By Kermath Davies
Ubisoft left a bad taste in all our mouths with the last Assassin's Creed, and got quite beat up by the media over it.
At E3 2014 there was the same-size banner for Assassin's Creed Unity, with probably the same-sized floor space reserved for the game as they have for this year's Syndicate.
When I played the hands-on for Unity last year, I could already see problems. Then when the game released, it was a bug-filled nightmare for both Ubisoft and fans of the series.
At E3 2015, I was mentally preparing for the same thing. But it actually looks like Ubisoft have their fresh Assassin firmly on their horse.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate feels like a better play overall. I was actually shocked that the E3 demo featured a chase sequence that relied on quick graphics and sharp maneuverability; why was the demo focusing on the mechanics the franchise had been suffering with?
In 2009's Assassin's Creed 2, it was virtually impossible to climb a wall and be confident you'd make it to the desired location. Things felt kind of the same in Assassin's Creed 3, probably because most of the map was made up of sharper, more vertical buildings.
Then in Black Flag, it seemed like running around horizontally saw an upgrade, but trying to board ships, travel and jump from sail-to-sail with these seemingly unchanged mechanics felt taxing.
Unity then came along with some bolts tightened, and a better jump predictability system, but it was very short-lived; after you realise about 20 minutes in you're struggling just as much to not jump to your death by accident.
The Assassin's Creed games were getting exponentially more beautiful with each title, but my tolerance for the core mechanics was deteriorating at the same pace.
This sore history though, thank God, could finally see a turn for the better.
Syndicate could also be the sexiest Assassin to join on to the series. Everything looks improved upon.
The E3 demo was the same level that was showcased in May this year. It features a rescue scene, a fight scene and a chase scene.
The tighter maneuverability was instantly noticeable, and on stealing a random man's horse-and-cart, I was told that vehicles like this one would be freely available throughout the world for the first time.
The character's ground movements were nicely in line with what I was commanding him to do with the controller, which felt like a revelation.
Then it came time for our protagonist, Jacob Frye, to chase after his target on foot across rooftops.
Running up buildings has always been the best part of the series' parkour system, and I was shocked to find this contended by a new grapple system that looks like something straight out of the Batman: Arkham franchise. It gives Jacob the ability to quickly scale buildings vertically and horizontally across gaps, zip-lining from eave-to-eave.
It's a tool that creates a seamless run, and that's what feels like the team has focused most of their time on. In the demo I played, there was no intermittent cutscene that transitioned you into or out of action; it all just felt fluid, and everyone still had their rendered heads - unlike in Unity.
Also, just for the record, I did get stuck, but only once - while trying to traverse down a building and pressing too many buttons, but that's usual for an E3 demo on an early build.
I'm hoping that what I saw at E3 will closely resemble the final product of what Syndicate will play like, because if so, Ubisoft will be back on top.
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source: newshub archive
