Get yo' tomahawks ready. It's Assassin's Creed III.

Barely a week after the leak and subsequent reveal of the Assassin's Creed III cover art, Ubisoft has dropped the debut trailer for the third (but actually like the 17th) installment in the Assassin's Creed saga. The trailer merely confirms what was obvious after the cover art's release; that the "third" game in the series will finally eschew rooftop scrambling over Mediterranean architecture for the frosty wilderness of the American revolution.

If stabbing dudes in a supreme one-upping of the tomahawk massacre scene in The Patriot is your thing, this trailer probably looks pretty awesome.


The first Assassin's Creed will likely go down as one of the most innovative of this console generation. While it was lambasted (and rightfully so) for its painfully repetitive mission structure, it's combination of free-running in an open world setting was stunning when compared to the maddeningly clunky controls found in most sandbox games.

coughGrandTheftAutocough

Adding to the game's freedom of movement was an excellent combat system (the simplicity of which was wrongfully lambasted), and an incredibly cool narrative concept that compelled players to grind through the redundant missions in order to reach its denouement.

The game's sequel, Assassin's Creed II, was critically received as the realization of the first games aspirations, and was universally applauded. While the manner in which Ubisoft Montreal so directly addressed the flaws of the first game was technically very impressive, they left little room for innovation. As a result, the game seems far to similar to its groundbreaking predecessor.

The change in setting from Crusades-era Middle East to Renaissance-era Italy made for very little architectural or stylistic deviation between the games, and the end result feels a bit like deja vu. One can only scamper up so many dried clay buildings and churches, you know.

Several generically subtitled pseudo-sequels later (which were still pretty good, apparently), the "official" third entry is here, and it looks to finally bring about some meaningful changes in setting. On the surface, it's like, "Sure, now we get to stab snobby British dudes who are trying to steal our tea or something."

THIS IS FOR MY TEA YOU BASTARD!!!!!! Wait, you're not British.

But it goes a little deeper than Tea-related maulings. The trailer shows Part 3's protagonist, Ratohnhaké:ton (A name you find stupid until you find out he's part Native American and you feel like an ass), parkouring his way through some trees. While my pessimistic side would tell me that this tree-running (did I just coin that) may be some bullshot tease only put in the pre-rendered trailer, previously leaked screenshots seem to prove my pessimism unfounded, revealing that you'll be able to to at least perch in trees, if not actually run between them.

I'm beginning to wonder how well the whole "blend in with monks" thing will work now that you'll be the only person on the continent dressed like a klansman.

Any other major changes will have to wait for further reveals, but right now the combo of tomahawks, tree-running (coined it), and the New World are doing a good job of making up for the incorrectly selected cover art.

I guess the actual cover does show the historical setting a little bit more than the standard dramatic pose on the Game Informer cover, but I'll be damned if the latter isn't some well-composed ish. Also, the Assassin's logo used as the tomahawk blade: Dope.