Ryuu96 said:
shikamaru317 said:
I can't really comment on Mirage's true quality without playing it myself, but it seemed fine mechanically based on their Summer showcase demo. Maybe the parkour isn't quite up to snuff with Unity, but it at least looked on par with the other classic formula AC games to me, in that demo.
All I can really comment on at this point is the reviews, and looking at the review summaries for the lowest scored reviews, it definitely seems like quite alot are saying that the classic AC formula feels dated at this point. Maybe they could have made iterative improvements upon the classic AC formula, but for instance for those stating the combat in Mirage feels ass, I'm not really sure if there is anything Ubisoft could have done to satisfy them. There isn't much you can do to improve the same old counterattack based AC combat that the classic games always had without making the combat no longer feel like classic AC any longer, Ubisoft has already tried so much to improve it back before they abandoned the classic formula the first time, from cooler counterattack animations to loads of new gadgets that could be employed during combat. If all the improvements they made to the classic AC combat in Syndicate couldn't get critics to like classic AC combat, there just isn't any way to get those critics to like classic AC combat in the modern era.
I get the feeling that even if Ubisoft had given Mirage another year of development and given it Unity style parkour and other improvements, the maximum score the game could have possibly gotten would be maybe an 82, which is still lower than Origins and Odyssey reviewed and only about tied with the rather rushed Valhalla. There are just too many critics out there who don't like the classic AC formula anymore and will never like it again.
Ultimately I think Ubisoft is best off sticking to RPG's for their main games and remakes for the classic AC fans. And it seems like that is exactly what they have planned moving forward, with rumors of AC1 and AC4 remakes within the last 2 years, and leaks stating that the next 2 mainline games are RPG.
|
I mean, an 82 would basically be around the average for modern AC.
- Black Flag - 85
- Unity - 71
- Syndicate - 77
- Origins - 85
- Odyssey - 84
- Valhalla - 83
Ubisoft titles in general lately struggle to go above 85. So high 70s, low 80s is basically the Ubisoft average in recent history, Lol.
Why I think Avatar and Star Wars will hit low 80s as well. Ubisoft's last title over 85 was Rayman Legends.
|
You forgot Rogue which got a 73 I believe.
I think it's pretty telling that out of all those AC games from the last decade, the RPG ones overall got the highest scores with only Black Flag able to match them out of the classic formula games (and it was only able to do so because it shook up the classic formula so much by adding in all of the naval stuff with naval combat and whaling and such).
I personally think that both Syndicate and Black Flag were underreviewed by critics, as well as Odyssey and Origins, the critic averages for the rest feel about right to me.
Trust me, I like the classic AC formula games, always have (my ranking for the series has Black Flag and Syndicate both in the top 5), but the fact of the matter is that critics don't seem to like the classic AC formula any longer, and Syndicate selling like half the copies that previous classic formula AC games sold also suggest that the majority of gamers were getting bored of them as well. Ubisoft made the right call deciding to evolve the series to the RPG formula, as evidenced by the immediate upturn in both reviews and sales in the wake of 3 classic AC formula games in a row underperforming (AC Rogue, AC Unity, and AC Syndicate).
Sales went up from 5.5m in 2 years on Syndicate to 10m+ on all 3 RPG AC games. Reviews went up from an average of about 75 on those 3 classic formula games (Unity, Rogue, and Syndicate) to an average of about 84 on the RPG games. Ubisoft made the right call, it's backed up by numbers. Ubisoft's best bet moving forward would seem to be sticking with RPG for brand new games and graphics/QoL update only remakes for the classic fans.
