A Little Headless | Assassin’s Creed Unity Review

Assassin’s Creed is one of my favorite series, and I have played every title in the main series. I can make the argument that each installment is different in the same way I can say every Call of Duty is different. Assassin’s Creed Unity does indeed feel very different from the previous installments, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing this time. Every Assassin’s Creed is a progression from one year to the next. When one game has issues, the next game addresses them. Unity didn’t do that. There are some great elements to Unity, but it sets the series back a few years.

A majority of the game takes place in Paris and it is beautiful. The architecture is astounding, and I am not one to usually appreciate such things. Some buildings do fit into that copy-and-paste nature, but many of the featured historic structures are astounding. I’m not just talking about the outside appearance or sheer scale. The insides are even more memorable with ornate and lavish decorations. I am embarrassed to admit how much time I wasted strolling the halls of a mansion gazing at the painting on the wall. I spent more time getting lost in the buildings than outside—partly because they are designed like a maze.

The graphics are incredible as we have come to expect with Assassin’s Creed. Paris can be absolutely breathtaking when you’re perched atop a high tower. The same can be said as you’re walking the streets and looking at all the people in their historic garments. There’s a lot of life in the city, whether it’s walking past a tavern with people singing or seeing a sculptor chiseling away at some rock. Paris is massive. It’s grand scale and life is one of Unity’s biggest positives, but it isn’t perfect.

The big city feels a little cheap when you’re down on the streets, and you see the exact same people over and over. They are generally conversing with one another or performing the same movements. When you have hundreds of NPCs on the screen you are bound to get some doppelgangers, but there are so many it looks a little ridiculous after a while.

I wish I could report the story will draw you in and make you rush through it to witness the end, but I’d be lying. It started with some promise admittedly. Arno’s father is assassinated and he eventually joins the Assassin Brotherhood to exact revenge. The Brotherhood has a strong foothold for once, unlike the previous games where they are always fighting a losing battle (until the protagonist arrives, that is). I enjoyed the way the Brotherhood was presented in Unity, and I would’ve liked to see more aside from some a couple chats around a table. In that regard, for a game that takes place during the French Revolution, it certainly didn’t feel like it. I never felt like I was helping the city. Just my own selfish cause. I also seriously call into question the Brotherhood’s view in Unity. It seemed more Templar-like to me than anything. That could just be my own subjective view admittedly.

My real issue is how easily Arno falls into the fold of a typical protagonist. Like previous assassins, Arno doesn’t take many things seriously, jokes around constantly, and has a hot temper. I’m starting to get tired of this archetype that seems to dictate every Assassin’s Creed title apart from ACIII. Arno starts with personality, but soon falls into the typical errand-boy for everyone. About ninety-percent of the game he follows what everyone else tells him to do. There are brief moments where he makes his own decisions and it’s refreshing. Then he’ll meet people for the first time and do their bidding without questions. I can assume there were two people in the game I was supposed to feel a connection to, but I didn’t care about either of them, making it hard to really enjoy the story.

I rushed through the story and felt no motivation for any of it. Even the main missions were my least favorite in Unity. They were very cinematic and dramatic, but they weren’t as freeing as the side missions. A random side mission might have you sneak into a building and pickpocket someone. That’s all, but this allows you to tackle it anyway you see fit. The main missions technically allow that as well, but they aren’t really built with that in mind. Sure, you can charge in the front gates and fight your way through everyone. However, there is a perfectly lined up tree branch into a window that will bypass all the guards. You don’t have to stick to their path, but it really is the only way. Even the missions that have multiple options, you are still supposed to pick one of their paths they set out for you. When I took on a generic side mission I felt I had far more freedom.

I did some side missions as I played the campaign, and they immediately told me I wanted to finish the campaign to experience Paris. Once I beat the campaign, I dove into everything else Paris had to offer and that’s when I really started enjoying my experience with Unity. There are lots of missions that range from big to small. They could be fighting some thugs, or sneaking into a heavily guarded area to pick-pocket three well-armed men. The previews always boasted the investigations and while I found them entertaining in some regard, I didn’t actively seek them out. It’s a nice touch to accuse the wrong person and lose some of your reward, but it felt like more running around than anything.

The main difference in Unity is how the fighting has become far more challenging. This is to put a focus back on stealth. I completely understand this move. You are an assassin after all. Connor and Edward could take on an army by themselves. There wasn’t much of a need to be stealthy if you could always fight your way out. Technically, you can fight your way out in Unity, but it is a lot harder. You can no longer chain together instant kills, and you cannot hold one button to block. You need to time your parries. A well timed parry will result in a counter, but even that isn’t a finisher.

I am still undecided on the combat in Unity. I liked how I never felt overpowered. If I was discovered, I felt panic and did my best to run. I could hide and try again. I may fight several people, but when they start pulling out firearms I knew I was in trouble. The problem I have is how dull it feels after a while. There’s no real flash to it and my entire tactic became standing still and waiting for a counter. I never wanted to get in open conflict. It felt more like a chore than anything. So it succeeded in putting an emphasis on stealth, but in doing so, made me not want to fight anyone unless I had to. Still, the pressure of being outnumbered and hiding in a room surrounded by enemies hasn’t felt this tense since one of the earlier titles.

A strong positive about the combat is how leveling matters, which leads to how you customize your assassin. Unity has the most customization I’ve seen in an Assassin’s Creed game so far. You can change everything about your assassin, and what you equip really matters. I wore a hood that came with an idiotic white mask, but it increased my health by a few points so it was worth the ridiculous looking cut-scenes.  You can focus on health, ranged, stealth, or melee. This determines what kind of assassin you want to be. I was bad at fighting, so I got as much health as I could so I could last in battle a bit more.

You can also choose your weapons and it’s fun experimenting with different kinds. Finding your personal preference adds some individualism into Unity and that will shine through in multiplayer (which I’ll talk about soon).  Finding your weapon type really matters and I didn’t master combat until I found the right weapon for me. I am a little sad I couldn’t pick up an enemy’s weapon, and there were no small, swift, dagger-like weapons. Luckily, there are tons of weapons to choose from so you are bond to find something you like.

The other newest part of Unity is the redesigned parkour.  This may not sound like that big of a deal, but the free-running experiencing in Unity feels entirely new. You can fly up and down buildings with ease. This makes navigating Paris a breeze and watching Arno skillfully bounce of objects is entertaining as it is useful.

My issue with the parkour tends to be a reoccurring problem in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. You tend to climb onto things you don’t want to—often times when you’re running from the enemy. I lost count how many times I died because Arno decided to perch like a squirrel on a post instead of running from the dozen guys chasing him. I also had trouble being precise with my climbing. Arno can move quickly, which is great when you are either trying to get to the roof or the ground. When I wanted to move down a foot or two, Arno would drop half the building length. I wanted to drop down to a balcony and I ended up leaping across a giant gap to another building. You certainly move faster with this new parkour, but being precise takes a little bit of work and patience.

Patience is a good thing to have in most of Unity. Not only will many single player aspects annoy you when they don’t work correctly, but so will other people when you play online co-op. Unity no longer has PvP mode, and it is replaced with co-op missions you can perform with up to 4 people. The missions feel pretty generic; kill this person, steal this item, etc, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun.

Using real teamwork with people to perform stealth takedowns is complicated and rewarding. Letting an enemy see you as a distraction so your teammate can take him out from behind never gets old. Using teamwork like that is tense and fun. Sadly, a majority of the time someone will mess up the stealth and it becomes a chaotic brawl. It’s still fun in its own way. Four powerful assassins dominating the battlefield is highly enjoyable. Several missions I played turned into four assassins running through the front door, and like a wave of total dominance we swept through the level killing anyone in our path. It was exhilarating not to fall behind and empowering to end a level so quickly. I have fun with the co-op, but I can’t be sure it’s going to keep me around after I beat all the missions.

The most obvious issues with Unity – as many of you have already seen – are the large amount of bugs present. I’ll admit I haven’t seen any of the horrifying no-faced people, but I have fallen through the floor into an infinite abyss. Many of the bugs aren’t game breaking. They’re just a little silly looking. A person hovering above the ground, someone gliding across the ground, or people being stuck in a wall. There are many pop-in textures and objects that break any immersion the grand city is trying to present. There was only one major issue during a boss fight where I couldn’t move or attack. I took damage without being able to defend myself, but the game fixed itself and I was able to win in the end. Game breaking issues like that are unacceptable.

The other issue you have already heard all over the internet is the massive frame-rate drops. I was expecting to run into the drops when I was in a massive crowd with hundreds of NPCs—not when I was climbing a building. Truthfully, I never knew when the frames would drop below an acceptable level. If it only happened in large groups of people I could understand, but it could strike at any moment. While I do hate frame-rate issues, this wouldn’t bother me as much if it didn’t happen during combat. In a game where well-timed parries are a necessity, you cannot have the game lagging on you. There were countless cheap deaths I blame solely on the frame-rate for my mistimed counters.

It makes me wonder, if they removed some of the NPCs would the game run better? One could argue the main selling point of Unity was having hundreds of NPCs on the screen, and admittedly there are some impressive moments with all the people on the screen. However, if removing a certain percentage of NPCs made the game run better, I would make that trade in an instant. Production value is only good if it doesn’t interfere with the main game. I could be wrong, maybe the frame-rate issues stem from something else, but the beauty of Paris can’t be fully experience if the game is chugging along at ten frames.

It should be mentioned that Ubisoft has implemented a lot of micro-transaction material and forces you to use the companion app to open certain chests. This didn’t bother me that much, but I am aware it may bother many other gamers. Their micro-transaction model allows you to use real money to unlock weapons and equipment. There’s really no need. Not only will beating the game give you the best weapon, but it takes a few hours to get enough money to purchase anything you need. No one likes micro-transactions, especially in a AAA title, but to be fair, they are easily ignored.

Unity may be my least favorite title in the Assassin’s Creed series. The story is arguably the worst in the series and completely forgettable. Paris is beautiful to look at and massive with lots to do. The problem is keeping motivation to do it all. I started enjoying Unity more when the campaign was over, but I am already playing it less and less. Moving through the city is easier than ever, and while the parkour may not be perfectly precise, it’s the best it has been in the series. I did like how the focus was put back on the stealth aspect. It made for some very tense moments, but it also made the fighting a little dull. The co-op is entertaining, but I’m afraid the generic missions won’t hold my interest for too long. Sadly, Unity is filled with bugs and frame-rate issues. This wouldn’t be the end of the world if it didn’t affect the gameplay. Unity is far from the best of what Assassin’s Creed has to offer. It is still enjoyable to fans of the series, but if you were wavering on whether to pick it up or not, it’s safe to say you can pass.