Assassins Creed Syndicate Review (PS4)

London, 1868. The Industrial Revolution unleashes an incredible age of invention, transforming the lives of millions with technologies once thought impossible. Opportunities created during this time period have people rushing to London to engage in this new world. A world no longer controlled by kings, emperors, politicians or religion, but by a new common denominator: money.

Pros:

• Excellent highly detailed Graphics.
• 62.81GB download size.
• Platinum trophy.
• Works on Playstation 5.
• Full 60 FPS update for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro consoles.
• Familiar controls along with a few other resets to choose from.
• Ubisoft Club integration to unlock additional bonus items.
• Two playable characters Evie and Jacob. You can swap at any time in free roam. Evie is stealth whilst Jacob is more physical.
• Opening basic tutorial area with ongoing tutorial messages as new mechanics and game types open up.
• Auto saves regularly.
• Can set your own map markers and have clear on screen direction. and distance.
• Earn exp and level up which unlocks a unlock point for each character at the same time so they always level at the same time.
• Huge upgrade tree split across 3 disciplines with each layer requiring more unlock points.
• Collectibles everywhere. You have to find illustrations, beer bottles, Helix glitches and chests.
• Full customize and accessorize options. You can unlock/buy/craft new weapons, colours, tools and outfits where each one has stats that can improve your stats.
• Catchy soundtrack, Very much a Sherlock Holmes feel to it all.
• When on the train you can interact with the window to get a fantastic look at the world as you pass by.
• Treasure maps can be bought to fill in collectibles locations in certain areas, each area has maps.
• Huge London map spread across boroughs. You need to clear out each one to take it over.
• Gang War: Once all boroughs are cleared out you must face off against the gang boss in a huge street fight. Once you win you take full control.
• Play the game how you want, Take on story missions or just roam around doing mini games, collectible hunting or even clearing out strongholds.
• Mini games: Unlock games like bare knuckle fighting and racing in carrigaes all over town.
• Refined fighting system, Its all a lot more fluid with more combo choices and level interaction. You could align it with Batman style fighting. It’s simpler than usual and this adds to its accessibility.
• Crowd events: Random events that trigger on the street and range from tackling pick pockets to killing robbers or even just intimidating bullies.
• Enemies have a level marker above their head so you can guage their difficulty.
• Every 5 skill points you spend increases your overall rank by one amd again is per character.
• Lifts are back in, Hit the rope and get catapulted straight up on the roof.
• Kidnapping, You can now kidnap enemies and guide them through the street or you can simply knock them out then carry them.
• Gangs: When you take an area you unlock gang members who show in green. With them unlocked they walk around the map and can be recruited to aid you in fights. You can actually upgrade your gang and do things like increase their health, Add stronger fighters or even level them up.
• Associates: These are the people that give out your side missions like taking over boroughs and every completed task will add exp to them, Leveling them up gives you unique unlocks and new toys.
• Hub: Your main home is a train! It will continue to ride the tracks and you can jump off it anytime. Here you can look at any of your found collectibles, upgrade gangs, craft new items and look over missions. Also a safe is in there and you need to keep an eye on it as you earn bonus cash from your gang members.
• Earn more income to your chest by buying pubs, shops and even start a betting ring or football team.
• Carriges: The mode of transport in the game. There are many types from standard horse and cart up to bus coaches and faster stronger carts from gangs.
• Resources: Collect resources from multiple ways and use them upgrade items and crafting.
• Stealth ring: This will show any activity around you and if you are being looked at.
• Mini map is still just as good showing both friendlies and enemies on the map along with collectibles and markers.
• You have free roam meaning you can go to any area regardless of level.
• Improved functional cover system. Now easier than ever to hide behind cover and assassinate or throw bombs.
• Perks: Unlock permanent perks by completing the optional side objectives. It is objectives like perform 75 stealth kills to get improved stealth or do 25 multi kills to improve the multi kill range.
• Iconic London sights and all of them can be climbed upon.
• Beautiful mix of busy city streets to the busy ports of the Thames.
• Free running is fluid and fast, Scaling buildings is faster as is climbing back down.
• New tools: You can now get a grapple hook ala Just Cause and use it to scale huge gaps or get rooftop quickly. You can assassinate from the zip wire.
• Loot enemies, unlock abilities like auto loot on assassination.
• The game runs a lot better on the PlayStation 5.
• Takedown animations are a lot more visceral and powerful than before.
• Very addictive gameplay loop as you always have something to do.
• It is a fascinating lively world and now it looks better thanks to the higher more stable frame rate.
• Free running is a lot smoother as you can free run up and down, again the stable frame rare makes this even better.

Cons:

• You don’t have any settings for adjusting the resolution or fps on the PlayStation 5.
• Missions can become frustrating due to AI vision or button prompts not showing properly.
• Doesn’t offer any improvements or upgrades outside of the fps update.
• In game purchasing. Helix credit is used to buy crafting plans, maps and even exp boosts. Not a huge deal but still.
• Free run can feel awkward at first as the buttons dont always feel right.
• Difficulty spikes happen a lot.
• Restart loading screens are long.
• Same old missions after a while.
• You can basically cheat the game by playing in eagle vision and once upgraded you can see through walls.
• Instances of enemies going invisible or walls not loading correctly.