Assassin’s Creed: Revelations continues the story of Ezio, our insanely lovable Italian assassin whose travels in discovering what the Creed was written for has brought him to Constantinople. The city is in the midst of an uprising: the Ottoman Empire is making its stand against the Templars. Nearby, in Masyaf, Ezio discovers that Altair has hidden an weapon that could end the war between the Templars and the Assassins for good. The weapon is locked in a fortress underneath the old Assassin’s hideout by six Masyaf keys, which each hold a memory of Altair.
Desmond, on the other hand, is now trapped within the Animus since his last encounter, and is fighting to retain a separation from his ancestors’ memories, and his own personality. Desmond’s subconscious currently resides in ‘The Black Room’ a sort of safe room that allows Desmond to find the missing memory that links all three of his, Ezio and Altair’s memories together. Should he fail, his subconscious will not be able to tell the difference between himself and his ancestors, and he will become trapped within the Animus forever, facing the same fate that Subject 16 had.
The Assassin’s Creed series has been one of a kind since the original, and one has a hard time thinking how each and every game can bring something new to the table when the formula remains mostly unchanged. This has been both the skill, and the talent that the Ubisoft team has been able to bring. In our newest adventure, very little has changed gameplay wise. Ezio has traveled to Constantine, a beautiful, thriving city located in the Middle East. In a huge, open world environment, Ezio has the privilege to travel to almost the entire city from the very beginning. He is able to take on missions and sub-quests by speaking to key people within the city, and of course, there are many other people who walk and exist within the world. The city is simply beautiful, and can be noted on top of one of the various viewpoints, a feature that has made a return once more.
Some of the new features that add yet another element of strategy within the game are the hookblade and the ability to craft various types of bombs. The hookblade now replaces the right handed hidden blade, yet still functions as a second hidden blade. The hook on the end of it now allows Ezio to slide across zip lines, climb buildings at a much more rapid rate, and even grab onto objects that were slightly out of his reach. The hookblade also serves as a new way to escape, divert and otherwise outmaneuver his opponents, and makes the game feel much faster than it’s predecessors.
The bomb crafting is another feature that brought some interesting mechanics into play. Bombs come in three categories: Lethal, Tactical and Diversion. Lethal bombs are just as they sound, and will typically incapacitate a guard. These range from having shrapnel inside of them, to poison cloud bombs. Tactical bombs are generally used for a quick escape route, or something to slow down your pursuers. These range from typical smoke bombs to caltrops. Lastly, the Diversion bombs are used to draw the guards’ attention away from where you wish to be. Within these three categories, there are different shell types (how the bomb explodes on impact), gunpowder (the radius of the explosion) and the filling (what type of effect the bomb will have). This was easily one of the most fun ways to experiment with completing the missions within the game.
One last new feature that was added was the ‘tower defense’ style mini-game. Similar to Brotherhood, each district is initially owned by the Templars, which must be assassinated to take over. Once killed, Ezio may climb to the top, light the signal fire, which allows the Assassin’s to make it a den, and allow Ezio to recruit two more assassin recruits. The Templar Awareness meter has made a return, however this time there are more consequences. If you are in a fully aware state and you do something wrong, one of your Assassin’s Dens fall into a ‘contested’ state. When that happens, Ezio is placed into a tower defense style game, where the object is to stop the Templars from overrunning the den. Succeed, and the den is safe. Fail, and the den returns to the templars, you lose all income from any buildings within that district, and Ezio must assassinate the new Templar captain in order to take it back.
The overall gameplay of AC:R stayed the same; the player can either blitz through the main story, or take their time doing all of the side missions and such. The removal of multiple faction missions has now been replaced by two separate side missions: Sofia’s missions, which allow you to experience more of Altair’s story, and the Desmond missions which can only be accessed by collecting the Animus Fragments. These missions tell the story of Desmond before he was first picked up by Abstergo in the first game, and really capture his emotions well. As mentioned above, the den capturing has made a return with a small twist, as well as faction objectives. There are plenty more apprentice missions (now called Mediterranean Defense) within the story, but those have also been changed around to allow the assassin’s to have ‘control’ over the various cities, and give you benefits to restoring them to their former glory.
Lastly, the multiplayer has been revamped allowing for a more seamless play. There have been a few new game modes added in, as well as a few features here and there to make things feel fresh, but I personally was impressed with the first multiplayer game in Brotherhood, and couldn’t even fathom how they could make a single player game like that into a multiplayer expedition. Having this mode in Revelations only made common sense. Most may remember the awful load times and ‘Searching for other Abstergo players’ message that repeated over and over. I am happy to announce that is no longer the case.
If you sit down and blitz through the storyline, there will be a lot of things that are missing for your experience, and I feel that you will ultimately be unsatisfied by the game. Part of what makes this storyline so brilliant is the addition of the backstory behind Desmond as well as some missing parts to Altair and his connection with Ezio (aside from DNA, of course). The small additions and refinements to the system were enough for me to truly look at the game and see yet another solid title in an already wonderful series. There are a few things I can do without, such as collecting yet another 100 objects from an open world (the Animus fragments I mentioned above), as well as the den defense, which becomes incredibly difficult after the first mission.
I did raise an eyebrow though, when I found out that if you train your apprentices to the level of Master Assassin (which is now level 15, raised from level 10), the dens can no longer be attacked. This is a bit odd, considering if all of your dens can no longer be attacked, why even bother with adding the mini game in the first place? Still, the small quirks like this do nothing to the actual game itself, as I still would back this game as a solid addition to the story. I am still having a hard time justifying purchasing all of the buildings within each district (referring mostly to the landmarks) as once you get so far, the additional income really doesn’t mean much at all.
Overall, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations does not feel like it’s milking the franchise. When I pick up each title, I feel rewarded with new content, updated features, and some new treats to keep me drooling for the next title. I would warn, however, if the overall game play features and slightly repetitive nature bore you, you may be cautious around this one. There is only so much that a company can do with this IP, and while I give them credit for what they’ve done, it’s certainly not perfect. If you are a fan of the series, or have been drawn into the story much like I have, then you’ll find that Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is a beautiful addition in this already beautiful series.
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