Assassin’s Creed Syndicate for Playstation 4 continues the fictional, historical events between the Assassins – a group that seeks peace and liberty without exception- and the corrupt Templars that seek peace through order and intimidation. The latest iteration of Assassins Creed sees the player in the role of not one, but two characters — twin assassins Evie and Jacob Fry, as they use their resources in organized crime to recover the city from Templar control.
Unlike Assassin’s Creed Unity and the game breaking bugs that infuriated gamers, Syndicate arrived with few (if any) technical issues on launch. The game contains most of the same features as its predecessors, allowing the player to complete linear missions to further the in-game story and freely explore a massive open world that’s teeming with NPC activity. Syndicate introduces a new traveling system (i.e. the Rope Launcher) and redefined combat and stealth mechanics that are exclusive to the twins, Evie and Jacob Fry.
The Rope Launcher allows the player to rappel from buildings instead of just diving into haystacks, and it is also possible to create a zip line that connects between carriages and structures when traveling through the environment. Where the combat mechanics are concerned — Jacob specializes in melee-based combat, using Brass Knuckles, a cane-sword, and a new Nepalese curved knife (for faster combat) to dispatch his foes. Evie is more cookie-cutter than Jacob (aside from her throwing knives), and she plays more like the assassins from previous games.
Syndicate also has a ‘Switch Character’ feature that is also new to the Assassin’s Creed series. The player can switch between Evie and Jacob by pressing the Option button to enter the Main Menu, and using R3 to change characters. Evie and Jacob share money, XP and rewards, but they use separate gear and skills.
The multiplayer feature from Unity – where up to 4 players could participate in missions – has been omitted from Syndicate. In an effort to compensate for the change, Ubisoft made Syndicate 30% larger than Assassin’s Creed Unity, which had the largest city of any previous Assassin’s Creed game (i.e. Paris).
London, much like Paris in Unity, is a living, breathing world inside the Assassin’s Creed universe. The cities contain a staggering amount of activity. The streets are littered with thousands of townsfolk going about their daily business. People are seen riding on horse-drawn carriages; Templar thugs line the streets looking for their next victim; and the sounds of distant pedestrian chatter echoes faintly, and eerily, through the dark, unwelcoming alleyways that comprise London’s seedy underbelly.
The gameplay is similar to Assassin’s Creed with missions that contain a variety of objectives. While not related to the main story, there are mini objectives that have the player interfering with robberies, liberating districts from the Templar, and recruiting members for a civil movement Jacob affectionately calls, ‘The Rooks’.
Since Syndicate’s open sandbox world is 30% larger than Paris from Assassin’s Creed Unity, the player can spend hours exploring the city of London for random events without even participating in mission-driven content. Plus, the tried-and-true combat mechanics of previous games have remained intact, including the ability to assassinate groups of two enemies from behind (performed by pressing Square button); being surrounded by four or more Templars and having to dodge their attacks with Circle button; and then lead into a stun counter (i.e. headbutt, etc.) by pressing X button.
The player can also recruit citizens to assist in combating the Templar. These NPCs are usually dressed in green jackets with yellow bands around their waists. The recruit option – which is executed by pressing R1 — appears over the head of every recruitable NPC. Once the player greets the NPC recruits (an action that occurs by pressing R1), they will join the player and assist during missions.
It is possible to issue commands to these recruits by pressing and holding R1, and selecting a command from the recruit menu. For example: the player can tell the recruits to ‘wait’ by pressing Circle button, while pressing Square button issues an ‘attack’ command’. Recruits will not only protect the player when Templars attack, but they will sacrifice themselves during combat. Recruits can be found throughout the city of London, so there is no shortage of ‘support’. This makes traveling the streets of London much easier, especially when a group of Templars decide to attack.
Syndicate is a solid entry in Ubisoft’s long-standing Assassin’s Creed series, providing gamers with a far better experience than its predecessor, Unity. The game isn’t plagued by game breaking bugs or glitches like its predecessor, and the new game mechanics really add to Syndicate’s appeal. If you haven’t already, add Assassin’s Creed Syndicate to your game library today; it’s well worth the investment.
Mike Pittaro
Platform: Playstation 4 (Also Available on Xbox One)
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
ESRB: M (Mature)
Price: $59.99
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Official Website:
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/game/assassins-creed-syndicate/
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |   |
| The character models and environments contain a perplexing amount of detail. | |
| Sound | |
| Syndicate (like its predecessors) benefits from having professional voice acting and an epic soundtrack. | |
| Gameplay | |
| The ability to switch between characters and recruit 'thugs' adds to the game's overall appeal. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Assassin's Creed Syndicate does an admirable job of redeeming the Assassin's Creed series. | |
