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