We no longer present Assassin’s Creed, one of the most lucrative licenses of Ubisoft, and more generally of the video game world itself. If the first opus was not unanimous, for lack of repetitiveness in particular, it is with the second that the French company will really mark the spirits. This episode will have also worked so well, that it will generate several sequels and DLC, which do not deserve either.
Six years ago, Ubisoft brought together all these beautiful people in a compilation called Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. An interesting opportunity, at the time, to discover or rediscover this big piece of the seventh generation of consoles. But what about today, when the publisher and developer decide to bring these three games and their DLCs to Nintendo Switch?
Test conditions: We played around fifteen hours on this compilation, both on TV and in portable mode. We also took about half an hour to test the gameplay on Switch Lite.
A brief overview
If you’ve ever owned an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, then chances are you’ve had it in your hands. Assassin’s Creed II. It must be said that it is one of the best sellers of this generation, helping to establish Ubisoft’s dominance in the single-player video game market. We can also note that this opus, as well as Far Cry 3, were the main source of inspiration for all the projects that followed at the French company, at least for ten years. If you’ve played a title developed by Ubisoft on the seventh generation of consoles, or even the eighth, then chances are it’s aan open world with RPG notions hidden behind a highly codified skill tree.
Well know that it comes first of all from Assassin’s Creed II, which was in a way the crash test of the recipe made in Ubisoft that we have eaten with a vengeance over the past thirteen years. A recipe that, three years later, Far Cry 3 will refine and flesh out a few elements that will also become recurring. To the delight of completionists, and sometimes the misfortune of others!
One of the reasons for the success of this opus and its two sequels is obviously their open worlds, incarnations of a true fantasy of gamers of the time, made possible by the power of consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Large, detailed environments, reproducing a very personal vision of cities like Constantinople, Rome, or even Florence. All with a long list of activities to undertake there, starting with the search for towers higher than the others, in order to be able to reveal the points of interest on a gigantic map with a simple glance downwards .
Another reason for this success Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood and Revelations each feature very respectable content, which obviously pushes this compilation to indecency at this level. Put end to end each main adventure, each side quest, each challenge, and you get a simply enormous overall lifespan, far exceeding a hundred hours.
Although it is impossible to bow to the scenario of each of the games, although certain parts of their history are not lacking in interest, it is especially the universe and the characters that are to be saluted. Far from the historical fresco that one might imagine at first glance, the whole thing revolves around a young and fragile Ezio Auditore, despite his love for brawls, who will find himself embroiled in a plot that is beyond him completely. , leading to the death of his father and brothers. Of course, since it’s a direct sequel to the Assassin’s Creed from 2007, we find there all its mythology around the Templars and the order of the assassins, which brings a real breath of fresh air, at least at the time.
What about this Switch version?
Ubisoft is not the last to release easy ports on Nintendo Switch. The hybrid machine has already been entitled to Assassin’s Creed III, Snape, Black Flag or Rayman Legends. A list that will continue to grow, and that the Ezio Collection completed this month. And we would like to tell you that this is a good thing, that there is frankly nothing to complain about on the subject, and above all that the French company is doing conscientious work, up to the possible expectations around these ports. .
The trouble is that the Ezio Collection was already painful to see in 2016, when it landed on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The technique was completely to be reviewed, from the dated and sometimes particularly filthy textures, to the laughable animations, through a completely crappy AI, a disappointing display distance and a clipping to cry. And you see it coming, it’s not this Switch version that makes things better! Six years later, here we are with the same content, the same qualities, but also and above all the same faults.
Flaws that we will struggle even more to pass up now that the series has emancipated itself from its numbering, with opuses that revisit the codes established by a damn old-fashioned Assassin’s Creed II. If you touched Origins, Odyssey Where Valhalla and you want to discover the genesis of the series, then you obviously knock on the right door. However, be prepared to a cold shower like you have rarely taken before. In particular because the graphic aspect is deplorable, of course, and that many bugs present on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are still present here. But the soundtrack is also difficult to hear, with very average English and French dubbing.
As for the gameplay mechanics, they too have taken quite a bit of time. Starting with climbing, which is sorely lacking in precision, and by extension free running which sends us a little too quickly into the scenery for the same reason. The fights are sorely lacking in sensations, and the camera sometimes gets carried away in the middle of a confrontation, without really being able to explain why… a recurring problem in Ubisoft games of the 360 / PS3 era. There remains a progression system that is still not too bad.
Ultimately, if you enjoyed Ezio’s saga at the time, then you might be happy to rediscover it in 2022, on a portable console that will allow you to spend a lot of time exploring the rooftops of cities at level design still rather successful. If you want to discover the youth of the series in this way, on the other hand, it will be more complicated to swallow. Not impossible, let’s not be bad language, but we must admit that there is nothing engaging in the experience that Ubisoft offers on Switch today. If not huge content.
In conclusion
It’s hard to blame Assassin’s Creed II and its sequels for their wanderings at the time of their initial release, such games have given us a good time. But it’s totally different when it comes to Ubisoft and this tired port, which comes to us without any improvements since its 2016 release, all at full price. Of course, the titles are still playable, and following their story is not unpleasant, provided you ignore the completely laughable animations of the characters during the dialogues, or a staging that shows its age.
Nevertheless, it is really difficult to enter fully into their atmospheres, the fault of this graphic aspect which never ceases to remind us of reason. We therefore recommend this compilation to those who know where they are setting foot, while advising novices wishing to discover this piece of video game history to go their own way.