Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsOnly for the most Die Hard Assassins Creed Fans....
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2016
Its no secret that Ubisoft has milked Assassins Creed for every penny that they could thus far. You had pretty much yearly releases for full retail versions and even that wasn't enough for Ubisoft. They even started producing smaller digital only releases that were more akin to the smaller digital titles you see released on the Xbox online store. Thier much smaller and roughly 1/3 the price of the full retail releases. The good news is that Ubisoft has since changed thier stance on the full retail games and will no longer be releasing yearly titles and is instead planning on releasing full retail versions every 2-3 years. That should really help raise the quality of the retail games up a few notches, which is exactly the reasoning behind Ubisoft's choice to get away from the yearly releases.
As for the digital only titles, they are really mediocre at best and I can really only recommend them to people who are absolute die hard Assassins Creed fans. Assassins Creed Chronicles is basically a physical release of the 3 digital Assassins Creed titles Ubisoft has released to date, which include Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, Assassin's Creed Chronicles:India, and Assassin's Creed Chronicles:Russia. Unlike the full retail versions of AC, these digital titles are basically sidescrolling games as opposed to 3D open world games. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but its not necessarily a good thing either as it works well in some instances, but cleary doesnt in others. The ganeplay isn't bad, but its certainly not very good either. Again, I would rate it as mediocre at best and if your a big enough fan of the series, there is enough here to make the purchase worthwhile now that you can buy all 3 games for less than $20. At the full price they were initially released at, I would have told people to pass on all of them but at roughly $5-$6 apiece in a single physical title, it definitely becomes a worthwhile purchase for people who truly love the series. If your not a big fan of Assassins Creed then I would suggest passing on this title altogether as there is nothing in these games that is going to make you feel differently about the series as these games are definitely a few levels below the full retail releases.
Personally, I enjoyed China the most, followed by India and lastly Russia bringing up the rear. One of the biggest weknesses for all 3 games is the quality of the stories. They are uninspiring, uninteresting, and in some cases downright boring and predictable, but if you enjoy sidescrolling games they do have thier moments. In the end it really comes down to just how much you like Assassins Creed, just how much you like sidescrollers, and just how important a quality story is for you. One way or the other, at the current price you really don't have a lot to lose. If your a fan of Assassins Creed then you should give them a go. If your not a fan of Assassins Creed, save your money and put it into a better game.
