Assassin's Creed Syndicate review roundup: A return to form for the series

A selection of early reviews of the latest Assassin's Creed game suggest it's one of the best instalments so far

The latest game is set in the expansive environment of Victorian London (The latest game is set in the expansive environment of Victorian London)

The first reviews of Assassin's Creed Syndicate have been released, and they're overwhelmingly positive.

The latest game in the series launches on Xbox One and PS4 on Friday 23 October, with the PC version coming out on 19 November.

It's set in Victorian London, and early snippets of gameplay and previews showed a vibrant and hugely detailed environment for gamers to run around in.

The Assassin's Creed series has been going on for a while now, and there's been some hits and misses along the way - but according to the reviews, it's a return to form after its unpopular predecessor, Assassin's Creed Unity.

Gamespot - 9/10

Gamespot gave the game a 'Superb' rating, praising the storyline, open-ended structure and characters. They were also a fan of the new zipline feature, that allows you to swing around London like a Victorian spiderman.

They weren't fans of an occasionally clunky and dysfunctional control system, that can sometimes see you jumping off a roof when you don't want to.

They also said the boss battles felt anticlimactic, with dreaded quick time events being part of the fight in some cases.

However, these negatives were clearly outweighed by the rest of the game.

Videogamer - 5/10

Again, the bulk of Videogamer's praise was heaped on the environment, which they said was beautiful and entertaining to explore.

However, they thought the game's beautiful facade was let down by the mission structure, which they said was boring and predictable.

They also weren't fans of the control system, which they said was clunky and hard to use both in combat and exploration, a throwback to the bad old days of the series.

IGN - 8.2/10

IGN were big fans of the game's side-quests and optional parts - earlier games in the series limited players to slogging through a handful of identical side missions before making it to a big assassination, but Syndicate is apparently much deeper.

They especially enjoyed the Charles Dickens side missions, which see you visiting haunted houses and catching fraudsters with Dickens by your side.

Like every other review, they loved the world of the game, but they didn't make a peep about the reportedly problematic control system.

We Got This Covered - 3.5/5

The entertainment site gave a mixed and vague review - like everyone else, praising the environment, side missions, storyline and characters.

However, their main criticisms were due to a lack of 'wow factor' in the game, and some unfortunate bugs (that may be fixed for consumers with the two day one patches due for release).

GamesRadar - 4/5

Offering "some of the most joyful Creed moments in years", GamesRadar loved how alive and natural the city feels in the game, which they said was the best since 2013's Black Flag.

Unlike other reviews which criticised the combat and climbing controls, they liked the stealth controls - which they said were very slick and much less clumsy than in previous games.

They also loved the environment, particularly the Thames, which is teeming with all kinds of boats and exploration opportunities.

Xbox Achievements - 80/100

Calling it a "return to form" for the series, Xbox Achievements loved the characters and story.

They said there were a few glitches, but thought they were minor and infrequent enough to be more funny than game-ruining.

They also didn't like the occasional monotonous, poorly-executed missions, which didn't fit in well with the other more major missions.

Overall, it's been a positive reaction to the new game - apart from a few gripes about the controls, it seems like the huge game world and great storyline make this game a winner.