Summary
Ubisoft, despite facing a few woes in recent times, is still a development team that has provided a huge variety of excellent games for players to enjoy over the years, spanning across all kinds of genres, from tactical shooters to racers, and of course, open-world titles. However, whilea Ubisoftrelease is always a big occasion in the industry, there have been times when a sudden drop from these developers wasn’t met with all too much excitement or hype, only for the game itself to then shock players with how good it would end up being upon release.
Whether it’s due to a lack of marketing, or simply the last game in the series being fairly lackluster, there are plenty of reasons why players can become less than optimistic about a game succeeding. The truth is though, Ubisoft have made it crystal clear they can conjure up a high-quality and memorable experience when they really want to, even when the chips are stacked against them, with these titles being prime examples of that.
Though the firstWatch Dogswas fairly well received upon release, the reason so many players felt disheartened by the full experience was because of how different it was from the reveal trailers. While the hacking mechanic was still there, it felt a lot more barebones, and when paired with the deadly serious tone of the story, the game ended up feeling a little confused and messy. As a result, expectations weren’t high going into the sequel, which many predicted would be a continuation of Aiden Pearce’s story.
In stark contrast,Watch Dogs 2switches gears entirely, introducing a brand-new fun and vibrant cast of characters, while also being set in the new environment ofSan Francisco, which is far more colorful and eye-catching to admire while exploring.Watch Dogs 2ended up feeling much more like a hacker’s playground than the first game ever did, and with a compelling story and plenty of content also packed in, it resulted in a game that was far better than it had any right to be.
By the timeRainbow Six Siegewas released,theRainbow Sixseries of gameshad already become well established, with players knowing exactly the kind of tactical shooter experience they would be in for upon booting one of these games up. However,Siegepromised to be a much more competitive and intimate shooter than the others, and while many had their doubts that it would reach any kind of success, especially after the rocky beta, nobody could have expected just how fun the game would actually be.
Even in the early days when only a handful of operators were available, the twitch-reflex gameplay and quick time to kill madeSiegeone of the most intense, but also rewarding, FPS games on the market. While it managed to defy all expectations upon release,Siegehas gone on to become one of the most popular online video games ever made; a feat nobody could have ever seen coming.
With the Ezio trilogy of games often being seen as the peak of theAssassin’s Creedseries for many fans, the third mainline game received more of a mixed reception, with some beginning to worry that the franchise would never reach such heights ever again. Thankfully,Black Flagwould ensure players that the series was in good hands, as it ended up being one of the most beloved and creative games in the entire series, and one which fans are still clamoring for a remake of even to this day.
Centered around a swashbuckling pirate known asEdward Kenway, the game allows players to truly live out the life of a no-good scallywag, partaking in epic ship battles and meeting plenty of famous faces, including Blackbeard, along the journey. Though it seemed as though Ubisoft had given everything they had toAssassin’s Creed 2,Brotherhood, andRevelations, they, surprisingly, came back swinging just a few years later withBlack Flag.
It was certainly a bizarre moment when Yves Guillemot, the head of Ubisoft, got up on stage with none other than Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo atE3 2017. With blasters attached to their arms and huge smiles on their faces, the pair were proud to announce a new collaboration between the studios:Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.
What seemed as though it was going to be a fairly basic and streamlined strategy game aimed towards a younger demographic would actually surprise players with how in-depth and enjoyable it would be. Because each character has their own unique abilities and weapons, along with the missions having their own sets of objectives, it ensures the experience never becomes bland or unpredictable. Ubisoft clearly went above and beyond to make this a shining representation of their brief partnership with Nintendo, despite many assuming it would be little more than an experiment or even a cash grab.
The Prince of Persiaseries has long been in a pretty awkward spot in Ubisoft’s catalog. Despite being one of the developers' most popular franchises, and the one which arguably did more to propel them to stardom than any other with games likeSands of Time, it has largely been ignored over the last decade or so, with any games that do come out being sub-par and omitting what made the classics so special.
It’s therefore no surprise why many fans predictedThe Lost Crownwould continue this trend. While the trailers did signify this was going to try and harken back to the series' roots, it’s when picking up the game that it becomes evident just how much of a return to form it truly is, playing like aclassic Metroidvaniawith all kinds of puzzles, enemies, and collectibles to acquire. TheLost Crownalso has a gorgeous art style and some of the best combat seen in the entire series.
It may be hard to believe nowadays given the incredible success of the Switch, but Nintendo’s Wii-U got off to a pretty shaky start. With the bizarre marketing and unclear purpose of the Wii-U’s existence, it’s fair to say there wasn’t as much hype for the system’s release as there normally would be for Nintendo, and that included its launch titles, withZombiUbeing among the lineup.
What eventually became clear, though, was this fairly obscure Ubisoft title, which had barely any marketing attached to it, was one of the best earlyWii-U exclusivesto pick up and play. Players must try to survive in zombie-infested London by scavenging supplies and resources, but the catch is that if they die, they will then become zombified, losing all their equipment unless they decide to find their wandering corpse to get everything back; a mechanic that drastically changes the core gameplay loop from other zombie games.
WhileFar Cry 2was well received when it was released, outside of the brutal healing animations and the Malaria mechanic, it didn’t do too much out of the ordinary to enhance the open-world genre which had been steadily growing in popularity. While Ubisoft could have easily stuck with the same formula forFar Cry 3, as many people expected they would, they instead decided to pack a ton more content into the game, while also altering the mechanics a little bit to create an addictive gameplay loop that would eventually become the go-to for all open world games going forward.
One moment, players will be scaling a radio tower to get a better view of their surroundings, while the next, they’ll be hunting down tigers and bears to create new resources to help along their journey. There’s so much to do inFar Cry 3,it means there’s never a dull moment during a playthrough, and when paired with the story which usesclever bits of meta-commentaryhere and there,Far Cry 3becomes a vast improvement over its predecessor that nobody expected to be anywhere near this good, or influential.
