AC Unity vs. Rogue

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. 

"Man, I've gotta stop these long nights.  Elise will be pissed if she finds out I picked up 

another venereal disease...AND lost my assassin robe."

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).

"No need to worry madame, a person's right leg almost always sticks straight up after they've 

been stabbed."

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…

"Holy crap, what is wrong with some of these people's faces?  And where the hell are all 

the children?  Is no one making whoopee anymore?"

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.

"Is there...something on my face?"

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.

Gaming: Why do "Loading" Screens still Exist?

If you're a gamer than you probably noticed Assassin's Creed: Unity has been in the news a lot since its release.  Did it get super-duper awesome scores?  Nope.  Does it have unbelievable gameplay that took the series on a whole new path for future additions?  Nope.  AC: Unity has actually been in the news because of its awesome invisible cart racing and Arno's incredible ability to hang from thin air.  He also has the unique talent to stealth walk fifty feet above bridges to cross rivers and sometimes loses his face but not his eyeballs.  These hilarious glitches are more on the humor side than game-breaking side and that's a relief.  But we're not here to talk about why AC: Unity has been getting a ton of press.  We're here to talk about loading screens.  And one thing no one mentioned are the new loading screens in Unity.

 

Tim Burton is rumored to be using the above picture as inspiration for Beetlejuice 2: A Love Story.

Before the game released, Ubisoft announced there'd be no loading screens once in Paris.  And that statement can be seen as true…but just like a legal document, it has several holes, making it resemble a wonderfully crafted piece of Swiss cheese.  Yes, once you load AC: Unity and you're running around Paris in 1791, there aren't any loading screens, but you better never fall from a high roof without your hay net, or get stabbed or shot, or decide to fast travel or even start a new mission.  Why?  Because…loading screens.  They're not as long when going from killing to cut scene, but fast travel and dying are another matter altogether. 

Now you're probably thinking, "Well, that's okay because Assassin's Creed games have at least a unique loading screen that allows you to run around in an Animus fog for a bit."  And you'd be right, just not in the new Unity.  Apparently some hot shot in the technical department had the bright idea to do away with those old loading screens for something much more elegant.  So instead you get this:

Add another emblem in the bottom left and you almost--ALMOST--get the 1972 action hit: Pong.

A wonderfully crafted black screen with a tiny spinning emblem in the top right.  And if you're really lucky—if your loading is taking an astonishingly long time—you could get the thin white bar at the bottom of the screen too.  Both—the emblem and white bar—at the same time are just a graphic overload of pixelated greatness.  And these lovely loading screens can go on long enough to cause the player to pass out from boredom.  But the real fortunate gamers are the ones that attempt to complete a mission and continue to die over and over again, only to be rewarded with a long ass loading screen every single time.  So the simple question is—and keep in mind it’s 2014 and computer processors have advanced tremendously since the 70's—what the hell happened?  Why do gamers still have to sit in front of a black screen and pick their noses for long periods of time?

"My God, Madame, some treacherous individual has folded you up like laundry."

THE DON'Ts:

Hasn't technology and game creation come far enough to keep us away from the blank loading screen?  It seems as though Ubisoft is trying to pull a fast one by at least removing the words "loading" from the actual screen.  Well, Ubisoft, gamers are much more perceptive than you think.  We know a loading screen when we see one and we can—oh look…a cat playing the piano.  Damn, now where was I?  Oh yeah, the worst thing a developer can do is be lazy enough to give you a blank screen.  Hell, even attempting to cover it up with say an elevator ride like Mass Effect would have been better.  Or having a useless upgradable spaceship fly through clouds like in Destiny would have at least kept the gamer from falling asleep (maybe).  In this day and age, the last thing a "now" culture needs is nothing to see or do.  Each moment spent staring into the abyss is a moment that could have been spent beating some pixelated NPC over the head with a brick.  And it's on the next-gen (current generation to be honest) consoles.  If you're a developer reading this, then please understand there's a ton of things you can do to make this experience a smidgen better.

"I don't know why you two are giggling about back there, but I'll have you know: whatever that 

smell is...it did not leak from my spacesuit."

THE DOs:

People not only remember Bayonetta because she was a smoking hot piece of pixelated flesh that ripped her clothes off before each battle, but gamers also remember her because of her loading screens.  The high-heeled chick with nerd glasses had so many moves, that the developer let you practice them during each loading screen, making the loading time fly by.  Rayman's Origins and Legends gave you a silhouetted background to run around in, creating a loading screen that became practically non-existent.  And sympathizing with the player, The Devil May Cry 3, gave you the "loading" text, but allowed you to shoot and slash the crap out of it.  What a simple solution to a terribly boring problem.  Hell, the even simpler solution is loading a picture—any picture, even a random pic of someone's food is better than blackness.  Gamers love concept art.  And getting a glimpse into what sparked a level design is always a nice way to transition within a game.

 

"Eyes up here, young one, I wouldn't want you getting the wrong idea about me."

THE FIX:

So how could Unity have fixed the long blank loading screen without having to revert back to the past Assassin's Creeds?  Easy.  They could have built upon the game's strengths.  AC: Unity is based during an actual historic event...just like all their past games.  So why not show some random French Revolution facts while the gamer waits?  Why not attempt to teach players what exactly went on during that turbulent time in Paris?  What easier way is there to remove the blank screen then with a piece of art and some text underneath?  So game-developers, when you're considering and/or building your next game, please keep in mind: a simple picture with some text will go a long way to keep gamers from getting narcolepsy while they wait for their pixelated adventure to load. 

"Some days, sky-walking is all I can do to take my mind off of those dreadful Templars.  

This article has been bought and paid for by The Gamers Association of America.  (Disclaimer: The Gamers Association of America doesn't really exist.  Have a nice day.)