Published By Rob Moore

 

When Ubisoft's first Assassin’s Creed title was released in 2007, I was left a little disappointed, it was a disjointed stealth romp that had a lot of ambition but half heartedly succeeded. Fast-forward to 2014 and Assassin’s Creed: Unity is released amongst a backdrop of fantastic cinematic trailers and a huge media campaign. After the huge disappointment this year that was Destiny, I was reluctant to invest and feared another expensive disappointment. I fear I was wrong to do so.

My first impressions of Unity left me with a driving sense to play and complete this stunningly designed game. From climbing the 1:1 scale Notre Dame to trawling through the congested streets looking for petty thieves and bullies, this game seems to have it all and it never fails to visually impress.

The game play is also fluid but not without its flaws. The melee aspect of the game can seem a little broken at times. It is certainly favours gamers prepared to be patient and sneaky. The assassinations are fantastically gory and frighteningly realistic but can become a little repetitive. That being said, occasionally, Arno can surprise you with a totally new way of butchering to some poor unsuspecting villain but I have been unable to figure out how to repeat the kill. The parkour is pretty impressive too. The game rewards you by picking and choosing faster, more efficient lines whilst jumping off buildings. However you do have to work pretty hard to achieve this, or you will find yourself just slamming into walls like i did oh too often, I may need a little more practice.

The story is typical Assassin's Creed. Full of back stabbing (literally at times) politics and… urgh…. romance. In the attempt to make games more like cinematic marvels, Ubisoft has added a female love interest to the story. It doesn’t take away from the story and gives a good back drop as to motivations, it just feels a little soppy at times. Back to the story, the cut scenes are often way too long and I did find myself loosing interest. The plethora of characters and way the story moves back and forth through the time line is also a little odd. Then as someone who is unfamiliar with the pretence of Assassin’s Creed. Throwing in modern day computer/ memory/ hologram/ hacking/ didn’t really have a clue what was occurring at times! Not saying I didn’t enjoy it, as so much I didn’t understand and found it difficult to follow. It did however open up one of my favourite levels in the game where you find yourself climbing (trying to avoid spoilers) a really massive, famous, tall building in Paris. (I clearly failed)
 

Summary

 

 I really enjoyed this game. I would strongly recommend this title if you enjoyed games like Watchdogs and GTA5. The story mode isn’t completed in 5 seconds and if you want to explore and play side missions, then there are literally hundreds for you to choose from. There are issues with glitches in the game, some funny and some really annoying however Ubisoft are working hard to resolve them. As I said before the game has a lot of content, from rich Dandies getting a cut in some very creative ways, stunning expanses of 17th century Paris, a well endowed man sodomising a goat, and some very cool gear upgrades to make Arno look a little more badass!

 

Story - 4/5

Graphics- 5/5

Gameplay - 3/5

Overall - 4/5

Version Reviewed - Xbox One