Assassin's Creed III: Hands-on with four naval missions. Definitely more 'full-sail' than 'half-mast'

After seeing the E3 reveal of Assassin's Creed III 's cannontastic ship-based combat, our reaction was simple. It looked stunning. And it turns out, having now played four of the game's nautical missions, that our suspicions were correct. It is stunning. Playing through a section set in 1773 and around halfway through the game, it's immediately apparent that manning a ship in Assassin's Creed III is