The launch issues for Assassin’s Creed Unity are now the stuff of legend.  The facts are what they are; far more damaging is the perception.  In the months since release, Ubisoft has done a great deal to patch and adjust Unity to be something closer to the stated vision of the game.  Have these efforts been effective, or are there elements inherent to the game design that continue to plague the experience?

First things first: I still stand by my impression that Unity was originally meant to be a 2015 release, with Rogue being the intended 2014 entry to be the last cross-gen entry.  Unity clearly needed another year to not only work out the internal bugs, but also work out the barriers to the immense level of online integration.  Whether or not the decision to move the timetables of the franchise up a year will have a similar downside for Victory in the 2015 holiday season has yet to be seen.  However, that having been said, Unity deserves to be considered as it stands right now.


One element of Unity that sets the tone immediately is a return to the notion of an Assassin gaining experience and skill over time.  Not since Connor in Assassin’s Creed III has the player been forced through a progressive unlocking of skills, revenue, and even mission capability to such an extent.  In many ways this is closer to an open-world RPG, in that missions, chests, enemies, and so forth all have a difficulty rating that determines if it’s a good idea to attempt them at your given level.



The player is free to run around the full extent of Paris from the beginning, but until enough story missions are under the player’s belt, a lot is simply not going to work out well.  Forget about the relatively flat combat ability progression in Black Flag or Rogue; until Arno gets at least some mid-level weapons and gear, fights end predictably and quickly.  Even when the best equipment becomes affordable (more on that in a second), stealth is a much better option than frontal offensives, as anything more than two or three enemies will quickly use you as a pincushion.

At least a minor investment in better weapons gains you something quickly; the economics of the game are far more punishing.  One has to be very smart about building one’s financial portfolio to have a reasonable shot at unlocking the best gear.  But here’s the critical point: it’s entirely possible.  I know, because I’ve done it.  The path is relatively straightforward.  Your periodic income from the theatre in Paris is proportional to how many theater missions/renovations and then social club renovations/missions are completed.  Using low-level Paris Story missions to prime the economic pump, one can be bringing in 10 or 20K every 20 minutes, which makes buying 160K-priced advanced gear and weapons a lot easier.



This is necessary because the vast majority of chests are locked.  Unlocked chests are low-yield affairs; locked chests are a collection of 1-lock, 2-lock, or 3-lock combinations.  The player has a mini-game to play that gets easier as the Locksmith ability levels are unlocked.  How does that happen, you ask?  Why, main story missions, of course.  (Remember how I said this feels more and more like an RPG?)  At the lowest levels, opening the high-yield 3-lock combinations are practically impossible, so letting the economic plan in the previous paragraph work for you as you complete story missions is critical.







In essence, it’s a more demanding version of the progression in Assassin’s Creed II or III, putting the player in control of Arno’s development more than ever.  However, one huge downside to that model was recently rendered moot.  Until the past couple weeks, there were also two other classes of chests: Nomad chests and Initiates chests.  Nomad chests could only be unlocked through playing the companion app on iOS or Android, and would take weeks to unlock everything.  Initiates is a website that would have had another set of “missions” and such, gaining levels in which would unlock outfits and major cash in-game.



Initiates never worked as intended, and that content was already automatically unlocked by the time I started playing the game.  I spent a lot of time on the Nomad app to unlock content, but now all of that is automatically unlocked as well.  This is a nice way to get quick cash right from the start and get an early weapon/equipment upgrade, so for those wondering if all this is a barrier to entry, the decision to unlock it all is actually a bit of a boost to the early game.








One might notice that I’ve avoided one of the much-touted elements of Unity: the co-op missions and content.  If there is one reason I won’t come close to my usual 90-95% completion rates for games like Black Flag or Rogue, this is it.  A substantial percentage of completion, even in terms of item collection, is tied to co-op play.  Depending on one’s interest in co-op play, this could also take something off the top, and I have yet to try playing those missions solo.  Then again, the game can be acquired for a discount already, so that may not be a major concern.



WHAT WORKS


This game is gorgeous.  If Assassin’s Creed II was lauded for reproducing the glory of Renaissance Italy, then imagine how much more awe-inspiring Revolutionary Paris is with the power of the current-gen systems.  Unlike Florence or Rome, however, this is a fully populated city, and that forces the player to navigate intelligently.  Not only that, but the character models are insanely detailed.  It’s a beautiful game across the board.


Massive glitches would get in the way, but so far, after dozens of hours of gameplay, I’ve run into only minor glitches.  For the most part, this is something on the order of NPCs randomly jumping on chairs when Arno comes bursting into a room, knocking into things.  It’s nothing compared to previous games, such as Assassin’s Creed III, where I witnesses a horse and carriage walking right into and through a house!  So a lot of those issues are long since a memory.





I have yet to finish the entire main story; however, one can clearly see how Unity is meant to be the beginning of a new phase for the series in terms of the overall sweep of the Assassin/Templar struggle and, to a much lesser extent, the present-day meta-narrative.  I wouldn’t mind seeing the present-day narrative return in a more meaningful way, however; the rising suspicion that WatchDogs is going to turn out to be an offshoot of Assassin’s Creed could end up answering that question.



WHAT DOESN’T WORK


The economics of the game are irritating, but can be managed; I mentioned that earlier.  However, Ubisoft has added a layer to it in the form of Helix Points.  Given a certain amount of them, one can “hack” the economics to get better weapons, gear, and so forth without having to take the time to develop the actual economy in-game.  Here’s the obvious catch: other than a small token amount given upfront, you have to pay real money for a chunk of Helix Points.  A lot of real money.  As in, there is a $99 pack of them on PSN/XBL right now.







Now, initial reports made it sound like the in-game financial setup was so impossible that players had no choice but to slap tons of actual money down to upgrade.  I will say again: this is categorically UNTRUE.  I’ve not paid one dime for extra Helix Points, and I’m in spitting distance of fully upgraded.  Those paying for Helix Points are essentially paying to shortcut the process.  Unity is hardly the first game to offer such cheats for real money, and it is disingenuous to pretend that Ubisoft is forcing anyone to pay extra just to play the game as designed.  However, just the fact that this practice continues to proliferate is rage-inducing!  


THE BOTTOM LINE


Months after release, Assassin’s Creed Unity is not the buggy mess that its reputation would suggest.  In fact, it plays in a manner befitting what it is: the first game of the franchise on the new console generation.  Some elements are dead on, others will clearly be refined in future iterations.  A number of online-integration aspects of the game that never worked right are now out of the picture entirely, a development that actually makes the early parts of the game easier to manage.  And while the option of buying in-game “hacks” with real money is questionable, the game does allow the player to upgrade and progress perfectly well without additional investments.


In the end, if you’ve been waiting for Assassin’s Creed Unity to become the best version of itself before purchase, then that time has arrived.