The Top 10 Most Anticipated Games for the 2014/2015 Video Game Season

02. Assassin's Creed: Unity (11 November Ubisoft)

You know how when somebody begins an explanation to you about something and they start out by saying 'This is complicated?' Yeah, well, it is.

Technically there are TWO games being launched in the Assassin's Creed game series this season - AC Unity and AC Rogue - and they are arriving on the same day, but on different platforms in terms of generation. It's crucial to note that they also have very different focuses.

Rogue addresses and completes the story that was told in Revolutionary North America in the previous games, bringing that era nicely to a close, while at the same time containing events that influence and appear in this game, Unity.

It should also be emphasized that Assassin's Creed: Rogue was created for the previous generation consoles - specifically Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 - whereas Unity was created expressly for the newest gen consoles, Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. That is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that the story being told has the game making use of previous choices in the Rogue time-line, whereas Unity does not necessarily follow that process.

Before we get to this next natural title in the ongoing time-leaping saga that is Assassin's Creed there is one additional issue to be remarked upon with respect to Rogue: that game nicely incorporates pretty much all of the swashbuckling pirate-focused sea-battle experiences that the previous titles glorified in such a way as to provide a sense of closure in terms of both story and game play.

Assassin's Creed Unity on the other hand is a historical action-adventure video game with RPG elements that is in keeping with the highest traditions of the game series in every way, offering the player what is officially and spiritually the seventh major installment in the Assassin's Creed series.

While it is not a direct sequel in the story-continuation sense, spiritually it is precisely that in the same way that each of the main-series games has been to those that came before them as has been established by the wizards as they continue to tell the story.

In that sense then Unity is also the successor and sequel to both Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and, as noted, to Assassin's Creed Rogue, introducing an improved melee combat and stealth system while it retains the third-person open world exploration format of the previous games.

The events in Unity take place within the confines of Paris, during the time of the French Revolution, offering a compelling if historical single-player story that follows the character of Arno Dorian in his efforts to expose the true powers behind the Revolution.

Unity introduces a new cooperative multi-player game play mechanism to the series, permitting up to four real-world players to engage in its narrative-driven story missions as well as jointly explore the open-world map to the benefit of all.

The primary combat system for the game has been entirely re-engineered, with a focus upon the classic fencing style of melee combat that is certainly age and era appropriate.

One may be forgiven if the mind strays to embrace warm and fuzzy images of the Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) so skillfully painted in words by author and creator Alexandre Dumas -- even though the characters from his stories had their adventures fully a century before the events that take place in Unity.

Unity is a story of Assassins who are part of the Assassin's Order, and as such there are certain weapons that are present regardless of the primary combat system focus, among which include the hidden blade at least in spirit.

We say in spirit because the traditional Hidden Blade mechanism that is so well known and loved by fans has been replaced with a new and related weapon, called the Phantom Blade.

While it uses a mechanical mode similar to that of the crossbow, allowing for it to be deployed with great effect at considerable distances, it remains a bladed weapon and the signature of the Assassin's Order!

Thanks to the newer and more robust hardware and its higher performance capacity in the newest gen console the game makes much larger use of crowd mechanics, while the previously limited style of parkour like combat ballet that is the mark of the series has been given a decided boost.

In addition to a selection of new parkour moves, the protagonist is also aided by what the game calls a 'Parkour Up' and 'Parkour Down' system used to make it much easier to climb and descend buildings, which is good because there is a lot of that in the doing as you play.

The combat and general skills set is handled in a less organic manner in Unity than it has been addressed in the past. Specifically less organic in the sense that skills and skill upgrades are no longer strictly a product of leveling, with some being purchased outright by the player!

While there are many changes to the game mechanics, we all agreed that the single most exciting feature - and the one that easily elevated Assassin's Creed: Unity to the Number 2 position on the list - is the new cooperative multi-player mode that has been introduced to the series.

This new system allows the player to enter pubs, which function as the social hub in the game, and in which each player can determine whether or not any of their mates are playing the game, and if so whether or not they would be interested in some cooperative multi-player play.

What we mean by determining is simply that the environment inside the pub includes information like whether or not a particular mate is actually working their way through a mission, or just mucking about in their world of Paris. Thus if they do not appear in ghost-mode (that is to say they are actually available for play) the player is able to approach them and dialogue - asking the all-important question 'Can Johnny Come Out and Play?'

When the answer is yes, the player doing the asking is transported to the game of the player who was asked, and both players then have their status reset to a point at which the most recent collective checkpoint in the story has been reached, whereupon they can then continue the story from there.

Each player fills the role of the protagonist Arno in their own game, while to them the other players appear as randomly-generated Assassins. That way the story can be continued without things being too confusing for each player.

While there are more than a few missions in the story that are restricted to single-player play only, there are more than a few that are eligible for multi-player cooperative play - so even though the game in its entirety cannot be completed with mates, there is sufficient content that can be so completed that makes this a highly desirable mode indeed!

You might be thinking that it is about time that they created this new mode - and if you are thinking that, then know we agree. The time has come!