Wednesday 17 December 2014

VIDEO GAME NEWS: Assassins Creed: Unity Review - Ubisoft

Release Date: 14/11/14
Publisher:  Ubisoft

SYNOPSIS:

Paris, 1789. The French Revolution turns a once magnificent city into a place of terror and chaos. Its cobblestoned streets run red with the blood of commoners who dare to rise up against an oppressive aristocracy. Yet as the nation tears itself apart, a young man named Arno will embark upon an extraordinary journey to expose the true powers behind the Revolution. His pursuit will throw him into the middle of a ruthless struggle for the fate of a nation, and transform him into a true Master Assassin.

Introducing Assassin's Creed Unity, the blockbuster franchise's new chapter powered by the all new Anvil engine, rebuilt from the ground up for next gen. From the storming of the Bastille to the execution of King Louis XVI, experience the French Revolution as never before, and help the people of France carve an entirely new destiny.

Key features
A ruthless new hero for a brutal world

Play as Arno, an entirely new breed of assassin, more lethal than his ancestors. Take down your prey with a range of new weapons such as the Phantom Blade, a Hidden Blade with crossbow capabilities.
Brand new parkour, combat, and stealth gameplay

Enjoy an unprecedented degree of freedom and control over your assassin, brought to life by the new Anvil engine.

Full motion control: new parkour mechanics for seamless free running up, across, and down city walls and buildings.
A reinvented fighting system provides a richer combat experience based on skill, timing, and flow.
Enhanced stealth gameplay including new stealth mode, cover system, and crowd manipulation techniques. Stay hidden, stalk your prey, and strike without warning.

Deep customisation mechanics to craft your own Master Assassin

Craft your own unique play style by choosing your weapons, gear, outfit, and specialised skills. Mix and match from hundreds of possible combinations and build your stealth, fighting, and navigation abilities from a new expansive skill tree. Become the ultimate Master Assassin.
Discover revolutionary Paris, brought to life as never before

Carve your way through a stunning full scale open world city, a feat only possible through the power of the new Anvil engine.

Explore detailed building interiors and discover secret underground catacombs and sewers.
Embark on ancestral missions, treasure hunts, murder mysteries, contracts, and more. The city is packed full of activities that will captivate you for hours.
Witness the chaos of the French Revolution first hand by immersing yourself in realistic, systemic crowds of up to 5,000 AI-driven characters.

A unique co-op experience you must play to believe

In addition to an epic singe-player campaign, join up to three friends and experience the online open world of 18th century Paris. Pull off ambitious heists and take part in unique narrative-driven missions designed exclusively for cooperative play. Sabotage an execution. Protect an emperor. Assassinate a Templar agent. But victory won't be easy; you and your lethal band must rely on communication, coordination, and diverse skills to accomplish your missions, then vanish into the shadows.

Free Dead Kings DLC

Every copy of Assassin's Creed Unity will also include the Dead Kings DLC, released on 17 December 2014, for free.

Saint Denis, 1794. Following the events of Assassin's Creed Unity, journey with Arno to the ominous rural city of Saint Denis. Follow him as he explores the troubling open-world city of Saint Denis and its extensive underground universe – an ancient necropolis with an intricate network of catacombs and deep caves that hide the best-kept secrets of the French kings.

Use Arno's lantern to advance in the dark, fend off the animals creeping around the catacombs, and solve ancestral puzzles. Alternatively, put out the lantern and become one with the shadows. Unlock the powerful Guillotine Gun to unleash both explosive destruction and close-combat havoc.



REVIEW:

A game that I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced and to be honest it’s a title that with all the publicity that accompanied it looked like a new direction for the whole franchise pushing the limits of the amazing new consoles with over 5000 independent characters on screen at once.

It looked impressive, had great plotlines and when added to a massive world with a lot of houses to enter (1 in 4) all round promised a title that was going to be a baseline for all others in the field. What occurred however, upon release, was a game that was full of flaws, had a lot of crash errors with some parts unaccessable to the gamer.

Yes Ubisoft apologised for releasing a game that was glitched and have offered gamers the first DLC free as an apology but the question that I wanted answering more than anything else was whether Ubisoft had overextended themselves with the three major releases within four days.

OK, so I’ve mentioned the problems and glitches but what about the gameplay? Well, it’s a title that I love the sheer variety in, there’s a ton of things to do, events, murder mysteries to solve, a whole host of items to buy (and believe me, getting the cash is the hard part due to the escalating costs of the better gear) and when you get the chance to team up with other Assassin’s (either friends or random gamers) you’re in for a treat all round.

For me, it’s a game that whilst flawed has huge possibilities, it has 100s of hours of gameplay within and with the beautiful scenery, multiple points from which to view Paris all round gives you a title that will become an industry setter. Magic.

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