Recent reviews by Shouvanik

Overall, this game felt really fantastic and offered tremendous value considering how little it cost me during a sale. If you are fine with visual novels i.e. reading, clicking and less interactive gameplay compared to other genres, you should find the game and its story to be really good. No spoilers, just play it yourself to experience it. It tackles some dark themes, so keep that in mind before playing.

And also be sure to play the "extra" option from the menu after completing the main story. It's another story of decent length that takes place after the main game. Quite a few branching paths are there, where other non ideal choices too, lead to some elaborate dialogues, scenes and eventually, dead ends. ​Some choices doesn't matter much, while others lead to paths like that. It's the same thing in main story as well.

Only potential problem, that you should be aware of, is also related to those dead ends. Once you finish a path like that, the game will boot you out to main menu (though in some cases, the game would loop back and I got a retry option in one particular scene, but several other paths send you to the main menu as I said), where you can only start a new game or load an earlier save. If you didn't have a save before going on that particular path, you have to begin anew. So remember that and try to save often and definitely at a choice screen. There are lots of saveslots and the save option is present during 90% of the game. Since such design choice is present in a lot of other vn games too, it won't be a problem for many but just wanted to get this info out there for someone who might be unaware.

All in all, I heartily recommend grabbing this game in the next opportunity.

First of all, keep in mind that the game is not a full-blown RTS with a Halo theme(even if it was made by Ensemble Studios). Think of it as a Halo game from a different perspective/genre and it was also a RTS made originally for consoles. That explains quite a few of its shortcomings compared to a usual RTS game on PC.

As for the positives:
+ The game uses well what its main strength is i.e. the Halo IP. Controlling ODSTs, Spartans and Scorpions, fighting banshees and scarabs felt enjoyable if you are into the Halo universe.
+ The game also takes creative liberties to introduce some vehicles and units for gameplay reasons, that are not seen in main series games but they are implemented well. Some units can even be considered prototypes or predecessors of units we see in later Halo games.
+ Quite a few campaign levels have unique twists so it's not always just - build a base, create a universally optimal army composition and kill the enemy's base. It freshens the game a bit while playing.
+ The overall story was enjoyable as well and cutscenes are made by Blur, the same company that remade cutscenes of Halo anniversary games, so it looks great.

About the shortcomings, few of these aforementioned limitations are:
- Not all keys are re-bindable.
- Similar to Age of Mythology, the central structure (town centers in case of AoM) can only be built on particular sites. However, unlike AoM, all your other buildings are part of that structure as well including the defense turrets. You can only place those buildings in particular 'nodes' connected to the central structure. So no free-form base building exists in this game.
- UI elements are larger than needed, as intended for consoles and gamepad. Bottom UI do not have health bars for selected units. So you have to either turn it on permanently and clutter the screen or hover the mouse pointer over the units individually to see health.
- In terms of gameplay depth and complexity, it's nowhere near popular RTS titles including AoE and other games. Population cap is smaller, only one type of resource needs to be gathered and primarily that generates passively from particular buildings.
- Another thing that I felt missing is that you can't kill/destroy you own units or vehicles. so you can't change the army composition easily. You can do it for buildings though.

All in all, the game is enjoyable if you love Halo universe and open to playing a game of that in RTS genre. If you are someone who seriously plays RTS games and want to try this one just because of the genre, keep in mind the limitations otherwise you'll be pretty disappointed and the Halo elements won't make it up for you.

One of the iconic franchises that started on pc finally returns to it.

• Getting 6 games at such a low price is absolutely a steal, especially taking account of the amazing regional pricing of MS here. (This is no longer the case any more, sadly.)
  
  
• The graphical upgrade in the initial games are really nice and the best part is switching between original and remastered graphics is just one keypress away anytime when playing.
  
  
• Games themselves hold up in their own right, nothing to say about that. It just feels great to play whether it to relive the old days by playing Halo CE or playing games like Reach for the first time as a non-xbox owner.
  
  
• An important point of note is to play 343 guilty spark level of Halo CE in original graphics rather than remastered(or use an appropriate reshade) as the new graphics doesn't capture the feel of the original level well.

Really looking forward to finishing the story of Master Chief once and for all.

This is literally the most addicting game I've ever played.
(beware as you might get addicted to buying all the dlcs as well.) :p

Enjoying it so far. The concept is new, although gameplay is same as before except the lack of guns. Map is pretty huge. Hunting mammoths and taming beats would be fun(haven't got to taming beasts yet :p )

Performance and optimization is average. My specs are i5 3450, Gtx 660 and 8gb ram. I get around 30-40fps on everything low at 1080p. Going for 900p and low would result in 50-60fps.

Haven't encountered any bugs so far and looking forward to experiencing it to its full potential when I upgrade. Will update the review with more thoughts once I finish story mode.

This review is coming from a dedicated fan of the series who was somewhat disappointed with Unity but loved this game through and through.

I'm still 4 hours in but loving the game. Very enjoyable if you ask me.

Edit:- I've finished the main story and added more info in story and characters, gameplay and present day section.

Review:
Performance:-

Ah, everyone's interested in this after Unity fiasco. I can assure you while this is not a super glorious port like Gta V, Mad max or MgsV, this game runs much better and smoother than Unity. My current setup i5 3450, Gtx 660 and 8gb ram. I'm getting 35-45fps in open world with textures set to high, all settings to low, fxaa and vsync is off at 1080p. At same settings I got 20-30fps in Unity and also lots of stuttering, freezes and framedrops which is not very common in Syndicate.

For all those folks getting bad performance, a word of advice : turn down gameworks. Pcss ultra is a performance killer which takes like 20-25fps alone compared to high/medium shadows. Hbao+ is kinda ok, but txaa tanks performance as well. Do this and you won't have any problems of having 40fps etc. on 980ti or similar killer rigs.

Story and Characters :-

My favorite aspect in games in general and my most likable part in this game. The story is quite good but the thing that I love most is the light hearted tone. The interaction of Jacob and Evie are enjoyable to watch as they behave like real brothes and sister. There are a lot of jokes in the game, for example when the last assassin of London(won't spoil his name) says about a templer, "He is known to vanish before your very eyes", Jacob says, "Shall we make him vanish for real?" I'm still at sequence 3, so I can't give you impressions about other intricate things but will update the review later. There are lot of interesting historical characters you'll meet. I think you know the names of already from the historical characters trailer of this game.

Edit:- The story is much, much better than Unity. Although at times, it might feel like something is left to be desired. The ending was quite nice too. I'd love more games on the twins and Henry.

Gameplay and Combat :-

This is what people always complain about being the same. I can't deny that it does not change much but if that happened it won't remain assassin's creed anymore. In this game the gameplay defining changes include the rope launcher. It's not like just cause's grappling hook. It works like batman's grapple in arkham games except that this one can be used as zipline for building to building traversal as well. It does not take away from parkour but it actually complements in nicely. Great addition, if you ask me.

Combat system is one of the things that like. It's fast and brutal and feels fun unlike clunky and slow combat of Unity. However to some people, it might feel like button mashing or being too fast. You can't change weapons mid combat. Weapons work like outfits as you have to assign one in inventory. No hidden blade combat is there.

Now to stealth. Cover system is better than Unity. It's a soft cover system as opposed to Unity's hard cover. The crouching mode and change to hood is considered annoying by some, but I don't mind it. Hoods made sense in AC1 because it was needed to blend in with scholars who also wore hoods. Since then, for once, we are using proper clothing to blend in which actually makes sense.

Crowd events are present just like Unity. Crowds are thinner. Even though it was done to help the performance, it makes sense historically as there was no revolution in London. So there was no need for people to flock the streets.

Carriages are a good addition too. Mobile hiding spot, fast way to reach places, a great tool to fight enemies as well. It does not handle perfectly but you will get used to it.

Edit:- Two switchable characters with 3 unique skills for each really freshens up gameplay. Adds some replayability as well.

The assassinations are much enjoyable this time. Each one providing stealth opportunity, assistance opportunity to better infiltrate the targets as well as providing an unique kill option, fulfilling all of its conditions will reward you with a cutscene of the assassination.

Present day:-

The modern day story, hated by some people but to me, it's one of the most important aspects of the series that differentiates it from other open world games and holds the games together. I have both good and bad news for the present day fans. Bad news is, it's still cutscenes only. Good news is, it moves the story foward unlike Unity. There are cutscenes after a number of sequences and they are all action packed unlike Unity where you just listen to Bishop talking. Overall it's enjoyable.

Edit:- The ending was badass. There is a epic fight scene. The ending left me hyped for ac 2016, almost a cliffhanger, if you ask me.

Bugs and glitches:-

In my 4 hours in the game, I encountered one glitch. In a cutscene, I got the invisible character glitch, I could hear them talking, feel them moving but except Jacob, the character model of other 2 characters wasn't showing up. And in an another cutscene, I got a framedrop to 10 fps. These are the only issues I faced so far.


If you are a dedicated fan, definitely buy it. Even with a sub par performance, I'm loving this game. If you are not, then buy it if you have a good mid range righ at least, something like 960 or so. 4gb vram is recommended but not mandatory. The game is really good and enjoyable. It's the fresh wind ac needs to bring back it's glory after the fiasco of Unity.

I enjoyed every single moment while playing this game. From start to finish the game kept me at the edge of my seat. It strikes a good balance between shooting and parkour/climbing/environmental puzzles.
The story is top-notch and loved the semi-open world nature of the in game island. You cannot traverse the whole island directly but you can fast travel anytime to a campsite and explore the surrounding area to find the missing collectibles or just exploring. The game has lots of set-pieces and QTEs though but they're quite enjoyable.
The game nicely depicts the conversation of Lara Croft, from a young archeologist to a capable survivor. Overall I can give it 9/10. The only downside is the lack of tombs. Crystal Dynamics should definitely add more in the next installment.

The game has very beautiful artstyle, similar to a comic book. The story is a sad one. The game captures the feel of WW1 pretty well. The puzzles are not very hard which I liked. Those are pretty varied, making the game really enjoyable.
I rate it overall 9.5/10. Definitely buy it.

Killed the cats with physics.
10/10 would kill again :p