Unsurprisingly, and somewhat to my dismay, we learned that a new Assassins Creed title is in development for release this October. Not to mention, it would be the official 4th in the series, as opposed to a midway title like AC: Brotherood and Revelations. To be honest, I was expecting it but I still have a sour taste in my mouth from AC3.
Did I hate AC3? No. As a matter of fact, I'm a defender of the game for the most part. I enjoyed Connor's story a lot. I found his character, and his interactions with the supporting cast to be very interesting. Not to mention the early plot twist grabbed me, and the later developments in his section were pretty interesting. That said, I was VERY disappointed with the lack of polish, the redundant missions and the absurd ending that was very...blah.
I became even more hesitant when I heard the rumor that AC4 would star Haytham Kenway's father, Edward, but it was odd seeing how AC3 ended.
However, upon seeing the leaked trailer (which I was going to link to but it has since gone private), I am excited to play this next iteration. The setting looks interesting, and the protagonist looks pretty cool as well. I feel they have the opprotunity to tell an interesting story with this new Kennway, even if the overall "Desmond" arc is convoluted and odd. Being about pirates, you know they will keep the Sea combat, which I admit I wasn't huge on, but it worked. Other than that I mainly expect refinements, and hopefully meaningful sidequests.
Are you looking forward to AC4, or have you given up on it? I wouldnt be surprised if you have, but this whole series has been quite polarizing. I only like a few games in the series, but I stick with it since it scratches my Prince of Persia itch. (cmon Ubisoft, where is my sequel to PoP 2008?) Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments.
AC3 really soured me on the series. I liked it a lot less than you by the sound of it. Odd design decisions, lack of polish and I thought the end to both the present and past storylines were terrible.
One of my favorite parts of the game were the naval missions and accompanying peg-leg missions though, so I'm a little intrigued by this game, but the series is in desperate need of a rest. In a few years at a cheap price I will probably grab this though.
Also I love Prince of Persia and wish they'd swap between it and AC each year. Would keep AC from feeling so tired. PoP doesn't sell like 10 million copies like AC so that won't happen. I don't think AC scratches the itch PoP itch for me though. With Tomb Raider going away from platforming, I'm pretty sure nothing does anymore. They really should do a new PoP game. I'd welcome a sequel to the 2008 game with some tweaked gameplay or just a whole new start for the series.
Yeah, It doesnt completely satisfy my PoP itch, but it has a small essence of it.
To be completely honest, my interest in the series died at the end of AC2. The spin off games never piqued my interest and though I bought AC3 I didn't like it nearly as much as I thought I would giving it's setting. They could definitely do with resting this franchise for a couple years and doing a major overhaul.