When it comes to remastered editions, for companies there is always the risk of making a disaster, not to mention that the operation may not be frowned upon by a large part of that public not used to reviving titles from the past. Also because there have been so many remakes and remasters in recent years, some successful, others less so. Assassin's Creed III Remastered, we say it immediately at the opening of review, fortunately belongs to the first category of products: the game, set during the American War of Independence, in fact presents itself to the public with improved graphics, some little news on the gameplay front and all the original DLCs. In detail we talk about the additional packages Benedict Arnold Missions, Hidden Secrets and The Tyranny of King Washington, with the episodes Infamy, Betrayal and Redemption. Last but not least, the full game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is included, for a truly substantial offer from a content point of view for owners of PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
The American Revolution
After playing it for many hours, even after the 1.01 update, we can say that Assassin's Creed III remains a good title after many years, able to offer an adequate number of hours of play especially in light of its being mainly single player. The story is flowing in its ups and downs, with a plot with a cinematic breath in which adventure, historical reconstruction and fantastic events are balanced rather well, leaving little room for rhetoric; the gameplay is old-fashioned, with a certain degree of freedom in dealing with game situations and with the addition of small additions that have served to make the sessions more "complete" stealth, as well as improving the system of crafting and the graphical interface. Also technically, thanks to a good job of "adaptation" it looks pretty good, even if it is never stunning. The result is a title not free from defects, some of which obviously historical, but the same good to look at and play, as written before.
With the events of Altair and Ezio Auditore closed, the game "shifts" the war between Templars and Assassins, the search for a solution to save the world and that of the last artifacts, in the New World. The game, in fact, is set during the period of the American war of independence: the protagonist, as our readers will remember, Connor, a Native American half-breed whose history is linked to that of Desmond Miles, whose sections located today act as glue for a story that unfolds along a dozen sequences set between Boston, New York, the border and some excursions to the Caribbean. The game structure of Assassin's Creed III Remastered is inevitably the most traditional of the series, with the exploration phases characterized by the presence of many activities to be carried out, including optional ones.
Among these stand out hunting and secondary missions useful to deepen the plot or to raise money, experience and objects to enhance the character, his estate or the Eagle, the ship available at some point in the game. It is also possible to participate in a series of challenges related to exploration, go in search of treasures, such as that of the captain Kidd, with missions that are partly reminiscent of those of the Tombs of Nero in the second chapter, or recruit murderous adepts to send around America in order to acquire skills and bring back money and objects. The single player experience of Assassin's Creed III is in short rather full-bodied and multifaceted, with the addition of a series of maritime missions useful to increase the variety of the action and to provide more choice.
PlayStation 4 Trophies
Assassin's Creed III Remastered offers players 55 Trophies to unlock, distributed throughout the adventure. They are divided into 46 bronze, 7 silver, 1 gold and 1 platinum and are obtained upon the completion of particular moments in history or the achievement of some objective.
The "new" Assassin's Creed III
Even the approach to fighting remains clearly anchored to what has been seen in the chapters of the past generation of consoles: to eliminate his opponents, Connor can resort to different types of weaponry white or fire at long and medium range. These can be found around the game world, bought in shops or created via an interesting crafting system. And it is precisely here that one of the novelties of this edition is found, that is to say the possibility of building more weapons than the original, even some of those previously available only for a fee. To do this, however, it is necessary to have the relevant project, to be found by exploring villages, forests and rivers then, as always, the correct material and, finally, a Artigian capable of building them. The latter, in fact, must have an adequate level of experience in order to get to work.
All the weapons, combined with the special skills of the protagonist, also to be acquired and improved during the adventure, make battles much easier, thanks to the artificial intelligence of the enemies not always up to par. For the same reason, the stealth phases rarely offer a high challenge rate, as the guards' attention and alert levels are limited, and they certainly don't shine for acumen. But these are still "characteristics" that fans of the Ubisoft saga now know by heart and on which they have often overlooked. In any case, it is during the sessions in which we act in the shadows that we can notice the other changes we mentioned at the beginning. Ubisoft has in fact introduced in the game a handful of features not present in the original, such as the ability to hide in the bushes, whistle to attract the attention of some guard and to be able to perform stealth kills behind by default with the hidden blade.
Other new functions are to be found in the interface graphics, especially in the mini map at the bottom left of the screen: inside, in addition to the position of enemies and objectives, in the stealth phases the direction in which the guards are facing is now indicated, while in the event of a conflict, the possible paths and hiding places useful for to escape and to evade the pursuers. In this sense, the feeling of running freely hopping over obstacles remains one of the strong points of Assassin's Creed III, with a marked spectacle of the elements. parkour, and the various dynamic actions that can be performed without excessive frills, except when you bump into something due to some uncontrolled movement of the protagonist or a camera that does not always position itself in the best way.
Aveline's adventure
This edition, as we wrote in the article, includes Assassin's Creed III: Liberation in a remastered version. Also this title has been optimized to 4K on the new generation consoles and PC, while on the "smooth" ones it runs at 1080p, with lights, environments and graphic effects improved even compared to the old computer remaster. The result is a respectable conversion, which does not visually reach the qualitative level of the remake of the third episode, especially at the polygonal level, but is still respected, considering the starting point, that is a game originally released for PlayStation Vita.
A better glance
As for the technical part, the definition and some graphic aspects have been optimized according to the potential of the new hardware. In addition to higher resolution (with 4K and HDR support on PS4 Pro, Xbox One X and PC) than on PlayStation 4 base is 1080p, we have for example an improvement in the rendering of lights and the environment. The first now rests on the PBR system for a visual rendering of the light sources based on physics, while with the second gli scenery they are more "full" thanks to the presence of a greater density of crowds in the cities, and of a greater number of natural elements that reinvigorate the vegetation and fauna in the open areas. The combination of atmospheric and particle effects then do the rest, making them much more beautiful environments, which already in themselves could enjoy in the original an excellent visual representation and an apt level design.
For Assassin's Creed III, in short, Ubisoft did not do magic, but it did not stop at the "homework" typical of certain conversions, really trying to make the game more beautiful, as demonstrated by the presence of more complex textures and new models polygonal for the main characters. The latter are appreciated for the quality of the faces, even if some seem a little too fake, and for the detail reserved for the clothes they wear, on which the weaves of the fabric that compose them stand out or other decorative frills. The combination of all these factors in fact returns a graphics that does not scream a miracle, but which, thanks to the measures adopted and the general stability guaranteed, by eye, by its thirty frames per second, is appreciated even today.
Especially in certain busy phases, during battles, at the change of seasons and in the views, when from the snow-capped peaks of the mountains or on board the ship you can admire breathtaking sunsets or sunrises. Moving on to the audio sector, excellent music, which adequately accompany every single phase of the game, from the calmer ones to the more action ones, and all in all the good dubbing in Spanish, well acted for large sections of the adventure depending on the moment or the mood of the characters. On the average, the sound effects, from gunshots to environmental ones, but which are functional for the purpose.
Comment
Tested version PlayStation 4 Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop Resources4Gaming.com8.0
Readers (30)7.9
Your voteAssassin's Creed III Remastered is the definitive edition of one of the most beloved adventures of the fans of the saga. Re-proposed with Assassin's Creed: Liberation plus all the extra content released for the original, the title is pleasant to play and is more complete than that of the past generation of consoles, thanks to a series of significant technical improvements that do not distort the experience. . The change in resolution and the implementation of new visual effects have then benefited the work, which now can even boast a more defined image, as well as more detailed characters and scenarios. Too bad for the persistence of some of the historical defects of the "old" series, starting from a little evolved artificial intelligence of the enemies and a combat system with a low challenge rate. For these reasons we recommend it to those who have never played it or who want to return to relive this interesting adventure with a new aesthetic look. Others can also look beyond.
PRO
- An offer rich in content
- A vast world to explore, with tons of things to do
- Significant improvements to the graphics sector
- Nice to play despite dated gameplay
- The old mechanics may no longer appeal to those who have gotten used to the newer ones
- Some historical defects remain with the camera and movements
- Enemies remain undemanding
