Metareview: Assassin's Creed: Unity

As Assassin's Creed: Unity leapt down to PC, Xbox One and PS4 today, it was met with a mixed critical response. Our review of the game got hung up on plot issues and buildings, the latter in a very literal sense, with a middling score that plunged through the floor much like our hero Arno did during our time with the game.

"Assassin's Creed Unity is the best and worst of Assassin's Creed," Weekend Editor Sam Prell discussed in his take on the game. "It's hard not to appreciate everything that it gets right, and you'll have a good time if you can wrangle some friends for co-op, but it's impossible to ignore where Unity falls tragically short." For a sampling of the varied opinions from other reviewers, head past the break.

• GamesBeat (91/100): "I was not expecting to love Unity, but I do. Ubisoft nailed the big assassination missions and everything in between. I lost several days to this game, and I'm looking forward to losing a few more. I want to see if I can find all the highest-rated equipment. I want to do some more multiplayer missions. I want to solve the rest of those brilliant murder cases. I want more Unity."

• VideoGamer (8/10): "These issues are hard to ignore, and put a dampener on the suggestion that next-gen begins with Unity, which was always going to raise skeptical eyebrows. However, they don't ruin the experience by any means – in fact, dare I say it, this is the best entry since Brotherhood."

• Eurogamer (7/10): "As it is, mild improvements in traversal and combat are quickly overwhelmed by the creaking systems onto which they have been grafted. Revolutionary Paris is one of the most beautifully realised environments in a series that has had its fair share of them, but the game you play doesn't really do it justice."

• ShackNews (7/10): "This is everything I've come to know about Assassin's Creed. It's a great story wrapped in a more confusing story, some satisfying stealth action, and mechanics that leave me banging my head against the wall. It's Assassin's Creed, warts and all."

• Polygon (6.5/10): "The ingredients are all here for a spectacular new standard for the series on Sony and Microsoft's new machines. But in the quest to build something that looked and sounded 'next generation,' Ubisoft Montreal failed to fix the problems that have accumulated over so many annual releases."

[Image: Ubisoft]