Posted in: Movies, Video Games | Tagged: Assassin's Creed Unity, entertainment, ubisoft, video games

Assassin's Creed Unity Review – Liberté, Egalité, Négligé

Published Sat, 15 Nov 2014 08:30:21 -0600

By Patrick Dane

I'm slowly coming to the realization that I like the Assassin's Creed franchise again. That's a surprise to me since I swore off the series after the unsatisfying mess that was Assassin's Creed 3. That all changed with the fantastic Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag last year. For the first time in years, I actually nearly 100% completed a game, as I felt compelled to collect all the collectables, armors and weapons possible with my time in the digital Caribbean. I also thought the Abstergo Entertainment sub-plot was clever and gave the world of Assassin's Creed a worthwhile backbone. I was right back on board with this series and that is why I was excited to jump back in with Assassin's Creed Unity, even though it has become a yearly adventure. (Or bi-yearly if you count Assassin's Creed Rogue – which you should, even if it came out on the same day as Unity). For the most part I'm happy that I did too, even if it was a sporadic and not wholly satisfying trip.

The game tackles a long sought after time period, following the rise and aftermath of the French revolution. You play as a new assassin Arno Dorian. I'd love to tell you about Arno, but in truth that is kind of hard. He is (very early game spoilers!) the son of an Assassin, fostered by a 'good' Templar when his journey begins. After that…he's hard to pin down. He has an erratic personality, sometimes being deathly serious and joyless, other times being a joker in the face of danger. He comes off as a mix of Connor and Edward Kenway, but with little in between. In this way, he feels like a little like Assassin's Creed's 2's Ezio Auditore, but without the subtlety to ever make the two extremes work.

As for the narrative, Assassin's Creed Unity is completely… fine. It's very Assassin's Creed-y, what with layers of intrigue and a conspiracy that is nearly impossible to follow due to barrage of under-represented characters. That means it's hard to really personalize with anyone you are killing, save for a few targets. That isn't so much of a problem though as for this franchise, it's pretty much par for the course. Even the best Assassin's Creed stories have been hampered by an incredible amount of convolution. Arno's story involving his foster father's daughter, Elise, provides a compelling enough through-line as to never get too boring, but the game's narrative never truly passes its conventions. This is no where near the worst Assassin's Creed story ever told, but it's stuck somewhere in the middle, never capturing the intrigue and characters of II and IV.

One place where the story did let me down was that it ultimately doesn't drive the Assassin's Creed narrative much further. For the 7^th game in this franchise (or 8^th if you are counting Rogue), that's a problem. It feels as if the Assassin's Creed story is on the path to an ending point, but that it isn't yet ready to take the next step to getting there. This hasn't felt more prominent than in Unity. This franchise is clearly leading somewhere, but as of right now, the driving force behind where we will end up feels completely stuck in motion.

To its credit, Assassin's Creed Unity tries to bring a bunch of new mechanics to the table in order to revitalize gameplay. The problem is some aren't necessarily that successful. Combat has been revised and that is good. The series has needed a revamp in that department for a long time. The problem is that I don't know if it's any better than before. Now the counter system is tied to blocking short incoming attacks, but the camera doesn't always show who is going to attack you from off screen. It can be hard to defend yourself and if you find your out numbered 3-1, you might as well run or wait to die and try again. In the later portions, where the game is throwing tens of enemies at you, it makes missions needlessly frustrating. Traversal has also seen a facelift, incorporating tons of great features like (finally) a free-run drop and sliding across slanted roofs. Then again, the design of some buildings, like Notre Dame, can be a chore to scale as you get stuck on portions of the building, struggling to figure out the next grabbing point.

Of course, the newest and biggest addition is the incorporation of co-op play. There is a genuine delight running across the rooftops of Paris with other players. The problem here is that it requires insane amount of communication and timing to really master. In the context of play, you end up feeling less like an assassin and more like an overeager member of a parkour gang. In the missions I played, every player has the same objective. This leads to a chaotic race to the allocated dot on the map. In the context of stealth, it doesn't work. There is nothing secret about a mob of hooded figures charging towards one target. This could be remedied with a really dedicated group, communicating with precision, but lets be honest, that is rarely going to happen. Also, you don't really need it to in order to succeed. There is a lot of value in 'Assassin's Creed with friends', even if at times it feels as subtle as a hammer to the face.

Having said all that, this game is drop dead gorgeous at times. Late 18^th centaury France is a delight to behold. The level of detail is incredible and this may be one of the most 'lived in' open worlds ever put in a video game. While it doesn't have the scope of the island hopping Assassin's Creed IV, the streets of Paris feel alive. At times, there can be hundreds and hundreds of fairly detailed NPCs on screen at anyone time. The textures feel real, the level of research is apparent and the constantly changing environments help to sell the crumbling of a great European capital. Paris is far and away the best thing about this game and it's never boring being there, be it running from rooftop to rooftop, or mingling with the proletariat in the streets.

This comes at a heavy cost though. For every beautiful bit of detail, there is an absurd bug to undermine it. This may be the most buggy big budget franchise game I've ever seen. I experienced people walking ten feet off the ground, clipping with just about every object, Arno getting stuck in walls as well as a frame rate that chugs to 30 fps and often sinks lower. Most of these are harmless, but there are instances where I was forced to restart from my last checkpoint in order to remedy a malfunction. Once, I fell off a ceiling and fell through the entire map and another time I let go of a ledge to be suspended in mid air stuck in a never-ending fall animation. For a game this big, that is boarding on the realms of unacceptable. With most of the bugs, you can let them lie if you aren't looking to be cynical, but when the game actively impedes progression, that is a problem.*

Assassin's Creed Unity is a game that is clearly trying to be more than the sum of its parts and in doing so forgets to actually make sure those parts are working. At times, Assassin's Creed Unity is breathtakingly beautiful. Possibly one of the very best looking games ever put to disc. The problem is that its supports are so fragile that if you ever view that perfect picture from the wrong perspective, the illusion falls to pieces. The artistic detail is outrageous, with apparent care taken in research and implementation, making Paris feel like a living, breathing city.

On the other hand, the game could have used a great deal of polish with many technical details marring the experience as of writing. If this game had had another few months to iron out its kinks, it could have been something really special. Instead it is a serviceable Assassin's Creed story set in a gorgeous yet sometime broken world. If you can see past the frame-rate issues and kinks, this is a decent, yet beautiful Assassin's Creed game. If you can't, you might find yourself frustrated at the breaking seams. In this case, the devil really is in the detail.

*This may be patched to a better state at a later date, but I can only review what I have in front of me.

Full disclosure: This was played on Playstation 4 by a copy provided by Ubisoft

Patrick Dane, once a would be filmmaker, has somewhat accidentally found himself as an entertainment journalist over the past two years. You may recognize him from around these parts, or you may not. Who's counting? From E3 to SDCC to the Top Gear track, Patrick has explored the world of entertainment wherever it has taken him. He is always happy to talk words at you. Hopefully the ones above will suffice your needs.

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