If you were planning to replay the Assassin's Creed series to get ready for the launch of Assassin's Creed III you may want to think again. Whether you learned the original controls playing Altair or Ezio they've gone the way of the buffalo. Assassin's Creed III is leaving behind much of the city environment that has dominated is European-themed predecessors for the frontiers of the American colonies.

As Lead Game Designer Steve Masters explains, free running will now only take one button to control, and the camera will be able to move freely, allowing you to stalk targets and keep an eye on the surroundings as you dodge from tree to tree. It's a good thing Connor will actually be able to climb trees, because the smaller colonial cities won't offer as many vantage points as their Italian counterparts.

"The previous controls were really set up for a city environment where you didn't have a huge amount of choice in 3D about where you wee going. What it meant was that when we translated that into the frontier environment where you had trees and the choice of going forwards, up, around or jumping down, the previous controls weren't set up for handling that range of motion. Now, when you get into the trees, you feel safe as you navigate around. You can control the camera while you're free-running, which is something that has always been missing and lacking. And it means you can be tracking a deer and you know with perfect certainty that you're going to stay in the trees and not jump down and startle it."