Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington - The Betrayal DLC Review

 This review contains Episode 1 spoilers

It's March so that means it's time for the next part of the Tyranny Of King Washington DLC. Last month Episode 1 gave us a taste of what we will be incoming for the next 3 months, and to be honest that first taste we got wasn't all that great, although it wasn't bad at all. Episode 2 carries on straight after Episode 1's ending which sees Connor being sent to jail as well as being sentenced to death. Lets see if Episode 2 can improve from a lack luster Episode 1.

The DLC continues with the animal powers gimmick per episode, and in this episode Connor learns the power of the Eagle. The power of the Eagle gives the player some new perks and moves to Connor's advantage. The first addition is the ability to fly (Yes, you learn to fly) to pull off the new flying ability you have to aim at certain high parts of the area you are in and press Y/Triangle to fly to that area. With the flying ability you also have the chance to now pull off flying kills at enemies by again holding the Y/Triangle button. I enjoyed the new animal perks and found them a little better than the wolf perks due to having a much more fun pulling these off, and well... Flying is pretty damn cool too! The whole animal powers gimmick, while it sounds pretty ridiculous has been a high point for these DLC episodes.

The new animal power is awesome but sadly that is one of few positives this DLC brings as the story takes place in an extremely dull Boston which kills any enjoyment you could have had with this DLC. Boston lacks any life that it once had in the main Assassins Creed 3 game and also stops any creativity with your newly gained animal power. I wish Boston's dullness was the only thing dragging this DLC down but then as you go deeper in to the episode you just see more and more bad, for example in one mission you have an A.I with you fighting off enemies, and if he dies the mission gets desynchronized, normally I wouldn't mind this but not when the A.I is so bad that it is causing you to fail something that isn't your fault.

Although there was some dull parts to the story, I found it better than the previous episode as it gave us more direction to final episode, and to be honest they have built up this final episode pretty well. I won't spoil the ending because it is a non spoiler review but I will say that in the end of Episode 2 you should find yourself wanting to play the next episode just to see what twist and turns will be happening, and also how it will all go down. After two disappointing episodes, Episode 3 really needs to blow us away, and make people think that this whole side story wasn't just a big waste of time.

The Final Verdict

It's such a shame the way this DLC has been so far because it seriously has so much potential but there are way too many problems to consider this side story a success. I applaud the efforts for trying something different with Assassin's Creed but the problems all started pretty much straight away as the DLC shouldn't have even been in episode format because it keeps taking you out of the story every time you become interested, it is like playing the full retail version of a game but you can only complete half of it in one month and the other half in the next month. I just really hope Episode 3 is really good, and leaves the player with a good taste in their mouth once they are finished.


+The animal powers are defiantly going to be the highlight of this entire DLC side story as the eagle powers give this DLC some life.

+I found the story better this time around, and once I finished the 2nd DLC episode I found myself wanting to see how the story ends.


-A.I issues could cause you some troubles in this episode.
-Boston is dull as the location for this new DLC.
-Overpriced, shouldn't be in episodes and the DLC is no longer than 2 hours.


Final Score

6/10 

Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington - The Infamy DLC Review

In the first episode of The Tyranny of King Washington (Of 3 episodes) we see an entirely different Assassins Creed 3 universe. Connor is well.... Never was actually Connor, and is known as Ratonhnhaké:ton like he was in the first few sequences of Assassins Creed 3. He was never apart of the assassins and is now dressed in a pretty cool looking wolfskin suit. George Washington has become in possession of the Apple Of Eden and has become corrupt with power. Washington has been doing awful things to the people like burning down villages, and now it's up to Ratonhnhaké:ton to save the day by killing Washington, and put an end to his madness. He can't do it as his current self though. He has to gain different powers (More on that later) Let's see what's in store for this DLC adventure.

While playing the DLC there is a noticeable twist to this alternate universe as Ratonhnhaké:ton who isn't Connor the Assassin still has memories of this other life which is also known to us as Assassins Creed 3. To make things worse no one has any idea about this other life he speaks of. I think we will be hearing more about this in future episodes. At the start of the review I talked about how the player has to keep gaining powers and you might be thinking "How does he do that?" well Ratonhnhaké:ton drinks a special tea which in return allowed him to meet different animal spirits. I liked the idea because it rewarded us with alterations to the gameplay in the DLC. I feel the twist was to freshen things up which I think was necessary.

Ratonhnhaké:ton needs to keep acquiring different powers in each episode to stop Washington's reign of terror. In this episode he is looking for the powers of the wolf which will give him new wolf related perks. These perks include the ability to call a small army of wolves to Ratonhnhaké:ton's aid (Very similar to calling Assassins in previous games) he will also gain the wolf cloak. The wolf cloak allows Ratonhnhaké:ton to become invisible for a certain amount of time and will help the player during the stealth missions in the DLC. Gaining these powers did feel different to the Assassins Creed I have been used to. Props though for changing things up with the new DLC.

Although I did say the DLC feels a little different to the usual Assassins Creed games it does still keep many of its old ways. You can expect to be doing similar missions to AC3 in this new DLC as well like eavesdropping for example.The episode overall was decent and I felt it did a good job of building up to the big finale already. The first episode also does well to get the player wanting more as this is how I felt once the episode was over. When it was over I wanted to power up Ratonhnhaké:ton and become the hero who puts a stop to Washington. You get about 2 hours of gameplay in the DLC which is lacking for the price being asked (800 points/$10)

The Final Verdict

To put one word on this DLC it would be... Disappointing. Not because it is bad (It's actually pretty solid) I find it disappointing that it's in episodes as I think the DLC would have come off much better as one neat 6 hour package. I am looking forward to see how this story unfolds and I am looking forward to EP.2 next month. In my opinion though I would wait for all 3 episodes to come out before purchasing unless you really need more Assassins Creed in your life right now.

(All three episodes will be put together for one overall review in April)

+Leaves the player wanting more
+Decent story
+Cool new perks
+Feels a little different to other Assassins Creed adventures

-Pricing
-Don't like it being in episodes
-Too short

Final score

6/10