It also makes things a little, well, easy, something Pelland isn't worrying about. Using the launcher to yank you out of danger at just the right moment, on the other hand, will give you a real "Got away with it!" buzz, but a tricky targeting system – it's hard to know where exactly you can fly off to – can niggle as much as it excites. Then again, exploring a map as big as this one without a jetpack was always going to take a while. Practical, yes, speedy, no, a rare moment of tedium in an otherwise hyper-kinetic game. It's invaluable as you roam the city, with smokestacks and other tall buildings pretty much everywhere, but with no actual propulsion to make you zip, you're sometimes left waiting as your character pulls, and pulls, and pulls themselves along. Finally, you can restart the mission without restarting the mission, so to speak. Like Batman's line launcher - actually, a lot like Batman's line launcher – this wristbound gadget allows Jacob and Evie's brother and sister assassin team to either scooch between buildings or escape tricky situations. Assassin's Creed takes on Batman with a gadget of its own They look around, they go from borough to borough and that works."Ĥ. "Sure, it wasn't simple from a technology point of view, but in the playtest we saw a lot of players going back to the train hideout, simply to go on top of the train and just tour. And we wanted to spawn a player to a safe place, the train," he said. "When you think of London of 1868 you think of trains. Hopping from carriage to carriage is a little odd, and it's hard at times to actually get off the damn thing, but as Pelland points out, the train base also has a tourism function - something increasingly important when there's so much detail to soak up. Your secretary-cum-train manager is the preposterously Scottish Agnes MacBean, a character whose vulgar vernacular – "You dirty bawbag!" – keeps the subtitle team busy and the tone light as you potter about, changing clothes and equipping new weapons.
One of the more outlandish parts of Syndicate is the gang's hideout on a moving train - channeling both James Bond and James Moriarty - with the practicalities of having a base that keeps moving about (on tracks that presumably belong to either the state, or huge companies) sidelined in Syndicate's relentless pursuit of fun.
Your hideout is a moving train that gives you a tour of the city Like the carriages, the gang mechanic feels a little like Assassin's Creed is playing servant to history – there were London gangs, there must be gangs in-game – but it works, and when you're having this much fun driving around town with four buddies in your cab, ready to slice up Templars, you won't care if your crew are being a hindrance or a help.ģ. More switchblade fodder than seasoned strategists, they can be ordered to do specific tasks, but they're best used to distract fellow hooligans while you build up a ludicrous combo and unleash a checkers-like quadruple-kill hop.
Not only is gaining London's districts great for your gang's bottom line, but it allows you to recruit goons for help in battle. Easy, enjoyable and invaluable for getting around the sprawling city, the carriages add a welcome dynamic to both missions and general transportation, and while they may be a gimmick, they're fun and handy one.Īdding to the GTA-ness of it all, there's a gang mechanic not unlike San Andreas which sees you steal territories from the evil Templars.