Assassin's Creed Syndicate (PS4)

Assassin's Creed Syndicate is a game that truly feels like it has rejuvenated the series, it may not be full of swashbuckling pirates or Italian renaissance charm but it does an excellent job of bringing pre - modernism to the franchise. Victorian London may seem too close to the style of Assassin's Creed Unity 's revolutionary Paris, with there being some seventy years between the two, however streets full of horse - drawn carriages and and a railway line stretching throughout the entire map really do emphasise the importance of an industrial revolution within the game.Syndicate also has the important feature of having two playable protagonists, Jacob and Evie Frye. While this may not seem like anything new to begin with as we have seen Haytham and Connor Kenway in Assassin's Creed 3 and Ezio and Altair in Revelations, Syndicate takes this to an entirely new level. Jacob and Evie both have separate skill trees to upgrade and different weapons and armour that can be gained through mission rewards or crafted. Furthermore both characters are available from the get-go with the player being able to switch between them at will except in character specific missions.The story of Syndicate is also very much improved from Unity which (although still enjoyable) I couldn't help but feel was slightly lacking. While the present day story is still very much isolated to cutscenes between memories they are more substantial and progressive, introducing more characters both Assassin and Templar which makes it feel that the series is once more progressing towards an outcome instead of stagnating. The Victorian story is also interesting and rich, the player can meet numerous historical characters not limited to Karl Marx, Charles Dickens and of course Queen Victoria.Graphically the game is what you would expect of a next generation game, the city of London is vast with busy streets and traffic and sites such as The Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace are staggeringly huge and beautiful to climb and explore, smaller perhaps less obvious points are also aesthetically pleasing such as the grassy parks of London or the waters of the Thames are wonderfully rendered.Combat and stealth obviously play an important part within the game. Stealth now operates with a newly implemented stealth mode that will automatically allow the player to take cover when they are stood next to it, this allows for more fluid stealth gameplay. Combat now allows for the player to now perform counter shots at the enemy while also performing both melee and ranged combination attacks as well as melee finishers on several enemies at once.Overall Syndicate is what I hope every Assassin's Creed game in the future will try to imitate: a wonderfully balanced, immersive story that makes the player frustratingly impatient for the next game while delivering new stealth and combat mechanics that still bring nostalgic feelings of the original 2007 game.

This game is an absolute joy. In my humble opinion this is the best Assassin's Creed since ACII. The series seems to follow a distinct pattern; when it's charming, it's successful. Perhaps that's why ACIII and Unity fell slightly flat in a lot of people's opinions; their protagonists did after all have to follow the resounding success of Ezio and Kenway respectively. Two characters that are much loved by the community that were followed up by somewhat disenchanting characters in Connor and Arno that lacked the pizazz of their predecessors. With this in mind I would like to observe our two central characters; twins Jacob and Evie Frye. Put simply; they ooze awesomeness. Jacob has that superb cheeky chappy Englishman vibe that goes magically with the role of an Assassin and gangleader, whilst also exhibiting streaks of a Chaotic Good anti-hero. His charismatic bull-in-a-chinashop approach is reminiscent of early Altair, early Ezio, and most notably Edward Kenway (who gets honourable mentions in this game). Then we have the other side of the same coin; Evie. Aside from being a total English Rose and absolute fox, she has a more characteristically Assassin-like approach to things which brings a nice ebb and flow to the game whilst switching between the two siblings. Her catfight-esc back and forth with Lucy Thorne is brilliant to watch, as is her will they or won’t they relationship with our Assassin companion Henry Green.(Minor Spoilers Ahead)Moving on from the protagonists we have the wealth of other Characters that make the time and place come to life. Most notably we have Charles Darwin and Alexander Graham Bell who are brilliant from start to end in their roles. We also come across Dickens, Conan-Doyle, Marx and dear old Queen Vic as our heroes help to shape both the heritage and the future of London. There is also a delicious little side mission which may or may not involve a certain Englishman that goes by the name of Winston. But I won’t divulge anything further about our Historical friends; they’re a feature that is best enjoyed from playing the game. The world itself is something to behold. If scaling the side of Big Ben and jumping off of it doesn’t tickle your pickle, then ziplining across the Thames surely will. It’s just breath-taking. I’m so glad that Ubisoft focused on what made this franchise so successful in the first place; Single player, story rich, environmentally beautiful, immersive cinematic content that intertwines the past with the present. Lastly I would like to give an honourable mention to the villain of the piece; Crawford Starrick. Whilst we don’t see a huge amount of him, what we do see is pure gold. Extremely well-acted, and chilling to the bone. The best antagonist since Rodrigo Borgia for me.