Assassin's Creed Unity Reviews
A reboot and evolution in one gorgeous package, that unfortunately didn't get a full pass through QA testing.
Wandering around Paris is a real treat, visually the game looks great and Ubisoft Montréal has done a solid job of the visual and audio design. The crowds chatter away in French, adding a backdrop to the scene, while events of significance are spoken in English, allowing you to quickly pick them out. In terms of content, the main game was really enjoyable, while the sheer breadth of side content borders on intimidating.
In doing this, Unity is not the huge leap forward that a next-gen Assassin's Creed promised it would be - rather it's a familiar adventure dressed in exceptional decoration. The artistry to be found in Paris far outweighs the by-the-numbers story. In essence it's more Assassin's Creed, then - that will tell you all you need to know if you're mulling over a purchase. Perhaps this is why this Assassin's Creed feels as though, like its time-spanning storyline, it has one foot in the future and one in the past.
While I was not on board with Assassin's Creed Unity from the announcement to the moment I started playing, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the level of enjoyment I have consistently had with the title. It all feels like this is my assassin right from the very beginning of the game. While this was not something I have been asking for, I am most certainly excited to see where things progress with future installments. Who knows, maybe I will eventually be able to be the assassin in the game… told you I might need to get out more.
As of this writing, Ubisoft has created a live blog that promises to address all of the technical issues that is plaguing their high profile game. Considering their misplaced priorities, however, they hardly deserve a pass for releasing Assassin's Creed Unity in the miserable shape that it's in, which damages both this decent entry in the series as well as the very AC brand itself.
Unity follows in the original Assassin's Creed's footsteps in many ways as the first game in the series developed exclusively for the new generation of consoles. And, much like its ancestor, for every good thing Unity does, it adds something else that just leaves you scratching your head—giving the whole experience a hit-or-miss feel that we haven't seen from the series in a long time.
Although Assassin's Creed Unity doesn't reach the same heights of last year's Black Flag, it definitely screams next-gen, however it is plagued by some graphical bugs and occasional slowdowns. Thankfully this doesn't hamper the gameplay experience too much.
Despite the "been there done that" feeling you'll get in the first few hours, it almost feels like a new starting point for the series, and I'm ok with that.
And not to say it's without its faults, as noted with some minor, yet impactful, movement snags and a dated combat system. Visually it sometimes seemed as though there were textures in lower resolution, more so in cut-scenes, and I also experienced significant load time a lot which broke the immersion element. The overall experience delivered significantly outweighs any of the negatives mentioned though.
AC:U has its problems. Some are inherent to the design, some can be rectified by patches and some will get much better in the next iteration. This game made bold changes to an established formula and not everything worked. It seems like Unity will be a great relaunch point, just like the original Assassin's Creed was. But for now, it's not what it could have been. This is going to be both a blessing and a curse to the series going forward.
For a series that's tackled colonial America, the high seas, and the Italian renaissance, Assassin's Creed Unity manages to keep it fresh. It has enough going for it to make it worth a purchase for the discerning gamer who may or may not still be suffering from the trauma of rote learning every detail of the French Revolution for academic purposes. Well worth the price of admission, and then some.
Ubisoft has proven that it is capable of pushing the series in a novel direction, and that's why the complacency of Unity is especially disappointing.
The 'Unity' multiplayer aspect doesn't really change things dramatically, it's an entertaining distraction at best, but delve beneath the surface and it's still a bunch of missions revolving around tailing people, eavesdropping, pickpocketing and assassinating. As it stands Assassin's Creed Unity feels like a title that could have done with a little more time in the oven. It doesn't have the je ne sais quoi of a next-gen realise, but it's an engrossing if all-too-familiar ride.
Assassin's Creed: Unity leaps into the new console generation with uncertainty. There are moments of excellence here, but the overall experience is very familiar and brings its own set of problems.
While it offers little new content and is poorly optimised, Unity does offer the prime Assassin's Creed experience.
While there are some positives such as the murder mysteries there is not enough to make this game worth purchasing.
Assassin's Creed: Unity is full of ideas and systems that don't gel or haven't reached their potential. The return to an urban sprawl is fine after playing in the wide-open spaces of the last few games, and the setting is gorgeous even in its state of decay. The core action is largely the same, with the small amount of improvements being very welcome at this stage in the life of the series. With the plethora of single-player and co-op missions available to the player, the game is full of content that is in line with the series' earlier titles. However, the bevy of technical hiccups, from poor online connectivity to bad stuttering to degrading audio, makes this title feel like a rushed effort. Of all of the entries released on home platforms thus far, Unity is difficult to recommend to even the most die-hard of franchise fans.
'Assassin's Creed Unity' is a conundrum. Some of its components have been put together well, like the visual quality of Paris and the co-op. Other parts are a bit uglier and have still made it into the final product, the glaring dearth of proper bug testing foremost among them. Ultimately, the latter outweigh the former, and this game can safely be passed over by all but the most loyal fans. The Assassins have seen better days.
Far from pointing the way forwards for the series, Assassin's Creed: Unity is a model of creative indecision and corporate policy -- a corpulent, broken mess that plays neither to its own strengths nor to its fanbase. There are flashes of promise here, moments when everything comes together, and the game's content package is hefty, but ultimately Unity proves to be a mercifully forgettable disappointment.
Unity plays well, but it's not really good enough for a AAA-game to play well, and this especially applies to Assassin's Creed, which has always been a franchise with stronger narrative and thematic value than its counterparts. I see potential in a Napoleonic-era trilogy for the Assassin's Creed franchise. As I wrote in my Rogue review, I'd love for the next game to star a Cossack doing his thing as Napoleon bears down on Moscow. But for the next one I would hope that Ubisoft puts more effort into crafting an interesting and original narrative than working on the multiplayer nonsense.