Assassin's Creed Syndicate has arrived like a fart in the night, thanks to some godawful PR from Ubisoft keeping it under wraps until the very last second. Critically it's proving to be one of the most divisive entries in the series, pulling Assassin's Creed back from the brink just like Black Flag did after the disaster that was AC III. Many reviewers are heaping praise its way for simply being playable again, whilst others call it for what it is; a last-gen experience given a lick of paint, a couple of new animations and nothing more. Even before release, 2015 marked the first year where people were actively saying "Eff this" to the series' terrible gameplay and increasingly lacklustre instalments, and it's not enough to make an already decade-old formula simply 'work'. Fans shouldn't be remotely content with the fact that Syndicate merely ticks over. Unlike when Rockstar rolled out GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas within a few years across 2001-2004, modern day development costs and schedules just don't allow for already stilted and tired game engines to be trotted out so frequently. Can the series be saved? Have Ubisoft bled their cash cow so dry that even though it's currently walking again, we're barely going to see a stagger until it falls to the ground? Perhaps. Here are eight big overhauls that would actually make Assassin's Creed phenomenal again - although whether Ubisoft take them on board is another matter entirely.
