This time the game is set in London during the industrial revolution. You play both Jacob and Evie Frye, twin assassins coming to London to deal with the Templars there. Each has a slightly different set of final abilities and each is following a slightly different plot, (forming a gang to undermine the Templars and getting an artifact) though you can play most missions as either sibling. Switching between the two is simple and the upgrade system is equally so.
Missions vary but assassination missions always have multiple ways of approaching them, often with a harder, but more rewarding option. Most also have s bonus condition or objective which adds a bit of a challenge.
The setting itself is fun and the game looks great. Industrial London is expansive and the different landmarks are as fun to see as they are to climb up and jump off of. The new items are all useful in some way and the grappling hook has the added benefit of allowing the game to have less obvious free running paths and therefore a more natural placement of buildings.
The big mechanic this time around is the your gang. Each part of London starts controlled by a rival gang. In order to remove them and take control of the area you need to complete a number of varied side missions in the neighborhood and then defeat the local gang leader in a fight. Your gang members appear around the city but mostly in areas you control. You can recruit a limited number as you pass them and give them simple commands. It adds a new and unique element to most missions and it's simply good fun to order your gang after rival criminals who have attacked you.
Perhaps the best thing about this game is that it knows its audience. The game begins and even through the tutorial the feeling is "this is an Assassins Creed game. If your playing it, you know what to do." I actually really liked this feel. No time is wasted with a complicated premise and the future plot is (thankfully) mostly sidelined. As soon as I had the controls down and understood the new mechanics I could jump right in and start having fun.
All this said there are a few problems. More than once the icon for the base seemed to disappear from the map, and gathering the resources for upgrades and new weapons takes a long time. Without upgrades the carriage portions, which appear in most missions, can be very frustrating.
The good:
-the future plot is almost non-existent
-simple mechanics are easy to learn and master.
The bad:
-At times unclear objectives.
-gathering resources for an upgrade or weapon is very time consuming.
Assassins Creed Syndicate is good because it is the Assassins Creed experience distilled down to its core. Do missions, stab bad guys, find stuff on the map. It's simple fun. The setting adds greatly to the fun, and the gang mechanics are easy to master. This is the most fun I've had with this series (not counting being a pirate) since Assassins Creed Two.
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