This year marks the release of not just one, but two Assassin's Creed games. Unity marks Ubisoft's first foray into next-gen territory, as the game is only available on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Much like previous games, you'll once again be thrust into the shoes of a budding Assassin, as you climb through the ranks during what is one of the most chaotic periods in Europe, the French Revolution. But is it worth strapping yourself into the Animus again?
Back to basics
Unity feels like a reboot of sorts. Gone is the sailing and sea faring, and instead we're once again land-locked, but this time within the confines of Paris. Arno, a completely new character to the franchise, most resembles fan favorite Ezio Auditore. He's sly, witty, and sarcastic but still a complete charmer. He isn't afraid to cause trouble and is usually quite open about it. It seems Ubisoft has finally learned that we like our main protagonists relatable. Connor was an unfortunate anomaly but Ezio and Edward we're fantastic characters, and Arno seems to be following this trend.
The modern day story has been stripped down to cutscenes, letting us focus more on running through the streets of Paris. I didn't mind this personally, though I do admit I did enjoy the first-person sequences of Assassin's Creed IV. However, allowing me to actually play as Arno most of the time is welcome.
Something old and something new
While the bulk of Unity still relies on past gameplay mechanics of previous AC games, it introduces some welcome changes, especially on the movement front. I can't tell you how many times I've been frustrated in previous games, when I just wanted to simply jump off a ledge, but instead I'd make a long jump into an object or a wall. Or perhaps I ran off a building by accident, thrusting off the edge and falling 10 stories to my death. Unity fixes this issue by adding in a downward traversal. Now, if I want to scale down a building that doesn't happen to have a haystack in the vicinity, I can simply hold down the right trigger and B, and Arno will gradually scale down the building in a relatively fluid motion.
This new control scheme doesn't sound all too confusing at first, except when you factor in that Arno can also climb into open windows. A lot of the time, I'd be wiggling around the window, trying to get in, even when pressing the R2, which the game tells you to do when wanting to enter a window.
Unity also has a dedicated crouch button, which is a welcome change, and usually works as advertised. You're harder to see, making stealth kills much easier to pull off this time around. However, what's absolutely broken is the cover system. You can take cover behind objects or corners by simply pressing the X or A button, but Arno will only do that about half the time, usually ignoring the button prompt completely. When he does take cover, you can only move along that one surface or snap to an adjacent surface. If you want to move along a corner of an object, to stay out of sight in case the guard decides to move in your direction, you have to unsnap from cover, make sure you're still holding the crouch button, and then walk around the corner and snap back into cover. That makes absolutely no sense.
Hardcore parkour!
Freerunning has also gotten a complete overhaul. Gone are the days of simply fast walking through the streets if you just hold the Right Trigger or R2. Since the control scheme now relies on upward and downward scaling, holding down the trigger now makes your freerun without any additional buttons. By holding the trigger, you can now vault over obstacles, run up ramps, jump onto carts, and then jump off onto a fence for example. In previous games, to do all of that, you'd also have to hold the X or A button.
The main problem I had with this change is that it makes you more conducive to run up various objects that you didn't want to in the first place. The nice thing about previous games was that holding the Trigger only meant that I'd run fast, but never actually scale anything. Now I have to be super careful not to run into a stack of boxes, because Arno will climb them, and then attempt to chain that by jumping onto the nearest object in front of him. Admittedly, I did get used to this mechanic the longer I played, but for the first few hours, this presented itself as a big hindrance. I suspect Assassin's Creed veterans might have the biggest problem adjusting to this.
Fashion with meaning
Previous Assassin's Creed games allowed you to tweak your garments, though it only impacted you aesthetically. Unity introduces pieces of gear that actually affect various stats, such as increased health, better stealth, or more strength for melee attacks. You'll be able to mix and match various pieces of gear to fit the gameplay style you want. There is a staggering amount of options, though obviously better gear will cost you a lot more money.
There is further character progression through skill points, which unlock various abilities that fans have been taking for granted in past games. Blending into the crowd by sitting down on a bench now needs to be unlocked, as well as double assassinations and lockpicking chests.
Paris, the city of angry mobs
Aside from Arno, the other star of Unity is undoubtedly the meticulously crafted Paris. It's not just giant in square footage, but also in verticality. Climbing the highest structures in Paris might certainly give you vertigo, thanks to their 1:1 recreation.
When you're not freerunning through the rooftops, you're making your way through the bustling streets, which have the most amount of NPC density that I've ever seen, since possibly 99 Nights. The game manages to make sure you're not always seeing clones of one another, but there will certainly come a time, especially to those with a keen eye, where you'll see repeating citizens. With that said though, walking, not running, through the streets is sometimes just as enjoyable, since it truly feels like you're part of a living city.
Pretty but at a price
Unity is a gorgeous game, quite easily the best looking game that Ubisoft has ever made. Paris has insane amount of detail, down to every building. The characters and especially their facial animations look extremely convincing. And this might be the first game ever to do hair perfectly. Even more impressive are the grand interiors, with marble floors that reflect everything in the room. It's truly a sight to behold.
But all that beauty coupled with the massive density of NPCs comes at a slight price. I can confirm that the framerate does have its issues. Even if you're eye isn't keen on noticing the difference in framerates, you'll most likely notice the slowdown. With that said, it's not as game breaking as I originally thought it would be. Sure, you're not getting the smoothest gameplay, but I never actually found it to interfere with the ability to control Arno properly.
With that said, it's a shame that Ubisoft didn't further optimize it to at least run at a locked 30fps. The best analogy I can give is that your Xbox One or PS4 feels like it's a slightly older computer, with a mid range graphics card, trying to run a game on ultra settings. It will be pretty, but it won't always be smooth.
Why Ubisoft, why?!
Microtransactions are the bane of every retail game. Why did Ubisoft think it's a good idea to insert these into Unity? They offer players a shortcut in acquiring gear that's normally too expensive. Now, I know there are players who want instant gratification, but I can't imagine anyone would be willing to spend $10, or let alone $100 on fake currency, only to allow you to wear the best gear in the game, right away.
Bugs a plenty
If there is one thing for certain, it's that Ubisoft didn't seem to give the game a thorough QA after development because the game suffers from some pretty nasty bugs. Some might just be aesthetic and won't break your game in any way. Citizens of Paris can be stuck in a running animation or squat on the ground yet move around you. This stuff isn't what bothers me all that much. It's the bugs that make you restart a level or die without reason that infuriate.
For example, during a multiplayer match, my partner during a heist decided to jump into a hay cart while I descended a building using the new control scheme. As soon as I touched the ground, my character kept falling through infinitely, until he nearly disappeared from the screen, only to then start reappearing and bounce all the way back, resulting in death. During a heist, if one player fails, you both do, so you can imagine the frustration.
Another strange bug occured when completing a set objective by needing to kill a certain amount of Templars before moving to the next area. When we killed them, the secondary objective never popped up, meaning we were stuck in that objective limbo, and all that was left for us to do was kill ourselves by not fighting back against provoked guards. What made both of these instances even worse are the atrocious load times. If I died and respawned immediately, it wouldn't be as annoying, but the loading screen can take minutes. Now, minutes doesn't sound like a long time, but when you die mid mission, only to have to wait 5 minutes just to be respawned at a checkpoint that happened 10 minutes ago, that's terrible and unnecessary.
Multiplayer is chaotic most of the time
I can easily equate Unity's multiplayer to a third person version of Payday 2. In case you never played Payday 2, it's all about putting a four-player crew together and performing an elaborate heist. This can be an awesome thing if everyone is coordinated and communicates well. However, most Payday 2 heists devolve into pure chaos where bullets are favored over stealth, and it simply becomes a shootout.
The same can be said for Unity. If all players aren't communicating and letting each other know who is taking out who, it can quickly devolve into a sword fight with enemies swarming left and right. That's not to say it isn't a viable approach, as you can accomplish missions like that, but it certainly feels less like an Assassin's Creed game then.
With that said, I did enjoy the missions associated with the multiplayer mode. They all begin with a historical setpiece, presenting key targets and figures who you either have to protect or assassinate.
I care about Arno
Arno will never be Ezio to me, and by that extent, Edward either. However, he's still a rather fun and cocky character, and I cared about his struggle to find a place among the Assassins. Unity actually does a pretty good job at showing both sides of the story, and sometimes I even found myself disagreeing with the Assassin's approach.
Closing thoughts
In terms of visuals, Unity certainly looks next-gen. However, funnily enough, Assassin's Creed IV, which was a cross-gen title felt more next-gen thanks to its massive open seas, multiple cities to explore and seamless transitions between land and sea.
I may be in the minority here but my bug experiences were quite low, but the ones I did encounter did bring down my overall enjoyment of the experience. For every great moment I had with the game, there seemed to be another moment which took away from it just hiding away, waiting to strike.
That's not to say I didn't have fun playing Unity. Quite the opposite. All the changes to the core gameplay and additions to traversal grew on me. Sure, I didn't particularly like having to wait until sequence 5 to unlock the ability to perform a double kill from above, but having that character progression is something I think the series needs, just maybe a little less restrictive.
Much like Destiny, I think Unity is hiding a really great game underneath all of its issues. I hope that the Unity team at Ubisoft really puts their heads together and fix those issues sooner rather than later.
