Is a Cute Mouse Enough?

My free month of Origin Access (basic!) has allowed me to do some things that I normally don't do in gaming--experiment with titles I might not try.  I perused their list of available options and picked out a few notable ones...and then I decided to pass on them.  Weirdly, I ended up downloading all 80 gigs of Star Wars Battlefront II only to play through 95% of the singleplayer campaign only to realize that I wasn't really having that much fun.  Let me explain--I enjoy Star Wars, but I'm not the play every game, watch every thing, do all the Star Wars things kind of fan.  I wanted to see what the game had to offer and even though I was initially sucked in by the absolutely beauty of it (it's gorgeous and it feels authentically Star Wars), I quickly saw exactly where the story was going and also got irritated at the combat.  It drives me bonkers when shooters kind of want you to be stealthy.  I don't want to faux-sneak around and then end up shooting everything anyway!  Eventually, I decided that I was done with its nonsense (hordes of baddies just blindly charging at you--just running around shooting stuff--but, flying in a TIE fighter or X-Wing was super cool).  I uninstalled those same 80 gigs with no regrets.

Rather than go for the questionable big dogs* (Origin Access is chocked full of the major EA titles--your Battlefields, your FIFA's, your Need For Speed, etc.) I decided that my free month would probably be best spend playing through the shorter indie options.  I was intrigued by a game called A Ghost of a Tale and opted to give it a whirl.  In A Ghost of a Tale, you play the role of Tilo, a mouse minstrel who has wound up in jail.  You quickly learn that Tilo's wife was also arrested, but that she is missing.  Tilo desperately wants to find his wife and luckily someone in the jail wants to help him for some reason--someone slips the cell key to Tilo and encourages him to come find this hidden individual.  The rest of the game has players helping Tilo sneak around the jail and surrounding areas in order to complete quests and reveal pieces of the story of his wife's arrest.  (Probably 12-14 hours play time.)

Pros:

+ Anthropomorphic cast of critters is very cute.  Tilo is a tiny, cute little mouse; the guards are all creepy looking rats; there's a salty frog pirate.

Who can resist a cute little mousy!

+ Nice environments.  There are many different areas to explore and the entire game has a visually pleasing aesthetic.

+ Quests/sidequests.  There are many tasks to be completed and enough to keep you busily running around.

+ Music mechanic.  There are times during your interactions with other characters that you meet that they will request that Tilo perform a certain song.  It's a cute mechanic and the songs themselves are fun to listen to.

+ Humor.  There are jokes and humorous interactions throughout the game that will make you chuckle.  Kerold, the pirate-frog is quite a character.

+ Story.  The main storyline was deeper than I expected and it was worthwhile to learn about the other characters in the game.

+Cute costumes.  Part of the challenge in the game is to track down several costumes that are used to help Tilo complete quests.  Pirate Tilo, Thief Tilo, and Ranger Tilo are all great.

Cons:

- My biggest irritation with this game was the fact that I just didn't feel like many things were explained well.  Tilo earns experience points for his actions, but there was no explanation about how to use them when he leveled up.  There were some basic explanations about how to use tools and hiding places, but when it came to helpful hints to at least nudge you in the right direction...it was very lacking.  I spent more time looking things up than I would have preferred to.  I will admit that part of that was my own error--you find florins (the currency) sprinkled throughout the game.  Early on, it explains that the blacksmith is your main source of information and upon talking to him you find out that you can pay him to reveal vital pieces of information--like where things are located on the map.  There is literally no other use for the currency in the game and it's never clearly explained.  The same can be said of some of the quests--in one quest you learn of a smuggling ring and are told that the mark of this group is hidden in the sewers...but you're never shown what the mark looks like!

I suppose you could chalk it up to making a more authentic, less hand-holdy type of gameplay, but I was frequently frustrated by the lack of information in the game.  There's a lot of trial and error and just not having a clue about what you're supposed to be doing or where to find something.  I think the game could really benefit from some additional explanation about mechanics.

In the end, I would cautiously recommend A Ghost of a Tale.  If you're not upset by looking things up and just want to enjoy the story experience...by all means, do it.  Personally, I had to look up way too many things and felt way more irritated at the game than I would have liked.

Story Rich--Tacoma

After the high-stakes action of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I needed something considerably lighter to play.  Luckily enough, I received a free month of Origin Access (basic...because you know, premium is only for the cool kids) for setting up two-factor authentication on my EA account.  There are many serious EA titles on Origin Access, but I decided that I would check out some of the indie titles first.  I've enjoyed the bulk of the indies that I have picked up in the past, but from an economic standpoint, I don't find them to be the best bang for my buck.  Sure, triple-A titles cost a pretty penny, but I can play a big RPG for 100+ hours in some cases--most indies I pick up are of good quality, but are the kind of game that you'll play once for the experience and then, most likely, never pick it up again.  Maybe that's the wrong mindset to have, I do enjoy supporting smaller indie studios, but it feels like a better investment to buy a game that I know I can sink a lot of (mostly satisfactory) time into.

The first indie I decided to check out is the space investigation game Tacoma (2017).  Tacoma was developed by the same studio that created the indie darling Gone Home and had long been a game that was lurking on my side wishlist.  The story in the game involves you playing the role of a contractor who is investigating a mysterious accident on a space station.  The crew is missing and there's virtually no information about what happened to them.  Using a clever interface of pseudo-augmented reality overlays you are able to replay and investigate the events surrounding the accident.  (Spoiler-free!)

Pros:
+ AR-like investigation tool is fun.  The major events leading up to the accident play out in a series of pre-recorded AR sessions.  Specific zones on the ship are locked until you play through the AR recordings throughout a certain section.  The AR recordings are time stamped so you can get a clear sense of the sequence of events.  All you can see in the recordings are the outlines of the crewmembers on the ship, but you can hear all their dialogue.  The recordings can be rewound and replayed--this is handy because the recordings cover any crew member activities within a section, so you need to move about and observe what everyone is doing.  While you observe the recordings you also will see specific ? queries appear on the time marker--this means that you can engage with a specific crew member's AR interface.  It's sort of like snooping around in someones phone; you can read their text messages, their e-mails, or see what relevant information they've been searching for.

+ Great character development.  Using your AR tools and also being observant while you're searching through the ship gives you insight into the personalities and quirks of the six crew members.  Each of them is dealing with some very human issues and has their own insecurities, strengths and weaknesses.

+ Story unravels in tantalizing pieces.  The plot builds throughout the end of the story and makes you want to keep investigating.

+ Amazing details.  I was extremely impressed by the number of small details in the game.  The ship is littered with items that can be picked up and investigated.  It might sound tedious looking at a piece of floating garbage, but that piece of garbage has been carefully crafted to help set up the feeling of living in space.  Nosing through recycling bins can reveal scrapped personal letters that shed light on each character.

+ The story itself is entertaining and didn't turn out the way that I thought it would.

+ Very diverse cast of characters.

Cons:
-+ Short story.  I completed the entire story in four hours.  I liked the story and felt like it was told in an entertaining way.  If you're the type of gamer who is looking for something that is low-key, story-rich, and will only take a few hours to complete, this would be the perfect option for you.

-Limited replayability.  This is a game that you'll most likely play once and then not think of it again.

If you enjoy indie games and are the type of person who liked Gone Home, I would heartily recommend Tacoma.  I felt very engaged in the story the entire time I played and wasn't exactly sure how it was going to play out (my initial prediction for the story turned out to be quite wrong).  The small details are a great touch and the characters in the game felt very real.

Rolling Around in the Mud--Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Ooof!  I just finished my first full playthrough of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and, I've got to say, it is my favorite of the three Tomb Raider re-boots.  I had a great time playing it (barring some technical annoyances that I will get to) and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the series or who is interested in picking it up for the first time.  Being my normal completionist self (*I got 97% completion...so irritating, but I refuse to look up the items I missed!) I did my best to find as many of the collectibles as I could, complete any sidequests, and, of course, to master all the challenge tombs...oh and pet the llamas.  With all these activities my completion of the story clocked in at 31 hours, which I felt was just right.

Pros:

It's a frickin' pirate ship!

+ In true Tomb Raider style, the game is absolutely beautiful.  The story is set in Mexico and South America and involves tombs and settings inspired by Aztec, Maya, and Inca ruins.  The settings vary from lush jungle zones, to ancient stepped pyramids, to small village outposts, to a crumbling mission, to creepy, monster-filled caves.  Each environment is stunningly detailed and it is enjoyable just to spend time walking around and taking in the local flavor.  The Mayan/Incan inspired outfits are gorgeous.

+Movement and camera angles are very good.  It's not perfect, but it has gotten so much better since ye olden days of Lara Croft.  There were almost no frustrating moments where the camera lodged itself into an unhelpful angle and made it difficult to traverse.  Some of the most awkward times with the camera were times when Lara was navigating an overhang--it could be somewhat difficult to figure out exactly where she needed to go.

+Oodles of collectibles.  Each zone is scattered with items that require some added incentive to fully explore.  There are documents, survival caches, relics, murals, and treasure chests.  The items that you collect help to tell stories about the civilizations, characters, and issues related to the story.  In particular, finding murals is useful because each mural helps Lara learn one of the three dialects present in the game and allows her to eventually be able to translate monoliths.  Once translated, monoliths will present Lara with a riddle to solve in order to find a hidden cache of valuable materials.

A very Mayan/Incan flair and feel.

+ Challenge tombs were fun and not overly complex (*disclaimer--I don't mean easy and I had to look up the solution to two of them.  After looking up those solutions I discovered that I missed some very stupidly obvious parts of the puzzle).  Completing these tombs isn't mandatory, but each tomb does unlock specific talents which are tied to chaining talents, so worthwhile.

+ Fast travel system allows you to return to zones that you previously explored.  The nice part about this system is that there are multiple campsites (your fast travel beacons) scattered throughout a zone and it's very convenient to have one located near your objective and not have to repeatedly traverse certain areas.  It's also basically mandatory if you're going for some degree of completion due to the fact that certain items are unlocked by progressing through the main story.

+ Wide variety of craftable gear that provides different perks depending on the set.  Lara can equip a top and a bottom piece of gear.  Some of the items give combat perks and others are more geared toward gathering.  The craftable gear has a cool, Mayan/Incan look and integrates the items that Lara finds in the jungle (like jaguar skins).  Some items are found in crypts; others are rewarded in sidequests or main storyline quests.  If you're in it for more cosmetic reasons, there are also many outfits that Lara can equip--including several skins that revert Lara to her classic look (the very geometric classic look....)

+Stellar action sequences.  I was blown away by the action sequences in the game.  Throughout the story Lara gets swept up in events that require her to absolutely run for her life.  It is extremely intense and will have you on the edge of your seat.  No other game series I've played has managed to convey that feeling of surviving by the very skin of your teeth.

+ Improved stealth mechanics.  Lara can smear herself with mud and hide in special muddy vine patches.  It's the perfect formula for hiding and waiting for Trinity goons to stumble into stabbing range.  Most of the main combat zones are sprinkled with opportunities to be stealthy, however, being completely stealthy is easier said than done.  Mud Lara is an absolute badass.

Pet those llamas.

+ Llama petting.  Every game should include animals to pet.  The end.

+ Herbs provide healing and buffs for a variety of purposes.  Those buffs are handy for combat situations and also for exploration.

+Photographer mode!  I love snapping up some sick screenshots and tweaking my photos to make them just right.

Cons:
- Technical difficulties.  I experienced a somewhat frustrating number of game freezes.  The weird part about these freezes is that they really didn't seem to hit until I reached a particular part of the game.  I tried lowering my graphic settings but still had crashes.  It wasn't until I did some researching on the cause that I read that disabling DirectX12 seems to solve the freezing issue.  Once I disabled DX12 I only had one weird crash.  The game also didn't start off on the right foot due to a strange error message I received upon my first launch--it claimed that the default settings were too high for my GPU (which is an RTX 2070....).  That problem was solved by disabling the Nvidia GeForce overlay.  It's frustrating that a game suffers issues in its default settings.

Lara facing her demons.

- Forgettable story.  I love the gameplay of the Tomb Raider series, but the stories are always something along the same lines--evil organization is hunting for powerful artifact, Lara must stop them, Lara has identity crisis along the way, lots of people die, eventually Lara overcomes issues and solves the problem.  Let's just face facts and say that we play TR for the awesome traversal system, gorgeous environments, and amazeballs action sequences.  Who cares about the plot.

I would heartily recommend Shadow of the Tomb Raider.  It's the most fun I've had with any of the modern TR re-boots.  If you're having any crashing or freezing issues, disable DirectX12 to solve your issues.

Punching, Kicking, Falling and the $999 Half-Life Thought

After giving up on Monster Hunter:  World, I decided to snap up Shadow of the Tomb Raider (which frequently goes on sale).  Weirdly, I also took a brief foray back into the zany world of Bayonetta--I felt a strange urge to punch, kick, and torture my way through the minions of Paradiso.  I would absolutely love it if the other Bayonetta titles made their way to the wonderful, magical world of the PC.

One major piece of gaming news dropped this week--the announcement of a new Half-Life game!  Even though it's not Half-Life 3, Project Alyx is a dose of HL that has long been missing from the gaming scene.  Valve is a tricky, tricky trickster though and decided to make the newest entry into one of my most beloved series a VR exclusive.  Damn you!  Part of me is waving an unhappy finger at Valve but this other part of me wants to say "I see wut u did there."  Fans have long been frothing at the mouth for some HL and this rare opportunity could very possibly see those semi-rabid hordes investing $999 (I don't know how much Oculus cost, but you get Project Alyx free with Valve Index) to get that much needed HL.  I'm not gonna lie; I did click on the Valve Index ad after the trailer dropped--and then I laughed at spending $999 for one title (I mean, of course you could buy other games, but still!).

Currently, I am spending my time falling off of virtually everything as Lara Croft in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.  This newest entry into the series has Lara adventuring in the jungles of South America in an effort to destroy yet another evil plot by Trinity to find and use an ancient artifact to destroy the world.  I'm not a die hard Lara Croft fan, but I have enjoyed the rebooted games.  One of the new features in the game is improved stealth through the use of camouflage in the form of Lara smearing herself with mud.  Once she has adequately covered herself, she can can hide in special mud-covered vine patches and wait for unwitting enemies to creep close enough to be stealthily stabbed.  It's a new, added challenge to sneak through the jungle and not be detected.

If there's one thing that the new TR games have in common it is the fact that Lara Croft is nigh-on indestructible.  Even though she can nimbly navigate a wide variety of narrow ledges, sketchy looking rock outcrops, and dangerously high areas, she is constantly falling off of things.  One of the sequences I completed was a flashback of Lara as a precocious, freckled kid.  Her vibrant imagination had constructed her own special backyard Croft manor adventure.  In true Lara style though, she veers off into dangerous territory as she scales up the side of massive manor house...and, of course she encounters a loose section of gutter and goes tumbling off (but, always managing to fall to safety).  Can poor Lara just have it a little bit easier?  Maybe not fall so much, please?

I constantly find myself holding my breath as I guide Lara through some truly treacherous areas.  SotTR has some sequences that will trigger any mild phobias lurking deep within you--fear of heights as Lara clambers up a precipice; claustrophobia as Lara squeezes herself through excruciatingly narrow passages; aquaphobia as she swims through some truly challenging underwater areas (caves, tunnels, and again, freakishly tight passages)...and so many more that it's truly nerve wracking.  Those things might sound like a negative experience, but I am always astounded by the fact that these fictional experiences are made with such high quality that I am feeling those things while playing.

One of the things that I always forget about with TR is the fact that Lara's deaths are particularly gruesome.  Last night I played through a main storyline tomb that involved Lara suddenly sliding down a slope...but, not just any slope, a slope with strategically located spiky poles sticking out from the wall.  Being completely caught off guard, the first round saw me steering Lara directly into the poles and then grotesquely having a spear impale her.  Poor Lara!

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is particularly gorgeous and I am enjoying the photo mode.  Here are a few screenshots I snapped:

Mayan and Incan ruins feature prominently.

That's not ominous at all, right?

Challenge ahead!

Inside a story tomb.

The Monsters Win

The sad news this week is that I've officially given up on Monster Hunter:  World.  It's not that it's a bad game, it's just that it's not the kind of game for me.  It was a questionable choice to begin with and it's the kind of game that I could see myself potentially revisiting at a future date.  I didn't finish the main storyline, so I don't feel like I can reasonably call this a review--it's just my personal thoughts on what I liked and disliked about the game.

Giant monsters are a central part of Monster Hunter:  World

Liked
+ Character creation has lots of options for a personalized hunter.  One of the features I particularly liked was the ability to pick the color you wanted and then use a customizable color palette to get exactly what you were looking for.  There are a wide variety of hair, makeup, and facial features to choose from.  You could potentially spend a lot of time tweaking your character to make them fit the aesthetic you're shooting for.

+Palicos!  Not only do you get to create your own character, but you also get to create a super cute, felyne companion.  The aforementioned character creation options are also extended to your palico--you can choose from a wide variety of fur lengths, colors, and patterns to make your felyne guardian feel like your own personal companion.

+Tasks to keep you busy.  There are plenty of options for how you can spend your time--main story quests, optional side quests, collection missions (to get new ingredients for the palico chef), arena fights, going on expeditions to explore new areas, or just farming for ingredients.

+ Looks nice.  The graphics are nice and I liked the variety of zones (in the part that I played).  There are some pretty stock biome types (your traditional jungle or desert), but there are also some interesting varieties like the coral highlands.

+Armor sets and weapons look cool and there are a ton.  The monsters you kill or capture provide crafting materials that can be used to craft new armors or upgrade your weapons.  Each type of armor has a look that closely matches the monster that dropped the parts.

+Collectibles.  You can capture small creatures and them keep them as pets in your room area of the main base.  It's fun to find new critters to capture.

Disliked
-Always online.  Monster Hunter:  World is clearly meant to be a multiplayer title.  You must play online, but you can very easily restrict your session to singleplayer tasks.  There really isn't an option for playing offline and others will join your session.  There are some nice options for having other people help you--you can fire an SOS flare and other hunters could help fight a monster.  I really didn't have problems with this system and 99% of the people who joined my game were doing their own thing.  I think it would be a great game to play multiplayer, but I just wish there was an option to play offline.

-Very grindy/repetitive.  I mentioned that there are a ton of armor sets and weapons, which is great, but the reality is that building those sets requires farming monster parts.  This potentially means killing the same monster over and over.  Killing monsters is fun, but doing it over and over just felt way too grindy to me.  The fights themselves are long and I just found that I didn't have the patience or desire to keep grinding out parts.

-Story is not very engaging.  I was semi-pursuing the main storyline, but didn't feel particularly drawn to the story missions.  To me, the meat of the game seems to be about farming monsters to upgrade your armor and weapons and, unfortunately, I lost interest.

I don't think Monster Hunter:  World is a bad game, it's just one that isn't for me at the moment.  I think there are gamers out there who will really enjoy it--killing monsters is a lot of fun.  The reality for me was that I just couldn't get into the grindy, repetitive nature of farming parts.  I'm going to shelve it for now and maybe re-visit in the future.

On the Fence About Monster Hunter: World

Since I knew my time with Assassin's Creed:  Syndicate was winding down, I began looking for my next gaming time sink.  Steam has a had a few different sales going on in the past few weeks and I decided to pounce on one non-wishlist and one wishlisted game.  Shadow of the Tomb Raider had been sitting on my wishlist for awhile, and honestly, I'm not a die hard Lara Croft fan, but I just couldn't resist the 67% off price tag (which happens fairly frequently).  My non-wishlisted choice was Monster Hunter:  World which was a bit of an impulse buy.  I've spent some time killing monsters and I'm wavering in my feelings about the game.

Monster Hunter:  World is part of a series of games that were primarily console games.  I decided to give it a whirl because the reviews were very favorable and it looked like the kind of game that I would enjoy--some exploration, some crafting, some monster killing...a nice, meaty game that I could sink my teeth into.  The entire premise of the game is that you are part of a squad of trained monster hunters who are exploring a new landmass that is teeming with an overpopulation of monsters.  Your character is being sent to the "new world" to help establish new bases and also to help reduce the number of potentially dangerous monsters in the area.  There's also a big, bad elder dragon (an enormous, magma spewing monstrosity) that seems to have made its way to the new world.  Part of your job is to figure out why.

My character and Palico.

One of the most daunting tasks is creating your character and trying to decide which of the 14 different weapon types you want to wield.  There are melee weapons--giant two-handed swords and axes, sword and shield, daggers, and several interesting/strange weapons including the gun lance (a lance that can also fire shells) and weapons that can convert into other weapons.  If you're hoping to put some distance between your character and the dangerous monsters roaming the land, you can opt for several ranged weapons--there are rapid firing crossbows, a longer range, rifle-like crossbow, or a more standard bow.  I opted to start off with a rapid firing crossbow.

Creating your character and picking a weapon is step one, but your creation tasks aren't done!  You also get to create a very cute felyne (a race of helpful cat-like creatures) companion called a Palico.  Your Palico fights by your side, has their own weapon and armor sets, and even finds items for you.  I, of course, modeled my Palico after my real-life feline companion.

Once you enter the world you have many options for how you want to spend your time.  You can pursue the main storyline, you can spend time exploring the many zones you discover, or you can pursue various sidequests which can range from gathering certain materials to hunting and/or capturing large monsters.  There is tons of stuff to do.

The Palico cooks make some tasty looking food.

The highlight of the game is, of course, hunting down monsters.  The monsters are huge and come in many varieties--some monsters fly, some breathe fire or spit poison, some are aquatic.  Defeating these monsters is no easy task and requires research so that you can learn their weaknesses.  Once you've engaged them, the fight can be quite long and requires careful attacks to disable weak points, as well as some well-timed dodging.  The fight also consists of several rounds of damaging the monster, having to chase it down as it flees, and then wearing it down until it dies (or you capture it).

So far, I've been on the fence about Monster Hunter:  World.  There are some tutorials in the game but much of the information you will need requires your own research.  I was frustrated because my initial choice of rapid-fire crossbow seemed to do almost no damage to the monsters I was fighting.  Apparently, you aren't meant to just pick one weapon and stick with it, but instead should vary your weapon type on the monster you are fighting.  This means that just as you're getting comfortable with a weapon that you should probably change it up which also means trying to learn a new weapon.  I finally changed to the insect glaive and it worked well for the monster I was trying to take down.  You also will need to tailor your armor choices to the damage type of the monster you are fighting and should invest in multiple sets of armor.  I sort of messed that up by investing all my armor spheres into one set.

The gameplay itself also has moments where it feels a bit sluggish and off.  I had some serious issues with dodging when I had my crossbow equipped and "fainted" several times due to getting smacked down by a giant, T-rex-like monster.  I still haven't quite figured out if the dodging is more of a timing kind of thing or if you should just be mashing the dodge button.

I feel like I've figured a few things out and I'm going to keep playing Monster Hunter.  I'm not totally sold yet and there are still aspects of it that feel very console-centric.

I've Stabbed All the People--Assassin's Creed: Syndicate Review

Last night I finished up my 53 hour playthrough of Assassin's Creed:  Syndicate.  I am a newcomer to the Assassin's Creed series and have been picking and choosing which games I should play.  Since there's no way I'm going to play all of them, I Googled the high points and went from there.  I was aiming for a top five and Syndicate appeared near the bottom of that list.  Thus far, my Assassin's Creed adventures have included Black Flag, Origins, Odyssey, and now, Syndicate.  I will agree with the assessment that Syndicate belongs in the #5 on the list.

Syndicate takes place in mid-19th century London and unlike the other games in the series that I had previously played, it is a very urban setting--tons of buildings, bustling streets, docks, the busy Thames filled with barges and ferries--there's so much happening!  One of the other intriguing aspects of Syndicate is the fact that there are two different protagonists--the Frye twins, Jacob and Evie.  I found Syndicate to be a 'tweener game--when it was released it was moving toward the much more open-world type of game that Origins and Odyssey are but still had the more centrally-focused parkour/action-y style from the earlier games in the series.

Pros:
+ 1868 London is beautiful.  The Assassin's Creed series does a great job of immersing players in historical eras.  The attention to detail is always amazing--there are famous landmarks to explore, green spaces, and zones that differ in their aesthetic--posh, upper-class areas, rundown slums, and busy industrial spaces (complete with giant, steam-driven machinery).

+ Collectible-palooza.  Although Syndicate is nowhere near the staggering size of Odyssey, the city of London still offers players plenty to explore.  Each zone is scattered with several different classes of items to find--chests, pressed flowers, beer bottles, helix glitches, and music boxes.  The nice part about these collectibles is that players can choose to use in-game currency to purchase maps which reveal the locations of some of them (namely the chests, pressed flowers, and beer bottles).  If you want to catch 'em all (trademark Pokemon) you will need to explore--helix glitches and music boxes have to be discovered.

+ Secrets of London offer uber-explorers a chance to use clues to puzzle out the locations of the 32 hidden music boxes.  I mostly enjoyed the challenge and was able to find all but one without looking up a guide.  The nice part is that the reward for finding all of them is a fancy outfit for Evie.

+ Side tasks galore.  As you travel through London and progress through the main storyline, you meet some very famous Londoners.  All of them have concerns and need your help with some task associated with them.  These side-missions are mostly fun and offer the chance to gain some rare crafting materials and schematics.  Besides these mission based tasks there are also more exploration-based tasks--the city is pieced into zones and each zone includes tasks that can be completed for associates in order to raise your reputation with them.  The ultimate goal is to establish the dominance of Jacob's gang, the Rooks--doing so requires players to complete the various tasks in a zone and then defeat a rival gang in a gang war.  There are also other side activities, for example Robert Topping offers various "fight clubs" and carriage races in each zone.

Basically, if you're worried that you'll run out of things to do...you won't.

Jacob looking dapper in his fancy outfit.

+Unique inventory for both characters.  Jacob and Evie can equip a variety of weapons and gear which can be tailored to how players want to play each character--for example, brass knuckles and canes have a higher "stun" stat which will stagger enemies--kukri's (a kind or curved knife) have a higher-lethality stat and offer faster kills.  Both characters also carry a pistol.  When it comes to their gear, Jacob can equip belts which give him various stat boosts and Evie can equip cloaks.  Exploring, completing missions (main and side), and raising associate reputation unlocks schematics for a wide variety of items which can be crafted with materials found throughout the world.

+ Jacob and Evie offer two differing playstyles and have talents tailored to them.  Evie specializes in stealth and Jacob prefers a more confrontational style.  You can freely switch between the two while exploring, but the main storyline sees you switching between the two or specific missions.

+ Rope launcher!  This unique contraption allows you to navigate the tall buildings and landmarks around the city.  It conveniently creates ziplines anywhere and makes you feel like an 1868 Spiderman.

+ Combat is fun and both Jacob and Evie are super OP.  You can literally battle hordes of baddies with no problems.  You feel like an ultimate badass.

Cons:
- Technical difficulties.  Initially, I couldn't get Syndicate to run on my old PC (an issue that I believe was tied to my non-ideal graphics card overheating) and tried to refund it.  On my new PC, it ran very well, but Syndicate is the glitchiest Assassin's Creed game that I have played so far.  Some of the most entertaining glitches happened when all of a sudden horses and carriages would come raining out of the sky (it's funny until one lands on you and kills you).  One major bug I had was the fact that not all of the associates (who you raise rep for) would show up on my progression tracker.  Even after completing the missions to meet them my journal still showed a "locked" symbol for Ned Wynert.  This meant that I couldn't see which tasks I could complete to raise rep with this character, which was annoying.

- World > Story.  I have found this to be true of all the Assassin's Creed games I have played so far.  The stories in the games are very forgettable and the amazing worlds are the highlight.  I've come to the conclusion that you play the games more for the worlds than the stories, so if you're hoping for some deeply engaging story...'taint happenin'.  There a big baddie who has some littler baddies who work for him--your job is to take out the little baddies to get to the big baddie (who is trying to steal some legendary artifact)...it's a stock AC scenario.

- Side tasks can feel very grindy.  Even though these tasks are optional, some of the best schematics for high-level craftable items are unlocked through rep.  In particular, Ned Wynert's tasks are obnoxious as heck--hijacking cargo over and over or sabotaging ships.  I also had an annoying bug that wouldn't let me see which tasks I hadn't completed for Ned, so his was the only rep I didn't max out.  I also read several complaints that the carriage racing is difficult--the AI definitely doesn't give you much leeway.

- Like any Ubi game there are microtransactions.  You're not pushed to buy them, but you will see ads for them on the pause menu. 

Final verdict:
If you're interested in adventuring through the Assassin's Creed series the games frequently go on sale.  I would recommend playing Syndicate, overall I had a good time, but I was ready to move on to something else by about hour 40.  Get it on sale (I bought it for $13 during a sale).  It's not a "must play" in the series, but does offer some unique features that fans will enjoy.