Support NeoGAF

[OmegaZero]

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Sofia
Platform: PlayStation Vita
Genre: Historic Action Adventure
Release Dates:

• October 30, 2012 (North America)
• October 31, 2012 (Europe)
• November, 15, 2012 (Japan)

Price: $39.99, £34.99, ¥6,090
Players 1-?

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation is a stand-alone Assassin’s Creed game developed for the Playstation Vita by Ubisoft Sofia. Set shortly
after the end of the French and Indian War (known as the Seven Years War outside of America), you’ll explore the entire city of 18th
century New Orleans, dangerous swamps and mysterious Mayan ruins as Aveline de Grandpré, a female member of the Assassin Order
and the daughter of a French businessman and an African placée bride.

In Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, you are a user of a new entertainment product and piece of propaganda produced by the entertainment
division of Abstergo Industries, a multinational corporation that fans of the series will recognize as the main front for the Templar Order:
sworn enemies of the Assassin’s Order. For some reason, Abstergo has decided to allow the general public to experience the memories of an
Assassin through this product, a commercialized version of the Animus. As you play through Aveline's story, you may be directed to
locate and kill "Citizen E's", people that never existed historically. If you proceed to do so, you may discover what really happened during
certain events.

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation uses AnvilNext, the same engine powering Assassin’s Creed III. This means that many of the features
seen in Assassin’s Creed III can also be found in Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation. Aveline has full access to the dual-wielding
combat system, the revamped counter system and the free-running moves seen in Assassin’s Creed III, but also can use abilities specific
to this title.

The Chain Kill system allows Aveline to unleash a series of deadly attacks on opponents both near and far. Performing assassinations will
charge the Chain Kill, which then can be used by tapping right on the d-pad to freeze the action and then tapping your targets on the front
touch screen. As you progress through the story, you'll gain the ability to kill more enemies with a Chain Kill attack.

The Persona system allows Aveline to disguise herself as a member of the various social classes that populate New Orleans. Due to her
heritage and upbringing, she can adopt a different personality and set of mannerisms that, when combined with a change of clothing,
render her nearly indistinguishable from the class that she is impersonating. Her different personas are as follows:

• Assassin - Designed for combat and agility, this is Aveline’s assassin uniform. She has full access to all of her abilities, weapons,
  and tools in this persona, but with a catch. While wearing the outfit, Aveline sticks out and is easily noticed by guards. In order to
  be stealthy in this persona, one must try to remain out of direct visual contact from guards.
  
• Servant - Dressed as a peasant, Aveline can use this disguise to blend in with slaves and workers. By picking up nearby objects
  like crates or brooms, Aveline can avoid the notice of patrolling guards. While in this disguise, Aveline can incite fellow servants
  to revolt and riot, causing a distraction that she can take advantage of. Her clothes aren’t as durable as her Assassin’s outfit, so she
  dies more easily while in this persona.
  
• Lady - In this outfit, Aveline is much less mobile. Although she loses the ability to free-run, Aveline can charm and bribe
  individuals to allow for easier assassinations. She has access to her hidden blades and a poison dart shooting umbrella, but can’t
  carry the usual assortment of weapons and tools that her Assassin’s uniform allows. This is the persona that most of New Orleans
  knows Aveline by – a model citizen and privileged daughter of a wealthy businessman.

In addition, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation will support various functions of the Playstation Vita hardware like the front touch screen and
rear touch pad. These include everything from rowing canoes using the rear touch pad to opening Aveline's inventory using the front
touch screen. Most of the controls that utilize these Vita-exclusive features are completely optional, but some have yet to be confirmed
optional - or mandatory.

According to the digital manual (thanks to Tiamant):

This is the Abstergo Industries Geosimulation workspace.
You have been granted special clearance to participate in an ongoing empirical study of global war as a social process, contributing to
the evolution of a predictive, analytical model of collective dynamics.

The conflict is spread around nodes representing strategic locations across the globe. Your Home Node is determined by your actual
geographic location*.

Victory Nodes in strategic locations have to be captured and held by a faction in order for it to win a round in the simulation.
You can pass freely through friendly-controlled nodes but hostile nodes block you.
You have a number of agents at your disposal and have to decide how best to employ them.
You can send individual agents to participate in battles across the globe.
You can send agents to work in so-called economy modes to procure special provisions for your war effort, send them to support
allied initiatives on a node, or use them to guard an already captured node.
When you exit the simulation, all your free agents will be sent to duty on your home node until you return, unless you deploy them
otherwise.
Agents that participate in successful missions gain experience and become more competent.

*To use this feature, you must enable the "Use Location Data?" option in the system settings of your PlayStation®Vita system

Destructoid

Assassin’s Creed III could be cool, but I remain more invested in how Liberation will turn out. I feel the setting has a bit more
unexplored character and I was delighted to learn that I would not have to deal with any Desmond.

ShackNews

Some time with the actual game is enough to set one's mind at ease about Liberation being a slapdash Assassin's Creed III knockoff
--at least for the time being. It's an interesting opportunity for both Ubisoft and Sony. For Ubisoft, Liberation has the potential to be a
unique offshoot of a huge franchise. For Sony, it's a chance to show that Vita is capable of supporting the types of experiences that
justify the heavy price tags attached to the games.

JTM Games

Like I said before, what excites me the most about Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation is that it’s built from the ground-up for the PS Vita.
That means Liberation will make use of the handhelds key features like the front-and-back touchpads for a more immersive experience.
And the fact that it replicates the huge, open-world of it’s console brothers onto the handheld still amazes me every time I see the
game in action.

PlanetPlaystation

For a first time effort on the PS Vita system, Ubisoft Montreal, working with Ubisoft Sofia, have done a wonderful job porting over the
Assassin’s Creed universe into the handheld. The city of New Orleans looks superb, mind a few glitches with walls that vanish and
occasional obscured skies (what is this, the Blair Witch project?), and the Bayou is just as impressive, with no shortage of tree
limbs to run across and occasional swimming.

Playstation Blog

Liberation takes full advantage of the new Assassin’s Creed III game engine and its simplified control scheme. Gone are the days of
leaning on the shoulder button and playing defense during encounters. Press Square for melee attacks, hold and release Triangle to
aim and fire ranged weapons, Circle counters, X is used for block-breakers and other moves. It’s a bit of an adjustment to begin
thinking offense first in an Assassin’s Creed game, but ultimately it’s likely to be seen as an improvement.

IGN

Liberation is shaping up to be a worthy addition to the Assassin’s Creed lineage, one that is attempting to add its own thoughts as
far as franchise gameplay. That it stars the series’ first playable female assassin, one that appears to have a layered, complex
background, makes that package even more alluring.

VentureBeat - 55/100
IGN - 7.2/10
PSVita Direct - No Score
Just Push Start - 8.7
GameInformer - 7.75
More to come
(I'll pick out some choice quotes once I have the time)

• Preorder Bonus - By preordering Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation at select locations and websites, you get access to the
  Mysteries of the Bayou pack. This unlocks several items within the game: the Ceremonial Dagger, the Alligator Hunter hat,
  an upgraded Poison Dart pouch, and the Makendal Bodyguard multiplayer character.
  
• Limited Edition White Playstation Vita Bundle – Retailing for $249, this bundle includes a white Playstation Vita Wi-Fi unit,
  a copy of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation and a 4GB Playstation Vita memory card.
  
• Connectivity with Assassin's Creed III - If you own the PS3 version of Assassin's Creed III, you can unlock Connor's
  Tomahawk as a usable weapon, the ability to play as Connor in a certain mission, an ammo pouch upgrade and the French
  Agile multiplayer character.

• For more information on Assassin’s Creed III, check out Blue Ninja’s Assassin’s Creed III |OT|.
• For a comprehensive summary of the Assassin’s Creed Universe, check out iNvid02’s posts about Assassin's Creed,
  Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and various terminology in his Assassin's Creed: Revelations OT.
• Check out Dawg's Trophy Guide and Roadmap.
• Add your PSN ID and set up matches at the PS Vita Multiplayer Gaming Community Thread.
• Review this game at the PlayStation Vita Game Review and Comments Thread.

• Blue Ninja for input and advice.
• Takao and iNvid02 for advice.
• Tiamant for information.
• MilanVend (DeviantArt) for the Abstergo Industries symbol.
• stegraphics (DeviantArt) for the AC3 symbol.
• The Assassin’s Creed Wiki for images and links.
• BibiMaghoo, the_korben, and FantasticMrFoxdie for the OT subtitle.
• And you, for reading this OT.

 

[El-Suave]

Very nice OP, this'll be the last big Vita game I'm waiting on for quite some time. I hope it does well, because it'll be important for any other third party efforts.

 

[Toki767]

Will buy it. Probably the Vita's only shot at making it in the west this holiday season so I gotta support it due to the effort made by Ubisoft Sofia. Sure as hell not going to support Black Ops Declassified.

 

[Kyon]

ACIII could never and will never

 

[Castor Krieg]

One week to go and no mention of multiplayer? This won't end well.

 

[Kyon]

I hope multi is cross play with ACIII

 

[Criminal Upper]

Such a goddamn tragedy that the NA version of the game doesn't have the TRUE subtitle of the game, "Lady Liberty"

 

[minimoke]

Awesome OP great job... Day one.!

 

[Toki767]

I hope multi is cross play with ACIII

Pretty sure the only thing you'll get from mixing with the PS3 is probably money or weapons like with AC2 and the PSP game.

 

[A.E Suggs]

I'm ready! Forget the console version i'm all up in this one this time.

 

[Tranced Shadow]

Gah, same day as Layton!

Might pick it up though - will probably wait for AC3 to hit PC...

 

[GrizzNKev]

It's preordered. I can't wait for another awesome Vita game.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

Great OT!

I'm pretty excited for this game. Hope it turns out well.

Heres a sampler for the OST, by the way.

 

[Cheska]

Everything we've seen so far of this game just makes it seem more and more interesting to me. Plus, finally being able to play as a female assassin! YAY

Btw, nice OT!

 

[onlyindreams]

I want this to be good but I can't shake the feeling its a C-team non-canonical cash grab like most Ubi/EA handheld efforts.

 

[Skidd]

But the bundle, will it be available in EU?

I've yet to find a real confirmation on this.

 

[Kyon]

I want this to be good but I can't shake the feeling its a C-team non-canonical cash grab like most Ubi/EA handheld efforts.

Ummmmm

Ubisoft Sofia is making this

 

[LiquidSolid]

Greatly looking forward to this.

So what order will people be playing them in? The way I see it is that AC3 has a decent chance of pulling a Mass Effect 3 with the ending, trying to be shocking for stupidities sake and ultimately, putting me off the series entirely. Whereas I don't think there's any chance of that happening with Liberation, as the modern day stuff seems fairly minimal. So erring on the side of caution, Liberation is a much better choice to start with.

 

[Mikeside]

Can't wait for this - seemed really fun at Eurogamer and I'm hoping the multiplayer is similar to previous AC titles. That multiplayer on a handheld will be awesome.

 

[Toki767]

Greatly looking forward to this.

So what order will people be playing them in? The way I see it is that AC3 has a decent chance of pulling a Mass Effect 3 with the ending, trying to be shocking for stupidities sake and ultimately, putting me off the series entirely. Whereas I don't think there's any chance of that happening with Liberation, as the modern day stuff seems fairly minimal. So erring on the side of caution, Liberation is a much better choice to start with.

That's the thing. I fully expect AC3 to end on a cliffhanger while this is probably an open and closed book.

 

[onlyindreams]

Ummmmm

Ubisoft Sofia is making this

http://www.ign.com/companies/ubisoft-sofia

not exactly inspiring much confidence

 

[SpiderJerusalem]

Who's doing the pre order bonus crap? I did mine at Newegg but I don't see any bonus mention at Amazon or Gamestop.

 

[Mikeside]

http://www.ign.com/companies/ubisoft-sofia

not exactly inspiring much confidence

Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars was a fantastic game.

 

[GrizzNKev]

http://www.ign.com/companies/ubisoft-sofia

not exactly inspiring much confidence

From all the interviews I've seen it seems like Ubi is taking this game very seriously and keeping a close watch over it.

 

[Bladenic]

I actually knew nothing about this game beside the playing as a woman assassin... And now my interest is peaked after reading the OP. In fact, I think the setting could be more interesting than the setting in 3. Too bad I don't have a Vita.

 

[El-Suave]

I want this to be good but I can't shake the feeling its a C-team non-canonical cash grab like most Ubi/EA handheld efforts.

I kind of agree with the non-canonical worries, but considering how many different teams are working on the big AC games now, I'm not much worried about quality from the lesser known Ubisoft branches. If they have the means, they all can deliver, and this game looks like enough resources went into making it.

 

[OmegaZero]

I want this to be good but I can't shake the feeling its a C-team non-canonical cash grab like most Ubi/EA handheld efforts.

Well, Aveline does interact with

Spoiler

Connor

at some point in the game. But she isn't related to Desmond, if the script writers are to be believed.

 

[criesofthepast]

Really hope this is a success. Will pick it up based on impressions/reviews.

 

[Kyon]

I actually knew nothing about this game beside the playing as a woman assassin... And now my interest is peaked after reading the OP. In fact, I think the setting could be more interesting than the setting in 3. Too bad I don't have a Vita.

Too bad indeed. This has a more interesting story and the first female assassin main.

 

[Kazerei]

Bullshots heh

 

[Sephiroth503]

Cannot freakin' wait!

 

[MrCookiepants]

Why does Japan get it early? It'll probably sell like 10k copies there.

Edit: nvm, that's November 15.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

Who's doing the pre order bonus crap? I did mine at Newegg but I don't see any bonus mention at Amazon or Gamestop.

I'm wondering the same. I remember there were pre order bonuses in one of the trailers. It might be included in the box, as LBP Vita did something similar.

 

[soxinthebox]

Kinda want.

Will wait on the reviews.

 

[Maastricht]

I think this game has way too much to live up to and would expect it to disappoint after so much hype (relatively), except I played it at GamesCom and that didn't lower my excitement levels at all.

 

[dreamfall]

Whoa beautiful OT! Really wondering about some of the multiplayer specifics, we shall wait and see!

SO DAY 1! More excited for this than III, and Aveline looks awesome! It'll make the PC wait bearable!

 

[OmegaZero]

Well, the weird thing is that I couldn't really find much mention of the Mysteries of the Bayou Pack being available in the US. Even the recent Story Trailer omitted that for the NA version. So just be aware that the Mysteries of the Bayou Pack may not be available if you live in NA.

 

[Autofokus]

http://www.ign.com/companies/ubisoft-sofia

not exactly inspiring much confidence

They also worked on AC:Revelations..among a shit-ton other studios.

 

[Noisepurge]

all my monies!

 

[meta4]

Cautiously optimistic! Looks brilliant from whatever I have seen so far!

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Any chance of the

Spoiler

modern

stuff in this?

 

[giancarlo123x]

Bravo. I'm so excited for my Vita bundle on Tuesday. It's going to be awesome.

 

[Mr.Fresh]

It's finally here!!

 

[GoncaloCCastro]

Ordered it yesterday from videogamesplus, hope it arrives soon next week!

 

[Rootbeer]

waiting on reviews... never something I thought i'd see on Vita though, I'm impressed that it got this far. Hope people buy it.

 

[kerrak]

My last AC was II. New setting, new characters, new mechanics and portable. Exactly what i needed to come back to this series.

 

[Thoraxes]

Buying this because i'm waiting for ACIII on PC.

 

[Chesskid1]

preordered on newegg during that deal for $29.99. i love AC and my vita, so ready.

 

[GrizzNKev]

Any chance of the

Spoiler

modern

stuff in this?

I'm pretty sure the answer is no.

 

[darkwing]

just a week away!