POSTED 6/12/14


ASSASSIN'S CREED UNITY

Ubisoft

Cor blimey, guv’nor! Didn’t you kill my farva?

OK, so it isn’t quite that bad, but the grand Hollywood tradition of everybody in history having an English accent is alive and well in this year’s Assassin’s Creed model. That would, of course, be completely fine if it were set in England, but that’s coming next year. Instead, this one’s France-based. French Revolution. Palace of Versailles, Notre Dame...

Get on with it!

Hey, you don’t frighten us with your silly knees-bent running around advancing behaviour! But OK, we will get on with it.

So, in this entry of the Animus chronicles, you become young Frenchman Arno Dorian. As a kid you saw your father die, and were subsequently adopted. Still a kid, you saw your adoptive father killed as well. Obviously, you’re cursed! But you put all that aside and go on a rollicking revenge trip, joining the brotherhood of Assassins. Little do you know, however, that daddy numbre deux was a senior Templar. Sacre bloody hell!

So, you trippety-trompe around France – but mostly a very big Paris. It’s here where you’ll notice – assuming you’re vaguely observant - one of the grand feathers in Unity’s beret, and that’s crowds. They’re everywhere. It adds realism, even if the majority of them are dumber than baguettes, and also serves to force you more onto the rooftops. It’s refreshing then that your parkour abilities have been streamlined.

Combat’s also been overhauled. By that we mean it’s more realistic. By that we mean if you take on a small army then you’ll end up sliced and diced. Weapon customisation’s improved though, to give strategists a fighting chance.

There’s co-op rather than multiplayer, skill upgrade trees and stealth’s stealthier. But microtransactions abound, plus stutters and bugs aren’t rare.

Unity’s no holy grail, but it’s very Assassin’s Creed. That should satisfy any fan, innit?

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