Assassin's Creed Unity | PC PS4 X1 | 1080p comes at a price

Constantinople was a boring city, I can't even remember what the plot was in that game, far too much pointless bomb crafting, a tower defence game for some reason. It was a mess.

I have just finished replaying AC3 and I stand by initial claim that I enjoyed it. I do have a lot of love for the time period and setting though, so this could be partially me just enjoying playing through the American Revolution.

Connor actually grew on me a little too. His voice performance is still a bit dull, but it does *sort* of fit his character - he is a naive, self-righteous idiot and is called this plenty of times by the other characters. He is basically like a 16 year old in a debate club. Except he doesn't go to debate club. He kills people.

He isn't a bad character, and has some decent moments. It is just a shame that he doesn't develop as well as Ezio and doesn't really grow - he is stuck in that self-righteous preachy mode until the very end.

Also, what is evident this time around, is how Haytham shouldn't have been discarded. The opening sections, whilst slow, are good because of him (it is actually the opening bits with the young Connor that drag, not the bits in the 1750s).

Also, the sequence or two you play as Connor alongside Haytham are quite good. They should have had the game feature more of that, as you do just generally do a tour guide of all the big events in the Revolution, which jars a little as the game tries to fit them all in. As a result, the game is more of an adventure epic and loses some of the benefit of a smaller, more intimate scale. The bits between Haytham and Connor - interacting as father and son for the only time in the game, as the developers keep the two apart for over 80% of it - are a highlight

I feel like AC3 is better than Revelations purely because it offers more. Revelations was just a tired retread of two other games and was basically just a new city to play around in. It stretched the AC 2 template a little too much and wasn't different enough.

AC3 has, perhaps, more flaws and is a much tougher title, but I maintain that it offers more. A lot of this depends on whether you like the changes in setting, characters and surroundings (some didn't like the cities, but they were tall enough and built up enough to still move on the rooftops and do everything Ezio did). If you look at the games, AC3 has the more potential, I feel, and it is a shame the developers didn't have a bit longer with it, or didn't smooth some of its rougher elements. Revelations is what it is, and is all that it ever could be. It was basically something to release in 2011 and I don't feel like there is anything inspiring about it. There's nothing you could really do with it that hadn't already been done in the two previous (and far superior) Ezio games. AC3 tried to do things differently - perhaps it tried too many things and was too jarring a change for some - but it still tried.

I stand by my opinion that Ezio was a plank.

Edward and Arno though in Black Flag and Unity are fantastic.

Photek wrote:I stand by my opinion that Ezio was a plank.

Edward and Arno though in Black Flag and Unity are fantastic.

You keep mentioning you don't like Ezio but you never support it with anything - he is supposed to be a dick at first. How far did you get with AC2?

Also, the one thing I do like is how varied the AC franchise is. I read a preview for Unity somewhere, where the writer said they weren't going to play it as the franchise was "going backwards by return to a white character in Europe", which I thought was just a ridiculous thing to say. I can't find the article anymore, as when I search for people not wanting to play Unity anymore, I get loads of results for some reason.

But, yeah, the AC franchise is pretty varied with where it casts its net. We have had the Middle East and a main character who certainly wasn't western, we have had a Native American (and they even put the relevant dialogue in the correct language and hired native speakers to voice them), we had Constantinople and I am currently playing Freedom Cry which seems to be about a black assassin stopping the slave trade in the Caribbean.

And for the European games, we got the cliched, overworked setting of Renaissance Italy and Revolution-period Paris. Can lazy developers stop setting their games there already? It is getting tiring.

[iup=3623235]Brerlappin[/iup] wrote:Arno is great so far. Hes a more down to earth character but likeable.
I agree with Parksey for the most part tho, AC3 could have been amazing if they had just trimmed an awful lot of the fat off. And playing as a Father and Son duo on both sides of the Templars v Assassins fight could have been amazing. But it was jsut too bogged down with crap and spent far too long focused only on Connor in his whiny emo phase. He couldve been an awesome character. As it stands i think Ezio, Edward and Arno are probably the best. Tho i do like Altair too as hes the only character in the entire series who actually grows as a person over the course of the game.

Parksey, id say youll enjoy AC4. Unlike AC3 where they try and shoehorn Connor rather jarringly into everything from the Boston tea party to the signing of the declaration of independence, AC4 just uses the French revolution as a backdrop to tell Arnos story. And honestly ive enjoyed the hell out of the game when it isnt crashing on me. The coop is a great laugh too.

I think I like Edward most of all. He's a scoundrel and a pirate, after all. His moral compass - if he even has one - seems to be all over the place. Anyway, I like 'em rough.

AC4 is Black Flag Brer...I presume when you say it you're menaing Unity.

Anyway Black Flag has the sailing and its a joy, while also being stunning to witness. I have both games pinned to my dash and I'll get around to finishing Black Flag very soon but I think im at end of Sunset so that'll be done first, then possibly black flag, but ill do a few missions in Unity after the patch to see if it helps the slight frame drops when climbing.

Parksey, admittedly I didnt get far in AC2, probably about 5hours of play before getting fed up. I put same amount of time into AC3 and connor was still being a bitch so traded that in too. Black Flag, which I bought during mini Xbox One drought was an impulse purchase as I had been burnt twice by the series (imo) but it was and is amazing, going from black flag to unity on X1 is quite strange, not least cos Unity looks busier and far more populated with things and details and on the flip side, Black Flag runs at a rock solid and steady framerate.

The sea shanties in Black Flag are soooooo goood.

Because of only realling put a lot of time into AC4, I'm a relativley new player to city based AC so its all glorious and not tiresome at all to me.

Cal, I cant see Edward how you do but yeah, I'd go for a pint with him and then sip some whiskey as the sun sets on his boat.

What I don't think people realise about Connor is that he is meant to be a whiny bitch - as I said, the other characters call him out for being hopelessly naive and a whiny idealistic bitch. Sometimes it is an admirable trait - like when he criticises Samuel Adams for owning a slave, or for the Founding Fathers for wanting freedom for the oppressed but not actually caring about the freedom of black people or the Native Americans. Other times he just sounds like an A-Level philosophy student. Which, I presume is the point, as everyone in the game says what a daft outlook on things he has. Indeed, what I like about the game is that even the Templars you kill actually have a decent argument for what you are doing. Two claim to be actually helping people, and their deaths push the country further along to war. If I remember rightly, the first game also did this, where you killed a "tyrannical" Templar doctor who was actually giving out medicine and aid.

But, yeah, AC3 falls over itself to place you at every significant event in the Revolution and this is quite jarring. I can accept Connor as a moaning, naive youngster who happens to be skilled with a blade (but not with his words,). What is a little odd is that, hey, he was also a great commander of troops during the Battle of Lexington and Concord and he carried out the Boston Tea Party and, hey would you believe this, that he also got involved in the Boston Massacre too. It just doesn't quite work and Connor should have been in the background of these events (where the Assassin's are supposed to be after all, as it is the Templars that try to shape world history, we are told) rather than driving them. Ezio didn't do the same with Italian history, thankfully.

I do find it odd though, that one bizarre criticism of the cities was that the buildings were only three storeys or so tall and were boring. Whilst they obviously weren't the same style as Renaissance Italy, it is odd that no-one ever mentioned that the rooftops in Black Flag were smaller and less architecturally striking still. I understand some people don't like the time period, but it didn't impact as much on the gameplay as they think.

What did impact on the gameplay were the design decisions - ones like which way they took the plot (so making Connor participate in in-Assassin-y events like throwing tea into the sea), adding half-baked extra elements that didn't get enough time in development or not ironing out bugs and glitches.

Incidentally, I don't know whether AC3 was patched a great deal after its release, but I didn't experience any bugs or glitches. I can't really remember any on 360 but everyone was mentioning them at that time.

Photek, just go and bloody finish AC2. I don't know how you can like Edward but dislike Ezio. They are quite similar.

Playing Freedom's Cry had made me want to replay Black Flag again. That game had a much better storyline, characters and sense of fun than AC3. I admit that AC3, though I loved the period, did get lost in its own "epicness" at times, possibly due to being the final part of a trilogy.

Is Unity still going along the action/adventure route? As I have mentioned, I can understand why some didn't like AC3 for this. As a lot of the missions didn't really involve assassinations, and even ones that did were still quite scripted (like the one with Hickey or Church). The ones where you killed Johnson or Pitcairn were okay, mind. I am presuming those names won't mean anything to most of you, as you haven't just replayed it.

So, yeah, I still like AC3. For me, AC2 is probably the best, just because it expanded on the formula laid down by the flawed original in every way and was everything a sequel should be. Brotherhood was objectively better but lacked the impact. AC3 was them trying to take another step forward after a few titles that were very similar. It worked in some areas (the game looks way better than the Ezio titles, the movement and controls are better and the fighting was at least an improvement, though still tedious), but they did succumb a little to their own ambition and, arguably, to their own development deadlines rushing them.

Now I have a PS4, I will probably snap Unity up as soon as I see a pre-owned copy over here. Not sure that the game is actually out yet to be honest. At least the bugs will hopefully be fixed. I think I will still like the game regardless. The missions have always been a little crap, to be honest. Even in AC2 after replaying it, they aren't great (though you do get to do more killing and they aren't as over the top). It is more about being in the historical setting and having a game map filled with loads of icons. A lot of what you are doing is just ticking those icons off a list, but it is strangely compelling for me.

That is a really long post I just churned out.

But, yeah, AC3 should have had its Haytham part, had its Connor parts where he becomes an assassin, then had them team up for much longer. Heck, it would have been nice to see Haytham survive and perhaps make Connor a little more morally...grey. Despite this, the worldly wise, cynic, realist Templar (who wasn't overtly "evil" really, as the game says) teamed up with the naive, idealistic Assassin. Buddy movie time.

Charles Lee was the real bad guy anyway. The final third should have been the two of you hunting him down.

The Kenway family were really dysfunctional, mind. Wouldn't surprise me if there was some incest in there at some point.

To the Animus!

Even though AC2 is tied to my Live account (GWG) I will never go back to it. I very rarely go back to my 360 as its in the spare room. I still have dishonored DLC earmarked for it though but my main set up is my Xbox One and Sky TV runs through it so everything is a sentence or button press away, also my 360 is hooked up to a 22" (1080p bizarrely) HDTV where as my Xbox One is hooked up to a 47" 1080p TV with added speakers and subwoofer. Tonight after the football im 2 button presses away to booting up a game, so through laziness I tend to not go up to spare room and fire up the 360 and re-adjust my eyes to the small screen.

Why don't you just move you 360 into your main room with the big TV?

There is arguably more to play on the old consoles than there is on the new ones right now. You have quite a few of this year's major releases on the go, so I presume you are up to speed on the big next-gen games. So there is bound to be a lull, and it seems to waste your old console simply because it is with a different TV right now.

I mean, really, as I keep saying, everyone's online store should be persistent across all their systems, so you could access AC2 on your Xbone, but that is sadly not going to happen for awhile.

I'm the father of a 4 year old, with work and child minders finding time is really hard. Plus I have to drop off and collect missus to her job which is late and at weekends so I'm always busy. Add in my other hobbies that include watching Football and Movies and my time is even more constrained.

I've also recently built up quite a healthy and big game collection that I have to get through:

So with that in mind even my time off over christmas will be full.

None of this explains why you couldn't play AC2 though. The only thing stopping you is that you don't want to play it, otherwise you would. There's time there if you wanted to play it - you have nearly finished Sunset Overdrive already.

Obviously if you don't want to play it, that is fine, but I feel like you would enjoy the game (and probably add Brotherhood to your list of titles), if you gave the game a bit more time. Like I said, I find it odd that you dislike Ezio but like Edward, as they are very similar.

Are all those pins games you own? Why are you buying so many latest releases with a backlog?! Man, I am bad enough, but I normally pick things up in sales or on a whim when they are pre-owned. You have bought Unity despite saying you really want to go back and finish Black Flag.

Look, forget the child minding and parenting thing and just stick her in front of a second controller. Even if you are playing a one player game just convince her she is doing something, and your backlog will be done in no time. Though AC2 itself does say to keep Ezio away from your daughters, so maybe cover her ears at that bit in case she gets a warped idea about men when she gets old. The charming prick.

I bought Halo a month before it was out, Unity and Sunset where a birthday present, Black Flag was €16 on cd keys, but the others I bought weeks ahead of time when had the money and they just kind of all unlocked in space of 3weeks.



She already has made a hobbie to watch me play games, she loves nothing better than to see me play my xbox one. Top requests are Sunset, Minecract, AC 4 & 5 and Forza Horizon 2. Limbo, oddly is too scary, as is Alien and I dont let her watch me play GTA V as its too much.

Parksey im not playing AC2, deal with it.

Then only if you stop repeating your opinion that Ezio is a terrible character, as you have only played a fraction of the game and aren't in a position to comment (I can't do a smiley on my phone, so it probably sounds like I am being dour).

You are also depriving yourself of the best game in a series.

Play it instead of Limbo, which I really didn't like. It is no surprise your daughter didn't like Limbo, mind. The game is intentionally more than just a little bit creepy. There's a dead kid hanging from a tree at one point! I am calling Childline if you play it with her again. Or, indeed, if you play it again, as you really should be playing AC2.

ok ok I tell you what, ill download AC2 tonight for 360 and I MAY play it more over christmas.

PS4 patch is out. 2.76GB.

And finished.

My overall opinion is that Unity is not quite as enjoyable as Blag Flag but still much, much better than III. One of my main game play complaint is that there are no really big missions or character scenes outside of the main line of missions. Instead there are a host of one off assignments that do not really capture the imagination or introduce any interesting level design. The controls are improved just enough, but they are still kind of clunk (especially the newly introduced cover mechanic). Either way it seems to be lagging behind the beautiful graphical improvements.

Bortherhood > II > Black Flag > Unity > Revelations > III > I

So basically mediocre as AC games go, IMO.

I'd easily rank it above Black Flag and 3 due to the lack of tedious sailing and the return to a big city.

2 > Brotherhood > Unity > Black Flag > Revelations >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 3 > 1

The season pass has been cancelled and the first piece of DLC will be free for everyone http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-CA/com ... 8-76770-32

Those that bought the season pass will still get all of the season pass content as well as the choice of a free game out of The Crew, Far Cry 4, Watch Dogs, Black Flag, Rayman Legends and Just Dance 2015.

Quite tempted to find somewhere that still has the season pass on sale and claim Far Cry 4.

Okay, Ubisoft just sent an email with this news:

http://newsletter.ubisoft.com/en-gb/201 ... ACUP3.html

Basically, the upcoming Dead Kings DLC will be free for everyone as an apology for the technical issues at launch. Quite a nice gesture, I suppose.

GAME still have the season pass available on their mobile site. £23.99 but got it for Just under £18 with some reward points. Now to wait and get Far Cry 4.