~Same Game, Just in a Different Skin~
The final game in the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles spin-off trilogy takes us to Russia, a location that’s quite different from the other games in the Chronicles franchise as well as the main series. But sadly Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia doesn’t take advantage of its unique location, instead we are left with a dull and soulless world that you can’t really get immersed in because the atmosphere, story and characters just can’t compare to the Ubisoft’s main Assassin’s Creed series games. This is a shame because the gameplay at times can be fantastic and fun, which is the highlight of the game and deserved much more given the potential and the name these games carry.
Assassin’s Creed is becoming a chore to say, let alone play and I’m not the biggest Assassin’s Creed fan out there in the first place. Although Assassin’s Creed 2 and Black Flag will easily remain two of my favourite games from the franchise which delivered the most fun, best characters and most interesting story. But with the yearly releases since 2007, I’ve grown stale and bored of the series. So I avoided the previous two installments in the trilogy, but ACC: Russia looked the most interesting due to the setting alone, it just appealed to me more and the fact that you would be able to use a gun with a bayonet was the icing on the cake.
ACC: Russia just like China and India before it, continues with the 2.5D side scrolling stealth gameplay formula. The platforming is the heart and soul of the game, you’ll be scrawling across tall buildings, running across trains and wandering the dark streets hiding in and out of cover. Platforming feels just like an Assassin’s Creed game, they worked well to make it feel this way, there are also nods to the main series of Assassin’s Creed games that fans will appreciate such as the leap of faith, hiding in cover to avoid getting spotted, eagle vision and more. Once you figure out the confusing controls and get use to how the game plays which will take you a level or two, ACC: Russia is fast, fluid and fun but only to be spoiled every so often with small annoying game design.
Platforming is complimented by some hit and mix stealth portions, When they work and are well designed they are fun and creative, you will have to take your time to plan ahead and think on the fly, if you want to succeed and get the best possible score, you’ll get a great sense of achievement for pulling off a section undetected or without killing any enemies. Then you’ll get sections of the game that feature terrible gameplay design and will leave you frustrated and annoyed. These terrible sections I’m talking about are mainly the timed based missions or objectives, that force you to rush eliminating the clever thought process like before to avoid the instant mission fail for going to slow. These timed sections felt harder because you have so many things going on at once, this turns into trial and error until you finally make it pass.
ACC: Russia takes place in 1918, as you play the role of Nikolai Orelov a member of the Assassin’s Brotherhood who secretly plans on leaving Russia and the Brotherhood behind in order to start a new life with his family. The only problem is that he needs money so he can obtain some fake papers so they can make it to America, so Nikolai takes on one last mission to find and recover a mysterious box. Where he bumps into the second playable character Anastasia Nikolaevna whom has the box which is revealed to be an ancient artifact. Unfortunately the story doesn’t really give you any reason to care, the characters aren’t interesting, there is no atmosphere and the world is empty, dull and boring, the whole game just lacks heart and soul, which is again disappointing because visually it looks beautiful. The colour scheme they chose fits the setting, buildings and streets are a mix of black, grey and white and the sky is lit up in a red and orange, whilst important objects you might need to use to help you advance are in red. The game looks like an art book, and the still image cut scenes are gorgeous.
ACC: Russia is a game that’s rough around the edges, bogged down by too many annoyances, When ACC: Russia feels and plays like a true Assassin’s Creed game, that’s when it’s at its best and most enjoyable, but that is to few and far between. I’m very mixed on how I feel on the trilogy as a whole, on one hand the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles has felt like a huge experiment, playing with ideas and locations they aren’t sure about for the main series and if that’s the case I think it will help the main series a long way in the future. On the another hand It’s just mind-blowing that all the potential has gone to waste to make a great 2.5D side scrolling spin-off series. They’ve had 3 chances but haven’t made one decent game yet. Resulting in me feeling that this could just be a simple cash-in on the Assassin’s Creed name, especially as all 3 games play and feel the exact same, just with a different skin and other minor differences.
*(A review copy for the PS4 version of the game was provided for this review)
Score: 60%