Review By: mackenzie129
Posted: 10/24/2024

A Frustrating Platinum Journey

Assassin's Creed III offers a decent experience for those diving in just for the main story, but pursuing the platinum trophy quickly turns into a test of patience. While the game itself isn't overly difficult, trophies like ?Original Gamer,? with its tedious minigames, and the ?An Extraordinary Man? trophy, which involves following homesteaders around, can push players to the edge of sanity. To make matters worse, I encountered the dreaded ?Completionist? glitch, forcing me to reload an old save and replay a significant portion of the game. Doing the same mundane tasks twice was beyond frustrating.

The story itself is passable, though I found Connor to be a fairly bland and forgettable protagonist, especially coming off the heels of Ezio, who had so much more charisma. Connor felt like Assassin's Creed Unity's Arno Another lead who struggled to leave a lasting impression. Achilles also felt like an unfinished character, and much of his potential was left unexplored. With Rogue and Black Flag released later but set before the events of this game, the timeline felt disjointed and off in many ways.

This game also marked the end of Desmond Miles' storyline, a character who had been built up to be the ultimate assassin, only to meet an abrupt and unsatisfying end through self-sacrifice. After years of buildup, his death felt like a weak conclusion to his arc.

When I first played and beat this game on the Xbox 360, I thought I'd never return to it. After going through the grind for the platinum, I'm glad I won't have to revisit it again. Hopefully, no one is clamoring for a PS5 remaster.