REVIEW – I now realized why Ubisoft decided to take a break in 2016 with the main Assassin’s Creed game. They need to regenerate. This – in a sense – applies to the finale of the Chronicles trilogy, too. While the location is different and the gameplay is slightly more dynamic, it’s more of the same in the end.

 

Nikolai Orelov’s name might not be familiar to you unless you have read The Fall and The Chain comics. Despite all of that, the Russian Assassin has more in his arsenal than his Indian colleague in the second Chronicles episode. He has a rifle (albeit with limited ammo) as well as smoke grenades to get out of tight situations. Both can get ammo by looting or even pickpocketing the guards. Later on, another character will become playable.

1918

We’re in Soviet Russia, not long after the October Revolution of 1917. Orelov has his final mission to do and then just get out of this place. Before he can leave, he has to get an artifact as well as to protect a certain princess called Anastasia Nikolaevna.

The gameplay is slightly different from India: in other Assassin’s Creed games, you don’t see the smoke grenade and the rifle being regularly used. You’re limited with ammunition. Therefore, you have to stealth around a lot yet again, especially because Anastasia and Nikolai are both somewhat weak in melee combat. (Even if you do get out of one fight victoriously, you can’t keep doing it in the long term.)

Five-second plan

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles Russia – as was the case with India – barely gives any opportunity to mess up. You must follow that guard almost immediately not to get caught; you have to chuck that smoke grenade in and run to progress and so on. Even a single second of pause can cost your life. I’m not saying that the Soviet story is harder than the previous one, but it’s very close. Maybe I was just lucky, and Russia is, indeed, harder than India was?

Luckily, the situation becomes slightly easier later into the game when Anastasia becomes playable. Surprisingly, she’s a better character than Nikolai. She’s able to be a bit more stealthy. Nikolai and Anastasia are like opposites.

Reload checkpoint, reload checkpoint – we can still sing this together until we can progress.

Sin City?!

What I found a redeeming factor in the game was the graphics style: it reminded me of Sin City. Mainly red (gee, I wonder why) and black-white colors dominate ACC Russia. We still don’t get a full 3D experience, but it’s been the same in the first two chapters, so it’s alright. The graphics are not bad in my opinion. This doesn’t apply to the audio, though. Sadly, Orelov’s voice sounds very, very boring. The audio – as a whole – is a mixed bag: while the soundtrack does its job well, the voice acting is just a fly in the soup. What a shame.

The graphics are not bad in my opinion. This doesn’t apply to the audio, though. Sadly, Orelov’s voice sounds very, very boring. The audio – as a whole – is a mixed bag: while the soundtrack does its job well, the voice acting is just a fly in the soup. What a shame.

Russian

The controls are like driving a car from behind the Iron Curtain: while it’s working, it’s not that easy. There is a distinct lack of fluidity as seen in let’s say, Syndicate. (However, in defense of Russia, Chronicles is not an AAA title, the two are not in the same category.)

You better have your fingers on the required buttons a fragment of a second early. If we add the difficulty and the fact that you can’t screw up, then we can sing along to the sheer brilliance of the beauty that is called Reload Checkpoint!

Not bad… for the PS Vita

Now that the entire trilogy is available, I’d rate it as a 7/10 separately. The Chinese start was good, but the sequels just slipped away from that quality. In April, the PlayStation Vita port will arrive – if Climax Studios can port the controls over properly, maybe it will be a good idea to pick this game up for the handheld. However, I only recommend getting it on PS4 if you are an Assassin’s Creed fan, and you enjoy stealth-based games with no room for error.

-V-

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Publisher: Climax Studios

Developer: Ubisoft

Genre: 2.5D action-adventure

Release date: February 9, 2016 (PS4, the entire trilogy is also available. The PS Vita will get Chronicles on April 5.)