Assassin's Creed Rogue: Remastered (PS4)
By: Ubisoft
WHILE Assassin’s Creed: Unity served up the series' much-crowed 2014 debut on the fledgling next-gen hardware, Rogue was seen as a sop for luddites, releasing simultaneously on the exhausted PS3 and Xbox 360.
Rising to shine again on current tech, this remaster serves up the franchise’s most underrated effort in a pocket-friendly do-over. Kicking off 20 years after series high point Blag Flag, players step into the genetic memories of Shay Patrick Cormac, who betrays his brotherhood to become a rival Templar – meaning plenty of old ally-slaying.
Despatched to find a map in Portugal, our young smart-arse assassin is soon navigating high seas and conflicting points of view as many of the sprawling series’ plot-threads are lashed together.
It’s a rip-roaring return to Creed's conspiracy theory roots, with nail-biting twists and overlapping plots to piece together. A shame, then, that our lead is hobbled by one of the worst Irish accents not performed by Tom Cruise: An affront to the human mouth, 'Assassin's Creed: Brogue' would be a more fitting title for this crime against a people who have surely suffered enough.
Paddywhackery aside, Rogue’s gameplay is largely similar to Blag Flag, with the emphasis on seafaring shenanigans – though this time in the frigid North Atlantic, where you’ll sail between ports, seek out salty side-quests and send rival ships to Davy Jones’ locker.
On terra firma, Cormac comes fully loaded with the sneaky, parkour-aided death tools of previous assassins. Fan-favourite swords, hidden blades, dart rifles and bombs are brought together for the first time – and you’ll need them all to outfox crafty foes that can be hiding in plain sight.
Considering the PS3’s wheezing frame rate would render hectic moments like a slideshow, the extra grunt mined by this remaster provides a sharper experience, and with Pro users benefitting from 4K resolution.
When John Carpenter’s The Thing was released at the same time as ET, it wilted in Spielberg’s shadow, taking years to build up word of mouth fame: similarly, when Assassin’s Creed Unity grabbed the headlines, technophiles sniffed dismissively when Rogue was tossed like leftovers to the soon-defunct PS3 and 360.
Criminally overlooked in its prime, Rogue is one of the strongest titles in the Creed series, bidding a fond farewell to the seventh generation in a more satisfying way than the much-touted Unity.
Lost in the march of progress, its remaster is a rediscovered gem that fires on all cylinders for less than 30 quid.
