Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India Reviews
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India makes some vast improvements over its predecessor in terms of style and gameplay while providing challenging 2D puzzles, but still lacks an engaging narrative.
While the gameplay foundation here is still competent, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India just finds too many petty, annoying ways to keep me from truly enjoying it.
The beautiful landscapes of India and a promising sense of movement aren't enough to save Chronicles India from hamstrung combat and tedious stealth. Close, but missed the ledge.
Unlike its predecessor, India is a slog that wastes its beautiful setting
The middle chapter of the Chronicles trilogy improves the formula, but doesn't perfect it.
A good second stab for Ubisoft's latest spin-off series, India makes up for what it lacks in excitement with visual flare.
Visually interesting and competently made for the most part, but the novelty of a 2D Assassin's Creed is already beginning to wear off.
The experience is also more exciting on the whole, due to a series of large set pieces. Most of these come in the form of harrowing escapes, and at one point you're asked to snipe enemies while still keeping in mind the stealth focus. Assuring guards don't notice that you're picking them off one-by-one from afar makes for a unique challenge not seen in most stealth games.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, isn't a whole lot different compared to China, which is either a good or a bad thing depending on your prior experience. It sports a slightly less interesting character and setting, but the core experience is replicated, and the addition of a few gameplay tweaks as well as the aforementioned challenge mode ensures that it's on the level.
If you're a fan of Assassin's Creed then it will suit you, though perhaps you'd be better off waiting for the collection. ACC: India can be completed within a day or two, so if you're looking for something to fill the time there are worse things.
Chronicles India tries to do something more than the China chapter. While still highly enjoyable, is a little more unfocused and unpolished than the previous game.
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If you're a big fan of Assassin's Creed, or enjoyed ACC: China, then you can pick this up without hesitation. It's more of the same gameplay-wise, but completely different story and setting-wise. Platforming fans may also want to pick this up, because there are not too many new platformers coming out on a regular basis. However, casual fans need not apply, since the game has somewhat clunky controls, hilariously stupid enemy AI that presents little challenge, and those terrible tailing missions that players of regular Assassin's Creed games hate so much.
Our trip to India is not dissimilar to our original trip to China; the style and gameplay are almost identical to the first game, not that there is anything particularly wrong with that. Being given the choice to play stealthy or by using full on combat is refreshing and you are able to go through the whole game without directly harming a single enemy, but it does sometimes feel like you are forced into combat with the layout of the levels and the frequency of the enemies. The 2.5D style is used to good effect and works well for the assassination based gameplay, being able to dodge enemies and hide in hidden doorways in the background, or ledges in the foreground. Whilst there is no new ground being broken here, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India is more than enjoyable to play through, especially if you enjoyed the first game, and it will surely keep you entertained until we get the chance to visit Russia the next time around.
Unfortunately, the difficulty often marred the pacing of the game, turning areas into repetitive trial and error experiments just to figure out how to sneak by a couple guards.
It's a stylish game with fun platforming, smooth combat and mostly good stealthy bits - and a definite improvement on its underwhelming predecessor.
Aside from the setting, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India doesn't make much of an effort to distance itself from its side-scrolling predecessor. While its stealth system works well and its combat feels good, it's just more of the same. The dialogue is dull, the art style doesn't look good at all, and the game just doesn't have much appeal. It's certainly not bad, it's just so bang average that you'll have seen it all before.
Periods of fun stealth play aren't enough to rescue the second entry in the Chronicles saga from being a forgettable, average platformer.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India is a game that should have everything going for it with its great visuals and setting, established world and an interesting protagonist. Instead we're left with an average game with a bland narration that's frustrating to control and play. It's truly such a shame.
If you enjoyed the previous installment of Assassin's Creed Chronicles, then you'll find more of the same here. It won't convert anyone who didn't like the last game, but it does provide more stealth platforming at an affordable price.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India looks authentic, but has lackluster audio; the story just doesn't compare to previous Creed games; the gameplay has its moments but not enough of them; and, well, China was just more of a bad-ass example, and didn't make you pace yourself through tedious segments. It leaves me wondering just where the final chapter of the Chronicles saga, Russia, will end up when it debuts in a few weeks.