Review: Assassin's Creed Unity

G'day guys and gals!

As with each AC review, I will state the obvious: I have been a massive fan of the series from the very beginning (If my Creed tattoo wasn't too much of a hint already), but as a reviewer, I know I must look at all games from a neutral point of view and judge it accordingly. As a fan, it pains me to say that Unity has plenty of issues, many of which has been made public already. But with each AAA title game does have faults, they do have their positives and Unity has plenty of them as well.

Beginning with the main obvious attraction, gameplay: with each new addition to the series, gameplay is one of the most heavily updated features in the entire game. Unity has truly made a excellent step in the right direction and an innovative one at that. Improving upon the parkour of AC3, Unity allows for seemless parkour between all climbable objects with a two button system of holding RT and A to climb and RT and B to descend. While doing so, players must also control the camera angle to aim where they want to go and what to climb, making the parkour system much more than simply holding a button to sprint in a direction and letting the AI do all the work. Although I shall mention how a tad overstated the jumping can be (With ropes and such non reactive even after leaping huge heights) but thus is only a minor irritant and mostly overlooked. Not only that but combat has been improved heavily and single player customisation has been overhauled completely, allowing for a more in depth and player driven character than ever in the previous games. Weapon choice has also become a massive component in the game, allowing players to chose between a massive variety of weaponry, everything from pickaxes to pikes and rifles are covered, not even to begin mentioning the huge new clothing options and colourings. From spearing a man through a chest or smashing his skull in with a blunderbuss, combat has improved from enemies who wait their turn to attack, even more so from the previous games. Most, if not all, enemies are anxious to kill you, many attacking you repeatedly if you cannot break their defense. Players will rethink charging head first into a field of enemies as many will hang back and shoot you down, furthering combat difficulty even higher. While the range of enemies is mostly limited to Loyalist (A militia group hell bent on revolution) and the Royal Guard (who mostly leave you alone unless you do something illegal), there are plenty of enemies within their ranks, since the weapon range and difficulty ratings in areas can turn a simple assassination into a bloodbath or enemies throwing bombs, shooting and stabbing from every corner. I should also mention the utter excellent side missions, especially the Murder Mystery missions: solving murders by finding clues and paying attention to notes is a an extremely fun way to kill time between missions, I found myself hunting down the murders more than the story at times! Rescuing trapped Assassins, Paris Stories from thievery to murderers, solving Nostradamus riddles, even strolling down a street can lead you to a mini side mission such as tackling thieves, scaring thugs, killing messangers secretly and more. These can tend to repeat after a few hours (And the Murder Mysteries don't have any alterations from solving clues and picking a murderer) but are nonetheless a fun and creative way to expand the game. 

THIS brings me to the storyline: Following the actions of Assassin's Creed 4, you are only known as Initiate, an everyday person playing around with your new device at home; the Animus. While viewing Templar controlled "history", you are contacted by an Assassin, only known as Bishop (And aided by a familiar sounding Assassin codenamed Deacon) and asked to see the truth and help them in their fight against the Templars by exploring the memories of Arno Dorian as he, much like Edward, had come across something both the Assassins and Templars wanted dearly: a Sage. Having lost his father while playing with a girl name Elise, Arno is then "adopted" by her father, then Templar Grand Master Francois de la Serre. After his also mysterious death, Arno feels guilt for his small role in abandoning his duties to save him and seeks the help of the Assassins in order to track down his killer and dissolve the Templars plans in the French Revolution.
The storyline itself is much different to what fans would be used to; while there is still the excessive sneaking and stabbing to be done, much of the storyline is contradictory to the Creed, as is Arno's quest to begin with. At times the story does drag on, however it mostly makes up for it for the plotlines and gameplay's action. For example, main assassination missions no longer have the same context as before; players can pick and choose their approach and how to execute their targets. Every option (And distractions/assistants to help your cause!) is available, from poisoning wine to weaken your target and move them into a secluded area to freeing prisioners to fight alongside you charging enemies head on, developers have truly given this much thought. 

Graphics have been improved as well, with faces and bodies no longer glisening at every available option or skin looking gravely, textures are distinctive and movements are as well. Beards do need a tag more work, but are otherwise believable. This brings me to the very popular face glitch where only eyes and lips remain. Personally I have not seen this glitch happen yet (Even when I had no updates for the game) but as always, just as an oversight to the review. Buildings and scenary are particularly impressive, Revolutionary France being excellently done a definite understatement, with massive kudos to the Helix moments in 20th/14th Century France as well.
Musical score and sound effects are also well done, with the odd bump here and there (mostly during the overload of characters and things happening on screen) but is otherwise enjoyable, even to the point of this particular reviewer listening to the soundtrack as they type. 
Now, voice acting: While the main cast is mostly filled with tv and few movies while the veterans do mainly subcharacters, overall the acting is well done. Not incredible, but not bad. Arno (Dan Jeannotte) can be flat and dull at times but can be boyish and quite lively most of the time, the back and forth between him and Elise (Catherine Berube) and Pierre Bellec (Anthony Lemke) holds much needed depth for the game. 
Finally, Co-Op and Heists. Players who can intergrate themselves online into other worlds and take out missions together. While it holds much promise and plenty of fun and funny moments, many of the glitches I have found tend to be online. At the time of this review, the game still cannot hold four players moving in a single mission and attacking multitudes of enemies while a giant crowd looks on. While it looks amazing in single player and works fine, this often leads to animation and reaction delay, players glitching through the ground and being unable to be revives (despite multiple attempts) and some of the best glitched body movements I've ever seen. While I have yet to find any gamebreaking glitches, these are best noted to definitely kill the mood, especially as Heists have their own cutscenes and animations, most of which become ruined as soon as a player's connection lags. Finding a match isn't hard, but maintaining one is harder. 

Glitches and microtransactions aside, the game does have its fair share of fun and intrigue. But in saying that, with the addition of overpriced microtransactions, AC Initiates (An online account for chests) and of course Uplay issues, the game does indeed have plenty of faults at its disposal to be picked at. 
But does that make it a bad game or any less enjoyable? The answer is a strong no. The microtransactions are optional, as is Initiates (Although for PC users, Uplay is manditory) and online or otherwise, the game offers plenty more than the 18-20 hours of storyline of Arno, with side missions and co-op just being the added gravy. Assassin's Creed Unity has not left a defining mark in its series of games, but it has definitely made a positive one. A must play for casuals and fans alike.

Out of 10, I give Assassin's Creed Unity an 8/10

Assassin's Creed Unity is out now for the standard price of $90

Unboxing - Assassin's Creed Unity Notre Dame Edition!

Review: Sunset Overdrive

G'day there guys and gals!

As a student of drama and acting classes since I was 10, I have always been hammered this quote from my teachers: "Random does not always equal funny", Saints Row 3/4 proved that quite often. Sunset Overdrive, a game built on the opposite of that prospect, completely destroys that idea with clever references, jokes both inside for fans of their genre and shows and stabs at all types of games, story plotline cliches and best of all, stereotypical endings! And even by the end, it'll leave you with plenty more to enjoy.

So let's get to the basis of the plot: You are simply known as Player (and yes, before you ask, there's even an awesome joke about that too!) and you are a simple cleaner for the rich and popular, all of which are attending a "wicked-ass" rave for a brand new energy drink, Overcharge. But after some quick consummation, all the rich and famous suddenly turn into devilish mutants known as Overcharge Drinkers, or OD for short. Taking to the rails to get home, Player holes up at home for a few weeks until a mysterious survivor saves Player's life as their home becomes overridden with OD. And so the game begins!
First off, I want to mention the customisation. One of the greatest highlights a game like this can do is go nuts with the character design, and go nuts they did! Do you want to be a green bearded lady with dark blue and orange eyes? Hell yeah you can! Do you want to be a buff dude wearing a skirt and bikini top? Go for it! The customisation on the characters themselves is awesome, but the models themselves a little disappointing, as your limited to a petite man/woman or a buff guy/well endowed woman. Playing as a massively buff lass or a double plus man would've definitely been an added bonus, but this is easily overlooked with the depth of clothing options. Personally in crazy games I like to dress normally so I look out of place (With an added cape for cool-guy points) but there's so much to pick from (Although I'm not sure where to get the "Assassin" clothing playing as a guy but if it's locked to women only, that will be hilarious) that you will definitely never go without an option you'll enjoy. BUT enough about that!

What about the storyline, you ask? The game, surprisingly, keeps a relatively normal objective throughout the game, but the subplots is where the game shines in weirdness. From helping a stuck up nerd get his precious bottled water to pulling off the greatest rock show EVER for some sick kids, the game offers so much with the objective always on mind: "Get out of Sunset City and make Fizzco pay". In saying that, there's not much to say about the game's storyline without going through the entire storyline's insane objectives. The game does boil down to day cycles, where after finishing a faction completely for example, a Night Defense commences. Floyd, a local survivor, helps you out by making Amps that help boost the effectiveness of your skills, weapons and more. Like the now famous Horde mode, players are tasked to defend Overdrive fueled vats that help create the Amps, all of which are protected by weak, wooden defenses and traps that you unlock during gameplay, ranging from boards the fling enemies away to bounce pads that freeze/burn/shock or generally damage your enemies. While limited down to a timer for generally three rewards at a time, it's a little sad to say this is the only time you can explore at night and of course, limited to one small area. 
Exploring Sunset City at night would add some horror to the comedy game, which may seem out of place, but with the differential enemies, it would add a lot of life and more vibrant colour to the night system.
This brings me to the gameplay. The only description I can put it in is as thus: Think of Sunset Overdrive as Dead Rising meets Saints Row with Jet Set Radio mixed in neatly all together. The mass amounts of OD on screen, explosions everywhere, all the while grinding along the power lines and bouncing off cars. While incredibly weak themselves, OD gain their strength from Overcharge, gaining strength to become Poppers or worse down the line. While in a small group, they are incredibly weak, however bundle them up and they're a force to be reckoned with. Not only is the gameplay addictive, it's fun, refreshing and never dull. Even though the game presents fast travel, I've only used it the few times Player made snark comments about using it! The game is littered with rails, cars, trees, anything and everything to get around on, and even then players can walk on walls, use harpoons to create easier ways up to high areas, swing on poles, boost mid air and run on water!
Now, the voice acting. There is no word better in the dictionary than "sublime", and even that is an understatement for the terrific work the crew have done in the game. Yuri Lowenthal as the male Player was so hilarious and while mostly known for serious character roles, Player is fresh and new with the snide and sarcastic tones incredibly relatable with Stephanie Lemelin just as brilliant. The rest of the cast is a mix of veteran voice actors and some mostly known for tv and movie roles, each character has weight and feels different from one another, especially so when it comes to the Nerds and LARPers. 

The sound effects are diverse, each insane weapon (Even those similar such as explosives and fireworks) sound completely different to one another, the OD and such ranging from growls to roars of anger. The other survivors known as Scabs (You can do the math) are also quite unique and I have yet to find two that sound alike! The musical score is mostly of my personal favourite, soft metal and rock, the more you kill turning into what I can only describe as "retro rock", mid-90's rock and modern soft metal, each as kickarse as the next, even pleasing to Player who blasts their way through OD while a guitar solo follows them around as they roam.
Lastly, graphics and multiplayer. The graphics themselves are just under 1080p and look utterly incredible, the depth of detail on each OD is outstanding and while they differ only slightly, this can be overlooked by the incredible render distance and amount of OD on screen at a time. This brings me to multiplayer, which is essentially a challenge co-op mode. A group of 8 friends or randoms join in at one of the four areas and play five missions, ranging from point collecting to skill kills and story missions with a twist. By the end players partake in a Night Defense mission at the base of that area. While the game adds waaaay more OD for these fights, the mission turns into child's play with the overload of traps (Limited to about 2-3 per person) and massively upgraded weaponry. By the end of the Night Defense, Amps and money rewards are given and players are given the option to play again with the same group or return to single player. While the multiplayer is fun, its missions are quite limited and overpowered allies take control of the missions, leaving others to feed on scraps. A level based multiplayer would definitely be an improvement, but otherwise is generally incredibly fun to play no matter what time you start.

The game itself has so few faults that it would be easy to overlook them, but for some they cannot be missed. With night mode locked as a checkpointer in the game's story, OD incredibly weak (The only posing a threat being Herkers and Muggers, with Wingers only appearing only in one place on the map and very late in the game itself), controls sticking while grinding (especially in multiplayer) and the repetiveness of the missions from time to time.
BUT that does not make Sunset Overdrive a bad game! Addictive gameplay, a butt-ton of fun on the light side of an apocalypse and a brilliance of both a simplistic plot and jokes/puns, it's with no doubt that I say, Sunset Overdrive is a definite must own, must play and must love for anyone looking for a game that pokes fun at every cliche and blows it up in the process. By the first hour in, you will not want to stop. 

Out of 10, I give Sunset Overdrive a 10/10.
PERFECT SCORE

Sunset Overdrive is out now for the standard price of $90, and it's worth every cent.