Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Review (Game by Ubisoft)
With the disappointing shadow of Assassins Creed Unity looming over Ubisoft, little expectations were given to the Syndicate when the game was first released in October 23, 2015. However, once the players experienced the fresh yet old Victorian open world concept, fans immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Ubisoft learned from its mistakes in Unity from the micro transaction requests when opening chests to the sloppy relatable characters, and boring main story line.
The game is about the assassin twins Jacob and Evie Frye and their fight against the allusive Templar Order in 1866 London, England during the Industrial Revolution. With their consistent bickering, opposite personalities, and individual differences in fighting style, Assassins Creed Syndicate’s two main protagonist truly have the player enraptured in their story. Jacob Frye is brawns while his sister Evie is the brains of their operation. Jacob’s story follows his goal of taking out the corrupt Templar from the British Government and liberating the people of London. The player will follow Evie in her quest to find the lost artifact from Eden hidden somewhere in London. Though Jacob is used for most of the main plot, Evie’s gameplay in all the side missions have you using both twins on an equal level. Also, throughout most the game you can freely switch between the two characters, giving you an advantage in different missions that would require one skill over another. Although towards the end of the game, both twins will have same skill and strength when character skills are completely unlocked. The only disappointment with the plot is the underwhelming ending but with all the side content, the gamers money is definitely not wasted.
As for the missions themselves, not much has changed with the side missions of kidnapping, escorting, assassinating, and stealing. Ubisoft did reintroduce Brotherhoods idea of growing your own gang army by liberating those in the Templars grasp. Slowly but surely players can gain control over different burrows of London and have your new lacks perform missions for you. Plus it never gets old when saving children from child labor factories. Another thing added in Syndicate that had a major impact on the enjoyment of the game is the use of carriages. Like in Grand Theft Auto, you can steal, race, and earn experience in property damage caused by ill use of London’s horse driven carriages. Also hiding bodies in carriages and having rooftop carriages fights only add to the thrill of being an assassin in Victorian London. And at last, the side missions actually have a impact on the main mission itself. You’ll find some missions become easier or more difficult with the completion of side missions.
Ubisoft also fixed their historical accuracy problems they had in Unity by added prominent figures of that time period. From aiding Charles Dickens in demon hunting to Alexander Graham Bell’s helpful inventions. Speaking of Alexander, he is the reason for the best gadget given the player in the game: The grapple hook. Much like Batman’s grapple gun in the Arkham games, this gadget allows you to cross large gaps between streets and easily scale tall buildings like Big Ben. This little item makes exploring London far more enjoyable and easier to accomplish.
Finally to mention is the beauty of London open world night and day cycle. Though not in real time, this little detail allows for London to seem realistic and drastically changes how the player progresses in missions.
All in all Syndicate gives Assassins Creed fans major hope for the franchises future that Unity had almost destroyed and any gamer should keep Syndicate in their collection. At the same time however, this raises our expectations on future games Ubisoft will release.