Assassin's Creed: Unity - 8 Unforgivable Issues That Insult The Fans

4. Protagonists Designed By Committee

Try describing Watch Dogs' Aiden Pearce without resorting to aesthetics - so you can't use the trench coat, balaclava, cap or that naff diamond pattern - can't do it can you? The guy was a total blank slate, with more character expressed by GTA III's mute protagonist than in the entirety of its playtime. Watch Dogs was still fun in a by-the-numbers sort of way, but the entire production felt utterly soulless, with each gameplay element feeling like it'd been plucked from a dossier on popular mission types by someone wagging a finger in the general direction of the programming department, before systematically removing any personality from the project for the sake of appealing to the widest demographic possible. The gruff-voiced archetype is something we've seen everywhere from Deus Ex to Shadow of Mordor, and although occasionally it serves its purpose, for the most part at this stage it's more than outstayed its welcome. Every Assassin's Creed apart from the second has featured a similarly-themed protagonist, and with Arno Dorian although he starts out as something of a zesty Ezio-styled hero, he quickly reverts to the 'man of few words' shtick. He's a guy, on a revenge mission, and that's it. Ubisoft had a massive chance to make a character that felt like he was historically coloured by the research they obviously did into the world around him, but the reality is Arno is about as memorable as AC III's Homestead missions.