The latest Assassin’s Creed features an interesting storyline and some nice but broken technology. While the game still manages to be enjoyable, ultimately Unity lacks polish. [Dec 2014]
While it's true that Assassin's Creed Unity lacks the polish we would expect from the series by now, it's bolstered by its fantastic location, interesting new mission types and deeper emphasis on customisation.
Assassin's Creed Unity is big, beautiful and spectacular, but it's a known game with many graphical bugs. Ubisoft people don't risk, they play to what they believe is insurance.
Ubisoft tries to create a sense of greatness, but the technical flaws keep this game from really doing so. This is a tremendous let-down, as the tougher fighting system, the extended missions and the co-op multiplayer experience are all great assets to the franchise.
In the quest to build something that looked and sounded "next generation," Ubisoft Montreal failed to fix the problems that have accumulated over so many annual release. Combined with an uninspiring story, and a long list of considerable technical problems, Unity falls short of the fresh start Assassin's Creed needs.
Assassin's Creed Unity is absolute marvelous masterpiece in every sense of that word! Best parkour of whole series, likable and relatable main character, Absolutely stunning graphics, level of detail, enterable buildings and fantastic music. Easily top 3 of whole series!
Assassin's Creed Unity Review:
Assassin's Creed Unity really looks good in the 2020s, despite being released in 2014. 2014 has been an underappreciated year for Ubisoft, like these games Watch Dogs, Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed Unity, and even Assassin's Creed Rogue. All of them received a polarizing reception, but out of these games, Watch Dogs has been my favorite, and Assassin's Creed Unity disappointed me. It had a weak cast, slow and confusing combat system, and a horrendous story. But I have to appreciate for its soundtrack, Paris setting, and the parkour system, which is the best. I'm not the biggest fan of Arno, but he had an interesting backstory, which can possibly lead to a sequel of him against his father's murderer, Shay Patrick Cormac, with the help of Aveline De Grandpre and Connor Kenway. The combat system looked realistic and stylish, but there is no button to dodge bullets or bombs, and Syndicate has significantly improved it. The parkour system had loads of cool moves. Overall, Assassin's Creed Unity has deeply disappointed me, and I'm going to rate it a 6.1/10.
For every improvement Unity brings to the series it brings a bevy of issues as well. While the game looks nice it's still hampered by technical issues. While it has an interesting setting they don't do enough with it. And theirs a hole lot of other things micro transactions, slower combat, boring side content, a story that meanders through it's second act and the inclusion of co op content that to this day is still broken. All this and more make playing through Unity a slog to get through with tiny pockets of fun sprinkled through in otherwise boring experience.
A game notorious for having a terrible launch plagued by an absurd amount of technical issues. One can't help but wonder would the game have been better received by the public it had been released with more polish. I, for one, don't think so. Because even now when the majority of it's technical issues have been patched all we are left with is a bad game.
Numerous changes have been made to the gameplay. None of them for the better. It's still very much Assassin's Creed, but in an effort to make the series more complex the developers have only made it more convoluted. The fun core gameplay of the series has been polluted and the combat is outright broken.
Combat has always been a more flawed aspect of the series. It takes a step back here. Due to the botched handling of the parry system fights can be long, drawn out, and tedious when facing more than one enemy at a time. Something you'll be doing regularly. The camera frequently obscures enemy combatants. You can use stealth to bypass as much combat as you can. The new changes to how stealth works do feel awkward at times. I still found plenty of satisfaction in sneaking around and quietly dispatching foes though.
The new leveling up system is a joke and uncomfortably clashes with the game's new ways of handling difficulty. Different sections of the city are going to contain harder enemies and side-quests. It's a nice idea to have certain parts of the map harder to interact with until you level up and get better gear. Plenty of other open world games have done the same thing with much success. However with so many of the upgrades you get from leveling up being locked until you progress in the story (which would have been helpful to ensure it's not a nightmare to actually get further in the story), and so much of the gear being tied to side-quests, it just doesn't work for Unity. What really hurts it is that the side-content just isn't that appealing. I found no interest in tackling any of it.
The parkour/climbing system also gets tampered with. Once again good ideas, awkward execution. Most of the issues come from the loose controls. Sometimes your character just won't do what you're telling him to do. That's always been an irritant in the series, but when you combine that with the number of new animations brought on by the stunning graphics that just end up making things more awkward, you end up with the most awkward one yet. I have to give them credit for the new climbing down mechanics. Downward descensions have always just been clumsy. Now they are handled with the finesse of regular climbing. It's probably the only change I would like to see stick around going forward.
Presentation has always been a strong point for this series and this entry is no different. The graphics can be absolutely gorgeous. High quality voice acting backs up the writing even though it makes no sense that all of these French characters sound English.
The story is just plain uninteresting. The characters themselves are flat and their conflict is boring. The modern day story barely exists. Literally nothing happens and there aren't even any gameplay sections relating to it that take place in the present time. All we get are a few cutscenes and some intrusive dialog. Basically we get nothing. It makes me wonder why they even keep that part of the series alive. It's clear Ubisoft has no idea what to do with it now and that it's just hanging on by a thread.
The new addition of cooperative missions is cool. Obviously it will only really be appealing if you play with friends as coordination is required for the harder ones. But with the core gameplay butchered the way it is there isn't a reason for you to suffer through this game by yourself, much less with company. There's no reason to suffer through this game at all.
It's a big blemish for the series. Not only did it have the misfortune of releasing in a sorry, glitch-ridden state, but now even when it's almost completely fixed there still isn't a reason to play it thanks to how bad the actual gameplay is. It stumbles in just about every area. There are moments where the brightness of the series shines through and you can have a little bit of fun with it. The thrill and satisfaction of planning and setting up that perfect assassination can still be found here, but it's an absolute struggle to do so every step of the way. If the new mechanics and changes introduced here are going to be the foundation of the series moving forward then this might mean the end of the series. At least it will be for me. A lot of these ideas just don't work for Assassin's Creed and this just isn't a fun game.
I give it a 4.5/10
SummaryParis, 1789. The French Revolution turns a once-magnificent city into a land of terror and chaos. Its cobblestone streets flow red with the blood of commoners who dared to rise up against the murderous aristocracy. As the nation rips itself apart, a younger man named Arno embarks on a harrowing journey to expose the authentic powers behi...