40°

Have Ubisoft’s Open World Games Hit a Dead End?

Ubisoft are pretty good at making open world games. Since the 2007 release of Assassin’s Creed, their Canadian subsidiary Ubisoft Montreal have built up a substantial portfolio of open world titles; primarily the Assassin’s Creed series, but also Far Cry after they took over development of the franchise from Crytek, and more recently Watch Dogs. With a couple of exceptions, the games have been critically acclaimed and perhaps more significantly, have all been commercial successes.

However, they have hit stumbling blocks with some of their most recent titles. As I’ve said before, 2009’s Assassin’s Creed II remains to this day the perfect example of a sequel. It was such a huge leap forward from the original that it almost made its predecessor seem like a tech demo. It had a charismatic protagonist coupled with a well-rounded narrative and a fantastic setting, but most importantly, it introduced many new gameplay mechanics which meant it never got repetitive like the original. It was simply a very fun game from start to finish. Since then however, the series has somewhat stagnated. Its sequel Brotherhood had very similar gameplay with a couple of small additions here and there (the ability to call in other Assassins being the most significant). However, the similar setting and same protagonist meant it didn’t really feel that different to ACII. At the time this was no bad thing as ACII itself was such a great game, but looking back it was the start of a downward trend in terms of innovation. You couldn’t help feeling it was more of a giant expansion than a fully-fledged standalone game. After the improvement from the original to ACII, Brotherhood and its sequel Revelations to an even greater extent just felt like more of the same

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highscorereviews.com
KiwiViper853282d ago

I know I'm in the minority, but I thoroughly enjoyed Unity, FC4 and even Watch_dogs. All unique open worlds that drew me into the story, with near perfect gameplay elements.

If Unity released without bugs, it would've been highly praised. If Watch-dogs didn't get overhyped, it would've been highly praised. If FarCry4 released at a different time of year, it would've been highly praised.

Maybe Ubisoft just needs a business mentor?

Rebel_Scum3282d ago

Yes and no. Assassins Creed is getting a bit old hat and Far Cry is probably heading that way too.

Watch Dogs wasn't a bad game but it was perfect either. I think a sequel to that game will greatly improve what was lacking in the original.

The main thing about Ubi open world games is that they should strive for the less is more approach. A map littered with icons/collectibles for stuff to do is becoming ever increasingly dull.

60°

Ubisoft's Recent Antics Have Me Fearful For The Sands of Time Remake

Hanzala from eXputer: "With Ubisoft's practices becoming increasingly anti-consumer lately, the destruction of The Sands of Time Remake looks almost inevitable."

thorstein7d ago (Edited 7d ago )

Hey Ubi, here's a gun, don't shoot yourself in the foot.

*Ubi takes gun, aims at foot, empties clip*

Chocoburger6d ago

At this point, only dummies have any hope left for Ubi-junk games.

50°

Disney adds Blizzard and Ubisoft veterans to its games leadership team

Top executives including games boss Sean Shoptaw have also been promoted…

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videogameschronicle.com
100°

Behind XDefiant's Toxic Work Culture, Crunch, and Years of Delays

Behind XDefiant's toxic work culture, crunch, delays, and a group of directors and managers internally referred to as 'The Boys Club'.

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insider-gaming.com
just_looken26d ago

Man the industry just keeps on going with all this bs and to think this is ubisoft again remember what happened with that skull bones team same crap.
https://www.theverge.com/20...

This game will be tossed out broken unplolished with a bloated budget trying to be cod but will fail sense ubi can get there shit in order. If i was me i would have gotten rid of this boys club asap there is alot looking for work out there.

jznrpg26d ago (Edited 26d ago )

Every industry has these issues

Some companies I’ve worked for were great and some were toxic as hell (UPS when I was a teenager was extremely toxic and I have heard it still is) It all starts at the top. They either hold people accountable , set standards and treat people with respect or the crap rolls downhill.