by Ben Mapp
Even before its release Assassin's Creed: Unity faced controversy. The developers found themselves in hot water when they revealed that they had refused to invest in the resources required to make playable female protagonists in the game's online co-op mode. This caused a backlash from fans and even caused some to boycott the game's release in November, but also made a mockery of Ubisoft as one of gaming's leading designers in the industry today.
Even before its release Assassin's Creed: Unity faced controversy. The developers found themselves in hot water when they revealed that they had refused to invest in the resources required to make playable female protagonists in the game's online co-op mode. This caused a backlash from fans and even caused some to boycott the game's release in November, but also made a mockery of Ubisoft as one of gaming's leading designers in the industry today.
Paris in Assassin's Creed: Unity. When Unity did eventually emerge somewhat unscathed later in the year, it was ultimately the gameplay quality which caused it to become one of the franchise's lesser received titles. No-one would have guessed the outcome though because throughout development Unity had absolutely everything going for it.
It was designed to be the first Assassin's Creed exclusive to the newest generation of systems and serve as both a continuation and a reboot (or sorts) in order to reel in new players. The game's setting was chosen as Paris during the middling years of the French Revolution (which had been a request from the fans for some time), which was a step away from the multiple location settings of its most recent - and most highly regarded - predecessors. There was no denying that it would take everything for Unity to surpass the might of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, which scored the highest review scores from both critics and gamers alike right across the board. When Unity was first released, the developers came immediately under fire as all versions of the game appeared to be riddled with game-breaking glitches. The console versions featured virtually unplayable in-world instability, meaning that the player character would fall through the floor or latch onto invisible surfaces, and the PC version featured comical visual errors - such as the facial animations and skins blinking in and out of existence (which have become of the focus of recent internet memes). The game also had a range of frame-rate issues, as had become a custom of the series thus far. All Assassin's Creed titles has frame-rate problems because Ubisoft insist on releasing at least one new Assassin's Creed title every single November and have done since 2010's Brotherhood. Glitches were - of course - always to be expected in Unity and perhaps more so than usual. The sheer size and scope of building revolutionary Paris alone, which had been built fresh from the ground up and constructed to near historical accuracy, was never going to give to open world perfection because it was simply too ambitious a project in too little a development period (despite what Ubisoft might claim), but there was only so much that players could excuse. Los Santos from Grand Theft Auto V, for instance, took five years development time to reach the level of scale and stability it had upon release. Paris of Unity had a comparably sizeable scope but was put together in far less time, and so the development team had no chance to riddle out all of these stability issues. As a result, and for most gamers, the experience was ruined on release day.
On top of that, players who could actually navigate the gameplay normally complained that the storyline itseklf was a little routine and boring compared to that of the previous year, and the unwelcome return to the one-city setup felt like such a backstep considering that all of the games since Assassin's Creed: Revelations had featured a varied multitude of different locations. Unity was the first Assassin's Creed since 2010's Brotherhood to shift focus back to a singular primary location which - I feel - was Unity's biggest letdown.
It was designed to be the first Assassin's Creed exclusive to the newest generation of systems and serve as both a continuation and a reboot (or sorts) in order to reel in new players. The game's setting was chosen as Paris during the middling years of the French Revolution (which had been a request from the fans for some time), which was a step away from the multiple location settings of its most recent - and most highly regarded - predecessors. There was no denying that it would take everything for Unity to surpass the might of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, which scored the highest review scores from both critics and gamers alike right across the board. When Unity was first released, the developers came immediately under fire as all versions of the game appeared to be riddled with game-breaking glitches. The console versions featured virtually unplayable in-world instability, meaning that the player character would fall through the floor or latch onto invisible surfaces, and the PC version featured comical visual errors - such as the facial animations and skins blinking in and out of existence (which have become of the focus of recent internet memes). The game also had a range of frame-rate issues, as had become a custom of the series thus far. All Assassin's Creed titles has frame-rate problems because Ubisoft insist on releasing at least one new Assassin's Creed title every single November and have done since 2010's Brotherhood. Glitches were - of course - always to be expected in Unity and perhaps more so than usual. The sheer size and scope of building revolutionary Paris alone, which had been built fresh from the ground up and constructed to near historical accuracy, was never going to give to open world perfection because it was simply too ambitious a project in too little a development period (despite what Ubisoft might claim), but there was only so much that players could excuse. Los Santos from Grand Theft Auto V, for instance, took five years development time to reach the level of scale and stability it had upon release. Paris of Unity had a comparably sizeable scope but was put together in far less time, and so the development team had no chance to riddle out all of these stability issues. As a result, and for most gamers, the experience was ruined on release day.
On top of that, players who could actually navigate the gameplay normally complained that the storyline itseklf was a little routine and boring compared to that of the previous year, and the unwelcome return to the one-city setup felt like such a backstep considering that all of the games since Assassin's Creed: Revelations had featured a varied multitude of different locations. Unity was the first Assassin's Creed since 2010's Brotherhood to shift focus back to a singular primary location which - I feel - was Unity's biggest letdown.
Arno walks above the city in one of the game's many glitches. Arguably, there is a lot of contrast between Ubisoft's ideas of Rome and Paris. For instance, Rome at least featured some environmental diversity (with open fields and the ability to ride horses playing a large part in Brotherhood's open world). Also, Ubisoft's vision of Rome was heavily fictionalised in order to allow the developers more creativity and provide gamers with a more interesting playground within which to play. Further criticism was directed to Unity's new combat system which, whilst simplified for the best intentions, was ultimately less smooth and so much more frustrating than in previous games. It seemed that a lot of the gameplay for this title was designed for stealth (which is a reason Ubisoft had finally introduced the long-awaited 'crouch' ability). Many of the Assassin skills which were readily available in previous games now had to be unlocked, evidence that Ubisoft were dumbing down the experience for series veterans in order to allow new players to get a handle on the series. The amount of micro-transaction items being publicized across the virtual world of Paris is also blatant, shamelessly goading players into paying even more money (and Unity itself was already £50 remember!) to unlock the game's exclusive features. This led some to describe Ubisoft as 'the next EA.' Overnight, Unity became Ubisoft's most controversial title and - as a consequence of the feedback from its players - they issued a public apology, ditched the Season Pass and allowed all players to have the Dead Kings DLC for absolutely free. They also permitted Season Pass holders rights to a whole Ubisoft game out of a line-up, including a choice of the more recent ones.
But it may have already been too late. Watch_Dogs and Assassin's Creed: Unity were Ubisoft's most financed and well-marketed games of 2014, and they had both fallen flat in the eyes of the consumers. I personally traded in Unity for a next-gen version of a game I already owned for last-gen (Saints Row IV: Re-Elected) because I'd rather go back and play that than force myself to lug through the boring, retro world presented in Unity. The game does introduce a really interesting level of customisation which I hope Ubisoft carry over into the sequels and, whilst the graphics are pretty, though tragically not as groundbreaking as they were presented at E3 (but thankfully not to the horrible extent of Watch_Dogs), and the orchestral soundtrack is truly engaging and beautiful - those are really Unity's only assets.
But it may have already been too late. Watch_Dogs and Assassin's Creed: Unity were Ubisoft's most financed and well-marketed games of 2014, and they had both fallen flat in the eyes of the consumers. I personally traded in Unity for a next-gen version of a game I already owned for last-gen (Saints Row IV: Re-Elected) because I'd rather go back and play that than force myself to lug through the boring, retro world presented in Unity. The game does introduce a really interesting level of customisation which I hope Ubisoft carry over into the sequels and, whilst the graphics are pretty, though tragically not as groundbreaking as they were presented at E3 (but thankfully not to the horrible extent of Watch_Dogs), and the orchestral soundtrack is truly engaging and beautiful - those are really Unity's only assets.
Pray for the future of Assassin's Creed
We've seen the bad. Now let's look at some of the good Ubisoft did last year. Watch_Dogs attempted to be the first in a new IP and the development team seemed to completely ignore the lessons of similar open-world games out during its production period, and the development team of Unity seemed to completely (and unnecessarily) disregard the lessons of all of its predecessors. Next time we'll be discussing Far Cry 4.
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