A few Fundamental engine updates.
We got to see a lot of Assassin’s Creed 3 at E3 2012, and most of it was very impressive, but it’s what lies just below the surface that has me excited about the latest round of Assassins vs. Templars. During a lengthy gameplay demo, we were shown a number of new elements of the Assassin’s Creed 3 engine but during the show it might have happened too quickly to pick up on all of them.
Connor will be moving through the wilderness as much, or more, than he’ll be in the type of large cities we’re used to. Knowing that players would want to move as smoothly though the forests of New England as they did over the rooftops of Constantinople. In light of this Ubisoft has updated the engine to allow for smooth movement through wooded areas, allowing you to jump from branch to branch without having to create artificially flat branches.
The woodlands will also contain special ‘Stalking Areas’, or areas of heavy ground growth, that will allow Connor to move unseen as he stalks animals or his more upright targets. The team working on Assassin’s Creed 3 are trying to keep an organic feel to the environments and, in doing this, are very careful to keep things looking natural where the previous games used very obvious set pieces for climbing and hanging.
Connor also has a few other tricks up his sleeve where movement is concerned. Since he prefers to be always on the move, you’ll now be able to do a number of things, seamlessly, while running. Connor can assassinate targets, mid-stride, and just keep on running, not to mention he can also perform assassination with any weapon in his hand. Variety, after all, is the spice of life. You’ll also be able to interact with the environment on the go, grabbing weapons, pushing bystanders and dodging enemies without breaking stride.
I like what I’ve seen of the improvements coming to Assassin’s Creed 3 and if you want to watch these elements in action you can watch the video below featuring commentary from Creative Director Alex Hutchinson.
