I fondly remember my first few hours of playing the original Assassin’s Creed when it stepped on the scene in 2007. The original and highly enjoyable open world adventure game, which had some repetition issues in its first installment, has grown into one of the most enjoyable series to date. After players experienced Altair’s journey, we stepped into Ezio’s shoes who has been the main protagonist in Assassin’s Creed 2 as well as Brotherhood. Both games have sent the franchise to the top of the genre’s charts, which is now set to conclude Ezio’s journey with Assassin’s Creed Revelations.
Right off the bat I have to say that the title may be a bit misleading as Revelations does more to fill in Altair’s backstory than progress the Assassin’s Creed storyline. While this may be a bit of a gripe I have with Revelations, I can also say that it is an absolutely fantastic game that deserves to be on Christmas wish lists this winter. The final events of Brotherhood have sent Desmond’s fate into a tailspin who is now stuck on Animus Island where he is greeted by Subject, 16 who gives some background as to what is happening. There are several Desmond challenges in the form of unique first person puzzles to be completed on the island, they are completely optional but provide some history to Desmond’s life which we haven’t heard much about previously, as well as some downtime when needed.
When not spending time with Subject 16 on Animus Island, players will live again through the eyes of Ezio who travels to Constantinople to retrieve five keys to open Altair’s library before the Templars do. Getting the five keys will help Ezio and Desmond bring some sort of closure to their respective stories. There are also playable sections of Altair’s memories which are actually lived through by Ezio who is based on Desmond’s DNA sequences but this ‘twice removed’ mechanic doesn’t result in a ‘kick’ at the end. Altair’s sections are very linear and relatively short but they do add some additional plot points, flavor, and variety to Revelations.
Ubisoft has probably made one of the best games of last year with Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood which made it hard to top, especially with a short turnaround time of one year before Revelations. Once Ezio arrives in Constantinople, a single city this time around, he sets out to find the five keys needed to open the library. Along the way he meets fellow assassins, Templars, some bad guys, and of course a love interest, it wouldn’t be Ezio without the romance. Even though Ezio has become an old, grizzled man who shows the signs of decade long battles with the Templar order, he still possess the skills required to complete any objective – this means to kill mostly.
All the awesome and fun elements that worked so incredibly well in Brotherhood are back this year and exciting as ever, with the exception of horses which have been removed. Ezio will once again build his Assassin’s Guild, take over Templar Dens, buy shops around the city complete faction missions and sent his assassin’s on tours across the globe. The other new feature in Revelations besides Desmond’s first person puzzles is the introduction of tower defense. Yes, I thought it was a bit odd myself to stumble upon this ‘mini game’ within an Assassin’s Creed title. Each time when Ezio’s ‘Templar Awareness’ level aka wanted level, gets too high, the Templars will try and take over any captured Assassin’s Den. Dens can be acquired by seeking out the location, kill the Templar captain and sync the tower. Once the Templars attack you will need to head to the Assassin’s Den and initiate a wave based tower defense game. While I thought this was an interesting idea, I don’t think it will return in the next installment as it just feels a little bit clunky; however I was able to master the mode and got some level of enjoyment out of it.
The real fun in an Assassin’s Creed game lies in the actual gameplay which is set in an incredibly detailed and beautiful world. Constantinople is an incredible backdrop for Ezio’s latest adventure. The city is amazingly detailed and feels very lively and natural. This may be the best an Assassin’s Creed game has ever looked or sounded. The combat system is very much like Brotherhood’s, which is a good thing. Taking on a dozen of city guards is as fun as ever. Ezio’s skills allow players to defeat foes with such precision that it almost seems like an art form, combined with visceral speed and slow-mo cams to drive home the final kill on a sequence. The combat is addicting and also introduced two new major elements – bomb crafting and the hook blade.
It was hard to believe that Revelations’ core gameplay could be improved but Ubisoft did just that by increasing the variety and options this year. The hook blade, which also allows Ezio to traverse along the new zip-lines found across the cities’ rooftops, makes for some epic fighting combos that had me cringe a few times. The hook blade can be used for climbing as well as making that long jump which used to have us bomb to the ground. Speaking of explosives, Revelations has introduced bomb crafting. Ezio has now gained the ability to build a variety of bombs from materials found across the city. These bombs have saved me several times from an overwhelming number of guards. Using explosives like the cherry or poison bomb as well as the tripwire bomb can become essential in Revelations as new enemies are found in Constantinople which are not one hit kills and require some careful strategy. There will be dozens of possible combinations to make any bomb for any scenario.
A surprisingly well received mode in last year’s Brotherhood was the multiplayer which is back again for Revelations. While Ubisoft has kept the core gameplay intact, they have added more maps and playable characters this time around. In addition to the broader variety, there are also subtle changes which made the multiplayer even more enjoyable like the simplified radar and a new way to defend against an attacker – this had previously felt to be the weakest point of the mode.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations is an absolutely beautiful, fun and rewarding experience. Even though it could be argued that Revelations is more of an upgraded version of Brotherhood, it is very hard not to love and recommend this game. Ubisoft has nailed the combat yet again and made valuable additions to it and also told a more comprehendible story, which doesn’t quite ‘reveal’ as much as I thought but still carries the player through the game with enough plot points to be engaging. The newly added tower defense sections will be polarizing but don’t break the game as they are completely optional. Assassin’s Creed Revelations may not have brought us any breakthrough moments as Brotherhood did but the formula still works amazingly well. The multiplayer mode has also been upgraded and should be able to bring players back many times over. Revelations is certainly a game that should be on everyone’s radar this fall, sharpen your blades.
Score: 9 / 10
Assassin’s Creed Revelations was developed and published by Ubisoft for Xbox 360 and PS3 on November 15th. A retail copy of the PS3 version was provided to us by Ubisoft for reviewing purposes.
