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Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption Review for PC

Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption Review for PC

The End Of Tyranny

Ubisoft released the best addition to The Tyranny of King Washington with their newest DLC pack, The Redemption. Despite being the best pack of the three, Redemption lacks the overwhelming amount of quality necessary to justify this DLC trilogy. It’s just too little, too late.

Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption Screenshot

Episode three kicks off with a naval battle as Connor sails from Boston to New York, an obvious teaser for the pirate themed Assassin’s Creed IV (that game’s protagonist is even mentioned). Connor commands the ship in an epic, cannonball slinging fight. As I watched my enemy’s vessel splinter while I steered the ship through the cannonball fire, I felt as if Redemption might deliver the quality experience I desired from an Assassin’s Creed DLC. Unfortunately, Ubisoft destroyed my rising excitement for the potential of the game the moment Connor hit land.

The repetitive and clunky gameplay in New York made it clear the developers have moved past Connor’s adventures. The same side missions of helping starving children and ambushing caravans return from the first episode.The game’s length clocks in at around two hours. It strikes me as lazy for Redemption to use time from an already short DLC on missions that don’t enhance the story.

Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption Screenshot

Connor also doesn’t like to be told what to do. The controls only work right about half the time. Having to use clunky controls through boring missions can be frustrating. If Ubisoft didn’t want to create too much new content for Redemption, the least they could have done was to make the reused content play fluidly.

As in the previous episodes, Connor gains a unique animal power in this DLC; this time it’s the Power of the Bear. The Power of the Bear grants Connor the ability to do a ground-pound, an odd move for Connor to have in his arsenal. I think that this time around Ubisoft felt obligated to include the animal power gimmick, and chose the Bear Power, even though it makes little sense.

Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption Screenshot

Despite my issues with the gameplay, I could tell that Ubisoft tried to address some of the complaints they received about the previous episodes. While episodes one and two shamelessly reuse environments, episode three gives us a fresh take on New York as the tyrannical Washington redesigns the city in the spirit of the empires of old. This is exemplified by a pyramid being built towards the lower end of Manhattan. A change in the aesthetics of the environment is a small thing, but it’s nice to have something fresh.

The best part of Redemption is not watching the scenery, but watching the evolution of our first President as the power of the Apple changes him. I feel as if Ubisoft released the DLC for Assassin’s Creed 3 just so they could tell the story of Redemption. Leading a new revolution to overthrow an oppressive government is a thrill – even if it plays a little shallow.

Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption Screenshot

Overthrowing Washington doesn’t end the story. We also get to witness how the alternate timeline affects Desmond in the main timeline. This is where I have another gripe. Redemption offers players different endings depending on how many Memory Glyphs they find. Ubisoft commits an unforgiveable act by not letting every player experience such an essential part of the story.

Ubisoft has handled the Assassin’s Creed DLC in a less than ideal way. In order to play through the entire Tyranny story you have to spend $30. I can’t recommend spending that much money on six hours of content; especially when most of that content consists of banal, time-filling missions. If you’ve already played the first two episodes, you might as well play the last one. But if you haven’t started yet, don’t bother. Despite being the best of the DLC packs, Redemption offers little to redeem The Tyranny of King Washington.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
They’re the same ACIII graphics – very nice. 2.0 Control
Someday we’ll play an AC game with good controls. Today is not that day. 4.2 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The same effects and acting – again, very nice. 2.7 Play Value
A short game with a terrible ending. 3.0 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Explore an alternate reality.
  • An all-new single-player story lets you experience history as you’ve never imagined it.
  • Acquire and master all-new skills to fend off this new threat to freedom, including Bear Power.

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