Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation Review

I was never really going to play this game especially considering that it was never that well liked even among AC fans but since it came with AC3 Remastered, I decided to play it. As a whole, there is nothing remarkable or very interesting about the game outside of the persona system. Where AC Bloodlines was sort of interesting that in that it could be done on a system like the PSP at all, Liberation just feels like a portable AC3 but even that is not a novelty since the game isn't exclusive to the Vita anymore.

The good things about AC3: Liberation in that in terms of visuals and controls, it is very faithful to AC3 and like I said before, it feels like AC3 on the go and your enjoyment really depends on how much you like that game. It's parkour mechanics, controls, visuals, and combat is pretty much AC3. The only big differences being now you get a whip, a mark and execute feature and different costumes. The naval combat is gone but I don't think it controlled well in AC3 so I don't miss it.

The whip outside of platforming is mostly useless and outside of the occasional section where you need to swing to another platform, it barely gets much use.

Mark and execute also doesn't add much since the game's combat is already leaning towards the easy side and countering can already lead to an instant death to an enemy anyway since the window for it so large.

The biggest and most interesting addition is the persona system. It's esstentially the player getting 3 different skins with different attributes and abilites. Slave lets you blend in with others and parkour, Assassin lets you use the entire tool kit and parkour, and the Lady gives you the ability to charm npcs but no parkour or nimble movement. On paper, this should give the player different choices during gameplay. Play as the slave to blend in and get lower notriety, play as the Assassin and risk standing out in public but have your toolkit and gain more notriety or play as the Lady where you can charm guards and blend in with larger crowds.

If the game leaned into stealth more and had more missions where all 3 personas can complete a mission, then this would be an AC that geniunely stands out from the other games but instead you need specific skins for specific missions. This almost feels like one of the few games in the series where the game tries to live up to the idea of "social stealth". It even stands out from the Hitman games since you can't take any set of clothes and each skin gives you certain stats.

That pretty much leans into much next issue, the missions and if you played any AC game from 2 onwards, it's just going through the usual motions. If this was a style of game I got a lot of enjoyment out of it, I wouldn't mind so much but this isn't.

Many of the missions are just do what the developer wants or else it's an instand fail. Ignoring all that here's what you will mainly be doing: tailing, fighting, occasional stealth, parkouring, investigating pretty much all this but in a different order that I mentioned.

If any of these individual gameplay styles were interesting on their own, maybe I'd be less lukewarm but instead I just find it dull. Tailing just consist of you slowly keeping up with an npc and hoping you can stay away from his line of sight long enough so the mission is over and you can move fast again.

Fighting just consist of mashing the attack button, occasionally doing guard breaks and different attacks while also using the overpowered counter move.

Stealth is also AC pre Unity so no crouch button and since this is AC there will always be detections you swore that you didn't do but happens anyway, the bush stealth wouldn't even become reliable until AC4. If the mission didn't allow me to be caught, I would always pick combat since it's easier and more reliable by comparison to stealth.

Parkour is the same as AC3 meaning sprinting and grabbing on to ledges and hand holds is mapped to one button so I can hold R2 and I don't need to do much all though there will be moments where I want to run but instead I grab onto something.

Investigating just consist of looking into a highlighted zone and holding the inspect button until you move on to the next sequence.

Thing is, most if not all these issues can apply to AC3 and many of the AC games in general. Not even in the story is that interesting since everything feels jumbled and disjointedly told. Where AC3 and 4 were carried by their stories, Liberation barely has much worth talking about outside of it's interesting premise that doesn't get explored that much.

I suppose one decent thing I can say about the game is that the game isn't too long and doesn't overstay it's welcome for too long.

Overall, AC Liberation is just more of the same of a franchise I consider to be medicore, AC Mirage might've gotten a lukewarm response as a whole but maybe it's proof that this formula was never that interesting. If you like this style of game then maybe check it out.