Ubisoft has become somewhat of a joke, or at the receiving end of jokes in the last couple of years. It started with stringent DRM policies and always online requirements. It got worse with how bad Uplay was at launch, though issues have been ironed out slowly. The downhill spiral of the Assassin’s Creed series came to a head with the bug ridden Assassin’s Creed :Unity. And Assassin’s Creed Syndicate was completely forgettable.
However, over the last two years, Ubisoft has been making some really great games, and supporting them long term. Sadly, people are more inclined to remember the bad than the good. So, I’ve decided to list out some of their stand out releases in the last few years, and point out some cool and unique ideas that Ubisoft is pushing through those games.
For Honor
This is the latest game by Ubisoft, and is so very unique in its combat and setting. For all the crap that Ubisoft gets for recycling content across games, and adding a lot of padding in the form of collectibles, For Honor has none of that. Its a fighting game with swords, and is at its best when played 1 Vs 1. There’s a lot of strategy and tactics involved, including reading your opponent’s moves, parrying, blocking, dodging, stamina management, and using the environment. There are issues with it, but then again, there’s no other game with this production value and polish out there right now, and kudos to Ubisoft to be willing to take a risk and develop such a great new IP.
South Park: The Stick Of Truth
In a time when games based on movies or TV shows usually turn out to be lazy cash grabs, Ubisoft and Obsidian came together to make a truly fantastic game based on the South Park series. A turn based strategy game, with art style as close to the original series as possible, South Park is a true delight. And it even managed to stay true to the tone of the series, being crude and humorous, and even thought provoking at times. The game also added a lot of new jokes and ideas, instead of being overly dependent on the source material, which was welcome, specially for fans whole wanted more, but not just more of the same. The sequel to the game South Park: The Fracture But Whole is one of my most awaited titles this year.
Far Cry Primal
It’s not easy to innovate, specially when you are into the fifth game in a franchise. However, Far Cry Primal was a fresh new take on the Far Cry formula, taking away the guns and handing you more primal weapons, and essentially changing up the core way of playing the game. You were still in the jungle, but everything just felt more dangerous and bigger this time around. And combat played out either from the shadows using bows and arrows or up close with clubs and spears. Throw in some wild beasts that you could fight or tame to fight alongside you, and Far cry Primal couldn’t be more different from the previous games in the series. Ubisoft also added a Survival Mode to the game, which made it one of the best survival simulators out there.
Watch Dogs 2
After the fiasco that was the first Watch Dogs, not many had high or any hopes from Watch Dogs 2. Oh, we couldn’t have been more wrong! Watch Dogs 2 isn’t just good, its a fantastic open world game, that gets so much right. The city of San Francisco is beautifully recreated, and filled with fun and purpose-driven quests to do. Gone are the tedious grind-fests found in the average open world games, because Watch Dogs 2 has missions where you drive around people in an Uber-style cab driver missions, and even they are filled with personality and witty dialogues so good that you are always keen to see where the next ride takes you. And there’s so much more. The world is open to explore from the start, and you can fast travel to anywhere from the beginning. No more unlocking sections of the map or climbing towers.
Even skills are given out in such a well balanced manner, that I never found myself grinding out missions to get skills that I needed. I was always rewarded adequately, and nothing about Watch Dogs 2 ever got boring. The streets, beaches, suburbs, parks are all filled with many NPCs going about their everyday routines, and it all gives the world a sense of being natural and realistic, even when you are hacking around town murdering people. Its fucking great!
Rainbow Six Siege
Sure, Rainbow Six Siege did not have the most promising start, and the lack of a single player campaign put off a lot of long time fans. However, the game itself is so well made, and so well supported by Ubisoft over the past year that it’s hard to deny that once you start playing Rainbow Six Siege, you can’t just stop. The gameplay and the progression is highly well balanced, pitting players in a variety of 5 vs 5 modes, all across distinctly unique maps. There’s also been a ton of content added to the game, and this is one of those multiplayer games that actually has a bigger player-base now than at the time of launch. The destructible environments, great level design, and the need for constant chatter between squadmates makes Rainbow Six Siege one of the best multiplayer shooters right now.
Steep
Steep was one of those games that no one really asked for, but Ubisoft still made it. The thing is that it’s kind of great. It sets out to do just one thing, extreme adventure sports, and does it really well. The map is huge, and you can switch between activities, skiing, wingsuit flying, snowboarding, and paragliding, on the fly. The game looks great, and plays really well as well. Sadly, I don’t play it much anymore, and seems like mot many others do either. I still wanted to mention it, because the game in itself is great. There just does not seem to be too much of demand for games of this genre any more.
Honorable mentions:
Child Of Light: Fantastic art design, heartfelt story, and great turn based gameplay.
Ghost Recon Wildlands: The beta was immensely fun, and the open world design is something I am excited for.
Anno 2205: Great looking strategy game, with tons of depth and an interesting futuristic setting.
Grow Up/Grow Home: Kind of open world, great visual aesthetic, fun platforming.
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