2,000 NPC’s filling out a single sequence. Over 1,000 animations tailored specifically for Connor, our new Native American protagonist. The latest trailer for Assassin’s Creed III imparts some scintillating details about Ubisoft’s AnvilNext technology – the proprietary game engine for the series’ next installment.
The engine’s goal, as the voiceover smoothly notes: “transporting you deep inside America… before it was ‘America.’ ”
Originally developed for Assassin’s Creed in 2007 under the moniker ‘Scimitar,’ and referred to simply as ‘Anvil’ for 2009′s radically improved Assassin’s Creed II, the overhauled AnvilNext engine is making its debut in Assassin’s Creed III. Ubisoft has waxed on several occasions about the benefits of the game’s three-year production cycle; think of AnvilNext as the all-encompassing example of what the team in Montreal has been able to create.
AnvilNext doesn’t just power the lavish scenery of Assassin’s Creed III, those sweeping forests of frosty pines or densely populated battlefields and cities – it also governs Connor’s movement and fluid animation, something the redesigned combat of the game has invested in heavily. It not only controls the AI sensibilities of colonial America’s diverse populace – it accounts for water and wind physics on the high seas in naval warfare, and directs all four seasons of fiercely dynamic weather.
Of course with the expansive skill set of AnvilNext, the usual superlative sentiments are echoed in the trailer, too: Connor is the “most detailed third-person action character ever created”; “seamless worlds” are rendered with near “infinite possibility.” We won’t be able to pass judgment until Assassin’s Creed III releases this October, but it’s hard to pinpoint an instance in which game has disappointed yet. (The title claimed our title of E3′s Best in Show this year, and even our hands-on preview at PAX East discovered a finely-tuned gameplay engine.)
Interestingly enough, the closing combat montage of the trailer also weaves in snippets of Connor fighting with Americans. It appears they die just the same. Whether Connor is shooting a colonial with a musket protruding out of another one’s sternum, or jumping over a boulder to perform a stealth assassination, the footage provides our first real glimpse of the protagonist’s personal independence. The once-implacable slant towards the American side of the cause tilts a little straighter.
Ranters, does Ubisoft’s AnvilNext engine look to be a revolutionary leap in gameplay technology? How do you want to see Assassin’s Creed III allow players to interact with its world?
Assassin’s Creed III is slated to release on October 30, 2012 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Follow me on Twitter @Brian_Sipple.
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The combat looks fantastic. Most ambitious Assassin’s Creed to date is shaping up to be an incredible experience. Remind me not to get my hopes too high.
@ATG
Remember, this game is being made by Ubisoft. Remember Ghost Recon… I say if you wanted to get it for the PC, WAIT until the PC reviews come out to make sure it’s not some buggy crappy port like most of their games are for PC…
i find assassins creed is a series i have to get on console for some reason. even though i could easily use my pc’s xbox controller it just feels wrong not having it on console thats just me though.
@Chris
Despite being a PC gamer, I thought that same thing about the Arkham Batman games. That the controller is a better way to play it. But when I got the games on my PC, I actually found it easier and I was racking up some crazy combos in the fights… And getting those flying bonus assignment things were actually 100 times easier… I remember failing at one of them like 20 times on my friend’s Xbox. And even he had trouble with it for a little while, although, obviously since he’s always on the Xbox, he got the hang of it quicker than I did. But I got that on the first try on my PC…
So I guess it’s just up to the controls you’re more used to. If you’re used to the controller, then it’ll definitely be better for you on the controller, but if you’re used to the PC controls, I no longer think that these kind of games will not work on the PC controls. I think they’ll work just as well as long as you’re used to them. But this game is made by Ubisoft, they might make the PC controls broken on purpose…
@Ken J
Oh yea, I remember. I don’t think I’m ever getting a Ubisoft game on PC. Ghost Recon Future Soldier is garbage on so many levels, too mainstream, I miss the old days.
Yeah PC got the shaft on GRFS. Console version plays better but not much.
I’m glad the finally realised that showing Colonists being killed isn’t corporate suicide. As you say, things seem a little less tilted now. But on the subject of the trailer, I enjoyed it. A nice, detailed description of the engine that powers the game…
The animations look great, and the environment is very nice. But is it just me or does it seem like everything a lot less detailed in this video compared to those high-resolution screens we saw a while back? I guess they probably did scale it down a bit so the game could run without framerate drops??
@Ken J
I watched this on my ipod and then on my computer, I never expected much from AC graphically. Atleast not on current consoles. But yea, I’d imagine it’s scaled down due to frame rate drops. I experienced that on the ps3 version of AC: Revelations.
I noticed that too, in this trailer some parts look less detailed than Revelations so I wonder if maybe this trailer isn’t displaying the final product.
its definitely not the final product. The game hasn’t even gone gold. Plus devs don’t even finish then and require day 1 patches.
Lol ubi has no need to scale down graphics, maybe they do for the ps3 but thats only cuz xbox is better
Derp Derp fanboy
LOL, yep…