Assassin's Creed Unity Review

Title: Assassin's Creed Unity
Platform(s): Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date: November 11, 2014
ESRB: M

Assassin's Creed Unity is a game that tries really hard to be a unique experience and in many ways it succeeds. The recreation of Paris that player's are given to explore is a beautiful place that feels fresh and alive in ways that not many other open-world games do and the immense amount of freedom and inventive approaches to the games numerous assassinations lead to hours of experimentation as the player tries to get to their target in just the right way. Unfortunately, a flat story, major bugs, and issues with necessary game mechanics hinder this game from achieving its true potential and leaves the game falling short of the greatness it could have achieved.

Taking place in Paris during the French Revolution of the late 1700s, Assassin's Creed Unity puts players in control of series newcomer, Arno Dorian, an arrogant but lively man who is thrust into the brotherhood of the Assassin's to find and exact revenge on those who killed his loved ones. Unity starts strong and builds up Arno as a lovable and charismatic character, reminiscent of Assassin's Creed Two's Ezio Auditore, who was unfairly put into tragic situations, but quickly pulls the rug out from underneath itself. Right around the time he joins the Assassin's, Arno inexplicably becomes a dull, lifeless character and loses all the initial charm that made him enjoyable in the beginning of the game causing me to lose interest and empathy with him fairly quickly. Other main characters in the game have no emotional value or memorable qualities and serve mainly as just portals of information. After a while I found it more of a chore to pay attention to the cinematics as the story and characters are easily forgettable after you complete the initial couple chapters of the game. Numerous character's are also introduced, then rarely seen again leaving the player to wonder what the point of that character really was in relation to the story. The game tries to create a tale of revenge and justice with enough emotional appeal to wrap the player in, but its lack of execution makes it fall flat and feel predictable before wrapping up it all up in an entirely disappointing ending.

Ubisoft went above and beyond the call when designing 18^th century Paris. When standing atop a vantage point, it seems as though Paris goes on forever with each building beautifully designed. From small apartments to major landmarks like the cathedral of Notre Dame, it feels like an equal amount of care was put into each building to make the world as believable and visually rich as possible. Built on a 1:1 scale, Paris is a massive playground with many unique districts to explore, from the elegant villas of the rich and royal all the way down to the shanty towns of the poor. Each have their unique characteristics and NPCs will react differently given which district you are in. While in a rich area people will wonder around leisurely enjoying their day, but the slums will be more violent with fights in the streets and people drinking down their sorrows in the alleys.

Ubisoft made a point of promoting the large crowd scenes that would be featured in Unity, and it really is astonishing how many people may be on the screen at any given time with not too many noticeable repeats of the same character. NPCs litter the streets in massive numbers, they attend political rallies in town squares, they fight, riot, have real conversations with each other, carry around decapitated heads on sticks (Really!), drink at cafes, etc. The simple act of just walking around the streets of Paris to see what people are up to is a delight due to how convincing the city really is. It doesn't feel as though the city is inhabited by lifeless bodies that walk back and forth from point A to point B for eternity, it feels like you are just one body in a massive city that exists with or without you and finding yourself the middle of some of the giant crowds is truly a marvel.

Unity puts a large emphasis on player customization of both Arno's looks and his abilities. There is a seemingly endless amount of different items Arno can equip that will effect his stealth, melee, health, etc. and it is often necessary to make sure you outfit him with appropriate gear to tailor to individual missions. The upgrade system feels necessary for completing the game and each purchase requires thought as to how the upgrade will cater to the player's style. I often found myself asking, “Should I upgrade my lock-picking abilities to help find more equipment or my health in the event of an attack?” Upgrades feel good and are immediately apparent to the player as Arno feels he has better honed his Assassin skills through your decisions.

As in all other iterations of the series, the player's main mode of transportation is within the parkour system, which feels at its best in Unity. Traveling around the world feels solid and precise letting you get to your destination in a very efficient and flashy manor. There are moments where the game misjudges exactly where you want to go, causing you to unexpectedly vault from a building or miss the window you're trying to jump into, but these errors aren't frequent enough, especially compared to other AC games of the past, to be seen as a flaw. Also added to the parkour system is the inclusion of “Free Run Down,” which allows you with the click of a few buttons to quickly scale down a building instead of clumsily searching for a ledge below to fall onto. This became especially useful when tailing a target and I needed to get from the roof of a building to ground-level as quickly as possible. Enhances in combat have also made for a much more smooth fight against the considerably more difficult adversaries in Unity. No longer will enemies wait their turn to attack you, they will attack almost in unison causing the player to keep a careful eye on those around him to gauge when to successfully dodge or parry attacks. Unity definitely puts an emphasis on learning how to successfully evade attacks and if the player tries to hack and slash their way through combat chances or they will be struck down rather quickly. It's a welcome challenge that forces players to rethink whether or not a full-on assault is the necessary approach.

The alternative to that is the stealth system which will likely be the player's main approach to missions. The AC standards of hiding in hay bails, silently killing enemies with the hidden blade, and hiding amongst crowds is all accounted for and the stealth mechanic is largely unchanged from previous installments except for one frustrating flaw, the cover system. The game seems to erratically decide on its own which walls it is going to let you take cover behind and more often than not if the game even decides to let the player take cover it will take several tries just to get Arno behind a wall, often leaving him vulnerable to attacks or within eyesight of an enemy. Also when shooting a projectile from behind cover, the game will often let you aim the weapon, get the shot ready, and then not let you fire it, causing you to miss your target. Both of these together can cause immense frustration, often giving away your location and ruining a mission, leading the player to start over.

Assassin's Creed Unity's biggest draw is hands down its Assassination missions. Set in huge and diverse locations, these missions require careful planning and thought and the sense of satisfaction when you are able to get to your target in just the right way is an indescribable feeling. Players are given multiple entrances and unique ways to take down their target making no two play-throughs exactly the same. The massive set pieces these missions take place in, from a public execution to an elaborate gala for only the most wealthy, are designed to let the player feel free and find their own path. The game does a good job of minimizing hand holding and letting players discover, often through numerous attempts of trial and error, which path to their target works for them. These missions are frequent throughout the game and their multiple paths are enough to keep players wanting to continue putting the disk in after the credits roll to see each possible way an assassination can be completed.

Something has to be addressed about Assassin's Creed Unity that can't be overlooked. It is riddled with bugs and glitches that often break the game or pull the player out of the experience and this is not something that is forgivable due to just how many there are. Player's faces disappear leaving nothing but a grotesque sight of just eyes, teeth, and hair, NPCs will float around the city, Arno may for no apparent reason just fall through the ground of the level, and what's worse is that this is just a small sample of numerous other bugs plaguing players. The worst bug I personally noticed came during the final cut scene. The scene was supposed to be quiet and emotional, but was ruined when a bug caused Arno's mouth to move throughout the duration of the cinematic, despite their being no dialogue. Games will always have glitches, as is the way of human error, but it is ludicrous that Ubisoft would release a AAA game as broken as Unity can be and the idea that no one in testing caught any of these numerous and frequent bugs doesn't seem plausible. Things such as the story being weak and the cover mechanic being sloppy are annoyances, but they are easier to overlook when you consider how good this game can be and how amazing traversing around Paris is when it actually works, but the bugs that exist in this game ultimately hinder it from being the great experience is strives to be. Ubisoft has built a wonderful world and allowed their consumers to have complete freedom over how they wish to play the game, but none of that matters if bugs that should have been solved by launch destroy the immersion for the players.

I struggled to come up with a score to this game because I really enjoyed my time in Paris, but there are issues in Unity that just can't be overlooked. Assassin's Creed0 Unity is an ambitious title and in many ways it succeeds in being the living world Ubisoft hyped it up to be. But the frequent game-breaking bugs, weak story, and sloppy cover mechanics ultimately make this game fall short of greatness. I have hope that later installments in the series will build upon the things that this game did right and hopefully fix its shortcoming to avoid missing their potential as Unity unfortunately has done.

3 out of 5

Blake Hester