Topic: Assaasin's Creed: Unity

So I got this yesterday, and I've been having a great time with. Since the game has been fixed, it's actually a really good game. It feels like it's what the series has always wanted to be. The parkour is better than ever, and the ability to descend really does make things smoother. The combat is completely redone, and is a huge improvement. No more of that terrible kill streak system. Now attacks have weight, and parrying and dodging having replaced countering. It makes you powerful, yet vulnerable, which is perfect for the series. The stealth is great, being more complete than in previous games with cover and crouching. It also doesn't lose focus of what AC is about at all like other AC games like Black Flag have. I'd say it's by far the best Assassin's Creed game. It's really a shame it launched broken, as I think the reception would have been much more positive. I really hope this game gets a proper sequel (gameplay wise) one day, and the series doesn't just start losing focus more and more over time again. (I know Syndicate isn't that game BTW.)

I really didn't enjoy it personally. I thought the combat was slow and unresponsive; the setting did little for me; the story was all over the place; and I've seen it all before. It did have some positive aspects — I agree the parkour was improved and I liked the Hitman-style missions — but it just wasn't for me.

Having said that, I ended up putting like 40 hours into it, and I still have no idea why. It must have had something for me to keep playing it, I'm just not sure what that something was.

Either way, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Yeah not to big on the AC series myself. Played a bit of one, two and Brotherhood but never finished them cause I just had other games that interested me more. I played and finished 3 which is my favorite but that was more of the setting, I really liked the Revolutionary War setting. Black Flag was good to but for me felt more like a pirate sim game more then an AC game. After that though I have no interest in the series.

@Jaz007: I'm with you on all those things. Possibly my favorite ac. Too bad most people had a horrible impression.

I've only played the first two, the second I'm still playing. The first is ok, but II is one of my recent favorites. I look at Unity and all of it's negative reception, and it makes me kinda sad that this series has really dropped it's stock given how much I enjoy ACII. It wasn't that long ago that people were enjoying Black Flag, now we're bemoaning a new title due later this year. It is warranted, don't get me wrong. Unity's bugs at launch were bad.

I'll gladly check out Unity if it works well, but I'll get to it when I get to it.

Honestly what the critics say have nothing to do with any of my game decisions even broken games at launch like Unity, Driveclub etc. I don't pay attention to the initial reviews. Now if the game stays broken then yeah I will pass it by. In Unity's case the time period just didn't grab my attention.

The critics don't really influence me either, I just hate it when a franchise with something good going gets off the rails. I understand why people are sick of AC, I just wish it wasn't messed up and overexposed.

Game critics and the internet aren't thát good with anticipation and tend to exaggerate a lot. AC1 was hyped massively, and of course it became a gigant letdown (and to be fair: it really isn't a good game). So when AC2 released and addressed some of the issues critics and the internet were really hyped. And of course, AC3 a few years later was a letdown again and 'worse'. Following AC3 excitement for the AC-series dropped and when AC4 released it was suddenly hailed as one of the greatest games of the year. V released later, with massive excitement overall, and of coure disappointed. Now for AC6 expactations are low again, so it'll probably get great reviews.

Don't get me wrong: I do think AC1 and AC3 aren't good games and have had a great time with Black Flag and AC2. No doubt. The point I'm trying to make here that a lot of that reception got overexagerated in the process. The bugs in AC5 at launch were unforgiven, but reviews for the game as a whole suffered from it as reviewers and forum posters denied everything that was great about that game.

I try never to let anticipation get in the way of my judgement, but that can't really be said about a lot of game sites. Push Square of course is a great exception. I love how they always stated that Drive Club is a great game, even though the terrible launch. Same goes for Assassin's Creed V. It isn't that bad of a game if you're playing it today.

@Kidfried: Well I guess that really depends on your point of view. The original Assassins Creed as far as I am aware didn't come with that much 'Hype' - certainly not compared to a lot of games. When it arrived though it was relatively unique and I really enjoyed it on the whole. AC2 was and still is the best game of the franchise for me. It took everything that was great from the original and addressed pretty much all of the 'issues' with the first and refined everything. Brotherhood and Revelations felt more of a cash in and added MP into the mix but basically pushed that particular time line too far. AC3 wasn't the greatest - if anything its probably the worst of the AC games and although AC4 was popular - its just NOT an AC game. I think it would have been better as a new IP. I am not denying that its possibly the best Pirate game we have had but as an AC game, I really felt disappointed. I haven't played Unity or intending to buy Syndicate. Unity though does look more like a 'traditional' Assassins Creed game and more reminiscent of AC2.

I rarely actually read a review in depth - at least not until after I have played a game. I do tend to read the summary and score but I also read multiple review summaries and scores. I also never base my decision to buy on a review. I can often tell if a game is likely to appeal to me by watching some game-play and reading a description. The review and score to me is nothing more than a way to find out if the videos/description have been misleading or don't deliver on a technical level. Franchise games though - I have a general idea of what to expect and unless its a radical departure or a change of developer then I may do a bit more research.

I knew before I saw any footage of Uncharted 4 that I would have a PS4 in place to buy it on day of release. I don't need a review to tell me whether or not I should buy it. The first gameplay video (combat and traversal in the mountains) I saw convinced me that this is a game I will enjoy and the E3 footage actually exceeded my expectations of this game. Maybe the story won't be as good as previous games but I know it will deliver on the game-play - mainly because of the developers and past history.

Its the direction that Ubisoft and past track record that puts me off. Even with a game like the Division that on a lot of levels should appeal. Despite my reservations over EA I can't deny that ME4 and SW:Battlefront will be bought - in fact SW:BF is on pre-order. Because of the Tomb Raider 'reboot', I can say with certainty that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be bought too as will CoD:BO3 because of Treyarch and not because of Advanced Warfare. All these without seeing a review.

I will never argue that the gameplay itself was bad by the time I got round to playing Unity (as mentioned already, the parkour in particular was vastly improved from previous entries), the fact remains that even when totally bug free it was just a very boring game.

All of the combat / action scenarios had been done better in previous entries, and I would genuinely flag the story as the worst I've ever played in a video game - there was barely any story to speak of, and what was there was flat and lifeless, with no real attempts made to make any of the characters seem even remotely three dimensional.

Yes, the traversal and combat can be fun, and although repetitive I thought areas of the environment were very well designed, particularly on the south of the map. However, when all is said and done it's a franchise where story is supposed to be key to the game, and the tripe I had to sit through in Unity makes it easily the worst in franchise for me.

I haven't gotten far enough to judge the story, but I will say, I hear so many British accents in France. I had no idea there so many Brirish immigrants in France. I don't know why they don't get French actors for the game.

Jazz007 would you say Unity is fully fixed now? This is one of the reasons why I never got Unity in the first place, but if it's been fixed I will be picking it up.

@banacheck: It's pretty much fully fixed, though it may have the occasional small issue, but it's like 4 frames drop once in a blue moon. It also has some frame troubles in cutscenes, but it just messed up smoothness a little. You can still tell what is going on perfectly well. I would definitely say you should get it if that's being fixed is your problem.

May pick this up next week when I'm done with the order, following driveclub as well its a rogues gallery of bad games at launch. May have to go all in and buy the master chief collection to complete the set.

@banacheck: It's definitely fixed now, but I would still urge you not to pay any more than a tenner for it. Same goes to @themcnoisy

Funnily enough, after commenting on this thread the other day I had a bizarre dream, most of which I have since forgotten, but the one bit I specifically remember was actively stopping a guy in a shop from trying to buy this for £5. Now, in all honesty I know it's not THAT bad a game, but it's not great either. And it clearly left a lasting impression on me haha...

@SteveButler2210: Traded in trials and alien for unity. @Jaz007 thanks for the advice if its broke I will never talk to you again. Lol.

@Jaz007 played this game over the last two nights following your appraisal of the game and following my last comment I'm never talking to you again. Lol.

I like the characters but strongly dislike the overarching story. I will never understand why Ubisoft constantly need revenge as a motivation. Just make a kid grow up as a thieving little git Fagan Oliver twist style. The overblown save the realm/world/universe storylines are really starting to annoy me now and we need better localised story telling like the white swan, tlou, valiant hearts and the walking dead. Else the story and characters end up lifeless and unrealistic. Exactly what's happened here.

After playing Rogue Legacy, Resogun and Driveclub were mistakes are punished but they are nearly always your fault - to playing this complete mess were you get stuck on walls and things dont work regularly like blending and climbing is frustrating. The claustrophobic Paris (which looks great at times) doesn't help the gameplay at all. Ive had multiple instances were my character refuses to move to an obvious grip or window even though I'm doing everything correctly. This has led to losing targets and falling off ledges and desynchronising.

Finally and the big nail in the coffin is the ridiculous amount of chests and collectibles. This game takes the usual ubisoft collectathon and turns it up to 11. Gone are the glyphs (up to now anyway) and the feathers which had a meaning on the story, replaced by 5 gazillion chests. The people of 18th century Paris have based the security of their possessions seemingly on 16bit jrpgs.

Its still playable and no doubt I will play the next few chapters, but its not a good game.

@themcnoisy: To be fair, I never recommended the story. In fact, all I had said was that I hadn't gotten far enough to judge it lol. I think blending might just take some getting use to (though it's still not perfect, I think it functions well enoug; a tip as well, it's based around there being 4 people (including you). For the climbing, I think it's pretty good, but I'll agree it isn't perfect. I don't think it's ever been without issues in the series. (out of curiosity, have you ever played AC before?) And on the windows, make sure to press L2. For the million chests, just ignore them. they don't really harm anything by being there.

@Jaz007: Yeah AC1 and 2 - Assassins Creed 2 was one if the biggest impact games I had ever played, the scope, characters and missions all had variety and looked great at the time. 7 years later and this is like assassins creed 2.5.

Have you played Watchdogs? It's practically the same game but set modern day.

@themcnoisy: How is it 2.5? I can understand you not liking the game, but I can't understand how you reached 2.5. The combat has been completely redone, the stealth has been redone, and the parkour has been redone. Practically everything has been redone. If Unity doesn't qualify as a full sequel from AC2, then I don't know what would.
Also, no, I haven't played Watch Dogs.