To be honest, the feeling of being overwhelmed by choice never really left me, and I spent many hours wandering around the American countryside chasing nothing in particular. After the initial twist in the story, and the urgency created by the village being burnt to the ground, there was no real impetus to hurry through the game - not helped by the fact that your main enemy keeps on cropping up and you keep on having to watch cutscenes where you aren't allowed to kill them.
And then you have to team up with your dad, who's a bad guy, and you know that at some point he's going to die. You just know it.
So I once again found myself distracted by parts of the game which weren't actually necessary in terms of storyline, but in many cases were more fun. The sailing being a prime example.
Controlling a ship to chase down pirates or the British was great fun in the main, and even though half the screen was blocked from view by your ship which has a turning circle radius of several hundred miles, it still felt like you were in control. Yes, it feels like you're battling your ship as well as the enemy, but I imagine it is far more responsive than a real boat.
I also spent some time looking for trinkets, exploring the wilderness, and sneaking around forts. Not trying to complete any of these in particular, mind, given the lack of achievements and trophies, but rather seeing where they took me. And after playing for a while they took me to some very strange places indeed.
I started to be followed around by a large spherical mess of polygons. It blocked my view, shifted itself around the screen from time to time, and was a pain in the arse. So I quit and restarted from the previous save.
Which then made me into a large spherical mess of polygons.
Restarting again seemed to work fine, until characters and items started to clip through each other - like this horse mounting a second hay wagon. This was the most amusing bug of all, watching people floating along the top of crowds.
Anyway, we can't mess around for ever. Returning back to the main story, I followed the path to track down Charles Lee, which led to long battles with the patriot army (helped by my assassin colleagues), and then a chase through a burning ship. In the end, finally, he got what was coming to him.
And then you have to team up with your dad, who's a bad guy, and you know that at some point he's going to die. You just know it.
So I once again found myself distracted by parts of the game which weren't actually necessary in terms of storyline, but in many cases were more fun. The sailing being a prime example.
Controlling a ship to chase down pirates or the British was great fun in the main, and even though half the screen was blocked from view by your ship which has a turning circle radius of several hundred miles, it still felt like you were in control. Yes, it feels like you're battling your ship as well as the enemy, but I imagine it is far more responsive than a real boat.
I also spent some time looking for trinkets, exploring the wilderness, and sneaking around forts. Not trying to complete any of these in particular, mind, given the lack of achievements and trophies, but rather seeing where they took me. And after playing for a while they took me to some very strange places indeed.
I started to be followed around by a large spherical mess of polygons. It blocked my view, shifted itself around the screen from time to time, and was a pain in the arse. So I quit and restarted from the previous save.
Which then made me into a large spherical mess of polygons.
Restarting again seemed to work fine, until characters and items started to clip through each other - like this horse mounting a second hay wagon. This was the most amusing bug of all, watching people floating along the top of crowds.
Anyway, we can't mess around for ever. Returning back to the main story, I followed the path to track down Charles Lee, which led to long battles with the patriot army (helped by my assassin colleagues), and then a chase through a burning ship. In the end, finally, he got what was coming to him.
It's not as bad a game as some have said. Connor is certainly less likable than Ezio, but the story had some good turns in the first half the game. It just feels like it goes on too long, and you miss many opportunities to finish the story because you are taken out of control during the cutscenes - the Connor in the cutscenes was a very different character to the Connor in the rest of the game.
A side story next.
