Assassin's Creed Rogue Review (PS3)

excellent
key review info
  • Game: Assassin's Creed Rogue
  • Platform: Playstation 3
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Assassin's Creed Rogue review on PS3

The Assassin's Creed series seems to have a passion for certain historical time periods, as after exploring the Crusades in the first title, and then the Renaissance in the following three games, it's now focusing heavily on the 1700s. It already started with Assassin's Creed 3, which covered the American Revolution, then followed it up with Assassin's Creed Liberation and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, not to mention Assassin's Creed Unity, which focuses on the French Revolution during the late 1700s.

Now, with Assassin's Creed Rogue, the publisher tasks its Sofia studio, the same one responsible for Liberation, with taking a final glance at the franchise's North American saga, in order to close loose ends and provide a segue into Unity.

With the novel story of Shay Cormac, a former Assassin who's now a Templar, not to mention the promise of bringing back great characters like Adewale or Achilles, the game certainly sounds impressive. Does it have what it takes to succeed or does it completely miss its leap of faith? Let's find out.

Story

The Assassin's Creed saga has lived up to its name so far, offering players the chance to control all sorts of great assassins as they battled the knights Templar across different time periods. While there were attempts to show things from the other perspective, by controlling Haytham Kenway in the opening stages of Assassin's Creed 3, none has taken things as far as Rogue does.

You start the game by controlling Shay Cormac, a young up-and-coming assassin who works under the mentorship of Achilles in the North American colonies, before the beginning of Assassin's Creed 3. As shown before, while the brotherhood certainly favors free will, it also covets power, so that the Templars don't abuse it. The things done by Shay, including one really intense experience in Lisbon, Portugal, leave him with deep regrets, and as a result, he goes rogue and tries to battle the seemingly corrupt assassins.

The actual plot is quite good and Shay is probably one of the most complex characters in the series so far, with an actual personality and deep moral dilemmas. Even after seeing the assassin vs. Templar conflict for so long from the perspective of the brotherhood, you can't really fault Shay's actions. The story overall is quite good and it's certainly worth it for both veteran fans and newcomers.

Battle assassins
Battle assassins

Gameplay

Assassin's Creed Rogue doesn't sway from the core recipe of the series in terms of actual gameplay philosophy and mechanics, unlike Unity, which overhauls, for the worse, many of the biggest ones.

The free running and exploration mechanics are still pretty good, and while the stealth system still relies on automatically vanishing when in dense foliage, it still feels great, especially since you can use your eagle vision without any cooldowns or other such things.

There are a few new elements sprinkled into the experience, such as a silent rifle that can fire sleep or berserk darts, thereby replacing the blowpipe from Black Flag. It can also shoot fireworks that cause distraction and can work really well in some situations. After a while, you unlock a sort of grenade launcher upgrade that can fire shrapnel grenades, in addition to larger sleep or berserk ones that affect a whole area, instead of just one individual.

However, while Shay's arsenal isn't changed all that much, his missions are much more interesting. Besides conquering forts and driving back the opposition across North America, he must also chase away assassin mercenaries from major settlements. These enemies are way more cunning than your regular guards, and you'll often be forced to deal with stalkers that hide in bales of hay, on top of buildings, on benches, or in other traditional hiding spots. These encounters add a breath of fresh air and really highlight that you're fighting against the assassins and their acolytes.

Of course, for one last hurrah, the naval mechanics make a comeback, as Shay can lead his ship, the Morrigan, across the Atlantic Ocean, while taking on different enemy fleets, from the French, to the British and other ones. There are a few enhancements made in terms of available weapons, but more or less, it's the same system used in Black Flag, including a fleet one that can be micromanaged for maximum profit.

Besides controlling Shay in his adventures, Rogue also features present-day sections similar to those in Black Flag, in which the player acts as an Abstergo Entertainment employee, wandering the halls of the large corporation, uncovering more details about the modern Templars and how they want to exploit history in order to increase their power. These sequences are kept to a minimum but provide plenty of interesting info for veteran fans.

The game handles pretty well in terms of performance and there weren't a lot of bugs during my playthrough. However, it did crash twice during random moments of the campaign.

Visuals and Sound

Assassin's Creed Rogue is a game built for last-gen consoles in particular, in the form of the PS3 and Xbox 360, although a PC edition is set to debut in early 2015. As such, don't expect the best of visuals, as there is a huge amount of jagged edges and aliasing going on. Even so, the game doesn't look bad per se and manages to keep a constant framerate.

In terms of soundtrack, Rogue performs quite well, managing to range from atmospheric to joyful and epic, depending on the situation. The naval portions are accompanied by the fantastic sea shanties seen in Black Flag, and there are a few new ones added to the repertoire of your seamen. The voice work is well done, with Shay sporting a great Irish accent, while the other characters sound pretty good.

Helm the Morrigan
Helm the Morrigan

The Good

  • Shay is a great character
  • Lots of great adventures
  • Large environments
  • Good additions to core mechanics

The Bad

  • Poor visuals on PS3
  • Some annoying boss fights
  • Naval warfare doesn't have that many new things

Conclusion

Assassin's Creed Rogue is a great installment in the series. While it doesn't overhaul gameplay mechanics all that much, it delivers a fun experience that turns the table on the assassins and shows the conflict from a new angle. Shay is a great character and his assassin hunts are some of the most thrilling sequences in the series so far.
story 9
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 7
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 9
Editor's review
excellent
 

Assassin's Creed Rogue screenshots (10 Images)

Assassin's Creed Rogue review on PS3Take out assassinsPlay as Shay CormacMeet different charactersEngage in battles
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