More than makes up for the mistakes of Unity. This is the first time the actual time-period itself affected the feel of the gameplay for me. Syndicate sees the return of a more traditional Assassin's Creed style of gameplay. The changes to the established formula made in its most direct predecessor are still present, only now much better implemented. I still think it's kind of dumb to have a leveling up system in an AC game (why should I have to buy abilities I started off with in the other games?), but it too won me over by the end. There's a real feeling of growing more powerful and capable as you progress through Syndicate's many activities.
This entry in the series takes some notes from the playbooks of gaming's other biggest open-world franchises. Most notably Rocksteady's Arkham games. The open environments the missions take place in, as well as the wide variety of items and abilities at your disposal, encourage experimentation and allow you to find your own solutions and playstyles like never before. Even the fluid combat system that has you juggling multiple foes brought back memories of taking out thugs as The Dark Knight. The inclusion of multiple paths to your target and various opportunities that can lead to unique kills reinvigorate the series' big assassinations. Things like the new zip-line tool and the implementation of carriages make navigating the open-world more exciting than ever. The latter giving the game something of a Grand Theft Auto vibe.
The story is where things take a slight hit. You'll meet cool characters and the protagonists are great. Kudos to Ubisoft for finally having making an entry in the main series with a playable female character (even if she does have to share the spotlight with a male counterpart). I'll even forgive them for the fact that she isn't the more likable of two leads. The events themselves just aren't that interesting. Some bland villain is taking over London, is after some precursor artifact, and blah, blah, blah. We've all seen it before. Only never with such a dorky final boss fight. The modern day story continues going nowhere. Only now there's some stuff about cloning! We just watch Rebecca and Shaun do some stuff in the occasional cutscene because the people at Ubisoft think we like them for some reason. While killing off Desmond was a pretty gutsy and unexpected move, it's clear they haven't had any idea what to do with this part of the universe for some time now as a result. They've even removed it from the gameplay side of things.
Narrative shortcomings aside, this is a phenomenal return to form for Assassin's Creed. One that even brings some much needed change to things. It's brimming with content to the point where you won't even care about the lack of multiplayer. This some of the smoothest gameplay the series has seen and one of its best settings. Syndicate makes the franchise worth returning to after it reached it's lowest point with Unity. Let me tell you, it's one heck of a comeback.
9/10
This entry in the series takes some notes from the playbooks of gaming's other biggest open-world franchises. Most notably Rocksteady's Arkham games. The open environments the missions take place in, as well as the wide variety of items and abilities at your disposal, encourage experimentation and allow you to find your own solutions and playstyles like never before. Even the fluid combat system that has you juggling multiple foes brought back memories of taking out thugs as The Dark Knight. The inclusion of multiple paths to your target and various opportunities that can lead to unique kills reinvigorate the series' big assassinations. Things like the new zip-line tool and the implementation of carriages make navigating the open-world more exciting than ever. The latter giving the game something of a Grand Theft Auto vibe.
The story is where things take a slight hit. You'll meet cool characters and the protagonists are great. Kudos to Ubisoft for finally having making an entry in the main series with a playable female character (even if she does have to share the spotlight with a male counterpart). I'll even forgive them for the fact that she isn't the more likable of two leads. The events themselves just aren't that interesting. Some bland villain is taking over London, is after some precursor artifact, and blah, blah, blah. We've all seen it before. Only never with such a dorky final boss fight. The modern day story continues going nowhere. Only now there's some stuff about cloning! We just watch Rebecca and Shaun do some stuff in the occasional cutscene because the people at Ubisoft think we like them for some reason. While killing off Desmond was a pretty gutsy and unexpected move, it's clear they haven't had any idea what to do with this part of the universe for some time now as a result. They've even removed it from the gameplay side of things.
Narrative shortcomings aside, this is a phenomenal return to form for Assassin's Creed. One that even brings some much needed change to things. It's brimming with content to the point where you won't even care about the lack of multiplayer. This some of the smoothest gameplay the series has seen and one of its best settings. Syndicate makes the franchise worth returning to after it reached it's lowest point with Unity. Let me tell you, it's one heck of a comeback.
9/10