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 18th 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.
Blake Hester
