Assassin's Creed: Liberation (HD)

Well, I made early comments here and most of that still stands. The game, as a game, suffers from Vita limitations, missions having to be broken up a lot smaller than I'd like and areas being more simple than in AC4 (and probably AC3, which it's more closely tied to, but I didn't play that one). The HD version looks pretty good, all told, but not up to AC4 standards. The shipping minigame is mildly amusing and a way to make money, though not nearly so fleshed out as the fleet version in AC4. The three costuming guises are "enforced" in the game more as limits of play, but their presence at all adds a really neat element for interacting with the world - tons of potential, only some of which is actually reached.

And the story... Ah... I want to absolutely love the story, but it's not quite there. The interlacing of slavery and the Assassin/Templar conflict is good. The character of Aveline is awesome. It's just the follow-through that's lacking. Aveline is sent running around chasing leads on potential enemies all over in the latter half of the game in such a way that it feels rushed, with little development. There's background of her family and those around here laid out, but it's incomplete, including her motivations to join the Assassins in the first place. Some more internal focus there could have made it so much better Also, I have to say, the MacGuffin artifact is something of a let-down, seeing it in action in the end.

I still think it's worthwhile, but just not as great as it could have been.