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It's in moments like this that I feel like I'm actually hell-bent on unpicking Starrick's regime, piece by piece. And, like Black Flag's pirate-based fun, the flexibility of the game's central structure is the best part of Syndicate.The twins are arrogant and bicker as much as I used to with my brother—that is, pretty much all the time—and playfully fight and tease one another throughout the game's story. Jacob is focused on knocking Starrick off his perch, but Evie is intent on investigating the location of another Piece of Eden—a McGuffin core to Assassin's Creed lore. (Every now and then there are modern-day cut-scenes, but the contemporary component of Creed's past has definitely been moved to the backburner.) The two characters play differently, with Jacob more of a muscular brawler and Evie being cobra-like, launching swift attacks that suddenly leave three men sliced and diced at her feet. Players gain experience points by completing missions and can use these, along with crafting resources, to upgrade their gear, unlock improved weapons, and provide new skills to their ever-growing gang.Article continues after the video belowSyndicate's theater is London, and the city has never been so beautifully realized. The level of detail is astounding. The city is alive here—living, breathing, and wheezing in the Victorian gloom. It took a whole studio, Ubisoft Singapore, to design only the Thames, which is bustling with ships that you can scale, parkour between and, pleasingly, sabotage the cargo of. The train stations are populated with guards and passengers as steam-belching behemoths come and go. Homeless people gather around cans in alleyways, burning rubbish. Gangs meet beneath the railways arches to plot.Syndicate's theater is London, and the city has never been so beautifully realized.
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Combat's improved compared to the previous games, but it's still clunky and there's some noticeable slow-down when too many enemies fill the screen. Evie and Jacob get snagged on bits of scenery, seemingly at random, while scaling buildings. Enemy and ally AI isn't always entirely realistic. But these are issues that I can mentally gloss over. To me, there's joy enough to be had here that the quirks and glitches can be mostly forgotten. The side missions are great fun, the main campaign is fulfilling and the atmosphere is never less than completely impressive.Assassin's Creed games have always felt overstuffed for my liking. But Syndicate strips away a lot of the driftwood that choked previous titles. Unlike Unity, which used an app on your phone to lock off some content in the form of chests, the whole of London is here for you to unlock without any second-screen gadgets. And the recycled missions here are surprisingly fun: I've booted up my game exclusively to free some kids from a wicked foreman, like it's a new hobby. What amounts essentially to copy-and-paste liberation missions within the context of Victorian London are a lot more interesting than they've any right to be.With that, and so much more, Syndicate is a success. Ubisoft, you've converted me.Assassin's Creed: Syndicate is out now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a PC version expected in November. The game was tested on PS4, with a copy provided by the game's PR.Follow Max on Twitter.New on Motherboard: What's Next for the PlayStation Vita?