During the five minute hands-off playthrough, which GR editor Henry Gilbert also saw on the Wii U, we witnessed the new improvements to the Assassin’s Creed formula, and we grilled our demo guide on what to expect from standard AC gameplay moments. The section starts in summer 1773 as Conor stands on a rooftop, waiting to drop down and explore colonial Boston. AC III will introduce weather effects into the action, including rain and snow (at least you’ve probably figured out the snow by now). Conor descends from the rooftop with a Leap of Faith into a moving hay cart. Yes, look for moveable cover, and with it, the ability to stab guards and hide their bodies inside of wheeled hay bales.

Conor also has a nifty new method of dealing with dead guards. With corner kills, he (or someone else) can lure a guard around the corner, stab them, then hide the body on his side of the wall, which eliminates the time-consuming task of lifting corpses and hiding them out of public view. And, just as Ubisoft showed off how Conor uses trees and foliage as cover in the forests, he can also pop down in urban bushes and camouflage himself.

We also saw a brutal segment that showed off the new crowd blending. Conor stands next to a group of Native Americans on a pier chit-chatting (as opposed to the usual silent bench sitters) in front of what looked like a carpentry table. As a guard walks by, Conor grabs him, spins him around, and impales him, chin-first, into a pitchfork. That incites a guard fight, and we discovered that now, guards won’t wait their turn to attack an Assassin. Conor will have to fight off two at a time in brawls. It looks like corpse looting is still very much a part of gameplay, as our Ubisoft rep confirmed.

That led us to ask about AC III”s currency system. Although details were vague, it seems that the game will strike a balance between a traditional currency system seen in past games and a degree of bartering. That explains the moment from the media event in which Conor skins a deer. Meat and fur are as much as commodity in colonial Boston as florins were for Ezio.

AC III’s Assassin’s Guild system will get some new flourishes, as well. As Conor escapes the brawl on the pier, he sees an area next to a huge ship (which, incidentally, is the end goal of the demo), but the passageway is surrounded with Redcoats. He summons a group of backup Assassins, all of whom are disguised as British soldiers, and he poses as a prisoner. The ruse works and buys him enough time to scale the walls of the passageway, climb the roof, and use his bow to pick off a guard and draw attention away from the entrance to the ship.

As Conor boards the ship, he picks up a musket. It’s important to note that the deck has three guards on board. We have to admit, we were shocked to see him rush the boat, gore one guard with the musket, then fire a blast to fell a second, then drop the weapon, run full speed, and knock the third guard overboard with a shoulder charge. And as you remember, enemies in Assassin’s Creed games have all of the swimming ability of a Milky Way bar.

As Conor climbs the mast of the ship, one final fact is revealed that you’d probably never notice: the ropes and patterns of the mast carry similar V-formations to many of the trees that Conor traverses in the wilderness sections of the game. In other words, the natural movements that look fluid as he leaps from tree to tree also translate seamlessly into his navigation of boats and skiffs.

While the freshness of the New England forests and naval fights of Assassin’s Creed III have gotten all of the attention, we’re glad to see that the urban battles of Ubisoft’s sequel are evolving in a logical fashion. Amidst a strong E3 with plenty of titles to be excited about, few have us as excited as this one.

The post Assassins Creed III preview Shipping out of Bostonin a coffin appeared first on Game News.

EA is showcasing nearly a dozen new titles at their press conference today, but we were looking forward to few of them as much as Criterion’s latest racer, Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

The biggest announcement of the full reveal was that this will in fact be an open world experience. They’ll also be bringing back Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit’s Autolog system (now called Autolog 2) which will allow you to track your friend’s progress.

That’s important this time around because the major theme is becoming “Most Wanted.” Not most wanted among a group of NPCs, but among all your friends on your leaderboard.

“Criterion is shaking up the franchise with Need for Speed Most Wanted,” said Matt Webster of Criterion Games. “This is Most Wanted for a new generation of players. We’ve brought everything we know about racing, chasing and exploration and smashed them together in a highly connected open world automotive experience. Whether driving solo or racing with friends in our amazing new multiplayer experience, Autolog fires up competition out of everything as players compete to be most wanted amongst their friends.”

EA has even announced the full release date for the title as well. We’ll be seeing Need for Speed: Most Wanted land on store shelves on October 30, 2011. They also announced that it’s coming to Xbox 360, PS3, iOS, Android, Vita, and PC. With Criterion’s insane history of quality in the racing genre, October 30th can’t come soon enough.

EA showed off two different trailers (one gameplay, one pre-rendered) and we’ll post those as soon as we get our hands on them.

The post Need for Speed: Most Wanted release date, open world gameplay revealed appeared first on Game News.

Above: The demo’s super-slick title screen, complete with Raiden

Apparently, that’s no ordinary Raiden. According to Kojima’s own Twitter feed, that is Black/Dark Raiden. He went on to tweet: “I can’t say much beyond this, but why he’s ‘Black/Dark Raiden’ is a secret.”

Well, anything to give the lad some charisma, eh? In all seriousness, however, we are expecting great things from the project, especially given Platinum Games’ track record for quality over the past few years. Bayonetta, anyone? Vanquish? Yup – thought that would stimulate your excitement glands.

Kojima is clearly as excited as we are, even posting a picture of the demo’s game over screen, complete with his own augmentation:

Above: Well, that’s handy

Of course, the arm coming out of the screen could imply either 3D support (plausible) or that Raiden will come back from the dead, perhaps triggering his transformation into Dark Raiden. With all that bionic augmentation, we wouldn’t rule that out. Aside from those reasonable suggestions, the only other possible reason for this odd photo is that Kojima has included a horrific, Ring-style punishment for failing at the game, which possibly only works if you have a Sony TV. We’ve got Samsungs and Panasonics, so we’re probably alright.

While lacking our favourite spoonerism (Fission Mailed), the fact that it’s possible to play the demo and then fail at it at least implies there is an actual game that can be played, which bodes well for the game actually existing this time. We’ll know for sure when we get to play it at E3, but at least we’ll definitely have footage to dissect before then, being particularly careful to make sure it doesn’t have a sword between its teeth while we do.

And remember, all the E3 rumours can be found in our E3 2012 (opens in new tab) hub.

Source: Andriasang (opens in new tab)

*Interesting how spellcheck says that ‘Revengeance’ isn’t even a word. No idea why it would think that

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