User blog comment:Jasca Ducato/Assassin's Creed III - My Review (Xbox 360)/@comment-1884909-20121110082324
I didn't think the story was as engaging or deep as II, but Connor was definitely my favorite of all the Assassins. Maybe it was our brief glimpse at him growing up, or just his personality. He didn't have this unwavering dedication to the Brotherhood, his deepest allegiances were to his people. Plus the final moments of his story, and the begenning of the epilogue were gut-wrenchingly powerful.
That being said, I do think this was the weakest of the three major installments. If I had to rate it along the whole series, I'd say it's a smidge better than Brotherhood's story, but not as fantastic as II's. The biggest issue, which was touched upon here, was pacing. The twist beginnning as Haytham was interesting, but dragged out far too long. Then the pacing felt jarringly fast with some sudden slowing up until Sequence 6, when it settled into a nice groove. Unfortunately, the last two sequences felt very much rushed. However, the conclusion to Sequence 12 is somewhat satisfying, while emotionally draining.
The Modern Day storyline was a bit disappointing. Contrasted to the main storyline, it was paced a bit better, the instances you were called out of the Animus were exciting and different, and Shuan remains among my favorite characters. However, it lacked the punch that the Modern Day storyline has lacked since II and Brotherhood. Not enough mystery and intrigue, not enough conspiracy, which was one of the best parts of II. My biggest disappointment was the ending. I felt a little cheated, especially because it seemed so rushed and anti-climactic. And somewhat unbelieveable, though not wholly so. Not to mention there are quite a few Modern Day plotline twists that haven't been wrapped up. Hopefully, what we think about the ending of the Modern Day storyline in this game isn't actually true, and just made to look that way.
III looks and feels like a game vastly different from the previous installments. I loved it, and finishing it left me emotionally drained. I have barely scratched the surface, just playing through the main campagin, a solid 20 hours, I might add. I look forward to going more in-depth when I've gotten over post-ending blues.