Assassins Creed: Liberation HD

The time and care it put into those cinematics is obvious, so it's disappointing that the gameplay and its bugs--issues that existed in the Vita version--didn't receive the same level of attention. I still recommend Assassin's Creed: Liberation for fans of the series, but it's hardly worth revisiting if you've completed the Vita version.

There’s no one thing to point to as overtly broken; it simply dies by a thousand tiny cuts. Its craft is sloppy, its design remains shackled by ill-conceived new ideas, as well as the limitations of the platform it hails from. It’s the definitive version of a game that had very little going for it in the first place.

Liberation arguably holds up better than Assassin’s Creed III, though it hasn’t got the freedom or depth of content of Assassin’s Creed 4. As a result it’s a fine bonus chapter for Assassin’s Creed fans, if not essential playing for anyone else.

In joining the big leagues, however, you have to hold it to higher standards. Fittingly for a historical game, Liberation is stuck in the past, proving true the old adage: once you've had Black Flag you'll never go back.

With its most obvious original appeal - 'real' Ass Creed on a handheld – gone, Liberation's appeal is diminished. While it does have some interesting ideas, which the main series itself would benefit from trying to integrate, this is the same old Creed, with the same old problems.

On a hand-held, you'd think "well done chaps, this is a good boiled-down version which keeps the core of the game intact". But on a console, and so soon after Black Flag, it feels like an over-long chunk of watery DLC.

While some handheld games can't stand up to the HD remake treatment, Liberation looks good and plays better on the bigger screen. As a streamlined Assassin's Creed with a simpler and more engaging story, Liberation arguably holds up better than...

The story set-up is good and there are some interesting new gameplay features, but almost all of them are squandered by sloppy design and inconsequential action.