DLC Review:- Assassin’s Creed 3: The Infamy
DLC has become a standard strategy in the games industry to both extend the life of a title as well as draw out a bit more cash from the people enjoying the game. A major complaint of the DLC for previous Assassin’s Creed instalments has been that the story based components of these downloadable packages has meant anyone who doesn’t partake is essentially missing a chunk of the narrative. So how do you get around it? Why create an alternate universe of course!
The three DLC instalments, collectively called ‘The Tyranny of King Washington’ confusingly transport Connor into a warzone. Rather than the peace brought about by the end of the main game, George Washington has proclaimed himself King and set about destroying all of his enemies.
The plot is intriguingly mysterious from the outset; pushing the player through each set piece to find out just what the hell is going on.
My main criticism of The Infamy is perhaps a minor one; whilst in terms of play time, this DLC presents value for money, however right from the off it does feel like a collection of set pieces, which jars with the open world nature of the main game. The small open world part that does appear towards the latter half of this new content takes the form of a collectible hunt over areas you’ll already be familiar with rather than anything genuinely interesting.
The Infamy also brings in new abilities for Connor. The wolf spirit ability allows you to become near invisible, with Connor’s health slowly depleting as the ability is activated. Connor can also call the wolf pack to attack enemies, replacing the assassins you recruited in the main game (it seems in this reality Connor is a little short on friends). The abilities add a nice twist to the gameplay players will be familiar with, however the process of obtaining the ability is more than a little tedious.
The half-hour-or-so vision quest sees you chasing wolves and a stag before finally being granted the new abilities. What’s more, as with much of the game, if you’re chasing the ‘full sync’ of the quest by fulfilling each optional objective, the tedium is coupled with frustration; the one-two punch that will switch a lot of gamers off.
The story, as weird as it is, is intriguing. However if that’s your drive to play then you’re going to want to pick up all three pieces of DLC using the Season Pass, rather than paying the inflated standalone price for The Infamy.
Pros
+ New abilities bring an interesting twist to gameplay
+ More time with Connor
+ The narrative ends on a cliff hanger, hyping the next two instalments nicely
+ Great new characterisation of enemy characters
Cons
- Marred by the problems (shonky AI and frequent bugs) of the main game
- None of your hard work building up resources and expanding the Homestead matters here
- Collectibles, oh so many collectibles
Overall: 2.5 out of 5
If you’re aching for more Assassin’s Creed and like the idea of a reality that completely departs from the narrative of the main game then this will be of interest to you. However for anyone other than the die-hard fans I’d advise looking elsewhere for your next gaming fix.
Tom has been an avid gamer since his parents invested in a Commodore 64 back in the early '90s. Classics such as Goblin 3, Soccer Kid and Lemmings created an addiction from which he will never recover. Tom has been given the opportunity to write for GAME and EA, sometimes even treading foreign shores to bring you gaming words... Oh, and he's an Aquarius.
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