Probably best remembered for its pretty terrible technical state when it launched. It was glitchy & in particular had a ton of graphical issues, most memorably often dropping textures and rendering people as horrifying skinless monsters in cutscenes.
Those issues were mostly addressed post-launch, but coming back to it I was surprised how janky & glitchy it still felt. Particularly since my memory of playing it when it came out is being impressed at how much they'd improved the freerunning compared to earlier entries. I guess that goes to show how much they've continued to improve since then, and makes me shudder to think what replaying, say, AC II would feel like at this point.
Putting aside technical issues, it's a pretty middle-of-the-pack AC game. (I guess in its patched state it's middle-of-the-pack even with the technical issues, the AC games have often been glitchy and unreliable.) Arno is a reasonably interesting protagonist and the main story is engaging if a bit short: this is certainly a better time than, say, AC III but definitely not up there with Black Flag or any of the Ezio games.
Where I think Unity does shine and deserves some credit is the setting. All the AC games have had wonderful historical settings but not all of them have used that setting to its fullest potential (cough Origins cough). The French Revolution is a rich historical vein to mine, and the story weaves through its early stages and in an enjoyable and textured way. The Paris of Unity feels fully realized, and more alive and lived in than most games of any description, and not just AC. The crowded streets and demonstrating mobs are impressive even now almost a decade later when so many open world games still feel like empty sandboxes. It's a shame the rest of the game can't rise to the strength of the setting.
Those issues were mostly addressed post-launch, but coming back to it I was surprised how janky & glitchy it still felt. Particularly since my memory of playing it when it came out is being impressed at how much they'd improved the freerunning compared to earlier entries. I guess that goes to show how much they've continued to improve since then, and makes me shudder to think what replaying, say, AC II would feel like at this point.
Putting aside technical issues, it's a pretty middle-of-the-pack AC game. (I guess in its patched state it's middle-of-the-pack even with the technical issues, the AC games have often been glitchy and unreliable.) Arno is a reasonably interesting protagonist and the main story is engaging if a bit short: this is certainly a better time than, say, AC III but definitely not up there with Black Flag or any of the Ezio games.
Where I think Unity does shine and deserves some credit is the setting. All the AC games have had wonderful historical settings but not all of them have used that setting to its fullest potential (cough Origins cough). The French Revolution is a rich historical vein to mine, and the story weaves through its early stages and in an enjoyable and textured way. The Paris of Unity feels fully realized, and more alive and lived in than most games of any description, and not just AC. The crowded streets and demonstrating mobs are impressive even now almost a decade later when so many open world games still feel like empty sandboxes. It's a shame the rest of the game can't rise to the strength of the setting.