You are paying to go sight-seeing more or less. Whether you like this AC will relate directly to how you feel about Egypt. If neither of these 2 sentences sound that appealing, you may want to rethink getting this game (at full price anyways), as those 2 points are the only reasons why I can recommend this. The world is massive though and for the most part, the views are really immersive and wonderful to look at (except Memphis). There is a Roman influence as well which was interesting, and kept the views from getting stale.


Gameplay
The gameplay itself really is more or less the same as every previous AC. Viewpoints, Forts, and stuff like treasures or other discovery points are scattered excessively all over the map. They add the majority of playtime, as the main story itself is almost over once you hit Chapter 3 since it becomes very linear. Exploring the tombs/pyramids is the most interesting part of the discovery points. My only complaint here is no mummies come out to attack you or any form of danger such as traps are to be found. It doesn't feel right being able to waltz through carefree, get a few items, and leave.

Combat/Controls
Combat is what really hurts, and this new style just doesn't fit for AC without some serious, further changes. It feels so loose and disjointed. You camera is looking one way, and swing a completely different way around 50% of the time. The lock-on system doesn't work properly and the camera doesn't actively follow your target. This makes some of the difficult fights on hard very hard to do. The hardest fights, the War Elephants, the lock-on doesn't even work. This is a serious problem as just dodging at slightly the wrong angle means the beast will take out a health bar. It is a bit more forgiving with other fights, and probably. Going the assassination route is really the only salvation here.

Levels
Levels don't sit well with AC either. It creates an artificial restriction to the game and prevents the freedom of doing stuff where you like. At the same time, once you hit 40, most things are incredibly boring. This is always the flaw when using a level system, and the old skill based system using counters and set stats at least kept the game balanced. The levels ruin the feeling of balance.

Animus/Abstergo
Shifting briefly out of Egypt into the body sitting in the Animus also feels really awkward. You spend all of 10 minutes outside and it may as well not have even been included. It feels more disruptive as it temporarily cuts out your gameplay for something that adds no value. Abstergo was absent except for like 3 minutes.

Performance
Oddly enough, this has to be the smoothest running AC. It has a few issues like every other AC, but 98% of the time it runs smoothly. The requirements seem high, but a GTX 960 can run high+ just fine surprisingly. I found the performance to be better using high+ rather than medium settings. There are definitely some bugs or little annoyances that could be fixed, but games this large will never be 100% perfection.

Ending
Now.. the ending (Ch3+). This was quite disappointing. Without giving anything away, you spend a lot of play time if you do a fair amount of the side activities. It more or less feels like all your effort and time was pointless. I can't give a better description than that without spoiling something. The whole piece also felt completely uneventful and not epic at all. Ch 1 & 2 felt far better. It seems like all effort was put into those chapters, then the rest quickly rushed out. The whole thing is reversed more or less. It starts off epic and just dwindles, with the most unexciting final event piece possible (your last target). Considering stuff like War Elephants or Trial of the Gods Anubis, this was just incredibly underwhelming.

Trial of the Gods
The trial of gods event is worth touching on briefly. Fighting Anubis was super cool. The fights feel epic and it would have been great to see many more of these throughout the game as regular encounters. The problem though is they come once a month only, and for a week. No way to repeat them for enjoyment purposes, and to achieve all Club Ubi challenges unlocks, you have to keep the game installed for months to complete the last challenges. If you are in a country with monthly bandwidth limits and have low HDD space, it is a bit of a nuisance.

Conclusion and Thoughts
Overall, I loved Egypt. The sight seeing was wonderful. I wish I could say the same about the combat though. Having play every AC except Syndicate, and a multitude of other action/combat based games, the combat here was just terrible. I have had more fun with combat in MMO's. If you play the assassination route, you won't notice it, but you are forced into it eventually, be it Gladiator Arena, or forced encounters. There was something off about the audio for wind, like it cuts in and out rapidly which ruined immersion. The lack of a looped Egyptian soundtrack made for dull moments at times, especially when grinding out all those discovery points. The discovery points make up the majority of playtime and determines whether you will play 20 hours, or 80 hours.


Scoring
Personal experience score: 6.2/10

Story: 6/10 - It starts off all fine, but chapter 3 > finish is just terrible. If you spent 60+ hours doing the side stuff, you will be disappointed how the last fights are played out. It also feels really rushed and uneventful in Ch3+. Going through those last chapters was very linear and didn't feel epic.

Sound: 6/10 - Would have liked more looped Egyptian music. Lack of constant looped music is a widespread issue though and the silence dulls enjoyment. Also, the wind sound appears to be broken. If you are somewhere where you can only hear the wind blowing, it sounds like it is rapidly cutting in and out, rather than being a smooth, consistent sound. It breaks the immersion.

Graphics: 9/10 - Excellent. Everything looks good on high+ with a GTX 960. Cutscenes are often choppy though as they start up.

Controls: 3/10 - This is the worst part of the game, and really hurting it. I opted for keyboard + mouse which worked fine. However, the combat controls and camera are abysmal. You spend half your time swinging at the air because you look one way, and swing a different way. The lock-on system doesn't work properly either. The camera refuses to stay solidly locked onto the target, or even untargeting on its own. For fighting the War Elephants, the targeting refuses to work even which is where it's needed the most. The new combat style would greatly benefit from a camera that is locked and follows your view of the target at all times.

Game Length: 7/10 - Around 90 hours completing 100% on hard. It draws out too long though to doing all the markers once you're level 40 as the rewards are pointless.

You are paying to go sight-seeing more or less. Whether you like this AC will relate directly to how you feel about Egypt. If neither of these 2 sentences sound that appealing, you may want to rethink getting this game (at full price anyways), as those 2 points are the only reasons why I can recommend this. The world is massive though and for the most part, the views are really immersive and wonderful to look at (except Memphis). There is a Roman influence as well which was interesting, and kept the views from getting stale. [b]Gameplay[/b] The gameplay itself really is more or less the same as every previous AC. Viewpoints, Forts, and stuff like treasures or other discovery points are scattered excessively all over the map. They add the majority of playtime, as the main story itself is almost over once you hit Chapter 3 since it becomes very linear. Exploring the tombs/pyramids is the most interesting part of the discovery points. My only complaint here is no mummies come out to attack you or any form of danger such as traps are to be found. It doesn't feel right being able to waltz through carefree, get a few items, and leave. [b]Combat/Controls[/b] Combat is what really hurts, and this new style just doesn't fit for AC without some serious, further changes. It feels so loose and disjointed. You camera is looking one way, and swing a completely different way around 50% of the time. The lock-on system doesn't work properly and the camera doesn't actively follow your target. This makes some of the difficult fights on hard very hard to do. The hardest fights, the War Elephants, the lock-on doesn't even work. This is a serious problem as just dodging at slightly the wrong angle means the beast will take out a health bar. It is a bit more forgiving with other fights, and probably. Going the assassination route is really the only salvation here. [b]Levels[/b] Levels don't sit well with AC either. It creates an artificial restriction to the game and prevents the freedom of doing stuff where you like. At the same time, once you hit 40, most things are incredibly boring. This is always the flaw when using a level system, and the old skill based system using counters and set stats at least kept the game balanced. The levels ruin the feeling of balance. [b]Animus/Abstergo[/b] Shifting briefly out of Egypt into the body sitting in the Animus also feels really awkward. You spend all of 10 minutes outside and it may as well not have even been included. It feels more disruptive as it temporarily cuts out your gameplay for something that adds no value. Abstergo was absent except for like 3 minutes. [b]Performance[/b] Oddly enough, this has to be the smoothest running AC. It has a few issues like every other AC, but 98% of the time it runs smoothly. The requirements seem high, but a GTX 960 can run high+ just fine surprisingly. I found the performance to be better using high+ rather than medium settings. There are definitely some bugs or little annoyances that could be fixed, but games this large will never be 100% perfection. [b]Ending[/b] Now.. the ending (Ch3+). This was quite disappointing. Without giving anything away, you spend a lot of play time if you do a fair amount of the side activities. It more or less feels like all your effort and time was pointless. I can't give a better description than that without spoiling something. The whole piece also felt completely uneventful and not epic at all. Ch 1 & 2 felt far better. It seems like all effort was put into those chapters, then the rest quickly rushed out. The whole thing is reversed more or less. It starts off epic and just dwindles, with the most unexciting final event piece possible (your last target). Considering stuff like War Elephants or Trial of the Gods Anubis, this was just incredibly underwhelming. [b]Trial of the Gods[/b] The trial of gods event is worth touching on briefly. Fighting Anubis was super cool. The fights feel epic and it would have been great to see many more of these throughout the game as regular encounters. The problem though is they come once a month only, and for a week. No way to repeat them for enjoyment purposes, and to achieve all Club Ubi challenges unlocks, you have to keep the game installed for months to complete the last challenges. If you are in a country with monthly bandwidth limits and have low HDD space, it is a bit of a nuisance. [b]Conclusion and Thoughts[/b] Overall, I loved Egypt. The sight seeing was wonderful. I wish I could say the same about the combat though. Having play every AC except Syndicate, and a multitude of other action/combat based games, the combat here was just terrible. I have had more fun with combat in MMO's. If you play the assassination route, you won't notice it, but you are forced into it eventually, be it Gladiator Arena, or forced encounters. There was something off about the audio for wind, like it cuts in and out rapidly which ruined immersion. The lack of a looped Egyptian soundtrack made for dull moments at times, especially when grinding out all those discovery points. The discovery points make up the majority of playtime and determines whether you will play 20 hours, or 80 hours. [b]Scoring[/b] Personal experience score: 6.2/10 Story: 6/10 - It starts off all fine, but chapter 3 > finish is just terrible. If you spent 60+ hours doing the side stuff, you will be disappointed how the last fights are played out. It also feels really rushed and uneventful in Ch3+. Going through those last chapters was very linear and didn't feel epic. Sound: 6/10 - Would have liked more looped Egyptian music. Lack of constant looped music is a widespread issue though and the silence dulls enjoyment. Also, the wind sound appears to be broken. If you are somewhere where you can only hear the wind blowing, it sounds like it is rapidly cutting in and out, rather than being a smooth, consistent sound. It breaks the immersion. Graphics: 9/10 - Excellent. Everything looks good on high+ with a GTX 960. Cutscenes are often choppy though as they start up. Controls: 3/10 - This is the worst part of the game, and really hurting it. I opted for keyboard + mouse which worked fine. However, the combat controls and camera are abysmal. You spend half your time swinging at the air because you look one way, and swing a different way. The lock-on system doesn't work properly either. The camera refuses to stay solidly locked onto the target, or even untargeting on its own. For fighting the War Elephants, the targeting refuses to work even which is where it's needed the most. The new combat style would greatly benefit from a camera that is locked and follows your view of the target at all times. Game Length: 7/10 - Around 90 hours completing 100% on hard. It draws out too long though to doing all the markers once you're level 40 as the rewards are pointless.