Janey, Doug, and Harry give their thoughts on the best and worst iterations of this popular franchise.

Assassin’s Creed has been one of the most widely-followed and highly-scrutinized video game franchises since its inception in 2007.  The stealth-based franchise, with its deep storyline & interesting settings, has captured the attention & imagination of gamers in a way that most other series have not been able to.  With Ubisoft’s announcement of no AC game in 2016, three members of our staff have compiled our thoughts on the best & worst of the franchise to date.

Doug’s choice:

Assassin’s Creed has been one of my favorite franchises since its first installment back in 2007.  Since then, however, the series has definitely had its ups & downs.  My absolute favorite iteration so far, really has to be 2015’s: Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, as the setting of Victorian England was one for which fans were clamoring; and in my opinion, Ubisoft really pulled off well.  In addition, the terrain traversal was smooth, and the story was as intense as one would expect from the overall AC storyline.   Engaging characters, beautiful graphics, and exceptional voice acting really brought this one forward for me as well.

That being said, I have to mention the sincere failure that was 2012’s Assassin’s Creed 3.  This game could have been so good, but suffered from not only an unlikable protagonist (“WHERE IS CHARLES LEE??”), but a broken stealth mechanic, bad collision detection, and a poorly-presented present day parallel.  I thought the game had such promise when I first heard about it, but I was sorely disappointed after getting all the way through it.  I really hope that Ubisoft learned from all of their mistakes with that one.

 

Janey’s Choice:

I was introduced to Assassin’s Creed about two years ago and instantly fell in love with its design and free running game play. Victorian clothing have always been beautiful to me and all honesty it was seeing the AC cosplayers that got me to start the games. I can say my favorite game was Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. It’s a no brainer why I love this game the most. With pirates and a love for nautical history, I spent most of my time making my ship look like my dream sea conqueror! The ship battles were difficult but unique to me. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but I loved destroying other ships and grabbing their loot! I fairly also enjoyed Black Beard; he is clearly my favorite character. Even though Edward Kenway lacked character development, the game allowed players to identify with side characters instead. This allows more versatility in the experience.

I believe Assassin’s Creed: Rogue was the worst game in the series. Ubisoft made a huge mistake trying to make two games at one time. It is pretty clear that both Assassin’s Creed: Rogue and Unity both had their glitches. Creating an Assassin’s Creed game on a current generation machine while developing another game for newer platforms wasn’t a good approach. Although Rogue had a cute storyline, it was short and unfortunately was half a game, for which you paid full price. Maybe that’s really what made me bitter about it. Yet, nothing gets better than Edward Kenway and pirate ninjas for the win!

 

Harry’s Choice(s)

I guess I have to be the contrary one. When I look at the franchise and what it’s been through in nearly 10 years, there have always been a few standouts. For my favorite pick however, it’s a tie between the original Assassin’s Creed game and Black Flag. While the mechanics and gameplay of the original may have been a bit tepid, the setting and background was amazing because it was something we never saw before and that’s why it still holds a soft spot in my heart.  While most of us were used to environments in far flung planets and time, this one took us back in history to Jerusalem and the Middle East and it was incredible. Now, when Black Flag was first announced I initially wondered how much worse it could have been after Assassin’s Creed III’s outing but with all of the different things you were allowed to do in the game including pirating ships, whale hunting and the like, it set a standard that few games could match in terms of game play. As a matter of fact, I still crank it up from time to time.

While many in the gaming community have come down hard on Assassin’s Creed III as being the worst in the series, my least favorite in the series has to be Assassin’s Creed Revelations. I think by the time this game had come out, while understanding that this was a trilogy, I felt that I had enough of Ezio’s story and not enough newness was left in the game for me to really care about it. The whole overarching story of the Apple, and worse yet Miles Desmond’s portion of Animus Island felt very convoluted and long in the tooth. This also was one of the few games in the series that took me the longest time to complete because it felt like an exercise in patience.

Assassin’s Creed has come a long way since its 2007 release.  Not only has it featured prominently on consoles but on mobile and handheld devices as well.

So, what do you all think was your favorite game and the worst game in the series? Take the poll and leave us a comment below!

Which Assassins Creed game was your favorite?
(polls)