I must admit, I may have been slightly harsh on the naval battles in Assassin’s Creed in the past. The third part of the DLC content The Tyranny of King Washington – The Redemption opens with a large naval battle section on the ship The Aquila, which is actually very enjoyable. It took me a while to get my sea legs on, with cannon balls poorly timed and colliding with other ships left, right and centre, but I was soon sinking enemy ships on my way to New York harbour.
And while it is clear that this is a ploy to whet your appetite for the pirate themed Assassins Creed 4, the opening part of The Redemption is the highlight of the whole DLC package for me. While another new power is introduced with the Bear (the manner in which you gain the power is the more dull of the 3), giving you a quick instance of super strength, the majority of this episode, along with the others before it are things you will have seen before. And while it can be nice to be able to experiment with new features (the powers) in the Assassins Creed world, it’s a shame at times that you are forced to use them. It understandable in a way as the DLC revolved so heavily around the powers of the Great Willow, but it would have been nice to be able to explore the area and progress in the traditional Assassins Creed way if I had so wanted.
This is the third and final part of the quite frankly, extortionately price DLC content for Assassins Creed 3. It continues and concludes the alternate time story set out in the first 2 parts. I was eager to get to the end of the story, but I was disappointed by what was to come. The final battle is just a compilation of fights you have previously experienced, with nothing memorable to notes in all honesty. And the storyline itself doesn’t give a particularly enthralling end. I feel Ubisoft had a brilliant and ambitious premise for this DLC but it isn’t fully realised.
I found myself ever increasingly using the quick travel function during The Redemption just due to the sheers amount of enemies scattered through the street of New York. I like a good fight as much as the next guy. But when I end up fighting 40+ people every time I want to go a few city blocks, it gets tiresome quickly. As with everything else Assassins Creed, there is plenty of collecting, exploring and side missions to complete while traversing the New York setting to get the 100% along with additional objectives to hit the full memory synchronisation. Even with all the extra bells and whistles it nowhere near justifies the £24 you will need to shell out in total for the 3 parts. But in a world where people will pay 1200 Microsoft Points for a map pack, who does know what value for money is these days?
A fairly disappointing end to a DLC that started out with promise, which has overall only managed to reach the dizzying heights of average. Unless you are desperate for more Assassins Creed, I’d leave your money in your wallet until AC4 hits the stores.
