Assassin's Creed III

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, WiiU, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Genre: Action
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Release Date: Oct. 30, 2012 (US), Oct. 31, 2012 (EU)

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Xbox 360 Review - 'Assassin's Creed III' The Tyranny of King Washington DLC - The Betrayal

by Adam Pavlacka on April 13, 2013 @ 12:00 p.m. PDT

Set against the backdrop of the American Revolution in the late 18th century, Assassin's Creed III introduces a new hero, Ratohnhaké:ton, of Native American and English heritage, encouraging gamers to experience the War not written about in history books.

When the first part of The Tyranny of King Washington The Infamy closed, Ratonhnhaké:ton was a prisoner who was being taken to Boston to be executed by King Washington. The Betrayal starts with Ratonhnhaké:ton trapped in a jail cell, awaiting his fate. Stripped of weapons, his only ability is the Wolf Cloak. Turning invisible makes the jailers believe Ratonhnhaké:ton has escaped, so they open the door to look for you, enabling the very thing they strove to prevent.

After escaping, The Betrayal has Ratonhnhaké:ton run through a standard guard-clearing mission in a warehouse before kicking off another vision quest. Your spirit animal this time around is the eagle, which grants the ability to fly from point to point as well as to attack from above in a one-hit-kill dive.

Since The Betrayal is set within the city of Boston, there is plenty of opportunity to use Ratonhnhaké:ton's new power. It can be a little frustrating at first, since the flight isn't freeform; you must target a valid landing point before taking off. Once you get the hang of it, however, the eagle can be a quick way to move across town with little risk of detection.


There are nine missions in The Betrayal, compared to The Infamy's six, but each feels shorter and shallower than those that came before. Most players will probably complete The Betrayal in less time than The Infamy, mostly because the missions are very focused. There is little exploration this time around, with most of the gameplay being objective-based. Sneaking and killing are the main goals.

Still, even though The Betrayal has you directly involved in the action, the story meanders enough to make much of it feel like busywork. This is doubly so for the center part of the story, where Ratonhnhaké:ton ends up running errands for Ben Franklin.

In-game bugs also seem to crop up more often in Boston than they did in the first episode, which had you out in the countryside. Issues ranged from minor, such as when the game suddenly disabled the overhead view (dubbed "strategic view" in-game) during the checkers matches to major, mission-breaking bugs.


There is one mission where Ratonhnhaké:ton is required to free a horse and then chase it through the streets of Boston. Only problem was that after freeing the horse, it didn't take off into the streets. The mission prompt popped up, and the horse started its running animation, but it stayed put, running in place at the gate of the fort. Amusing as it was, the horse was going nowhere fast. Thankfully, restarting from the last checkpoint allowed the mission to reload with a functioning horse.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment with The Betrayal was the lack of a naval segment. The naval combat was one of the strongest elements of Assassin's Creed III, so when the plot turned toward re-claiming the Aquila, we were somewhat excited at the prospect of hitting the high seas. Alas, it was not to be, as the episode ended just as the Aquila set sail for New York.

The middle episode in a three-part series, The Betrayal offers a series of missions but doesn't really advance the plot. King Washington appears only in a dream sequence, and most of the objectives are of the "fetch this item" variety. Combine this with the gameplay bugs, and the second installment of The Tyranny of King Washington fails to impress.

Score: 5.0/10


Editor's Note: The Tyranny of King Washington – The Betrayal is a single-player experience, but when purchased with the Season Pass on the Xbox 360, it can only be played while connected to Xbox Live. It cannot be played offline.


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