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Game 42: Assassin's Creed: Rogue
After I finished Valiant Hearts, I realised I still have a few other Ubisoft games sitting in my backlog since a Uplay sale earlier this year, so I decided to give Rogue a go. I think this one is quite an interesting case, standing as the (originally exclusively) last-gen AC offering in 2014, and as a counterpart to the current-gen Unity, released at the same time. I'd like to reiterate that I really did not like my time with Unity, and that, above all, it felt like a chore. At the same time, I knew that Rogue was modelled more closely after Black Flag, which I had a blast with.
Ultimately, I now feel that Rogue is pretty much a mix of Black Flag and AC3, perhaps fittingly so, since it serves as the final game in the North American trilogy. In fact, the gameplay is almost exactly the same as that of Black Flag, with a few minor changes (the home base is replaced by renovations, there are no underwater sections, New York as a single larger city replaces the three smaller ones from Black Flag, etc.). In addition to the obvious similarities to Black Flag, what made me think a lot of AC3 were the overlap in story and setting, since Rogue effectively serves as a direct prequel to 3. In fact, I find it quite commendable how Rogue ties all the post-Ezio games at the time together, even
, which I thought was a nice touch.
Overall, Rogue being so similar to Black Flag, I really enjoyed myself while playing it, but at the same time, I feel like the experience wasn't anything beyond something to kill time with. However, I do want to commend the game for not making the same mistakes as Unity (which was a real fear I had, since they were developed more or less in parallel). Collectibles and side objectives, while still ubiquitous and mostly pointless, are much more manageable in Rogue than they are in Unity, and as a result the map feels a lot less cluttered. This, in turn, allows you to focus your attention on the game itself, on sneaking into settlements and outposts, on sinking or capturing enemy vessels at sea, or on following the main story. Furthermore, the economy is balanced much more fairly in Rogue. It's not great, either, since you get way too much gold if you open up all the revenue sources, but at least the game doesn't make you feel that you're supposed to grind for or buy gold in order to unlock everything.
The main story is fairly average, and barely serves to set up the different scenarios and keep the game flow going, but this is something I've come to expect from the franchise in general. One thing that always bothers me is that there is way too little characterisation going on, and visual expression often serves as a replacement for actual character development. You're given very little reason to care about the protagonist, or your allies, or your assassination targets, for that matter. At first, I figured that the game would start off slow until
, but even afterwards, not much is done with the setting or the characters. A big part of why I liked the Ezio games so much is that I liked Ezio, and that I felt he was a decently-crafted protagonist, which has mostly been missing from the more recent entries in the series.
In a way, I feel that the side objectives are almost more interesting than the main game, and I often felt that the main mission got in the way of my exploration (though not nearly as much as the dreaded present-day sequences (I'm beginning to wish there was an option to disable these, altogether)). The most fun I had with the game were probably some of the uncharted areas, as well as the native pillar locations, because they allow the game to channel its very best Uncharted impression with its platforming and mild exploration. Of course, ship combat is still every bit as entertaining as it was in Black Flag, as well.
As a final note, I found that the game was quite short. Even after completing just about everything outside of some minor things like the fleet campaign, I'm barely clocking in at 21 hours, which is not only shorter than the (admittedly horribly bloated) Unity, but also much shorter than the predecessor it emulates (which kept me occupied for around 35 hours without the DLC).
Game 42: Assassin's Creed: Rogue
After I finished Valiant Hearts, I realised I still have a few other Ubisoft games sitting in my backlog since a Uplay sale earlier this year, so I decided to give Rogue a go. I think this one is quite an interesting case, standing as the (originally exclusively) last-gen AC offering in 2014, and as a counterpart to the current-gen Unity, released at the same time. I'd like to reiterate that I really did not like my time with Unity, and that, above all, it felt like a chore. At the same time, I knew that Rogue was modelled more closely after Black Flag, which I had a blast with.
Ultimately, I now feel that Rogue is pretty much a mix of Black Flag and AC3, perhaps fittingly so, since it serves as the final game in the North American trilogy. In fact, the gameplay is almost exactly the same as that of Black Flag, with a few minor changes (the home base is replaced by renovations, there are no underwater sections, New York as a single larger city replaces the three smaller ones from Black Flag, etc.). In addition to the obvious similarities to Black Flag, what made me think a lot of AC3 were the overlap in story and setting, since Rogue effectively serves as a direct prequel to 3. In fact, I find it quite commendable how Rogue ties all the post-Ezio games at the time together, even
leading into the beginning of Unity during its epilogue
Overall, Rogue being so similar to Black Flag, I really enjoyed myself while playing it, but at the same time, I feel like the experience wasn't anything beyond something to kill time with. However, I do want to commend the game for not making the same mistakes as Unity (which was a real fear I had, since they were developed more or less in parallel). Collectibles and side objectives, while still ubiquitous and mostly pointless, are much more manageable in Rogue than they are in Unity, and as a result the map feels a lot less cluttered. This, in turn, allows you to focus your attention on the game itself, on sneaking into settlements and outposts, on sinking or capturing enemy vessels at sea, or on following the main story. Furthermore, the economy is balanced much more fairly in Rogue. It's not great, either, since you get way too much gold if you open up all the revenue sources, but at least the game doesn't make you feel that you're supposed to grind for or buy gold in order to unlock everything.
The main story is fairly average, and barely serves to set up the different scenarios and keep the game flow going, but this is something I've come to expect from the franchise in general. One thing that always bothers me is that there is way too little characterisation going on, and visual expression often serves as a replacement for actual character development. You're given very little reason to care about the protagonist, or your allies, or your assassination targets, for that matter. At first, I figured that the game would start off slow until
you switch over to the templars after sequence 2
In a way, I feel that the side objectives are almost more interesting than the main game, and I often felt that the main mission got in the way of my exploration (though not nearly as much as the dreaded present-day sequences (I'm beginning to wish there was an option to disable these, altogether)). The most fun I had with the game were probably some of the uncharted areas, as well as the native pillar locations, because they allow the game to channel its very best Uncharted impression with its platforming and mild exploration. Of course, ship combat is still every bit as entertaining as it was in Black Flag, as well.
As a final note, I found that the game was quite short. Even after completing just about everything outside of some minor things like the fleet campaign, I'm barely clocking in at 21 hours, which is not only shorter than the (admittedly horribly bloated) Unity, but also much shorter than the predecessor it emulates (which kept me occupied for around 35 hours without the DLC).