In 2014 Ubisoft pulled off the
unthinkable. Instead of releasing one
Assassin's Creed game as they normally do, they released two: Assassin's Creed:
Unity for PC and current generation consoles, and Assassin's Creed: Rogue for
last generation consoles. Why? Well, they didn't want to upset part of the
gaming world by only releasing Unity.
Ubisoft wanted to appease the last generation owners by creating a
totally separate game/story. And having
the choice of two games is awesome, but what if you only have money or time for
one? Which game do you buy? Which pixelated adventure do you ignore your
family to play? Well, it all comes down
to your taste in story, graphics, and gameplay.
GLITCHES AND FRAME RATES:
From the beginning Unity had frame rate issues,
missing faces, people folding on the ground like laundry, and the occasional
skywalk, but if you held out this long, you'll be pleasantly surprised to know
most of that has been taken care of—at least on consoles. It's sorry to say, but you'll get a better
gaming experience on Xbox or Playstation as the PC version still has some
issues. Rogue also has a patch as soon
as you boot it up, but the game is running on the old AC engine and most of the
kinks and problems have already been worked out in the past. So if you're looking for the more stable of
the two games, then Rogue is your answer.
GAMEPLAY:
Gamers everywhere love it when you're about
three feet from stabbing your target in the eye and instead, your assassin
decides to take a header off the current building and shatter every bone in his
body as he de-syncs. Those are always
the funniest, most aggravating experiences when playing through an AC
game. And you'll be happy to know they
still exist in both 2014 games. You'll
have better luck as Shay (from Rogue) though, as he can take extreme falls with
a roll. Arno (from Unity) on the other
hand will die from about two stories up if you choose not to upgrade his
rolling technique.
Now, when you sit down to play an AC game are
you excited about being a pirate or an assassin? Would you rather drink and be merry, while
firing cannon balls at the enemy in Rogue?
Or would you rather sneak behind furniture and stab people in the kidney
in Unity? On top of that, Unity has you
trapped on one huge land mass (Paris), creeping behind bushes and methodically
planning your next assassination, while Rogue has you traveling between smaller
land masses, taking over gang headquarters, and fighting killer whales. If you want slower, stealthier gameplay with
the ability to crouch anywhere, then you want Unity. If you're looking to fire grenades, have
numerous chase missions and put endless sea battles under your belt, then Rogue
is your cup of tea. And sorry gamer, you
can't have both (unless you buy both).
ASSASSIN OPTIONS:
Of course both assassin games give you the
ability to climb towers (Shay a little
faster than Arno), kill with hidden blades, make your enemies go berserk,
smoke bomb for the win, and air assassinate with ease. But it seems Shay (Rogue) has an edge on toys
just by going through the main storyline.
He gets grenades that put his enemies to sleep, make them go berserk, or
completely blow them up. He can also use
rope darts to hang enemies from a tree, has the ability to kill from haystacks
or carts (missing from Unity), and
can also move dead bodies (also missing
from Unity). Arno on the other hand,
comes complete with just your basic assassin gear, plus poison gas and stun
grenades, but almost all of his skills must be earned through assassin
points. So if you don't complete a ton
of side quests, along with the main quest to gain assassin points, your Arno
will be lacking in quite a few departments.
But it's okay, because Arno sure does look good going all parkour up and
down a building. Speaking of looking
good…
GRAPHICS:
If you’re looking for an almost complete layout
of 1700's Paris with building exteriors and interiors that are rendered
gorgeously, then Unity is your game. It
seems the developers left out cats this time around, and there are no children
anywhere, but crowds have grown immense.
Sure, you'll get the occasional NPC floating in the air or driving an
imaginary go-cart, but that's what happens when you add so many moving NPC's to
a game. There are also some of the blandest
and ugly faces roaming the crowd, but the quest-giving NPC's are fairly normal
looking and almost have their lips synced with the audio. As for Rogue...time has not been kind to poor
Shay. Sadly, the game doesn't have
graphics like last-generation GTA 5 or The Last of Us. The shadows don't work. The light bouncing off of faces (including
Shay's) makes skin color look blown-out and Shay's animations are stiffer than
Robocop. But he can steer a ship like
nobody's business, while Arno can barely swim.
MULTIPLAYER:
This one is easy. If you want the ability to run round with
three friends in an attempt at stealth, then Unity has you covered. Rogue has…well…no multiplayer
whatsoever. It's a solo adventure for a
lonely pirate. But don't feel like you’re
missing out on too much when playing Rogue, because the ability to run around
with friends only works when online is working.
And Ubisoft isn't the most reliable developer when it comes to online
anything.
CONCLUSION:
So the choice is
yours, fellow gamer. Is it a
last-generation-graphics pirate's life for you, complete with many, many (too frigging many) chase missions, and
tons of sea battles and ship upgrading that's required to move the story forward?
Or would you rather be content with taking it slow and sneaking in and
out of buildings to stalk your prey inside a pretty Paris with a giant glitchy
NPC crowd? Maybe you'll choose
both? If you do, there's a story link
between the games, which is an added Easter Egg for the faithful Assassin's
Creed fans. Either way, any and all AC
lovers will be pleased with either of the two games. Just don't forget to download all those
patches or you're probably going to have a bad time.
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