Ubisoft Game Reviews
Review Assassin's Creed Origins: The Hidden Ones (PS4)
Bayek for more
The Hidden Ones is a story-driven expansion to Assassin's Creed Origins, a game that seriously surprised us with how good it actually was when it launched last year. Origins' recreation of Egypt is so well crafted and gorgeous that we've struggled to stay away from the open world title, coming back to it each day in order to complete...
Review Assassin's Creed Origins (PS4)
Welcome Bayek
Assassin's Creed Origins has exceeded our expectations by some distance. After the disaster that was Assassin's Creed Unity and the solid but unremarkable Assassin's Creed Syndicate, it was clear that Ubisoft needed to take a step back and reassess its sandbox property. Fortunately, the company made the right call when it decided to...
Review South Park: The Fractured But Whole (PS4)
Fart attack
Given the mire that mankind currently finds itself in, we should probably applaud Trey Parker and Matt Stone's scattershot, omnilateral approach to satire in South Park: The Fractured But Whole, a game which mercilessly skewers all facets of modern life. Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you align with, your...
Review Child of Light (PlayStation 4)
Painted paradise
Republished on Wednesday 30th August 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Child of Light, a new two-dimensional role-playing game from Ubisoft, is best described using the titles that it was so...
Bark or bite?
This is what you wanted, people – this is what you voted for. No, not Trump or Brexit, but a city run by the Blume Corporation where absolutely everyone is constantly under the gaze of an advanced Big Brother surveillance system. This near future society is a Black Mirror-esque teched-up metropolis where ctOS2.0 connects everyone...
Numa Numa nay
Just Dance: the worst part of every E3. Just Dance sometimes feels like the Ubisoft series no one can takes seriously – or even cares about anymore. This year's edition really doesn't add much in terms of gameplay or modes, but it's still solid. Firstly, the tracklist: there's a lot of variation this year, with modern hits like...
Just playing the game, having a BUD
It was perhaps a little surprising to see a sequel to last year's botanical platforming adventure Grow Home, especially one that would release so swiftly. Grow Up released less than 12 months after its predecessor, and we were curious to find out what could've changed in that short space of time. As it turns out,...
Review Trials of the Blood Dragon (PS4)
A e s t h e t i c
For all its faux-eighties foolishness, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was a very clever game. It took an established franchise, gave it a splash of visual variety, and then injected it with some bizarre characters and mechanics. Above all, it was silly, fun, and endearing. Unfortunately, Trials of the Blood Dragon is none of those things...
Review Tom Clancy's The Division (PS4)
Flu York, Flu York
In The Division it's amazing how quickly society goes to pieces. Admittedly, a genetically engineered super virus that manages to wipe out a large swathe of New York's population seems a reasonable catalyst, but you would have thought that it would have taken more than a few weeks for things to get as messed up as this. Anyhow, in...
Evolution not revolution
It's easy to imagine that when the team behind Far Cry Primal were deciding what their latest outing should be, they looked back over their previous titles and asked: what do people most enjoy about Far Cry? One of the things that would probably be near the top of that list would be the hunting and crafting that acted as one...
Review Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia (PS4)
Bad Marx
What's most puzzling about Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is who its target audience is. Anyone who didn't like the previous two games has no reason to play this, yet because of the carbon-copied formula, anyone who did like the previous two games has no reason to play it either, because it's quite literally same thing. What's...
Review Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India (PS4)
We can't think of a pun(jab)
The Assassin's Creed series – hell, Ubisoft's entire portfolio – has been getting a lot of flak lately due to the samey nature of each instalment. The expected announcement of Watch Dogs 2 seemed to excite no one, and it seems like no one really cares about the Assassin's Creed movie that's coming out this very year...
Review Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper (PS4)
From heaven
There's a perverse fascination with Jack the Ripper, so it's no surprise that Ubisoft has selected the infamous serial killer as the star of Assassin's Creed Syndicate's first major expansion pack. The romanticised murderer – portrayed as a kind of low-rent Scarecrow here, complete with growly lower-class accent and sack mask –...
Review Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (PS4)
Once more unto the breach dear friends
A teammate is yelling at the hostage to be quiet. Whether they've had a serious mental break causing them to scream at what amounts to a collection of polygons on a screen is up for debate, but what is certain is that you're both in deep trouble. What was believed to be a fortified, secure room is now anything...
Tonight's gonna be a good night
Just Dance is the bane of every Ubisoft press conference – from last year's huge group of dancers to this year's out-of-tune and insanely awkward Jason Derulo, it's never been a property that's been taken too seriously. Yet this year's edition has plenty of new features and content – most of which isn't available...
Review Assassin's Creed Syndicate (PS4)
Ten a penny
Yes, it's better than Assassin's Creed Unity. Ubisoft's romp through revolutionary Paris was a steaming mass of merde, so the publisher had little margin for error with Assassin's Creed Syndicate – the latest instalment in the French firm's flagship open world franchise. But while transposing the property's iconic undercover killing to...
Son of a beech
Grow Home is yet another small indie-esque release from Ubisoft, following closely in the footsteps of Child of Light and Valiant Hearts. It combines unique gameplay, a stunning graphical style, and a cute story about robots and plants in an attempt to recreate the sensation of rock-climbing. But does this plucky platformer climb to...
Review Toy Soldiers: War Chest (PS4)
I love the smell of polyurethane in the morning
Occasionally there comes a game that sounds like the next big hit on paper but crumples into a steaming heap when in practice. Enter Toy Soldiers: War Chest, a game that pits the likes of the Care Bears against the armies of Castle Grey Skull in this tower defense escapade that takes a fundamentally...
There's no U in Zombi
ZombiU was an innovative and genuinely scary survival horror title which hit the Wii U at launch – one that made excellent use of Nintendo's second screen GamePad to enhance the terror to all new levels. Now, three years later, the title has been ported to the PlayStation 4, complete with a control overhaul to shift...
Mind boggling
Ubisoft's board game train ain't showing any signs of slowing, with Boggle the latest passenger on the quality time carriage. A popular pastime originally designed by Allan Turoff in the early 70s, the tabletop title works a little like a word search whereby you can snake between different letters, as long as you can find a way to...
Review Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (PlayStation 4)
Creed of the chronic
It's been a rocky road for Ubisoft lately, with the publisher on the receiving end of bad press for the likes of Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed Unity. It may be time for a bit of stability, then, and that's where Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China comes into the equation. A 2.5D adventure full to the brim with typical franchise...
Review Far Cry 4: Valley of the Yetis (PlayStation 4)
Different, Yeti the same
The latest piece of downloadable content for Far Cry 4 – Valley of the Yetis – serves up another sizeable slice of action for the Kyrat faithful, and sees protagonist Ajay Ghale crash landing in the titular valley while investigating reports that Pagan Min's forces are on the hunt for a mysterious relic. After waking...
Review Trivial Pursuit Live! (PlayStation 4)
Genius in a can
If there's one problem with the physical version of Trivial Pursuit, it's that there aren't enough klaxons. Without loud noises and bright lights, how are you supposed to know how awesome and attractive you obviously are? Ubisoft's latest adaptation drops most of what made the question-and-answer board game such a huge success,...
Risky business
With so many kitten videos on YouTube, taking over the world is something of a hassle these days. Vladimir Putin, with his head as smooth as a baby's first jazz recital, has found this out the hard way, attempting to start a world war while also maintaining his long-distance stalking of PewDiePie. Luckily, there's an easier way to...
Review Assassin's Creed Unity: Dead Kings (PlayStation 4)
Merde
If we were writing this review for an English literature class, we'd argue that Franciade is a metaphor for Assassin's Creed Unity as a whole. The expansive sandbox setting, which serves as hero Arno Dorian's stomping ground during add-on Dead Kings, is dark and dreary, contrasting the oversaturated architecture of Paris with something a...
Review Tetris Ultimate (PlayStation 4)
From Russia with indifference
The puzzle game used to be the staple of every platform’s portfolio. Be it Tetris, Columns, or Bust-a-Move, no console was complete without a score chasing outing of its own. In an age of Facebook and smartphones, though, those days are long gone, with Tetris the last bastion of a genre that’s largely been left...
Review The Crew (PlayStation 4)
Thank you for driving dangerously
If you’ve ever fancied taking a coast-to-coast road trip across America, then you were probably excited by the announcement that Ubisoft's latest driving game The Crew was offering the chance to do just that. Even with its abbreviated version of the USA, the scale of its game world, coupled with the chance to tear...
Review Far Cry 4 (PlayStation 4)
Take a walk on the wild side
Far Cry 3 managed to blend a near perfect mix of open world and first-person shooter, taking players to the darker side of a Pacific paradise, where many of the inhabitants were the definition of insane. For its sequel, there’s a definite feeling that Ubisoft took the view 'if it’s not broken, don’t fix it', so Far...
Review Assassin's Creed Rogue (PlayStation 3)
A touch of frost
You’d be forgiven for branding Assassin’s Creed Rogue an afterthought, as its next-gen brother, Assassin’s Creed Unity, overshadowed its release. Although appearing as a cash-in for those still waiting to upgrade their PlayStation 3s, though, this is actually a solid instalment in Ubisoft’s historical franchise, bringing...
Review Rocksmith 2014 Edition (PlayStation 4)
Shred school
As a lapsed guitar player, this wannabe rockstar was eagerly anticipating the release of Rocksmith 2014 Edition on the PlayStation 4. With two mistreated instruments decorated in dust, Ubisoft’s tutor promised a much needed excuse to wipe them down and get them back into action – but does this next-gen port squeal like Slash or hit...
