Assassin’s Creed Unity Review

Developer Ubisoft

Publisher Ubisoft

Platform Gen 4 & PC

Release Date Out Now

ACU_148_COOP_LeapOfFaith

Assassin’s Creed is back on land and back to familiar territory. After the excellent romps had around the Caribbean as a pirate Unity goes back to Europe, to a city about to explode in revolution. Unity is spectacular, this is easily the best looking Assassin’s Creed title which is no mean feat. Paris is enormous its buildings, gardens, landmarks, and its inhabitants have been rendered in incredible detail. For once size does not lead to any concessions in terms of quality.

Despite the impressive setting and the opportunity to intertwine the story around the revolution Unity seems content to use it as little more than a back drop. As you work through the story it becomes more and more apparent that huge opportunities were missed. The story in itself is little more than a traditional murder mystery adventure mixed with a healthy dose of revenge. While this is still all very enjoyable it could have been much more interesting.

ACU_145_SP_BalloonRide

Arino Dorian has been raised by a Templar after his own father was killed. While attending a party he ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly is the prime suspect in a murder. Lumped into the Bastille he encounters a fellow prisoner who sets in motion Arino’s push to join the Assassin’s and solve the murders. This is a tale of revenge more than justice and at times you begin to forget who or why you are killing. There seems to be little in terms of the righteousness than previous Assassins had and you end up going through the motions just because you have to rather than you want to.

ACU_150_SP_CatacombRitual

Gameplay is pretty much what you expect from the series, unfortunately after so many Assassin’s Creed games being essentially the same this gameplay has become “normal” rather than exhilarating. Doing anything other than the main story is becoming a chore, and some of the main missions are also losing their charm. The same old tasks take the same old pattern. Eaves dropping on target, stealthy tailing missions through crowded streets, chasing fleeing targets and of course the same old drop a smoke bomb and sneak in and out. There is a distinct lack of innovation here that could have added much more.

ACU_147_COOP_Iconic

One new mechanic is the ability to free run down, previous games allowed you to run up buildings, but getting down was normally a leap of faith or an uncoordinated drop from a ledge. Now however you can get down quickly and with style. Holding O not X will see Arino dropping to ledges below, spinning onto platforms and rolling onto the ground. This makes the getting around the city far more enjoyable.

ACU_164_SP_ParisEnvironment

What is really good fun is the Co-op feature, up to four players can take part in missions within the main story but not necessarily part of it. These missions are very enjoyable as they are actually pretty difficult, you really need to plan them out. This of course gives a much greater sense of accomplishment when you do manage to pull it off.

Overall: To be honest there is nothing wrong with Unity that a patch probably won’t fix. Its issues stem from being part of a franchise that has been hugely popular. If is isn’t broken don’t fix it was clearly the mantra set down but this lack of risk means that while Unity is perfectly functional it doesn’t feel like I’m experiencing anything new.

SCORE 3.5/5

Please Join us on your Social Platform of choice