Ben-DutkaIs Assassin's Creed Syndicate good? Is it worth your time and money? Does it indicate a step forward for the long-running franchise?
Well, uh…that all depends on which review you read.
Critics are weighing in left and right on Ubisoft's latest blockbuster effort and the scores are all over the place. You've got a 4 from Telegraph , a 5 from Videogamer and 6s from Push Square , Hardcore Gamer and GamingTrend . These reviews claim the title is a serious misstep and an absolute shame.
On the flip side you've got 9s from GameSpot , Game Informer , XGN , and God is a Geek , along with 8.5s from ZTGD , Polygon and ActionTrip , and an 8.2 from IGN . There are a few larger sources in here, if that means anything to you.
The weird part is that the good reviews almost completely contradict the bad ones. It's not that critics are all citing the same things and some just dislike the drawbacks more than others; it's that some are really saying the game is a great new entry in the series, and one the franchise desperately needed. While at the same time, the naysayers are claiming almost precisely the opposite.
Always odd when this happens.
It's not so much that I "like" generic shooting gallery games. My point was that that "generic shooting gallery" is better than AC combat. Meaning AC combat is….that bad.
After a playing the first two sequences im enjoying everything about AC: Syndicate. Unlike that boring movie/hospital war sim that was Phantom Pain. I do have to say one thing though AC: Syndicate seems to be to damn easy this year. Either that or im just that damn good at Assassins Creed
Still only played the start of mgs5 then?
Yup i'll probably wont go back to it till the fall rush dies down
Lol the worst game in the metal gear franchise is better than the best game in AC.
By miles.
Amen to that jawknee!
I won't buy it but but hopefully fans of the series will atleast get to have characters with their faces intact this time instead of having to put up with the inside-out syndrome they had to deal with before.
I'm not being funny but im actually enjoying assassin's creed syndicate more than MGSV The Phantom pain, don't get me wrong mgsv is really great but i just hate the story.
Many of the negative reviews of this game, Ben, cite the fact that Syndicate feels stuck in the past, that it hasn't evolved, and that the franchise's yearly cycle is starting to catch up to it. Given that I've had that feeling since the last AC game I played (III, which wasn't the last one I bought myself; that would be Revelations), I'm glad to see more people finally calling the series out for it.
I didn't call the entire AC or CoD franchise crap, either. Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 are some of my favorite all time shooters. AC II is the tits, and Brotherhood was pretty damn good, and I replay the first AC all the time for reasons I can't even explain.
What I am tired of, specifically (and what I called out, specifically), is the endless recycling of these, and other, franchises. Several of my all-time favorite series are on my list of "franchises that need to go away now, please" including God of War, Halo, and Gears of War. There are only so many times you can rehash the same gameplay under a different setting and keep it fresh.
I don't know if you're just not reading carefully, simply jumping to conclusions, or flat out deliberately making strawman arguments, but it would be nice if, just once, you actually responded to things I said, instead of telling me what you think/wish I said and then responding to that. I don't get why you do that.
Well i must be the biggest moron then?, i paid £69.99 for the gold version on ps store
Dude what are you even replying to? Because it isn't anything I've said.
Who did I call an idiot? Where did I say all annualized games suck? Where did I say that all annualized franchises always release continuously worse games? Where did I even talk about "game performance"?
If you have to put words in people's mouths just to respond to them the way you want to, that should be Clue 1 that maybe such a response isn't warranted to begin with.
Maybe that's why its called syndicate…
Don't have one yet.
LOL I know right, and then when you have reviewers criticizing each other because someone's doing better than them that they feel isn't "qualified", you always got a bunch of rejects complaining about annual releases even though millions still buy them
Lol people still buy these?
Again with the massive sized avatar?
Ben, Whats your take on this game?
Going back to my shell….
Lol more like everyone still read reviews ?
PlEASE tell me how to make mine bigger! It keeps being tiny!
I hope it flops epicly so they can give up or reboot it big time.
overcompensating xD
Unfortunately yes, that's why we get the same game every year…
haha…. one eyed soldier.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 10/23/2015 10:24:10 AM
Hey Gene can you increase the size of your avatar, please? It's not yet taken up 100% of my monitor's surface area.
Thanks!
people who are careful with $$
mmmmmm…. copy pasta….. *drool*
Nice to see at least some outlets calling this series out for its copy pasta nonsense. I'll never understand how people can justify paying $60 every year play what is essentially the same game, whether it's this crap or Call of Duty crap.
Hell, Halo is pretty much the only franchise Microsoft has left at this point and even they take a year off once in awhile.
Maybe there is $$$ involved.
As cod would put it: S.S.D.D! Same shit different day!
Copy pasta could become a thing you know. Halo 5 is just gonna be another serving of Copy Pasta. So will COD.
My game is downloading from ps store, i don't take much notice of review scores anymore unless they are by the excellent ben dutka, i got this game coz i honestly think it cud be quite a good game, an the london setting appeals alot.
Im getting my copy in a few hours. I dont care what reviews say. Frankly who still follows reviews anyways
CoD is the pioneer in modern copy pasta. Halo is copy pasta lite because they take every other year off (usually), but they're still fighting the same fight, with the same hero, against the same enemies, despite the fact that Halo 3 should have put all that to rest, and Halo Reach should have given them a much better jumping off point.
Either way, both series got stale years ago.
I'm torn on what to do about this game. I want to support the single-player only approach, and I don't mind if the gameplay is 'samey', but I haven't seen anything about the story or characters which really draws me in. I'll probably buy it eventually, whenever I have a gap in-between other games.
"Lol more like everyone still read reviews"
MGS5 is a better game an AC.
😛
"Nice to see at least some outlets calling this series out for its copy pasta nonsense. I'll never understand how people can justify paying $60 every year play what is essentially the same game, whether it's this crap or Call of Duty crap."
Yeah, that doesn't mean anything. You just called the entire Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty franchises "copy pasta" and "crap." Completely generalized and overarching. The first sentence also makes the clear implication that you know exactly what the critics should be "calling AC out" on.
Anything else you'd like to educate us about on games you never play?
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 10/23/2015 1:15:08 PM
So, just to clarify, you're obviously dismissing all the critics who gave the game a high score as idiots, right? I mean, you obviously haven't played the game and yet, the judgments are already here.
The dismissive elitist theory that all annualized games always suck is also dumb. Last year's Advanced Warfare was much better than the previous year's Ghosts in the Call of Duty realm, and it was obvious to all…except to you, apparently. I'm not supporter of releasing a game every year as we all know what the problems are, but to dismiss the entire franchise and just assume that every single entry is "copy pasta" is beyond ignorant.
Furthermore, the Digital Foundry analysis of Syndicate shows a marked improvement in game performance and fewer bugs when compared to last year's Unity, and I would imagine that critics who rewarded the game with 8s and 9s have fair points. But you outrank all, despite your zero experience, right?
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 10/23/2015 11:44:57 AM
Thank you Ben, you always got a bunch of these video game hipster retards everywhere that for some reason think if a game releases annually it isn't good even though they haven't played them, lol it's like "oh millions play this? well i wanna be unique so f@$k this game"
I agree, Godslim. I think it'd be a lot less annoying if these companies would just slow their roll. Give people some time to breathe between sequels.
Maybe not go the Valve route and take a lifetime between Half Life games, but a couple years off, taking some time to flesh out new ideas along the way, maybe get off the god-awful-from-the-beginning Templar storyline.
Let me miss you for a bit, Assassin's Creed. LET ME LOVE YOU AGAIN.
Tbh Im just annoyed that what start out as original new games soon turn into the milking of a series. Not to say these games are bad for what they are just that I dont like the rehashing of previous games every year.
Souljah, millions of people listen to Nickelback. Me not liking them doesn't mean I'm trying to do anything, other than spare my ears.
By your logic, you can't complain about Game of War, since it has been downloaded over 100 million times on Android alone. The Kim Kardashian game has over 50 million installs, but I doubt anyone here is going to be singing its praises anytime soon.
Popularity and quality are two distinctly different things.
Buying a game doesn't make you a moron, wambo. Thinking I called you a moron simply because Ben said I did, however, is another matter.
What those varying scores tell me is that they finally changed the formula up a bit, and some people love it…. and some people either hate it legitimately or just don't like change.
I find IGN's scores have come back to being reasonable in the last few years, so I'm inclined to think 8-range might be appropriate.
As for me, I'll pick it up if the general public reports the bugs aren't as terrible.
because perhaps they bought out half the reviews, and then there budget ran out? just kidding, but that is rather odd that they'd be all over the place. I'll just have to judge it for myself
Performance is significantly improved according to the digital foundry. They say it feels nothing like the bug ridden mess that was AC Unity.
yup its so much nicer when you get a really improved game which is a couple of years apart from the last instalment. For me changes in the formula and gameplay should be improved and usually are if there is a gap between games.
That kind of implied blackmail is present with every publisher and every outlet, though. It's one of the big problems with game journalism, that you are beholden to the publishers if you want the content that makes your site money in a timely fashion.
Nah. These days pretty much any kid or emotional gamer with a computer and the Internet can be a game reviewer so as long as they can write formed points.
I think those critics who are offended by the annually released series choose to take the harshest stance.
It's not so much that I "like" generic shooting gallery games. My point was that that "generic shooting gallery" is better than AC combat. Meaning AC combat is….that bad.