I usually finish a game first and then write the blog post about it, but in this case I confess I am still busy struggling through World War I London and looking for a Wabar Pearl so that I can give Jacob his best outfit.
Assassins' Creed Syndicate starts of in England during the 19th Century. We meet twins Jacob and Evie Frye where they bungle through a mission before they decide to disobey orders and go assist a poor helpless brother in London.
London's resident assassin Henry Green does not do much in the game. I wonder how he even got into the order...
It is hard to believe that the quality of Indian assassins have declined that much after Arbaaz. Oh- I forgot to mention that Henry is an Indian.
Now British Assassins have not been really good in my view since Edward Kenway stumbled into the Assassin world without any preparation or training in the 1700's.
Now- in the 1800's we have probably the most technologically advanced Assassins with the best gear that any other Assassin before them could ever ask for, but man- they suck!
Westminster Palace got blown up a couple of times because Evie can't scale a clock tower. And she has a fucking rope launcher! Altair made more difficult climbs like that without any help!!!
The twins' free-running abilities had me wanting to punch them both in the face a couple of times and instead of enjoying the acrobatics and agility of Assassins like Altair, Arbaaz and Shao Jun I ended up cursing a stupid fucking whore (Evie) who'd keep crouching on top of a post like a dumb parrot or a dumb fucking cunt (Jacob) who'd rather hold on to a fence that jump over it when a really stressful chase was afoot.
Because of difficulties like this these two morons are not as stealthy as their predecessors, but at least they can fight!
Both siblings have awesome fighting skills that can be honed at fight clubs. This even gets better when you add weapons.
I have eventually decided to leave the stealth approach in conquering London altogether to save myself a lot of frustration.
You know what, Ubisoft? Fuck you! Those bounty hunts? I got tired of getting beaten up by Blighters as I desperately chase after my target. Most of them got taken out with throwing knives from a safe spot. Haha! :D
Child liberation? No problem! Rooks go in at the front door and start a ruckus as I enter through the roof and free the kids. :D
Taking over gang strongholds? Well- if you don't mind the noise and the reinforcements going in with 5 rooks, Voltaic Bombs, Smoke Bombs, throwing knives and guns (actually my Rooks did most of the shooting) and the occasional stealth kill here and there got those strongholds turned over to my control in no time!
O! And after pissing off gang leaders with a premature invasion into their territory (I took over a level 5 area of London while I was Level 3! lol) Evie showed us that she can stealth kill a gang boss that shows her face too early- sparing me a gang war in the end! Good Evie! But I am still angry about your poor climbing abilities!
One other thing I did not quite get is the Cargo Hijacking events. You have to hijack a Blighter cart and drive it to one of your warehouses. Now- the sequence does not kick in if you stealth kill the driver. You have to use the hijack button and attract all that unwanted attention for the sequence to kick in and the hijack to count. What's up with that?!
With all the blatant violence going on London's citizens don't seem to mind too much. Fortunately there is not a very strong police presence and the policemen that do show up are easy to kill. Thankfully Ubisoft did not take any ideas from GTA to escalate police pursuits until you are eventually killed!
This Assassin's Creed is most likely the one in which you have the most to do. You have weapons and equipment to upgrade, skill points to earn and treasures to find. Then there are of course all those missions...
Come to think of it- although a lot of missions are sheer torture this game actually is not so bad. Just don't try so hard to be stealthy then you can have yourself a laugh or too. (Those halucinogenic darts are the best! :D)
You have been warned, though. This is an AC like no other before it!
