Viva la revolucion! Paris is the latest setting for Assassin’s Creed. Featuring the new suave Frenchman Arno Dorian during the beginning of the French revolution.
Arguably this is the best Assassin’s Creed game since Brotherhood. Featuring a few new controls such as the ability to free run downwards. Whilst this seems like a minor change, it will alter how you navigate your way across the beautiful Parisian rooftops and in theory should reduce the amount of silly jumps to your death. For those familiar with the series this can take some getting used too. It took me a good few hours to fully utilise this system, once I got my head around it. It changed the way I moved for the better, leaping off buildings felt much more comfortable. The only issue is the camera often swoops round when Arno drops down to a lower ledge leaving me slightly lost.
As this is the first current gen Assassin’s Creed game there is a big emphasis on size. the size of the crowds and the size of the city to be precise. I’ll start with the crowds.
They are gigantic. A lot of revolutionary Paris is filled with groups of Parisians complaining about all things revolutionary. It’s a perfect cover for Arno to get close to a target without being spotted right? Wrong. Unfortunately whilst the change should make things better. Ubisoft have decided to remove the gentle push button. A button that used to make navigating the crowds a mere walk in the park. Thanks to the lack of the magic button. Its a catastrophe, an impenetrable sea of faces that – on a few occasions – completely halt your movement.
The city is a massive boon to Unity. Filled with awe inspiring landmarks that are riddled with a massive variety of side quests and explorable buildings. Paris is the best city that has been recreated to date. Whilst indulging in every side mission that is on offer I found myself recognising individual parts Paris, acknowledging that Notre Dame is near by just because of the streets I’m in or the rooftops I’m on is something no previous title has been able to achieve, even Rome for the most part was uninteresting.
Story wise, this is very much an Assassin’s Creed game. Heavy on the Templar v Assassins that we have come to expect from the series. If you care about that story then you can’t go wrong here. However if you were looking for Black Flag 2. You’ll want to divert your attention to the last gen counter part Assassin’s Creed: Rogue. I won’t give a way any details of the story other than the fact this is quite a traditional revenge story.
There have been some improvements to the actual assassinations. There are now potential weaknesses that Arno will spot which could be something like, steal the keys and set a trapped monk free. He will let you enter the building along side him which would be otherwise a lot more difficult to enter undetected. Shadow Of Mordor still handles assassinations better but these changes show that Ubisoft are willing to work on it.
Unfortunately as enjoyable as Unity is there are a few technical issues. the frame rate is consistently poor (I played the PS4 version but it seems to be weak on all platforms.) having constant drops from a nice steady 30 fps to watching CCTV from the 90’s can be quite a jarring experience. I didn’t really experience any major bugs like a lot of others and never once managed to experience the infamous faceless Arno. Occasionally I was greeted with a floating NPC or sometimes a dead body frozen in an unappealing position.
That said, I did experience two bugs that affected my gameplay which in short, stopped me from being able to move. I was able to fix this the first time by fast travelling to a nearby view point.
Unfortunately the second time I had to quit, I was in a mission and you aren’t allowed to fast travel. Whilst I’m on the subject of fast travel. the loading screens are horrendous. Luckily you don’t really have to experience that many unless you are fast travelling all over the place and where’s the fun in that?
Co-Op is the defining feature of Unity and is a hell of a lot of fun. You get paired with other players searching for the same mission – Unless its taking too long then you will be offered the chance to expand the search to any mission – and will team up to tackle any objectives thrown at you. My only complain is actually about the player base.
For a co op stealthy assassination game, there is an awful lot of sprinting to get the kill first. considering players die a lot easier this can quickly become incredibly frustrating. If you managed to get a group of friends playing that you can co ordinate with, that changes everything.
It becomes a well organised co op game that is incredibly fun and worthy of your time. It is akin to the co op of Splinter Cell: Conviction, skulking about revolutionary Paris whilst synchronising your killings as best as possible is one of the most satisfying Co Op modes I’ve ever played.
Summary
If you are a fan of the series and can manage to overlook the few bugs the game has (I was luckier than most and this was quite easy for me to do) then Unity is well worth the 10-15 hours It will take to finish. If you can get together a few friends then co op could easily keep you going for a lot longer. If you are hoping for more pillaging plundering and piracy, consider looking at Assassin’s Creed Rogue instead.
Version Tested: PS4.
Estimated Time Played: 15-20 hours.