Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – Review

The original Assassin’s Creed were one of the most revolutionary games of this generation of consoles and has since its release spawned several sequels, which many a person has enjoyed thoroughly. One of those sequels, Revelations, came out last November along with a question – Could Revelations live up to its epic prequels?

Taking place in the same era as Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood, with the same main character: Ezio Auditore, Revelations clearly paints with the same colors, but do add some new nuances, beginning with having the story take place in Constantinople, also known as Istanbul.

As Brotherhood was for AC II, Revelations merely seem like a massive expansion pack to the prior installment of the series, with few tool and ability upgrades, like those that come along with the hookblade, and some new game aspects, like the “Den defense,”  which is actually just a regular tower defense mini-game that will have to play as punishment for not being subtle enough. Yeah, that’s right – the mere fact that we took their turf ain’t enough to have the Templars attack us, no sir; it’s that we’re not being Assassin’y enough which sparks their aggression. It just pisses them off when we do what they don’t want us to poorly.

Other than that and non-necessary-but-still-customizable bombs, we see a return of Brotherhood’s recruitment system, where Ezio can hire on random people with athletic skills to become full fledged assassins in a surprisingly short amount of time.

The missions are classic AC missions, with fast paced chase/fleeing, stealthy entry and brütal kill. The fleeing and chasing sequences are, however, rather easy compared to previous games, as all it usually requires is holding 2 buttons and pushing your analog stick forward – What makes up for that is the great, epic scenes that puts us in awe when we do it.

Unfortunately the assassination mission creativity of the previous games have disappeared, so they all seem sort of regular and non-intense, as it’s all been done before. Furthermore, most of the victims we claim are part of a conflict which Ezio isn’t really a part of. See, the plot is also lacking in that there are no motivation and drive for the player, other than perhaps the curiosity about Altaïr’s memories, which Ezio get to relive through some very special keys he left behind.

During game plots, it’s common that the creators try to capture the players through emotion, which means that when Ezio’s family is hung in AC II, we’re supposed to feel like ti happened to us and want revenge. They try to pull something similar in AC: Revelations, but it’s hard to develop any sort of emotional bond to Ezio’s new friends, given that they, in spite of their distinctive appearances, don’t really burn into our memory as unique and special characters, given the lakc of knowledge about them and time spent with them.

Once you are done with Ezio’s final story you can always relive it again, or start gathering the collectibles or saving up money to buy what is actually unnecessary items. Another thing you can do in singleplayer is explore the memories of Desmond, who is currently trapped in the Animus, throughout some rather repetitive and slow-paced puzzles.

To be honest, the big fuzz around this game isn’t what we find in singleplayer, but in multiplayer. MP features several assassination games in teams and free-for-all. The games always require you to be on your feet and you have the option of customizing your character by buying stuff with the points you win from the game. The better you do in a session, the more experience you will earn, and thus you will earn more rewards as you level up – and one of the prominent of the rewards, are videos featuring Warren introducing some Templar secrets, and another one is several logs, telling the Templar history.

Overall, Revelations does probably not add up to the expectations of fans, with what can be considered a weak story, which is surprisingly shorter than usual, a lack of new mechanics, and a lack of challenge. Of course it is, as an AC game, quite enjoyable, but probably the least impressive of the 4 main titles.