Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia disappoints on multiple levels, from a flat main character to unintuitive insta-fail stealth levels to clumsy combat and platforming. The few times it nails it with diorama-like puzzles and Helix powers only serve to make the rest of this side-scrolling spinoff look even worse by comparison.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles comes to a dull end in Russia.

Though it doesn't stand up to the franchise's grander releases, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is a fun and thoughtful stealth experience, easily the best to bear the Chronicles name.

With six challenges to do (just like India) and a New Game+ option, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia has plenty to offer for a bite-sized package, but it fails to live up to the bar set by its predecessors. The loud and powerful styles of China and India simply trump the final piece of the pie, which goes out with a muted rebel yell.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia Marx the end of the ill-fated Chronicles series, but instead of making a final stand, Climax's latest treads water. While the visual style is pleasant and the atmosphere is strong, attempts to inject the game with innovation fall flatter than the Berlin Wall in 1990, and the title hasn't really got much to offer to fans old or new in terms of stealth or combat. There are far better Assassin's Creed games and far better platformers, so this spin-off has nowhere else to go but the gulag.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles features a generally solid game engine, nice storyline, and is for all intents and purposes a decent proposition. However, it's constantly prevented from shining by some dire level design and so many instant deaths that if you counted them, would probably see you reaching triple digits by the time you complete the game for the first time. There's some enjoyment to be had here, but it's frequently punctuated by massive bouts of frustration. If you want to try the series, you should grab China, since it remains the best of the three.

Had 'Russia' stuck to some of the roots of the main AC series, this could have been an interesting departure from the 3D games. But making the main characters feel paper thin while stacking the deck with inconsistent stealth mechanics, fussy controls, and timed objectives starts to make 'Russia' feel like a weekend in Siberia.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is the third and final installment in the Assassin's Creed 2.5D spin-off series, and it also happens to be the weakest entry yet.

A lovely art style and occasional bouts of the fun that the past games had doesn't make up for Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia's many pitfalls.

While it tells a complex narrative and incorporates some fun new gameplay elements, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is held back by its inability to maintain static entertainment.