After bringing home the goods in the form of Black Flag, Ubisoft must have thought long and hard to think of an historical event that would fit right into their never ending Assassin versus Templar battle. Let’s be honest, after exploring the Caribbean with Edward Kenway , it was never going to be easy at all for them to produce something that was going to even come close to the ranks of Black Flag.
But as you’ve probably seen through trailers and images, they’ve done a damn good job in making a beautiful recreation of Paris. And an open world sandbox that is so rich and dense that I felt there wasn’t enough time to explore everything the game has to offer. The game has gone back to proper stealth based assassinations, while free running is taken to new levels with slick rooftop traversal and breathtaking visuals that truly make it feel new-gen material. This is the closest the franchise has come to making a tangible city, due to the sheer amount of people roaming the streets. Unity remains a familiar game with big changes, and not necessarily all for the better.
Overview
Opening Scene for Unity
Unity is set in revolutionary Paris. You play as Arno Dorian, who is a charismatic character with a sense of humor and a sharp tongue. I don’t know why but he reminds me of some irritating young bollywood actor who talks too much, which is why I liked Arno more with the hood on. He doesn’t have much interest in the uprising going on around him but rather is in it for personal reasons. His is a tale of revenge that is centered amongst this revolution that is going on. Unlike the previous editions where the plot was too focused on the historical events and it felt as though the assassins pretty much did everything. Unity only briefly ties itself into the wider Assassin’s Creed Universe as you get a lot of the context and history but also get a character driven story that is cleverly woven into this juncture in history.
Game Environment
Extensive Environment
When you compare Black Flag’s and Unity’s maps, you’ll find that the Caribbean map seems a lot bigger because it is spread out. But when you actually run around even just a district in Paris, you’ll soon notice that it is enormous and that there are so many elements to explore. Even simply jumping from rooftop to rooftop and climbing into windows to find even more interactive elements. And not all locations are the same, so you don’t feel like you’re constantly running through the same setting. They’ve also covered various important landmarks like the Notre Dame, which again have been worked on to the tiniest of details and the attention to detail that has gone into making this city is just astonishing. The synchronization points help you get a more than a glimpse of the area, as it doesn’t do that little spin it used to anymore. This one takes a longer journey and circles around a lot more area and last a decent amount of time longer and it felt like the setting just kept getting bigger every time.
Time Anomaly Mission
These Time Anomaly Missions are quite something!
There are also time anomaly missions which are really neat I think. These missions are set in different eras and require you to escape through portals before they shut down. New mechanics in the game create invisible silhouettes of Arno which indicate where your enemies have last seen you. This makes it easier to know where you’ve been spotted and can lure enemies to assassinate them.
Free Running
Free running has become much more controlled
However, they did work on the free-running technique in Unity. In the other games you would always fall victim to running off the targeted path which ends up costing you a mission. With Unity you have the high-low options which allow you to decide whether you want to run over and slide under an object, which gives you more control over the free-run. It does take a while to get used to, but it is something you will benefit from as you progress in the game.
Just keep running, just keep running, just keep running running running
Also they have added a new aspect to the free-running element which allows you to descent from any point without actually jumping right off it. It looks really cool too as it is a controlled yet fast-paced descent. In Black Flag, jumping off a building would deteriorate your health, but with time would regenerate. In Unity you don’t have that option, once you lose health you can only regain it with medicine bottles, of which you can carry up to 5 at a time. A simple click of the up button on the PS4 refills your health in an instant, so while in combat and you’ve taken a deadly blow, you can regain full health in a second with a push of a button.
Combat Style
In the training room
Combat in Unity is much more realistic and it’s not as easy as it used to be to take on a whole crowd of guards. In this sand box environment, you are given the freedom to perform assassinations as you wish, which doesn’t mean you’ll succeed. But after having a few goes at the mission, you should be able to find your way. That’s something that I really like about this game, trial and error method. In Black Flag you could use the counter attack button and you were pretty much guaranteed a win over your opponent. But that is done away with in Unity and you have to heavily rely on your “parry” and “dodge.” These moves also do not give you a guaranteed win over your foes, so if you are getting attacked by let’s say 6-7 guards at once, they all will attack you at the same time.
Going for the kill
I’m pretty sure that’s a kill
And if you are up against a “brute” that carry large axes, you cannot parry them with your sword. You either have to dodge or have an equally heavy weapon to parry them. Also you have various skills that you can unlock as the game progresses, which is something that I find really cool. Also you can learn each skill as you unlock them in your training room. Once you master these moves and use them out in the missions it does give you more than a satisfying feeling.
Co-Op Mode
Your and your assassin buddies
Unity has done away with most of the side quests that gamers did not like from the previous editions. Missions like eavesdropping and following people have been cut short, even though they are present, it doesn’t consist of the bulk of the mission. Co-Op is an interesting addition to the game as you can use up to 4 assassins to do a certain mission. And each assassin would be different according to how you’ve been upgrading them, resulting in each assassin to have his own strengths and that is when the assortment of weapons comes into play – One-Handed, Long, Heavy, Pistols and Rifles. Also when it comes to customizing Arno, be assured that you can get him almost any sort of clothes you want and in any color too. You can buy stuff with skills point and hard cash.
Arno being inducted into the Creed
The co op mode didn’t live to its hype though and probably isn’t the go to multiplayer mode that you would have hoped for. They are basically for heist missions where you are judged according to stealth. However things like shared eagle vision and ability to highlight kills for your teammates is quite cool and reinforces the idea of teamwork. With some of the assassin’s acting from long range shots and the other from point blank. Integrating the co op mode into the single player campaign seemed like a good idea.
Glitches
I found this so funny!
There were a decent amount of glitches that I found while playing this game. One I encountered was in the Sewers while I tried to assassinate Roi des Thunes. I snuck up behind him and took a shot at him with my phantom blade. It struck him but he didn’t die, he was just wounded and squabbling….but not on the ground. He sort of fell of the parapet he was standing on and instead of falling down to the ground beneath him, he got stuck on one of the pegs the assassin uses to climb the walls. I climbed to where he was laying and there was no option to assassinate him. So I did the next best thing, got to the ground and shot him in the ass. Needless to say nothing happened, so I had ran into a bunch of guards and let them kill me and restarted the mission. It was pretty hilarious, and yes I did record it. I’ll put it up soon, pakka!
I tried everything, like literally!
Some may have found that annoying but it was actually pretty damn funny. However there are other bugs with AI like a guard who will see you but forget the next instant. Another example is how Arno sometimes changes the direction in which he jumped, in mid-air, which sort of looks like he’s floating. These glitches take away from the whole gaming experience and gives you the impression that the game isn’t polished.
What I didn’t Like
Beautiful French setting in a thick British accent
From the start of the game you’ll notice something terribly wrong. I mean what is up with the British accents? They paid so much attention to the buildings that they forgot to change the voice cast? I mean I can imagine how funny it’d sound having a French accent when Arno is discussing important matters with the Brotherhood, but that is Ubisoft needed to have thought through instead of blatantly ignoring the whole idea.
The loading screens took a little too much time for some reason. But to be fair those usually happen between missions and it’s not like it happens while you interact the environment or when you’re free running which remains for the most part seamless. Another thing that I found to be irritating was that a lot of content had to be unlocked by the web based Assassin’s Creed Initiates, and trust me, there were many!
Conclusion
Its all about the stealth, bout the stealth, no combat.
You can see how this iteration of the franchise is trying to get back to its root with more importance been given to stealthy assassinations, after exploring a little more with its previous two iterations.
Need I say anything here?
Is Unity the next gen Assassin’s Creed we were all waiting for? I’d say yes, I mean there were cons to the game but those didn’t really bother me too much. I’m sure there are others out there who would think differently of the cons and might even be disappointed that those rectifications weren’t made. But I enjoyed the game a lot, it was really addictive. And what else can I say? It’s a great game with amazing settings and interactive environment.
