I've been waiting for the Assassin's Creed series to go full-pirate for a little while now. Earlier games in the series have allowed the player to climb about the riggings of ships, swash their buckles across the decks of schooners, and generally freely engage in all the kinds of things that pirates do.

But the ships were always docked in a harbor, and the pirates were always on land, and so Assassin's Creed fans could only partly live the pirate dream. Until now.

I've finally gotten to play the much ballyhooed naval battle in the upcoming Assassin's Creed III. Last week at a pre-Gamescom Ubisoft event in San Francisco, I picked up a PS3 controller and piloted my ship through stormy waters, fighting off a couple of British Man Of Wars and emerging victorious. It was about as fun (and seasick-making!) as you'd imagine.

The mission in question takes place in the Carrebean during what looks like a slightly different time thatn a lot of the other footage we've seen. Connor was out of his Assassin's hood and dressed up in the outfit of a Colonial ship captain; his crew are hunting a ship called The Randolph (at least, I'm 95% sure that's what they called it.) Not exactly a terrifying name for a warship, but knowing Ubisoft, it's probably based on a real ship.

(Oh hey look at that, it looks like it is a real ship.)

After a brief cutscene establishing the setting, I was given control of the vessel. The general controls are intuitive—Connor steers the ship with the thumbstick, while the X button raises the sail and the O button lowers it. The mast is crucial for acceleration—half-mast puts you at a good clip, while full-mast gets you going awfully fast, though of course you can't corner as effectively.

Shortly after I began to make my way into the shoals near shore, the Randolph came barreling across my prow, firing a fusillade of cannon fire as it passed. With that, the chase was underway.

I steered my ship out into open water, pursuing the Randolph, when what do you know! Two large British man of war battleships were waiting for me. I set a course for them and readied for a fight. I drew closer and closer to them, and as I did so, the sky darkened, and a violent storm rolled in.

Naval combat in Assassin's Creed III is more forgiving and arcade-y than it'd be in a more realistic simulation; it took some getting used to, but after a while I was able to figure out how to time the delay from me giving the "fire" command and my crew launching another round of cannon fire.

As I engaged with the enemy ships, I found that I never quite got the hang of the combat. By pressing the Square button, you can make your crew brace for impact, thereby reducing the damage taken from an enemy attack. (I don't know how taking cover would protect your ship from cannon fire, but hey, it's video games. Go with it.) The timing on this is tricky though—I could never quite figure out when my enemy was going to fire, and therefore I always took cover a bit after I'd already been hit.

Aiming was also dicy—while a fair amount of auto-targeting seemed to be going on, it was simply too much to navigate the heaving seas, keep on line to get the enemy ships in my sights, and aim. But that could well get easier in the final game—and if you are able to aim, you'll be able to do specific localized damage to each ship. If you hit its bow, you'll reveal it's "weakpoint," and hitting that will cause the ship to explode. If you hit the middle, you'll damage its guns and make it much less accurate, and if you hit the rudder, the ship will lose control.

I was mostly interested in sinking the man of wars (men of war?), so I concentrated fire wherever I could. As I steered my ship into a rock, and then into an enemy ship, and took cannonball after cannonball, I couldn't help but begin to suspect that this demo was fixed, and I couldn't die. Eventually, possibly assisted by invulnerability, I defeated the two man of wars and re-focused on taking the Randolph.

Before I could board the Randolph, I had to take out its sail and incapacitate it—so, I switched to a new kind of cannonball called a "chain-shot," which you can see being used in the image above. The chain-shot can take out an enemy's mast, leaving them open to be boarded. The other cannonball types I saw were the grapeshot and heatshot, but I didn't have a chance to give those a go.

After a few volleys of chainshots, the Randolph was dead in the water and ready to be boarded. Cue a cutscene in which Connor and his crew arm up and jump, shouting, over the side of their ship and onto the deck of the Randolph. And… end demo.

The thing that struck me most about this demo is how utterly unlike Assassin's Creed it was. The only parts of past games that have felt remotely similar were the parts in Brotherhood where you'd fly Leonardo's advanced war weapons—but even those didn't have the grandeur and ambition of these ocean battles.

I get the sense that the Assassin's Creed team is really stretching their legs with this game, and that they're pushing the power of current gaming consoles as far as possible-the ambition on display is really something to behold, and the fact that the naval battle was also functional and interesting says a lot about the level of talent at Ubisoft Montreal (and at Ubisoft Singapore, who designed the naval sections of the game). These guys are no doubt awaiting the next generation of gaming consoles with bated breath. In the meantime, they've put together a mighty fine-looking game and made Assassin's Creed just a bit more pirate-y.

Ubisoft sent along a few more screenshots that are that very particular Ubisoft shade of "Come on, these screenshots are a little too beautiful to be believed, but okay." Here they are:

Man, look at that last one. So pretty.

Yo ho ho, hearties.
Drink up your bottle of rum.
Look out! Cannonball!

At Sony's Gamescom press conference, we got a look at a new montage of gameplay footage from the fall's Vita exclusive Assassin's Creed III Liberation. In the video, Liberation protagonist Aveline broke out some new tricks, from a guard-dropping blowgun to a bullwhip to some heavy alligator wrestling.

Last week, I saw more of the game at Ubisoft in San Francisco; I'll have more on Kotakuabout Assassin's Creed III Liberation very soon.

Ubisoft has delayed the PC version of Assassin's Creed III to November 20.

This delay should not come as a surprise to PC gamers who have followed Ubisoft's stealth-action series. There have been four Assassin's Creed games on consoles so far, and every single one has been slow to make it to computers.

But today seems like a good day to bring up this prescient interview from GameSpy (as pointed out by Kotaku reader -Silver-).

GameSpy: So when's the PC release date?

Ubisoft PR: October 30th.

GameSpy: Yeah, but when's the real PC release date?

Ubisoft PR: It's October 30th.

GameSpy: Uh huh. And can you say that with a straight face?

Ubisoft PR: You can ask me as many times as you like, but the answer will be the same.

GameSpy: Very well, let's move on. So, when will you announce the delay of the PC version?

Ubisoft PR: ...

Well played, GameSpy. Well played indeed.

A new trailer spotlights the AnvilNext engine, which will be creating the all-new forest and city environments—and the people you'll meet there—in the next Assassin's Creed game.

Aveline—heroine of Assassin's Creed Liberation for the PlayStation Vita—isn't that different from the other characters of Ubisoft's historical action series . Like Altair and Ezio, she's an Assassin, a near-mystical stealth warrior with abilities that let her be unseen whenever she wants. But one thing about her stands out compared to those two.

The idea of Aveline intrigues me because she's a black woman, one who happens in the leading role of a major video game. During previews of two upcoming Assassin's Creed games last week, I saw glimpses of black people in Ubisoft Montreal's fictional vision of the American past. When you take the grand sweep of American history into account, it's only relative recently that people of African descent could walk where they pleased. Slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed made it so that entire zones of society were off-limits to black people. What you have, then, in Aveline is a character that would stand out in the extreme in 1786.

But I like that. I'm glad Ubisoft are putting black people in their made-up past. Race, gender and historical circumstances aside, Aveline isn't any more preposterous than Altair or Ezio. Signor Auditore came from money, became a member of a secret society, rubbed elbows with Da Vinci and invaded the Vatican. Things like that weren't exactly everyday occurrences in Renaissance Italy.

The Assassin's Creed games have always been interested in the intersections of peoples from centuries past. You got the sense that rich and poor, foreign and native were all walking down the streets of Jerusalem in Assassin's Creed 1 and in the various Italian cities in the three games featuring Ezio Auditore. Travelers from far-off lands can be quest-givers, sending you to exotic locales in search of forbidden knowledge. These are games that have felt cosmopolitan and the setting of colonial America gives them new populations to explore. The North American continent was a new world compared to the centuries-old histories of France, Germany and other European countries. Part of that newness came in the form of African slaves and the customs they brought with them. If the subtext to Assassin's Creed franchise is that amazing things happen when cultures combine, then Aveline's very existence is in line with that theme.

According to the Ubisoft Montreal developer showing Liberation, the game's bi-racial heroine has a father who was a French merchant and a mother who was a freed slave. When I asked whether Aveline's father had owned her mother, the developer demurred at answering the question. He made it seems like he might be giving away a plot point if he told me what I wanted to know. I had two reactions to that. The first was to respect the sanctity of whatever mandates he might be working under, with regards to revealing details about the game.

The second was more complicated. In a game set in an era where chattel slavery was still happening, such a thing would be commonplace. You need look no further than Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings for a model of such a dynamic. Could you really get across the complexities of interracial relationships in a portable video game, though?

I also wondered if Aveline's wanton killing of her mostly male enemies could be explained away by her role-playing as a man. Her breeches and tricorner outfit could certainly imply that. Nope was the answer to that question. In fact, she's also going to be walking New Orleans in ladies' fashion of the time, seen in the screen captures above.

After I'd asked these questions, I sat with my thoughts for a while and remembered that what it meant to be a black person in 1786 was radically different than what it means to be one now. It's easy to project my previously documented desires onto Aveline and the other black characters that might show up in Liberation. That's because characters like Aveline are diamond-rare in video games. No matter how the finished Assassin's Creed Liberation turns out, she's already valuable.

Assassin's Creed III is going to introduce a lot of changes to the series. It will feature a new setting, a new time period and a new protagonist. And one of the biggest changes has yet to be fully explored—the game's soundtrack will be crafted by an entirely new composer.

Jesper Kyd, the composer responsible for the music in the first four Assassin's Creed games, will be handing the musical baton to Lorne Balfe, who along with Kyd contributed to the soundtrack to last year's Assassin's Creed: Revelations. As any longtime Assassin's Creed player likely agrees, this is a substantial change.

Assassin's Creed's stark, dry visual design and techno-retro aesthetic have always been two of its most defining characteristics, but Kyd's music has always been the soul of the series for me. Let's take a trip through the musical progression of the first four Assassin's Creed games.

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"Jerusalem" - AC I

Kyd's soundtrack for the first Assassin's Creed is probably the least well-remembered—it was somewhat cold, a mix of middle eastern instruments, chanting, open drones and strings. I was one of those weirdos who loved Assassin's Creed despite and sometimes because of its flaws, but I don't have much memory of the soundtrack. I do, however, remember that it fit in very well with the open, wind-swept sound design. There was a distinct sense that this composer got what Assassin's Creed was about, from a gameplay standpoint. It was a game about sitting perched atop a high spire, surveying the horizon before making a leap of faith. Kyd captured that.

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"Venice Rooftops" - AC II

Assassin's Creed II was better than its predecessor on every level (except, perhaps, for how much easier it was)—Ezio was a personable and relatable protagonist, the cities were gorgeous, and the game had much more variety. But the thing that really won my heart was the soundtrack. Two games later, Assassin's Creed II remains my favorite soundtrack of the series.

This theme, which plays while running across the rooftops of Venice, flows through many of Kyd's compositions for Assassin's Creed II. That ascending four note melody, those driving drums and guitars… it's great stuff.

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"Home In Florence" - AC II

This kind of track is exactly what set the second game's soundtrack apart from the first one. A shifting, serpentine groove reminiscent of Steve Reich, eventually giving way to wide open pads with sharp, dancing harp notes… all the way to a deep, romantic string part. When this started paying for the first time in Assassin's Creed II, I thought, "Wow, shit. They are really going for it here." It almost sounds like Mass Effect, and perfectly blends the game's old-world and sci-fi sensibilities.

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"Rome" - Brotherhood

Brotherhood was an interesting soundtrack. I didn't warm to it as immediately as I did Assassin's Creed II, but over time, I came to enjoy its dark overtones. It features more grandiose choral work than Assassin's Creed II, and is on the whole much darker—strange voices chant in the background, and Ezio's journey through Rome feels much less certain than anything in the last game.

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"Borgia Tower" - Brotherhood

This music plays when Ezio is infiltrating a Borgia tower, looking to stir up some trouble (and light things on fire). This is some sinister stuff, dark and pulsing, very different than anything from the other games. I still remember when "Countdown" was playing and the whispering, scary music started up and I thought "Man, what the hell is going on?"

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"Assassin's Creed Theme" - Revelations

Here we have the main theme for Revelations. The soundtrack was a joint effort between Kyd and Balfe, though Kyd wasn't involved with this particular theme. I have to say, I don't find it as interesting or memorable as the music from the first three games. It's not bad really, and it still feels like "Assassin's Creed Music," but it lacks that vision that Kyd brought to the first three soundtracks. The Revelations soundtrack is the main reason I'm somewhat apprehensive about Balfe taking the reins for Assassin's Creed III.

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Assassin's Creed isn't the only franchise Kyd has left behind—he's also left the Hitman series, for which he was the primary composer for years. It's always nice to see artists embracing change—Kyd's music will be heard on plenty of upcoming games, including Borderlands 2 and Darksiders II, a soundtrack I've enjoyed so far.

For his part, Balfe has been a team member for go-to-soundtracker Hans Zimmer on films like Inception and Sherlock Holmes, as well as Zimmer-scored games like Modern Warfare 2 and Crysis 2. This is an opportunity for him to step away from Zimmer and create his own themes, so I'll be interested to see what he does with Assassin's Creed.

It is, of course, too early to say what that will be; all that seem certain is that it'll likely be markedly different than Kyd's work on the first games. That's fine; good even—with a different setting, vibe and protagonist, different music seems appropriate. Furthermore, Balfe is a skilled composer with a lot of experience, and he's worked on some soundtracks I really respect.

But there's no denying that with Jesper Kyd gone, Assassin's Creed will now be a substantially different experience. Here's hoping that Balfe can step into Kyd's rather large shoes and usher in a new era of sneaking, stabbing and soaring.

Do you have a question about Assassin's Creed III? Would you like Alex Hutchinson, the creative director of this fall's big game, to answer it?

Ask your question in the box below. Hutchinson will be answering the best ones starting at 5pm ET. We've got him here for a half hour.

Go!

UPDATE: Here's a pic of Hutchinson answering your questions, via his PR guy.

Update: Interview's over, but you can still read through. There are a ton of answers in there. Thank you to everyone who asked questions. Lots of great stuff!

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, the upcoming portable game in Ubisoft's hit franchise, is being overseen by the core AC team at Ubisoft Montreal. But the identity of the team doing the bulk of the work on the game was a surprise to me, when the game's writer told me today. That didn't surprise me as much as the identity of the game's fake developer.

First, the real developer: it's Ubisoft Sofia, the Bulgarian team that created the much-loved X-Com/Advance-Wars-style 3DS launch game Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. They're not known for making open-world action games like the Assassin's Creeds, but my eyes-on impressions today of the game's E3 content sure makes it look like they know how to do this.

That's cool, but how about this?

The fake developer of the game is Abstergo Entertainment. This game, Liberation writer Richard Farrese told me with a rhetorical wink, is the commercialized version of the Animus. It is a product of Abstergo Industries. If you know the series, this is an extraordinary concept. The Animus is the name for the device in this series that lets people relive memories of their ancestors (or, if I'm getting the lore of the multiplayer of recent games right, the Animus will let you role-play a life in another era, like a Star Trek holo-deck). I don't think there have been any hints in the series that Abstergo wanted to sell Animus units to the public. And, if they did, considering that they're the bad guys of the modern-day parts of this series, to what end?

The game is set in late 18th-century New Orleans and the surrounding bayou over the course of a dozen years, as the local French rebel against the Spanish rulers of the former Louisiana colony. (There's also at least one side trip to Mexico.) The game's protagonist Aveline is, theoretically, an assassin hero who helps the resistance while taking aim at Templars. She is not an ancestor of Desmond Miles, Farrese told me, making her the first protagonist in the series without a family connection to Assassin's Creed's modern-day main character. Now I'm wondering if she was even a "real" figure in the game's world or a turncoat. After all, why would Abstergo, a company that essentially is a front for the Assassin-hating Templars, create and sell an Animus/game that lets regular people experience the life of an Assassin? Farrese said that was a good question to ask.

The idea of the game as an Abstergo propaganda tool makes Liberation suddenly seem much more interesting. I was not able to play the game. Farrese played it in front of me. So I can't yet say how smoothly it maps to the Vita controls. But it looks lovely and seems to house some clever ideas, such as an optional pause-the-game-and-tap-your-enemies-to-set-up-an-attack-chain combo system and the ability to pickpocket people using the machine's rear touch panel (why, I never!)

We'll have more on the game closer to its October launch. But for now, feel free to wonder: what would Abstergo be up to making a game like this?

The wall-crawling adventures in the Assassin's Creed games are not directly inspired by Spider-Man comics, but the thematic connections are there. Because of that, this mock-up of Todd McFarlane's iconic Spider-Man #1 (1990) done up as an AC comic is pitch-perfect. It's one of several classic comic book covers re-done to feature the video games they officially or unofficially inspired, by the creative folks at 1up.com. Go look at all of them. There are some wonderful pieces.

Gallery: Games as the Comics That Inspired Them [1up.com]

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations both had competitive online multi-player modes. Leaping into costume and stabbing other players (in the back) is nothing new for the series.

But working with your fellow Assassins, instead of against them? That's going to be brand new to Assassin's Creed III.

At Comic-Con this week, Ubisoft announced the Wolfpack co-op mode for Assassin's Creed III. In Wolfpack, two to four players join together to perform a sequence of assassinations. (Stealthily closing in on their targets together like, well, a pack of wolves.) As in the series' previous competitive modes, players receive a picture of their target, and then have to correctly track him or her down in a crowded environment full of other NPCs who look and are dressed like the target, with only a handful of small differences setting them apart.

According to IGN, Wolfpack mode offers a sequence of 25 assassination waves, with each harder to complete than the one before it. Teams also gain significant bonus points for working together and syncing their (correct) kills. And time is of the essence: there's a clock running for how long a group has to find and eliminate their next target, and incorrect kills cost time.

IGN also has a video of the Wolfpack mode in action. It looks familiar to anyone who's seen the competitive online modes from previous games in the series, but the idea of working together is a welcome change of pace for some of us who don't always like stabbing our friends.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft is also promising tweaks and enhancements to competitive multiplayer modes as well. There's a Domination mode, in which teams of players compete against each other to attack, capture, and defend map zones. The teams will be flexible, with players able to join groups of their friends before and during a game in progress. They've also done some streamlining on actual game mechanics, merging the kill and stun actions onto a single button and letting players have a third active ability slot for ranged abilities only as well as adding a vault move, in order to let players navigate through the world with more precision.

Comic-Con: Kill with Co-op in Assassin's Creed III [IGN]