Introduction
As you may have, or
may not have, heard previously in an episode of the Official Team DBAH Podcast,
a certain admin had gone previous gen over a last minute released game tailing
the release of the bigger next gen installment of the same franchise. Weird as
this may be, this is the first review I'm ever writing for the sake of
professionalism, which will see a dire limit to my tendencies of exaggerating
my points to drive a mental picture of my pleasures and pains associated with a
certain topic. That introduction aside, on with the review! (Don't forget to
comment below to let me know your thoughts on this review/subject)
Scratch Off The
Surface
Assassin's Creed
Rogue, yes that last AC game by Ubisoft for the previous generation of console
gaming platforms, is going to be the targeted game of this review. If you
aren't quite aware of this title, there's no shame to be had granted the
hooplah Unity's been receiving both positively and negatively in the news
lately while they were released simultaneously. The long and short of it is
this, Rogue tells the story of some events that happened after the events of
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, and the fall of the colonial Assassin
Brotherhood before Assassin's Creed 3 took place. You don't need to know more
than that to pick up the title to enjoy it, but it's obviously targeted as the
"lore fluff" for Assassin's Creed fans that get a certain high from diving
into the growing expanded universe of the franchise (... yeah, I'm one of them,
so what?), plus anyone that was wondering what the heck happened at Abstergo
Entertainment during the present day sequences after Black Flag took place (as
few people as there may be). What I found special about this game is that it
takes a different turn on how the Assassin's v. Templar's secret war can be perceived,
which does add more to the title than letting it be only the aforementioned
"lore fluff". There's a bigger tone in the game than the cut and dry character
driven narrative we've seen in previous installments, because the biggest twist
is that we're seeing history in the eyes not of the Assassin's perspective for
once, but that of a Templar. It's been talked about by many fans sure, but this
game is the first ever in the franchise that puts on the other guy's shoe on
you, and makes you walk the so called mile in them.
Plot, Characters,
& Promising Gameplay
The story of Shay
Patrick Cormac, the Assassin that turned his blade onto the order that made him
the living weapon he was for the sake of the Templar Order, is a story of...
well, guilt. That's right, the plot is one driven not by the mixed desire of
revenge and duty to one's nation like Connor of Assassin's Creed 3 fame, nor
the wily sense of adventure and thirst for fortune as seen with the charismatic
swashbuckling Edward Kenway in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag... Good boy Shay
Patrick Cormac is a protagonist hoping to, what I can only assume as an attempt
at, bringing about good karma to compensate for the horrible stuff he's done
while under the colonial Assassin's banner. Now, talking about what those said
horrible things are goes heavily into spoiler turf, so I'll spare you that if
you're looking to pick up this title. Let's just say that it's a sequence in
the game that chilled my bones, and justified (at least, to some degree in my
view) what Shay set off to do once all was said and done.
Once placed against
the order that helped give you a sense of purpose, given that we're clued into
Shay's personal life a bit on how it went to the gutter when his family hit
some harsh times before his childhood friend and then turned assassin Liam
found him again, it felt as though the game had a whole host of possibilities
of what the game could permit to happen when the "good guys" you
assume to be on the good side weren't the good guys this time around. Your
friend Liam, who would cut out his own kidney for you in the beginning,
suddenly turned into a rabid junkyard dog gunning after you for looking at him
at all from behind the fence. Your mentor Achilles, who handed down missions to
you with the manner of a true father figure, now a desperate man who's personal
tragedies made him a jumpier person than the solid foundation of the order
about a sequence or two in the bloody game. Toss in the merry band of
assassin's, each infamous in history in their own right, who now are gunning
for your back any chance they get. This unnerving feeling of having the world turned
against you from ANY angle gave a heavier feeling when strolling around
colonial Albany, New York. Even adventuring into newly discovered dock towns
gave a cautious feeling that at any corner there could be a knife-wielding
assassin ready to strike at you. There are even a couple moments when you see
the Assassin's blatantly as the bad guys, which deserve a heavy spanking for
their deeds.
And Here Come the
Cons
At no point after
"the event" and maybe two chapters/sequences afterward does there
seem to be that heavy presence of severe consequence for leaving the
brotherhood anymore. It sort of felt as though the story just took a
"well, what's done is done, might as well live with it" attitude even
before you become a fully recognized/realized Templar. The sense of danger
exploring new locales possibly occupied by Assassin influence soon just gives
way to a minigame of cat and mouse (where both parties aren't quite sure who is
whom) which gets less and less amusing the more rounds you play it in a certain
stretch of time.
Part of the blame
also comes in from incorporating the multiplayer mechanic of whispers, and
compass now shoehorned in the eagle vision into the campaign, that identify
when an enemy is near. At one point, I stood perfectly still for a minute or so
using the camera to look around me to find the hiding would-be killer like some
twisted video game version of "Where's Waldo", which would turn into
a puzzle solving game of "how to Kill him/her first so guards won't bug me
for it". On that note, the AI for the assassin's are just pitiful. I get
they're lesser characters that aren't A-list material like Kassegowasse, or
even Adewale who does appear as an enemy, but at no point did I get more
enjoyment from dealing them their dose of death than popping a pimple off my
own back. It felt more like a chore than a fun mechanic after two or so
excursions, and having the Assassin captains in their bases running away from
you within the limits of the combat area instead of fighting you head on being the
only enemies that give a challenge really does take the experience into the
mud. It probably would've been more engaging for me if the whispers could
somehow be used more to find them, making use of sound to indicate the general
direction & distance in said direction to add to the challenge of
pinpointing the enemy, instead of taking the elevation indicator from the
compass out, then calling it a day. The whole point of the compass was to tell
you how far the enemy is, but it was most useful when you had a moving target
like players in Multiplayer, not a stationary ambush killer who is probably
pissing in that one spot if you wait long enough. I found more fun just
circling around them, debating if I should end them the next time I came to
that corner.
Grenade Launcher... I
sigh every time I think about it.
That just didn't make
the game fun at all; it was an OP weapon that killed any sense of secretive
tactics I'm used to using in previous installments. While I do see the point of
having that emphasize you're a Templar and not an Assassin holding to the
innocent don't get involved rule, there really doesn't need to be that kind of
weapon used in any situation I've come across in the story. The air rifle
seemed a lot more legitimized as a severely upgraded version of the blowgun
from Black Flag, but having the grenade launcher attached was just someone
shoehorning a weapon to make it look like all advances in military might came
from this this war, and nothing else.
The part I looked
most to for the enjoyment in terms of gameplay was the Assassin's themselves.
After playing as so many wonderful characters in the games, I had a high
expectation of this part, which sadly fell quite flat. As I've said about the
assassin captains before, the only thing I saw these guys do was run as far and
fast as they could, only to fight when cornered to do so, and by fight I mean
challenge you as much as any captain tier enemy. I was disappointed by this
greatly, as I wanted to have a challenge akin to an epic fight between titans,
each having a flaw in their fighting style to exploit to have an easier time
taking these famed killers down, or just going fisticuffs for a prolonged brawl
to see who has more endurance/reaction time. Other than the "death
confessions" at the end of that fight sequence, there's not much enjoyment
to be had in those plot high point moments. Honestly, it was just a dressed up
version of "chase your target" from older games.
There Are Pros
Though.
While the boss fights
are lack luster, the play style still relying heavily on stealth instead of
promised sinister uses of malicious weaponry like the OP piece of garbage I
will forever refer to as the egg tosser, and fighting the enemy AI being equivalent
to making children fight an oncoming semi-truck at full speed without the
chance/choice of ducking out of the way, it still does deliver in the story
element of the game. The play on perspective of right and wrong, the drama of
big-picture state of humanity versus small scale personal grudge matches, and
even the drive that makes a man capable of turning on his order really set home
the extent the war affected the lives of those involved. No matter the
implications being for a world order of one variety over another, there is
always a personal reason for anything and everything the soldiers on both sides
fight for. In Shay's case, his being to purge the guilt of his actions, prevent
the brotherhood from causing the same kind of harm he saw first hand, makes for
a decent change from the worldly desires we've seen from lesser Templars that
stick to us more. Taking a different path in the series, making the Templars
more and more shades of grey in the once thought of thick border between them
and the brotherhood. We see how both sides cause harm, both small scale and
very large, and it's in this slice of story that I took the most enjoyment
from, especially in the present day sequences where you see the aftermath of
the events of Black Flag.
What really surprised
me was the introduction of new characters that build up a counter-team to the
present day Assassin's, bringing up events alluded to in previous installments
with multiplayer that fed more and more lore as you leveled up. This is leading
me to get excited not only for the upcoming titles going into animus, but also
for what is boiling up to be some big event in the present day war between both
factions. While you brought Abstergo Entertainment to it's knees in Black Flag,
this time around you're going to send a message to the Assassins in Rogue.
Conclusion:
Taking influences
from Assassin's Creed 4's seafaring adventures into the cold north Atlantic,
bringing the canon of Assassin's Creed 3's into a better light, mixing in new
shanties to break up the boredom while on the ocean. This game hit some right
marks, even with the shortcomings brought about mostly by expectation on my
end, and fundamentally redeeming the canon of Assassin's Creed 3 a bit. The
ship missions are as exciting as previous iterations, the shanties are a joy to
listen to, the level design is beautiful, and playing as Shay makes you feel
like a real titan. I'm pleased with this game, for the building narrative that
it's posturing. It's a solid story, following mostly a safe route of gameplay
that made Black Flag work, and having development that makes anyone who played
this title excited to see what Unity will bring to the Ubisoft table for the
next gen consoles.
I normally do not
like scaling any game in terms of how much I enjoy them, but this title is a
solid entry to the franchise worth spending time in, so for it's sake I'll bat
it at a 7/10. Pick it up for the story and intriguing turns, because that will
go the extra mile for you.
That's been my review
folks. Remember, Don't be a Hero.
