Assassin's Creed Unity: Return of the Horse

[jakonovski]

So this is blowing up in Ubi's face rather spectacularly, although reviewers seem to have taken the post release embargo and other problems mostly without complaint.

Features:

• Terrible performance even on consoles
• Glitches everywhere
• Microtransactions ranging from $9.99 to $99.99
• The game part also sucks

Pics and shit, mostly poached from Neogaf:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YdgnxdzE5g

[Maven]

Wow. I wonder how far this franchise can sink.

[Venkman]

Glad I skipped day one. If nothing else, I'm waiting to see if they can finally offer a stable four-core experience. All of the ACs and expacs I've played I've always had to dial back to two.

Also, I don't understand what's wrong with the second to last screenshot (the find the lower gallery), aside from it looking like shit. Or is that the problem?

[jakonovski]

It's just next gen LoD stuff on that pic. An example of how the console graphics are, it's that or sub 20fps.

[calapine]

Pop-in:

[Trippy]

I still avoid Ubisoft PC games thanks to their fucked up PC support and DRM policies but I have broken down and bought a few of the Assassin Creed games for my consoles. I've been enjoying AC4 on my PS4 so I went ahead and pre-ordered AC5 for it as well. I just received it but I'm going to return it and avoid all their games for all platforms for a while.

[Paelos]

:--> Return of rapehorse.

[Hawkbit]

I'm not buying Ubisoft games at launch after the Watch Dogs fiasco.  I find it telling when they forced reviewers of Unity to wait until launch to review.  With Rogue, they didn't even provide review copies I hear. 

Also of note is that Jade Raymond left Ubi last month.  I can't say the poor games and her resignation are correlated, but it is somewhat interesting timing. 

[Margalis]

I suspect the games are collapsing under their own weight based on how these games are made.

A couple things stand out about Ubi games:

1. They are often very similar in many ways.
2. They tend to have a ton of breadth and very little depth.

The way these games are made is they have a dozen teams doing different parts. (As best I understand it) So you have one team responsible for a 2d hacking minigame, one for a 3d hacking minigame, one for in-game 3d UI, one for driving, etc. The end result is you can come up with a million different gameplay systems and missions and such, but they don't feel coherent and don't sum to more than their parts. The games are collections of distinct bits.

Then those same teams do similar work in the next game. So you have Watch Dogs and the Division having very similar 3d UI, or different games sharing the same animations. (I believe Watch Dogs and AC share literally the exact same animations for things like swimming)

It's a model that in my mind almost inevitably produces things that are samey and disjointed. And it's also prone to just becoming overburdened and not coming together. You throw all these different parts made by different teams together and hope they make a good game and sometimes they don't.

I suspect this is also why performance can be problem and why the PC versions are bad. Imagine trying to optimize code coming from 10 different teams - no thanks!

[Nija]

Margalis, that's exactly right. They even split up missions between teams. If you encounter a series of missions you like, chances are they were all made by the same group. Also, the groups are literally all over the world. So who knows.

This is probably going to be a good time to put my money where my mouth is. I think it's time to stop buying things at release - only buy the bundled GOTY editions that include a few DLC packs 1+ years later. If it doesn't have a bundle 1+ year later, it wasn't worth it to begin with.

I call it the "Borderlands policy."

[Yegolev]

Free avatar to good home:



I haven't outgrown my flooping avatar (not sure I will) or else I'd use it.

[Maven]

That running animation looks terrible. Maybe I'm looking back on earlier Assassin's Creeds with rose-colored glasses, but I liked that you could see and feel the weight of the character in their movement. Now they're floaty ninjas.

[Paelos]

My price point for all AC games is sub-$10 to put up with the headaches. Usually by then they've fixed all but the dumbest bugs.

[jakonovski]

That running animation looks terrible. Maybe I'm looking back on earlier Assassin's Creeds with rose-colored glasses, but I liked that you could see and feel the weight of the character in their movement. Now they're floaty ninjas.

No the animation is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhl5yjMY0Ws

Bonus edit from the OG of horses:

[HaemishM]

Holy fucking God, the bugs this thing has are FABULOUS!

Also, by this point, anyone who knowingly buys an Ubisoft game at release, SPECIFICALLY an Assassin's Creed game... you are just asking to be punched in the dick.

[apocrypha]

Wait.... $99 microtransactions and a post-release review embargo? Seriously?

[Trippy]

And the microtransaction costs were hidden during the review process so almost all of the published embargoed reviews made no mention of the costs.

[Maven]

Is this the first post-release review embargo from a major publisher? It looks like an excessive abuse of power to the consumer's detriment.

Who needs critics and consumer advocates, really?

[tazelbain]

Wait.... $99 microtransactions and a post-release review embargo? Seriously?

Anyone who still buys Ubisoft games deserves this.

[Rasix]

Has this series produced anything considered a "must play" since the first one?  The repetitive nature of the first Assassin's Creed kind of put off the series for good.   I don't see any reason to revisit after playing Orc Murder Simulator 2014.

[rk47]

[Trippy]

Has this series produced anything considered a "must play" since the first one?  The repetitive nature of the first Assassin's Creed kind of put off the series for good.   I don't see any reason to revisit after playing Orc Murder Simulator 2014.

The second one was much better than the first. AC4 is fun if you want to play a pirate. The combat and stealth mechanics are much much better in Shadow even compared to AC4, though.

[Rendakor]

Has this series produced anything considered a "must play" since the first one?  The repetitive nature of the first Assassin's Creed kind of put off the series for good.   I don't see any reason to revisit after playing Orc Murder Simulator 2014.

AC2 was the peak of the series for me.

[KallDrexx]

Kotaku has a pretty good collection of glitches

[Maven]

Release the hounds!

AC2 was the peak for me as well, though Brotherhood and Revelations weren't bad.

[jakonovski]

[Fordel]

I don't understand... how do you have a POST release embargo? It's... it's out there, anyone can see it... what?

[Lakov_Sanite]

Because once they've bought it to figure out how bad it is, it's too late.

[Azazel]

Is this the first post-release review embargo from a major publisher? It looks like an excessive abuse of power to the consumer's detriment.

Who needs critics and consumer advocates, really?

Wait, what? Post-release review embargo? As in Ubi is stopping reviews from being published after release?

[Azazel]

Looks like Ubi is getting kicked anyway -

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/11/assassins-creed-unity-causes-ubisoft-stock-to-plummet-over-9/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/11/12/congratulations-ubisoft-youre-the-new-ea/

I got a download code for this POS. I guess I should check the fine print and see if it needs to be redeemed right away. Otherwise I may as well not bother with it for a year or more.

[apocrypha]

Wait, what? Post-release review embargo? As in Ubi is stopping reviews from being published after release?

Yes, Ubisoft told review sites that they if they published a review less than 12 hours after release that they'd get no more review copies of games in the future.

I'm interested to know if any gaming websites gave Ubi the finger over that and broke that embargo. If any.

[Azazel]

Wait.... $99 microtransactions and a post-release review embargo? Seriously?

Anyone who still buys Ubisoft games deserves this.

Out of interest, what do you actually play these days? Half of your posts seem to be in politics and the other half are mostly in the non-gaming areas. The few about games seem mostly to be bitching about things that you don't appear to play.

[Azazel]

Wait, what? Post-release review embargo? As in Ubi is stopping reviews from being published after release?

Yes, Ubisoft told review sites that they if they published a review less than 12 hours after release that they'd get no more review copies of games in the future.

I'm interested to know if any gaming websites gave Ubi the finger over that and broke that embargo. If any.

Thanks. Found it mentioned in the Forbes link. I read a few other articles linked off it as well - apparently a couple of places are no longer going to accept embargoed products for review after this. Didn't see who they were mentioned though.

Nice to see Ubi hit with a 9% stock drop from this, though.

[Fabricated]

This is my favorite glitchshot so far:

[Paelos]

I only read Forbes seriously now for game reviews, because Forbes doesn't give a fuck. Ubisoft thinks they can hold Forbes over a barrell with no review copies? LOL. Enjoy your stock drop assholes. See how the magazine that affects the feelings of the investment community deals with your hubris.

I don't think Forbes is going to fold up shop if they don't get their daily industry rations of mountain dew and dorito crumbs.

EDIT: Also the Forbes article makes these points

Consumers want:

A) A product that looks like what was advertised

B) Not to be talked down to in PR speak

C) A working product at launch

D) To be respected for shelling out $60 for a new game, and not goaded into paying even more

These are not difficult goals to accomplish, and it’s amazing how far a little honesty will go in an industry where consumers constantly feel misled. Obviously every company exists to make money, but when your customers feel deceived or like their loyalty is being exploited, you’ve taken a wrong turn. And Ubisoft has taken at least a half dozen wrong turns this year, and now seem to be lost in the labyrinth EA only recently escaped from.

That's a fairly obvious list, but yet here we are. Customers are treated like garbage by publishers like Ubisoft, and I believe the customer base is getting more hip to their BS.