Optional board games add a bit of realism.

While AC III’s unwavering commitment to storytelling is both rare and impressive, it’s also where the game starts to run into trouble. The campaign opens at a glacial pace and never seems to fully pick up steam. Too often, missions feel like they exist only to connect cutscenes, tasking you with simple errands (run over there and knock on that door, sit here and eavesdrop on these guards) or providing only short bursts of combat before diving back into narrative. Some missions — like barreling across a raging battlefield — provide unique and exhilarating experiences, but we still found ourselves waiting for a meaty chunk of gameplay that never really came. The optional secondary objectives usually don’t help either, adding only contrived difficulty — or worse, actually making the mission less fun.

Moreover, the game never fully allows the world to speak for itself, electing instead to drown players in exposition. (AC III could have certainly taken a page from Red Dead Redemption’s playbook: show, don’t tell.) At the same time, ironically, the game does a terrible job of explaining itself. You’ll stumble onto Templar-controlled forts — stand-ins for Brotherhood’s Borgia Towers — but you’re never told what they are, why they’re there, or why you should care about capturing them. It never comes up in the story or campaign, so new players are bound to be confused. Same goes for your Assassin Recruits: the game demonstrates how you can call them into battle, but never once mentions that you can send them on solo missions that’ll allow them to level up.

Those aren’t the only examples, but they illustrate another point as well: AC III seems to retain certain mechanics simply out of tradition. Exhibit A: synchronization points. In past games, each climbable structure provided a sort of vertical puzzle, and once you conquered all of them, the full map was revealed. Here, synch points illuminate only a small portion of the map, and you can scale each one with disappointing ease. (We actually climbed the exact same tree at least four times.) With the advent of regenerating health, you no longer need to invest in new armor, which robs you of a sense of character progression (a necessity in such a long game), even if it does mean one less thing to worry about.

The new Domination mode challenges teams to capture and hold points, but only the team that owns the spot can kill in that area.

Our favorite multiplayer map is half Boston, half crashing Animus.

Thankfully, while these aspects do detract from the overall experience, none of them ruin it. The classic Assassin’s Creed gameplay we all know and love, coupled with the overwhelming new setting, is more than enough to overcome poor pacing and the absence of armor. Plus, the game’s highly publicized naval missions are extremely well executed, and Desmond himself gets a little taste of the action. (We’ll let you discover for yourself exactly what that means.)

Meanwhile, the series’ one-of-a-kind multiplayer returns with a vengeance. (Suck on that, AC II.) There’s just something about the deliberate stealth of Manhunt that gets under our skin in the best way, and the game’s new cooperative mode — which rewards coordinated kills with points and time bonuses — is undeniably addictive. Ubi’s adjusted the unlockable perks and upgrades for a more balanced experience as well, so now we really have no one to blame but ourselves when some jerk dives on us from above just before we finally reach our target.

So, bottom line: does the game live up to AC II? Well, no. Ezio’s grand introduction is pretty damn hard to top, at least in terms of story content and franchise innovation. But that doesn’t invalidate Connor’s journey by any means. Assassin’s Creed III’s newly refined gameplay and incredibly rich setting are captivating stuff, and we’re excited to see what adventures lie ahead for our new hero.

Haven't beaten the other games? You may want to watch their endings on YouTube before playing AC III.

PUBLISHER: Ubisoft  •  DEVELOPER: Ubisoft Montreal  •  ESRB: Mature  •  MULTIPLAYER: 4 in co-op, 8 in competitive (all over Xbox Live)  •  ACHIEVEMENTS: A nice mix  •  COST: $60  •  RELEASE DATE: October 30, 2012

On Xbox 360

+ The perfectly refined mechanics enhance the series’ already-immaculate gameplay.

+ The American Revolution provides the perfect backdrop for a fresh Assassin’s adventure.

– Pacing problems can drag the campaign into busy-work tedium.

? Is it wrong to laugh when enemies are tackled by cougars?

8.5