Is Assassin's Creed 3 Game of The Year? Playeressence Hands-On

By Furious Francis, editor-in-chief

After my recent hands-on with Assassin’s Creed 3 at the NYCC, I am confident Assassin’s Creed 3 could win Game of the Year here at Playeressence.com and well worth my plane ticket price from California to New York.

[LOGICWINS]

Yes, I'm sure it will be for some people.

EDIT: Btw, anyone know if this will be a Day 1 Digital release on the PS3?

[Mykky]

Yes it will. It's already up for pre-purchase on the PS store.

[LOGICWINS]

YUP, just found it thanks. Now I'll be able to gameshare with my bro and split the costs 50/50 :)

[Mykky]

Haha, love doing that!

[MostJadedGamer]

So far there have been no good games released this year, and AC3 is one of only 2 games left worth playing for the rest of the year(the other being History Legends of War: Patton.

So GOTY will either be AC3, History Legends of War: Patton or there will be no GOTY.

[ElementX]

No good games this year? Dishonored, X-Com, Borderlands 2 say hi :)

[Kennytaur]

Sleeping Dogs, Darksiders 2, Journey, Starhawk, Gravity Rush, LBP Vita, Golden Abyss...

[rpd123]

You serious about History Legends of War: Patton? I've never even heard of that.

[wampdog29]

Not only that, but they also have it up with the Vita version as a bundle deal.

[GrahamGolden]

I really want the AC series to explore asia...
But ubisoft are completely negative about it

why not since the assassins are born there,who doesnt want play a ninja etc etc but i can see the whole templar thing not fit there so maybe thats why they do not want to explore asia

[WiiUalpha]

Ninjas were were born there. Assasins have been around since the dawn of time and are not limited to any certain culture. For as long as we have had humans on this planet we've have people willing to pay to have others killed.

[Wingsfan24]

You can do that with full games?? Hmmmm.

[etowntwo]

This and Halo 4.

[Theyellowflash30]

Not sure about Halo 4 yet. It does look good but it might feel a little too similar to previous titles. Assassin's Creed 3 is amazing. Its crazy how different it is. Yet at the same time the similar so fans can jump right in.

[GamerElite]

@ etowntwo- DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice ......name. Never seen anything like it.

[TENTONGUN]

bungie was halo's reason for the goty awards. but i hope 4 still has its charm with 343. looks good so far though. ac3 looks absolutly dope. i havent played ac since the first one years ago, so its not going to be more of the same for me. :)

[josephayal]

GOTY 2012 is for Far Cry 3

[optimus]

I sure hope they don't create sub-sequels like they did with the others. Or if they do, i hope they don't charge full price for them...i'm already thinking where else in time they could go for the 4th or 5th game.

[BushLitter]

Around the same time period they could go French Revolution. About a 100 or so years ahead they could do Industrial Revolution or 100 more years and they could do World War 2, Space Race, Cold War etc. But I don't know how much longer they can drag the Desmond's present day story - December 21st is fast approaching

Oh and I don't think one could consider Brotherhood and Revelations 'sub-sequels'. They were as big if not bigger than ACII.

[optimus]

@bush... Your definition of a sub-sequel is obviously different than mine...seeing as how they refused to call brotherhood and revelations "3" and "4", they; in my definition (and a few others) are deemed as sub-sequels...or spinoffs if you prefer...wouldn't matter how big the game is to me...hell, the reason i didn't get those other games was because they didn't look all that different from 2 so i knew assassins 3 HAD to be different and sure enough it is.

[Cosmo811]

AC3 is Desmond's last game, but it isn't the last game in the series. (Source: http://www.vg247.com/2012/1...

I'd really like to see a game set in feudal Japan or perhaps early China. It's certainly true that many games have been set then, but how many GOOD games have been set there? Very few if ANY! It'd work great and it'd be plausible as the next game doesn't need to be tied to Desmond's ancestry.

[MostJadedGamer]

"Or if they do, i hope they don't charge full price for them"

They will charge $60. You know it, I know it, and everybody else knows it.

[BushLitter]

So you haven't play Brotherhood or Revelations?

They are not spin-offs, or sub-sequels. They are full games that expand the storyline.

You may not think them necessary but that does not mean they cannot be considered full games.
You should play it first before you class it. And you really should play it before ACIII.

[optimus]

Again, you're measuring the length of a game to define it as a "full" game. Take halo odst and those others before halo 3...they were not sequels, just spinoffs or side stories even if they were sold as "full" games...
I'm not debating they are not just that they are not full fledged sequels. They were simply appetizers before the main course, which is assassins 3...From what i was told and read, those other games (at least revelations) don't measure up to assassins 2.
The only way i see myself playing them is if i see them in the bargain bin for 10 bucks or less...also, assassins 3 has very little or nothing to do with the others so i don't really need to play them 1st to understand the story in 3.

[BushLitter]

No, Im not measuring the length. The game is a full game, not a subsequel. When Brotherhood was firsst announced I thought it would be something like an expansion pack with Multiplayer. It is far from that. Whilst Revelations may have had its issues, it too was far from a simple expansion pack. It tried new things and added a lot to the story.

Assassin's Creed 3 does not have 'nothing' to do with ACII, Brotherhood or Revelations.

Remember, all of the games are tied together by the Desmond story-arch. If you haven't played Brotherhood or Revelations, you missed out on what really is the Main storyline. I suggest you catch up on it through the wikis before playing AC3 or you may find yourself a little lost when it comes to Desmond.

I would like to know how Connor is related to Ezio, because remember Desmond can only access the memory of his ancestors. They will have to explain this somehow

[optimus]

well i guess you're more into the games than i am as it took you saying desmond can only access his ancestor's memory for me to know who you were talking about...i tend to forget characters in games once i finish them and stop playing for a while...(hell, i pretty much forgot everything that took place in halo 3)...

anyhow, i'm sure assasins 3 will reference things that took place in the other games if need be...for the record i also haven't played assasins 1; i heard it was pretty good except it had some issues with the play mechanics which it being a new game at the time deterred me from buying it... if assasins 3 is as good as i and everyone else expects it to be then i'm sure it will intice me to go buy the others which at this point will cost even less once assasins 3 releases...

@Cosmo...nobody said assasins 3 would be the last game...this franchise by all accounts is ubisoft's biggest money maker so it is highly unlikely that they would end it with just 3...considering that they can take the series to different periods in time with new leading characters. expect to see this franchise go beyond 10 games...i do like your idea of anchient China or japan, maybe have a samurai as the next lead...hell, throw in some ninja action too...oh the possabilities.

[BushLitter]

If you don't know who Desmond is, then I just wasted all my bubbles! :D

I'll use this last bubble to say that you have been missing out. At least catch up on the wikis or youtube videos before playing ACIII

[AkiraMorris8]

I will only say this once, A new assassin= new number. Brotherhood and revelations was all about Ezio so it didn't get a new number cause its the same fucking story. Get it, Got it, Good

[JellyJelly]

For me it feels kind of retarded talking GOTY about games I haven't even played yet. Also I feel it's impossible to pick just one. How do you compare a game like Assassin's Creed to, for instance, NFS Most Wanted or XCOM?

[Dark11]

LOL , not gone happen .. assassin's creed is overrated

Dishonored,Far cry 3,Hitman Absolution or even halo 4 will be GOTY but not AC3.

[Gohadouken]

So Dishonored , the currently hyped to death game falling short in so many areas (even if still very good) and hitman absolution arent overrated but AC3 putting a new twist on an already proven franchise will be ? Ok then

[Rampaged Death]

Gaming this year has been ramping up to next week. I'm really REALLY looking forward to it.

[Emperor_Obama]

I think people put too much emphasis on Game Of The Year awards, honestly a lot of those awards pander to certain developers and companies and don't really mean much. I doubt there has ever been a situation where everyone agreed that a single game was the Game Of The Year.

If you like a game, what does it matter if others love it or if its awarded more than another game?

-I'm Emperor Obama, and I approve this message.

[Theyellowflash30]

Game of the Year Awards help to put the gaming industry on a pedestal and promote gaming in popular culture. Most forms of entertainment have a Awards of the Year show or something similar so there is nothing wrong with the gaming industry doing it. Plus these games take a long time to make and many people give up precious time with their families to create them. For the developers to get some recognition for their excellent work is cool.

[LOGICWINS]

"Most forms of entertainment have a Awards of the Year show or something similar so there is nothing wrong with the gaming industry doing it."

But here's the thing. In all forms of media entertainment, MOST don't give a crap who gets the most awards. They simply buy what they like. Examples are Justin Bieber(music), Call of Duty(gaming), The Avengers(movies).

In the broad spectrum of things, awards mean very little to consumers. They're essentially meant to show the developer the appreciation for his/her hardwork.

[GamerElite]

Emperor Obama. Prepare to be dethroned come this November.

This message was paid for and approved by GamerElite

[Emperor_Obama]

I've already abused my powers so much in the first four years, when I lose the election I'll just declare myself Emperor and be done with it.

I mean since I've been in office gas has nearly doubled in price, the national debt was raised by over 5 trillion, I haven't passed a single budget, I've raised taxes, bowed to other countries, borrowed from China and then lent that money to Muslim countries, and yet people still want to vote for me.

Being Emperor will just solve all the problems.

-I'm Emperor Obama, and I approve this message.

[WiiUalpha]

LOL. Under Obamas admin, he added more to the national debt than all other presidents combined.

[modesign]

yes

[Lvl_up_gamer]

There have been a few games released thus far this year that are great games. Dishonored, Borderlands 2, Xcom, Transformers, Forza Horizon etc. No doubt that AC III will be a great game but GOTY?

I am sorry but GOTY is reserved this year for Halo 4.

[prototypeknuckles]

probably not to all but it will overall be the continuous goty, its only competition is dishonered(new ips hardly if ever win), and borderlands 2(fps games hardly win)

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Too early to say. Contender? probably. But its up against some of the biggest games like Halo 4, Borderlands 2, and Dishonored to name a few.

[WiiUalpha]

I'm going to hold out for Zombi U. We have had so few survival horror games this gen so it'll be nice to play a new one and one that actually tries to evolve the genre without going all out action.