I’ve been called names before. Many names, but never before have I been called a name so frequently by a jerkface in a videogame. I’m looking at you Jerkface security chick from Abstergo. Anyway, I digress. Assassin’s Creed Rogue is 1 of 2 new games in the long running series. Rogue is available on last Gen systems Xbox 360 and PS3 while Unity is out on PS4 and Xbox One.
This time, instead of playing an Assassin, we get to see the other side of the coin and play as Shay Patrick Cormac. A young Assassin turned Templar who hell bent on hunting down the people he once called brothers. The setting of Rogue takes place after the events of Black Flag but previous to the events of Assassin’s Creed 3. During this time, players will take Shay to from New York, to Portugal and up to the great white north us Canadians like to call home. Along with the new locales, Shay’s adventure will cross paths with some very familiar characters from previous games which is amazing because it actually puts some backstory into context of some of these people. Personally, I would LOVE to see a certain someone from AC3 featured in his own game because I need to see who he was and how he became the character we know. Without giving away too much, I found the ending to be particularly satisfying. Also – stay tuned during the credits.
The gameplay itself is exactly the same as the previous games and mostly feels like a redressing of Black Flag which is by no means a bad thing. You will spend a lot amount of time on dry land exploring looking for Native totems as well as a few other secrets which I won’t go into, but like Black Flag, a vast majority of your time will be spent travelling the North Atlantic finding settlements, hunting grounds and supply caches. One notable mission type that I noticed Ubisoft had dialed back(not sure if that was by design or accident) on are the follow while staying hidden missions. I didn’t miss them in the least bit. Here’s hoping that trend continues. Another type of mission that’s actually new to the this title is the Assassin Interception missions. Naval battles are plentiful though early in the game some they felt extremely mismatched often resulting in some massive warships joining the foray sending me with my tail tucked firmly between my legs. The map is quite large and broken up into smaller sections. Not sure if it’s the same size as Black Flag but it sure felt like it was pretty damn close.
When major plot points are complete, the player takes on the role of a faceless nameless Abstergo employee who gets called names by the jerkface chick back in the Abstergo offices. If I’m right, these moments take place directly after the events of Black Flag and begin with the whole system in a locked down state with a majority of the staff having been ushered out of the building except for a select few. During these moments, as in other games, you’ll be tasked with switching on servers and unlocking systems by participating in a mini game with a sphere and some rings with light. During these moments, you will also learn of other details key to the story of Abstergo Industries/Entertainment.
Along with the standard Assassin gear we’ve all become accustomed to, Shay brings along some new weapons and accessories. The Air gun can shoot berserk/sleep darts and firecrackers, as well, he gets a new grenade launcher that can take out multiple enemies at once turning them berserk, putting them to sleep or just plain blow them to smithereens with the frag grenades. The new toys don’t just stop there though. While navigating the dangerous oceans of the North, Shay’s boat, the Morrigan is also equipped with an icebreaker to help break though the ice during your time spent there. Further to that The Morrigan is also equipped with a puckle gun – which is similar to the cannon that Edward Kenway used in Black Flag but this is more like a gatling gun and now instead of dropping barrels of explosives behind you when being chased, now we get to light the oceans on fire. Just like previous games, you can raid boats for supplies and use them to help upgrade things like you armor, the number of cannons the ship is equipped with as well as the power to up your various attacks.
All in all I would rank this in the top 3 for the Assassin’s Creed series. It took me about 20ish hours to complete the campaign during which I rarely stepped away from the main story. It was the first game in the series where I actually said “Holy Sh!t!!!” out loud multiple times during one game shaping scene in particular that happens rather early in the game and another that happens later. I was literally blown away by this moment. Big props to whoever came up with that moment because wow. Another year another entry in what I deem to be one of my absolute favorite franchises of all time. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough so I can sink my teeth into Unity.
Feed Your Console gives Assassin’s Creed Rogue an 8.5 out of 10
Pros:
More naval exploration and battles
Great story – Finally we see from the Templar point of view
New weapons and gadgets
Cons:
With Unity looming, it’s hard to not look at the graphics with a critical eye.
Some Naval battles felt extremely mismatched with much more powerful boats joining in.
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