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  • Husky Wing wrote his opinion about Assassin's Creed Syndicate
    6 years ago
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    I've completed Assassin's Creed Syndicate (and I'm pretty sure this makes it my first time being completely caught up on the series), and, well...

    Now, right off the bat, I was thrown off by something strange: the presence of pre-rendered cutscenes. Assassin's Creed has always used these very sparingly, generally just at the very beginning or end of the game. Syndicate, however, uses pre-rendered cutscenes for the entire Templar storyline, only using in-engine cutscenes when the playable characters are on-screen, and probably only so their custom gear can be loaded in.
    It took a long time for Jacob Frye to grow on me. Right off the bat, I preferred Evie, and I stuck with her through most of the game. Jacob had a deadpan way of delivering humor that made the heart grow fonder, though. But still, the two protagonists didn't feel all that creative or interesting, and all of the side characters (besides #Maxwell Roth) were absolutely bland and forgettable. With little thought, I can recall at least a handful of Unity characters that were at least well-written enough to be somewhat memorable, but Syndicate gave the characters so little... character. They're almost all either boring or annoying.

    Speaking of Unity, that game's launch was a disaster. Faces were missing, players were clipping, frames were dropping, and every fan's face was sopping :(
    However, I didn't play Unity until long after it had been patched, and boy, was it patched. The game was even more polished than the franchise's latest runaway hit, Black Flag. Syndicate, however, featured all of the bugs that Unity was criticized for, but due to their toned down presence, seemingly haven't been patched at all. I saw missing faces, I clipped numerous times, the free running was clumsy, missions could break, timed missions would open with long dialogue that I had no choice but to skip if I wanted to not fail the mission, I often simply wouldn't take fall damage if I went (strangely) flying off a building, throwing knives would frequently kill someone behind me instead of in front, quest characters have disappeared on me, and overall, the game is just a bit of a mess.
    Unity also took a few steps to slightly change the franchise's repetitive combat: it wasn't a big change, no, I called it a slight one. I recall hearing some people complain about it being "too hard," but I thought Unity might've done Assassin's Creed combat best. Syndicate does it worst. Never has Assassin's Creed combat been more button-mashy and repetitive.
    Unity also had a vast variety of customization, and that was actually pretty sick. Tops could be mixed with hoods could be mixed with pants and with boots, as well as a wide assortment of weaponry. Syndicate thought for some reason that the next big revolution for the franchise would be to strip away features, so Evie and Jacob have only a couple handful of set outfits between them, and a small assortment of colors to choose from. Besides that, there are only three melee weapon types: brass knuckles, cane sword, and kukri (knife). I swear, even Ezio had more customization variety than these two put together. "Tools" have also been cut back, with only two bomb types, throwing knives, the gun, and hallucination darts. No sleep darts, no coins, no distractions or other bomb types. Why have as many features as the other games when you can have less?

    You do get to recruit members from your gang to accompany you on your journey, a la Saints Row, but unlike every other game that's done this, the gang cannot be customized. There is an upgrade tree to raise their skill, but you cannot modify your gang. You can't change their outfits or their style. This isn't really your gang.

    I honestly don't think any aspect of this game was very well executed. The free running, the combat, the cutscenes, even just the city design and how it's to be incorporated with your free running was all poorly done. This world just doesn't feel like it was meant to climb and jump around in, it feels like it was made to zipline in. There are few free running "paths" like in previous games, to ease travel, and many of the paths that are present don't have the proper spacing between them to be usable, especially on the water.
    Sometimes I'd try to jump down off a building just to hurry my way down, but the game wouldn't let me, because I'd take fall damage. Not because I'd die, just because I'd take some damage. I kept trying to lower myself, but I couldn't. I had to find a place where the game could slowly let me down with the "parkour down" mechanic (which worked much smoother in Unity: probably due to the presence of those "paths").
    Unity comparison again: we've lost our wonderful interiors. Unity had very much of these (many of which also operated as part of these parkour paths, what do you know?), and Syndicate has very few. It's just one more detail that makes Syndicate feel like an afterthought.

    There are so many little things that kept nagging at me, things that might not have bothered me as much if it weren't for there being so many shitty aspects of this game. The game had too many of those "pseudo cutscenes," the ones where the game doesn't change the lighting conditions or introduce any cinematic angles, but just uses basic animations and scripting to get the NPCs where they want them, and don't bother properly animating the lips. These wide-angle single-shot cutscenes are at the beginning and end, and often in the middle of most unimportant side missions, and I just fucking hated them. Some of these don't even change the angle at all, and are just seen from Frye's third-person camera, which, though it can be moved away, will quickly snap back to what it thinks you should be focusing on, and that pissed me off too.
    The world lacks detail, the missions lack variety, and it just results in the worst Assassin's Creed game I've ever played. The game only offered one consistent source of enjoyment: The Dreadful Crimes DLC. That one's just fantastic, has an enjoyable story and gameplay, and gives a break from the mindless repetitiveness of the rest of the game. What a surprise that this comparatively small DLC blows the Jack the Ripper DLC out of the water, as that just offers more of the same bullshit. Another relatively enjoyable break from the rest of the game was an extensive World War I section, which actually features a mini campaign featuring Jacob Frye's granddaughter, Lydia Frye. This minor change in setting (still being set in a locked off part of London) can't fix the various gameplay issues, though, and the missions are as repetitive as the rest of the game.

    This isn't a review, it's a rant. I've enjoyed every Assassin's Creed I've played before. Each game had its flaws, minor or major, but I've never looked at one as an utter failure before. Syndicate does nothing better than any of its counterparts, instead doing most things much worse. This game shouldn't have been made, and I shouldn't have wasted 50 hours of my time completing every single mission.
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  • 6 years ago
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    I'm dumbfounded that they still haven't gotten combat right and free-running is still clunky. I'd figure after 10 games into the franchise they'd have one of the two main features truly nailed down but nope.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … Free-running's actually very comfortable on keyboard & mouse, since that camera seems to be the defining aspect of controlling the parkour. It also helps that I rebind everything. Haven't played Syndicate, though.
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    • Ed Kick
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      Ed Kick
      Editing … It's not horrible but the denser the city the more it struggles and coming from Black Flag it really shows that they still haven't perfected it yet.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … I personally really enjoyed the parkour improvements in Unity, especially with the "Parkour Down" mechanic (bind it to right click!). There's a chance I'll enjoy it in Syndicate, with my trusty kb/m.
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    • Sandvich
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      Sandvich
      Editing … I'd say Syndicate was actually a move backwards from Black Flag in both departments (I skipped Unity). Apparently Unity still allows you to leap off a high ledge even if you'll take damage. Not in Syndicate! You want to drop down from on high, you have to do the slow awkward downward auto-climb the whole way. It really takes the rush out of a chase. Ugh, and that gimmicky final boss fight. If you're going to make a final boss that lame don't even bother having one.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … Assassin's Creed has long tried to have boss fights, but its core combat mechanics don't seem to play well with the concept. Bloodlines for PSP did have some pretty legit bosses, though.
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    • Sandvich
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      Sandvich
      Editing … All the boss encounters in previous games were lame but they were pretty brief and easy to breeze through. The one in Syndicate is one of the most repetitive, tedious, uninspired 6 minute boss battles in history. You keep thinking "Great, big stabby finisher, it's over.... wait, I have to do this AGAIN?!" I looked it up on youtube to remind myself of just how much I hated it, and just watching it at 2x sped up felt like a chore.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … oh no
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    • Rich .
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      Rich .
      Editing … Can't imagine a London setting would hurt UK sales. People must finally be getting tired of the series coming out every year like clockwork.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … Well, people probably want something unknown over something they might be familiar with. How many chances do we have to explore Ancient Egypt, for example? Now that would be one cool setting.
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    • Silent Gamer
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      Silent Gamer
      Editing … The only thing that made me upset about this article is the fact that Rogue sold even worse. Why did no one play the first decent Assassin's Creed game in years?!?!?
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … Unfortunately, I have to wait quite a while for them to go on sale. I might be a bit cheap :p
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … and omg we're friends now <3
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    • Rich .
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      Rich .
      Editing … I'd guess because Rogue came out at the exact same time as Unity and Unity got all the attention.
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    • Silent Gamer
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      Silent Gamer
      Editing … Yea, that seems to be the case :(
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    • Silent Gamer
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      Silent Gamer
      Editing … @Husky Woo! :)
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  • 8 years ago
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    There's a new mainline AC game coming out in two days.

    Two days.

    Yep.

    Zero hype.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … Deluxe edition will be $15 in a good 18 months.
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    • Wizzy
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      Wizzy
      Editing … Tomorrow my review on spieletipps.de will be online. You should read it. :)
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … Would someone who only speaks english be able to read it?
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    • Wizzy
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      Wizzy
      Editing … Not really, as it is written in german. But for you I will post a summary tomorrow as soon as the embargo is lifted. :)
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … S-senpai~ >w<
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    • Dr Eggnog
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      Dr Eggnog
      Editing … There's so many of these darn things. They put them out like Madden.
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    • Wizzy
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      Wizzy
      Editing … Till now that was not even a problem for me personal, but what they did now is leaving the path. Away from wild conspiracies, towards repetitiv gameplay without great motivation storywise. You get the "Mad Max" experience, which is great for me, because I really love good repetitive gameplay, but the brand "Assassin's Creed" is kind of missleading now and despite the fact, that the gameplay mechanics are almost 1:1 like in theire last entry, it lost its spirit. I was never a fan of the playable sections in the future, but reducing them to short cutscenes is just the wrong decision. Now it feels even more redundant. If you are not willing to read the entries from the database in the menu-screen, you might forget, that the story is about a great conspiracy that lasts for a pretty long time and holds some dark secrets. Gosh, damnit, I only wanted to write a quick answer and instead, I told you, what my feelings about the game are after playing it 20+ hrs. XD
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    • Dr Eggnog
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      Dr Eggnog
      Editing … That's ok it was actually interesting.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … when AC visits Egpyt they better make one hell of an amazing game.. (or the Wild West! \o/)
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    • Dr Eggnog
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      Dr Eggnog
      Editing … I can't wait for them to run out of ideas and start throwing darts at places and time periods.
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  • 8 years ago
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    So, if you are into GTA, AC: Unity and The Order 1886, you will get a decent mashup, but broken down to the same repetitive gameplay you are used to if you played the last 4 Assassin's Creed games, only with a less deep story.
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  • 8 years ago
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    Meh.
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    • Axersia
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      Axersia
      Editing … Yeah, this series needs to be put to rest for a generation or so.
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    • Silent Gamer
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      Silent Gamer
      Editing … It's a shame, because I have pre-ordered every other entry in the series. But aside from Rogue, I just haven't enjoyed the last couple
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    • Rich .
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      Rich .
      Editing … They should take a break from AC and make a new Prince of Persia.
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    • Axersia
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      Axersia
      Editing … I dunno that Ubisoft should be doing anything anymore, tbh. I mean, if they made a new PoP, I'm sure it'd just be AC in all but name. Also, I wasn't a big fan of PoP '08.
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    • Rich .
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      Rich .
      Editing … I loved the art/setting of PoP 08 but the gameplay from the Sands of Time trilogy was way better and Nolan North was miscast. There's plenty of potential there if Ubi really went for it.
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    • Rich .
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      Rich .
      Editing … Mind you if Ubi could actually go for it I'd be happy with another AC. If the series lived up to its potential (difficulty settings, guards that can seriously give chase over rooftops, Splinter Cell style stealth, proper platforming controls rather than hold button + pick direction, tighter combat that's tough enough to encourage you to sneak/turn and run more, a less convoluted plot, maybe ditch the future aspect of the story entirely) it could be brilliant.
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    • Husky Wing
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      Husky Wing
      Editing … pls ubi, y u keep doing this
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    • rockshard PhD
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      rockshard PhD
      Editing … This is same company that launched Unity with horrible framerate issues that hilariously become fixed when you disconnect your modem. There is no hope for them. Gamers will buy it anyway. They'll complain, but they'll buy it.
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    • MasterCrash
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      MasterCrash
      Editing … Fuckonami! Wait...
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    • rockshard PhD
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      rockshard PhD
      Editing … everyone is Konami now
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    • MasterCrash
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      MasterCrash
      Editing … Konami makes an exception for having two of the best games of the last two years and still be able to fuck up so much that everyone hates them.
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  • 8 years ago
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    I look forward to this game flopping due to the ill will from Unity and overall franchise fatigue and watching the antifem gaming crowd shout "See?!? Gamez w/ gurl leeds dont sell!"

    I could be wrong, but I'd say it's best to make the prediction now.
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  • 8 years ago
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    New gameplay for Evie Frye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6EJQvo7ls8
    I use the UK link because I like hearing that sexy "PEGI 18"
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  • Aaron Wilson wrote his opinion about Assassin's Creed Syndicate
    8 years ago
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    Well nothing can be worse than Unity... right? No seriously the grappling mechanic looks interesting and the story seems like it will be interesting. I just hope that there isn't a metric tonne of glitches in this thing.
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