes of male powerlessness are a change of pace in video games, they're hamstrung by Liberation's lack of unifying vision. It's a shame so much of it feels like a missed opportunity because requisite pieces for a great game are there, but they're just not in the right order. Liberation's most damnable offense is it feels inert, the game itself has a common trait with its main character: a clear lack of motivation. [SOURCE]