4. A Consequence To Being Spotted
The only consequence for being spotted in AC is your paltry life bar doesn't account for surviving too many close-quarters attacks. This was quadrupled in Unity as Ubi thought it'd be a neat idea to make guys attack from off-screen, alongside making their counter-prompts incredibly hard to see. 'More realistic difficulty' they said. "Absolute toss", we replied. When it comes to being spotted though, where's the impetus to reset and 'play properly' other than just not wanting to feel like a numpty for triggering the alert? Another thing Unity had in abundance was "Get seen and it's all over" stuff; quite possibly the cheapest way to establish a sense of suspense in the genre. Point being, outside these missions when you had to restart anyway, you were free to run away or hack your way out of any confrontation. Syndicate in particular has been 'showing off' how brawling is now a key mechanic in that game, as if that has a place in the genre. Don't they remember Splinter Cell: Conviction's disastrous table-flipping debut? Whilst combat shouldn't necessarily be shied away from, MGS' consequences include losing reputation points and potential recruits to your cause, not to mention the area will go on full alert, making the option of starting over a genuinely better choice for both gameplay and later reward.