Of course, the game is named Assassin’s Creed Unity for a reason, and that’s because of its co-operative gameplay.
As you progress, you can expect to come across multiple co-op only missions, which provide a nice change of pace. Ubisoft has complemented this by allowing for player customization that isn’t just limited to differently coloured outfits, user-selected hoods and the like. Now, you can buy the skills that you want when you want them, and can also purchase and apply multiplayer-centric boosts. Stuff like group healing, improved health and better melee damage.
The game’s welcomed variety continues into its rift missions, which send Arno to alternate realities through glitched portals. The idea is that, when the simulation starts to falter, you jump ship to hide and get to experience other eras of Paris’ history. From the jovial 1800s to occupied Paris of 1944, the chosen timeframes provide a breath of fresh air and are fun to play through. Even after you’ve completed them, it’s possible to return for addicting data-grabbing challenges. By that, I mean timed challenges where you’re tasked with collecting as many data icons as possible, before saving a fellow assassin who’s had his essence trapped within that realm.
Doing side missions, exploring rift challenges and assassinating with friends are all good ways to unlock not only extra in-game currency, but also new weapons and clothing items, of which there are many. You’ll also pad your game time, which is another plus. Not that the core campaign isn’t of a relatively decent length in and of itself.
However, while Unity is a fun and engaging game, it’s marred by some problematic technological issues that should’ve been caught before launch. Even though the game was delayed for some added fine tuning, it’s simply not up to par, and suffers from very noticeable frame rate slowdown. For some reason, it’s worse in certain interior locations, like one particular cathedral that’s introduced early on as part of a main quest. Every time I enter that building and climb around within it, things start to resemble a slideshow more than a video game.
There are also server issues to deal with, as well as unnecessary microtransactions, which are becoming the bane of the video game industry. I highly recommend not spending any extra money to unlock those things, because you’re just paying for cheats. Honestly, why buy a seventy-dollar game if you’re just going to pay more to have it beat itself? It’s pointless.
Another caveat is Ubisoft’s chosen resolution parity, which makes the game 900p on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I played it on the Xbox One, and am used to dealing with games that are sub-1080p while using that particular console. I don’t really mind it as much as others do, but I don’t think it’s right for developers to forego making a game look better on one device, in favour of forcing parity. They can say that it’s “more cinematic,” but we all know that’s just a way of masking the issue.
When things are running smoothly — which isn’t a rare thing — Assassin’s Creed Unity is a gorgeous game with great lighting effects. It’s beautiful and makes for great screenshots, so it’s too bad that its frame rate is so problematic. Although it looks amazing when you come across huge crowds who’ve gathered together in a village square, it comes with a major con.
Things are fine on the audio side, as I didn’t notice any issues whatsoever, and also found that the voice acting was impressively solid. The cast was well-chosen this time around, and the writing was handled just as well. Watching the characters interact on-screen during cutscenes and dialogue sequences does feel cinematic in and of itself.
If you’re someone who finds it hard to play games with technical deficiencies, like frame rate problems or glitches, then you may want to wait or pass on this one. Underneath its problems, though, Assassin’s Creed Unity is a very solid game and one of my favourite entries in the series.
This review is based on the Xbox One version of the game, which we were provided with.
