One of the primary aspects that attract players to the Assassin's Creed franchise is the ability to freely roam historical cities. After exploring Italy's ancient Constantinople and the Middle East, players are excited to romp through an American Revolution-based New York and Boston.

For those eagerly anticipating the release, GameInformer leaked some details about the upcoming Assassin's Creed gameplay map. The studio, Ubisoft Montreal, is planning to fill the American frontier with plenty of action and activities, according to the video game publication.

In previous games, no missions took place when travelling between cities. However, the frontier between New York and Boston will host roughly 30 percent of the main story quests.

The map of the Frontier is 1.5 times bigger than the entire map of Brotherhood, creative director Alex Hutchinson told GameInformer. It has this sense of exploration about it, which I don't think we've had before. That notion of you versus the wilderness.

The Frontier is said to be an exaggerated version of the American northeast, consisting of forests, fields, farming regions, lakes, mountains and more. Players will encounter Native American and European settlements, true to historical early America.

With such an expanded map, gamers may wonder what form transportation across the Frontier will take. Accustomed to the swinging, jumping, and gliding throughout clock towers and buildings, players are in for a change. Protagonist Connor will traverse across the treetops, reported GameInformer.

Once he's up in the branches, he can move swiftly from tree to tree, an effective tool for moving undetected past patrolling soldiers below, reporter for the publication Matt Bertz wrote.

And for speedy excursions, gamers can choose to hop on a horse to cover more ground, similar to western-themed Red Dead Redemption.

But the landscape isn't the only thing that's changing. Ubisoft Montreal will shift players through different seasons as well. From the sun to the snow, the cycling weather can affect the way Connor pursues his missions and quests.

We wanted winter to matter, Hutchinson said to the magazine. If you lived in the northeast of America in this period, winter is scary. If you're not prepared for winter, you will die.

Snow can affect the way players interact with space, Bertz writes. High drifts can slow down a character, and this is where travelling through tree branches becomes necessary.

Now that players have this freedom and open space, what fun is exploring without obstacles and challenges? The game's developer plans to populate the Frontier with animals and side-mission opportunities. One of the most significant activities in the wilderness will be hunting, which Hutchinson even compared to the game's main purpose.

The fantasy of hunting is the rarity of the animals, he said to Game Informer. We want to make it almost like an assassination. You have to go out, track them, find the evidence of them, and hunt them down.

With wilderness exploration and between-city missions, this upcoming installment of Assassin's Creed is sounding reminiscent of Red Dead Redemption. In the Midwest mission-based game, players travel between towns, hunting creatures along the way, collecting their remains to accumulate wealth. Side stories also pop up along player's paths, and much of the long-distance travel is done on horseback.

It will be interesting to see how rural exploration elements mesh with the game's stigma stealth-based controls. The previous piece in the Assassin's Creed story, Brotherhood, has also been compared to Red Dead Redemption by multiple sources.

In November 2010, when Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood hit store shelves, G4 put together a video comparing the two quest-heavy gaming sensations.

PS3 Games - E3 2012 - Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

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