Assassin's Creed: Unity Preview - E3 2014

With so many blockbuster titles in 2014 splitting their launch between the last generation of consoles and the current one, it is impressive to see Assassin’s Creed Unity respectfully part ways with the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Assassin’s Creed once sought to revel in the sprawling, urban centers of yesteryear, but the series shifted toward more remote locations like the American Frontier and the Caribbean with the last two series entries. Unity shifts the focus back to tall buildings and dirty streets, demonstrating how far the franchise has come since its last urban foray in Constantinople. The streets are filled with people, not simply a trick of perspective, but the crowds attacking Notre Dame or gathering around the guillotine number in the hundreds, if not thousands. Unity is an ambitious project, even for development teams as large as the ones Ubisoft is famous for.

We begin our time with Assassin’s Creed Unity perched atop the majestic Notre Dame Cathedral. While there are actually four new assassins in Unity, the main character we’ll be following is named Arno. Arno descends down from the high points of Notre Dame, grabbing ledges and deftly landing on platforms. The free-running mechanics of Assassin’s Creed have been reinvented for Unity, the all-purpose free-run button - which caused your assassin to climb a ladder instead of dart through an alley - has been replaced with two buttons to intuitively move your assassin up, down, or across city walls and buildings. Ideally, this would make for less sticky gameplay, one of the criticisms the series so regularly receives.

For all of the talk coming out of Ubisoft about what they have done with the new technology and hardware, Unity lives up to the hype. From a graphics and technical perspective it is truly a new generation of Assassin’s Creed. It’s not only the masses of people, but the detail in every room you enter. Overturned tables, scattered parchment, and other setting dressings make the world feel lived-in and believable. The props, the shaders, the modeling are all limitations the Ubisoft teams dealt with in previous games, but Unity is allowed to truly embrace this new console generation.

Unity shows off its new power is subtle ways as well. Even something as simple as the way the map works. With so many objects and side missions littering the world, Assassin’s Creed games often force fans to constantly be pausing the game and pulling up their map. Unity attempts to circumvent the time spent in the menus by giving you a bird's eye view when on rooftops. When you have the high ground, all of the closest side missions will appear, allowing you to find your next challenge without having to bring up a map.

Unity continues the trend of abundant side missions. Even during my short time with the game a handful of different missions types were demonstrated in the jam-packed world of revolutionary France. I could defend the citizens from angry guards, stop a pick-pocket from escaping, solve a murder, begin a co-op mission, trade with a merchant, or continue the story. Some of these side missions must be completed immediately or are lost, while others can be saved to your log and continued upon returning to the area.

Whether you love or hate the Assassin’s Creed series, one must appreciate its unique place in the video game spectrum. This franchise is the only one to inject players into historical settings with a third-person perspective. These locales often are lovingly brought to life with a touch of authenticity. They aren’t sci-fi worlds which spring from the mind of concept artists, these are places which reverberate through our culture today, and Unity works hard to recreate revolutionary France in all of its tumultuous glory. Having yet another game that looks and plays familiar isn’t always a bad thing, and thanks to a brand new setting Unity is an example of just that.

The upgrade in hardware allows this Assassin’s Creed to be more fluid. There seems to be less glitchy interactions with environment and NPCs than previous games. Ubisoft also promises Arno’s arsenal to be more diversified compared to previous titles, drawing attention to his phantom blade which allows him work more efficiently in his deadly trade.

Not only is Assassin’s Creed Unity showing off its largest digital city to date, but it is also adding depth to that city. Of course, the verticality of France is something which will grab the eye of the players, but Ubisoft also promises to take players under the city. Running underneath Paris is a series of catacombs and sewers which players will be invited to explore. Even with a bird’s eye view I was told I was experiencing a quarter of the smallest of seven districts the game had to offer, not including the location of Versailles.

When I asked about how the co-op would work in Unity, I was told communication would be the key. Players would have to speak to each other to make sure they were on the same page and develop a plan of attack. I pried more about the co-op wondering how players would join each other’s game and how seamless the multiplayer would be, but Ubisoft hesitated to say more. One thing which was confirmed was the competitive multiplayer of previous entries will not be included in this year’s title, with the emphasis being redirected to the co-op.

While Ubisoft has teams joining and leaving projects constantly, I was told that the core team of Unity has been working on this title since wrapping up Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. It is not hard to believe, given the ambitious scope of Unity. The size of France, the introduction of campaign co-op gameplay, while the core of the game is the same Assassin’s Creed we’ve seen for years, are all at work in the new title. For those looking to continue the fight between assassins and templars, Assassin’s Creed Unity will be released in October on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.