Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - Watch 1 Hour Of All-New Gameplay Footage
Does it look better than back in May? Well...
At this point in the chronology of Assassin's Creed titles, we're reaching a tipping point. At least, it's about damn time the general public voted with their wallets, refused to pre-order each annual instalment and actively forced Ubisoft to get their act together, as something has to change. Looking at what we're about to get hands-on this October 23rd (and that's a date you can bet your house on, as Ubisoft are going to push this broken husk of a game out the front door come hell or high water), it's abundantly clear that the team behind each subsequent instalment need more time to work on the game. Supposedly, Ubisoft have around 10 studios working on Assassin's Creed at any given time - but when we're three months away from release and the newest footage available (seen below) is still being shown as an 'Alpha Build', that's not just worrying, it's absolutely crippling to both the game's playability and Ubi's relationship with their dwindling fanbase. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=481&v=KYnW9U7aNUM As you can see, animations flash in and out of their different states, graphics overall - whilst they're certainly shiny enough - are only appealing through pure visual fidelity and not in anything that resembles a city you'd like to explore. Lastly, Jacob's new grapple hook animation looks extremely under-developed in execution, with a stilted animation kicking in as he leaps off a building, before some physics-bending means he can slide along any length of it, regardless of the incline. Honestly, it looks like a fan could've mocked that up for last year's Unity at this rate. Hopefully this is the year Ubisoft are finally taught they can't keep abusing the fanbase by doing the bare minimum and trotting any old product out the door yet again, but time will tell if the public en masse hold back and let such a restraint speak for itself. After all, a lot of the negativity around AC comes from the knowledge that it used to be such a spectacular, medium-defining series (I nominated it as one of the Best Gaming Trilogies Of All Time) - so it's sad and increasingly annoying to see a franchise packed with potential get such shoddy treatment year-in, year-out. What do you make of the new footage? Let us know in the comments below!