Game Review: Assassin's Creed Rogue

The past several weeks I have been submerged into a new fascination with the colonial age of America much thanks to this game, Assassin's Creed Rogue. The game takes place during the Seven Years War (1750-1760s) with a focus on the French and Indian War. It falls between AC IV: Black Flag and AC III on the story timeline, and also serves as a precursor to AC Unity. The game is very similar to the format of AC Black Flag, very ship oriented, however there is one major difference with this game. You play as a Templar instead of an assassin. That being said, it still has the same feel as a usual Assassin's Creed game, and was yet another very enjoyable experience in the series.

The Setting

The main character in this game is Shay Patrick Cormac, an Irish renegade who aids the British during the French and Indian War. His conflict deepens when he uncovers a wicked plot within the Assassin brotherhood, and joins the Templars. This is the first and only game where you play as the assassin's adversary the Templars. Quite frankly I never cared much for the dispute in this series between the Assassin's and Templars and consider that element a part of the modern day story which never appealed to me. So to play as an assassin or a Templar really didn't make a difference for me. As I've mentioned before many times now, what I love most about this game are the historical settings.

The map is quite unique and took me some time to figure out exactly where I was. The three main locations are the North Atlantic, an area referred to as River Valley, and the iconic city of New York. There are also some minor missions in Europe including escaping from an earthquake in Portugal and protecting Benjamin Franklin in Paris. However the locations of the North Atlantic and especially River Valley were most interesting to me. These locations put a strong emphasis on the ship exploration aspect of this game, and consisted of many settlements along the Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson River.

The North Atlantic region is full of French settlements I'd never heard of, while the River Valley has many historic towns such as Albany, Sleepy Hollow, and Mount Vernon. The city of New York in the 1750s is just as impressive and completely reminded me of the film, Gangs of New York. Their are many missions within the city to reclaim territories controlled by gangs yet also renovate buildings. Playing thru this massive city had a classic AC feel to it, similar to renovating Rome and Istanbul in the Ezio Trilogy or exploring Paris in the AC Unity game. Granted New York City didn't really have many significant wonders in the 1750s like it does today (Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building). 

Another thing I learned from the historical setting of this game was that the French and Indian War was not it's own war, yet rather a theater of a greater conflict known as the Seven Years War. It's funny how from an American perspective we always studied the French and Indian War as the definitive conflict that gave the British control of North America over the French. And while that is true, the conflict was actually a branch of a greater conflict taking part in Europe, consisting of alliances and territory. This was quite similar to the conflict of WWII fought on mainland Europe between alliances on multiple theaters (Asia Pacific and North Africa). 

The rivalry between the French and British for North America was over 150 years in the making (since it was first settled in the early 1600s). The French had established a stronghold of the Northern Canadian region, while the British had established a much more populated stronghold of the eastern coast. The French however managed to establish a stronger relationship with the Native Americans than the British did, and used it to their military advantage. Indian raids against Colonial settlements was a common thing since the British had arrived, yet it all reached it's tipping point with the French and Indian War of 1754. This was the final conflict that gave the British total control of North America, expelling the French while eradicating the Native Americans. The victory for the British however was somewhat short-lived and quickly made them the sole targets of the Colonial Americans. 

The Gameplay

As mentioned above the gameplay was more-or-less the exact format as AC IV: Black Flag. This consisted of a heavy emphasis on the voyaging experience with missions on sea and on land. The biggest difference was obviously the much colder climate of the North Atlantic region opposed to the tropical islands of the Caribbean. Swimming the bitter waters of the North Atlantic took a tole on Shay's h
ealth which I felt was a nice adjustment to the game. Also navigating thru ice bergs and blizzards added new obstacles to sea voyaging. 

Just like in AC IV this game offered many natural settings with deep forest exploration (as opposed to the urban settings of the Ezio Trilogy). I felt climbing trees had significantly improved from AC Black Flag and the graphics of the northern forests were quite impressive. Hunting was also a nice addition to this game including new animals of beavers, elks, bears, and wolves. The game however did have various flaws and glitches (more-so than AC IV did) which tells me this production was intended as an expansion of the AC IV format. The controls weren't quite as precise and there were various times I got trapped between a cliff and a tree and would have to restart the game. However despite a few instances it hardly affected my positive experience of this game. 

The upgrades to the Morrigan made for good incentive to complete as many side objectives as possible. I also enjoyed collecting the sea-shanties and listening to them while the crew would navigate the open waters. There were actually some familiar shanties in this game from popular movies such as "Don't Forget Your Old Shipmate" from Master and Commander, and "New York Girls" from Gangs of New York. Another nice change was the ability to upgrade the ship from within the captain's quarters rather than having to go to stores. However ammunition still had to be purchased at stores.

The two biggest differences in this game from AC IV on land were the gang settlements and the stalkers. Quite similar to AC: Brotherhood, where Ezio had to reclaim territory from the Borgias, Shay had to win back areas from the iconic gangs of New York City. This missions often had various tasks however the most difficult was always killing the gang leader. This was because the gang leader had stealth skills introduced by the "stalker" element of this game. Throughout various cities in the game, the stalkers would hide and surprise Shay with near fatal attacks. There are often ways to detect their hiding by hearing the whispers or using eagle vision, but they were often quite a nuisance in the midst of a mission. 

Another new feature of this game was the war element in the likes of the Peloponnesian War of AC Odyssey. These side quests usually consist of retaking a fortification from the French, or helping the British in a minor skirmish. The capturing of forts is quite similar to capturing gang hideouts with various tasks needed to secure the region. I made sure to capture all the forts (on land-and on sea) as well as all the gang hideouts in New York before I completed this game. The main story only had 6 sequences however there was still quite a lot to uncover on the 3 maps (including Native American puzzles, viewpoints, treasure chests, assassin interceptions, viking swords, and so many other cool historical collectibles). Just like with every other AC game, this one was a very enjoyable experience with yet another great historical submersion.