Assassin's Creed III Walkthrough Empathizes Speed and Stabby

The mechanics of Assassin's Creed III get further defined in a developer walkthrough video from Ubisoft. Narrated by Ubisoft Creative Director Alexander Hutchinson, Connor's ability to hunt, trade and fend off attcks with both hands seems like it'll be essential to just making it through a side-mission in the upcoming sequel. Though it's still the same gameplay footage previewed at E3, just now with actual context and the ability to hear a few of the plot points.

Among wolves and hunting, Assassin Creed III's other major enemy seem to be firing lines. Hutchinson notes that speed is essentiall when dealing with these walls of bullets, which is why Conor can take an enemy as a "meat shield" before throwing him away. Likewise, enemies can now perform dual attacks, which means the countering system has been further tweaked.  Going back to speed, the final sequence when Connor is about to assassinate the Templar is fantastic, as he grabs a rifle, stabs a British soldier and then in the same motion retrieves the rifle and air kills the final target.

It's all fluid and seamless, which is where the franchise has been heading since Revelations, it seems. The life-saver feature, though, is linking the gun to a specific button, so we can shoot wolves (and enemies) much faster than scrolling through the weapon wheel. Weirdly enough, the older wheel doesn't show up in this walkthrough, but it could just be a development choice. A missing wheel when it comes to choosing a Hidden Blade or bow and arrow would almost feel like a departure too far for the series, despite it being logical.