Assassin's Creed: Revelations Review

[Flibbity Floid]

Title: Assassin's Creed: Revelations

 

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

 

Publisher: Ubisoft Montreal

 

Platform: Xbox 360

 

 

Opening Up

 

So far, a general greeting to turning on any given Assassin's Creed game is "Welcome to the Animus". This time, the Animus has more or less, crashed on Desmond. The game begins loosely where the last one left off in Desmond's shoes. Also note, Revelations is a misleading title in the common sense. The game is about revealing how each of the three characters, Desmond, Altair and Ezio got to this point in time.

For those who haven't played through Brotherhood, without spoiling, the game ended on a very depressing and confusing note involving Desmond and Lucy and a reveal from Those Who Came Before. Lest we forget, Those Who Came Before are the architects behind the Animus. The game begins with a quick recap narrated by a new NPC which you should possibly know from last game otherwise, his identity will be revealed. After this narration, the Animus attempts to boot back up but kind of fails leaving Desmond inside the programming itself. The appearance is a sort of Eden Island called Animus Island for the time and it's only denizen is Subject 16, who we now see in physical form. There are 5 pillars in a circle that will unlock weird FPS revelation missions about Desmond.

The other pillar leads you into Ezio's memories in his final days uncovering Altair's footsteps and motives by searching for Masayaf Keys which allow Ezio to see certain memories from Altair's life including instances at age 26, 63 and even 92. Again, the game is pretty much drawing all conclusions to a single point for the final game assumingly.

 

 

Istanbul Not Constantinople

 

Welcome to the rich mediterranian world of Constantinople. The beauty and elegant nature of the Roman influence mapped over the old world style of The Holy Land. It's a beautiful blend of both worlds. A replacement for Art Stores are in the form of Book Stores where Ezio can collect famous tales such as Aesop's fables and Encyclopedias. Everything else, economically, remains the same with Blacksmiths, Doctors, Tailors and the likes. On the Collectible issues, there are loads of treasures and two new additions to replace Flags and Feathers - 10 Hidden Pages and 100 Animus Fragments. Don't worry, much like last game, collecting X amount will allow you to purchase a map to find them. Even so, this time collecting has it's payoff as the first 30 are linked to the Desmond Sections.

The Templar's are still skulking around in the form of The Byzantines. Ottoman soldiers prowl the streets and are seemingly more aggressive. Much like the Borgia Towers, there are Templar Dens to take over by killing a Captain. Doing so will allow you to set a signal fire and obtain the den for Assassin Recruitment. There is a Mediterranean Mini-game which are the Assassin missions from brotherhood only now you vie for control of certain areas instead of just random single missions. Assign an Assassin to a den to rank them up to Master. Build up too much infamy from the guards and your bases will be under attack in the form of a Tower Defense minigame. Set up assasssin's, crossbows, riflemen, blockades and more to stop the oncoming Templar assault. An intersesting  change of pace and distraction from the story.

A new favored addition is the Bomb Crafting. Smoke bombs were awesome and they've only evolved on the sense. The three types are Lethal, Tactical and Diversion. Use a shell for quick impact or timed setting or even a trip wire. Pick a powder for the size of your detonation and finally pick your tools of lethality with poison or shrapnel. Tactical with blood, smoke or incapacitating fumes and diversion with light, cherry and coin bombs. The customization is pretty wide and each has a unique form of use.

 

Templar on Templar Play

 

Multiplayer returns and only changes so much in better server dedication and a few customization instances. Emblems and the likes can be secretly found in the Desmond sections of the story mode but it's mainly for your profile rather than persona. All the achievements are insanely easy to earn this time and are so gained by reaching level 20. They practically all coincide and the first few are earned in training. There is now a reverse meter for the defense team so you have a better understanding where your attack might be coming from. New counter's are added to take away some of the frustration that the Stun option failed to capitalize on last game. The modes remain the same and the maps are a nice blend of the past and current title.

 

The Breakdown

 

Graphics - Another mesmerizing masterpiece on a new and mystical land. The bright and old world look of Constantinople with it's modern evolution for the 1500's is just astounding to the eye. Not quite as lush as 1400 Italy but another triumph visually nonetheless. The tombs leading to the Masayf Keys are absolutely gorgeous in scale and looks.

 

Sound - Voice acting seems to have improved but otherwise, a new setting brought to audio authenticity.

 

Controls - Controls seem sleeker and with a few more options, the RB has both joysticks mapped for weapons. Left handles all the major weapon functions while right handles everything secondary. The new hookblade is very helpful for speeding up climbing and traversing rooftops with ziplines.

 

Story - The basic plot is Desmond's memory is fragmented and he needs to learn what his ancestors can show him until there lives have ended thus re-synching Desmond's mind. Each section is subtly unique compared to the other with Ezio taking the final lead, Altair showing brief glimpses of his endeavors and Desmond's whole life brought up to speed.

 

Replay Value - For an open worlder like me, extremely high. The story keeps you coming back for more and the endless amount of city traversing is insane.

 

In conclusion, people could argue more of the same but in truth, this series just likes to give more, more and more to the player. Anxious to find out how the story finally ends and so far, it's been one time-bending roller coaster on the coat-tails of the misunderstood Assassin's. 9/10

 

 

Reviewed by Flibbity Floid

[Irishbrewed]

But do those fill in the blanks leave you legitametly hungry for answers or fill like a cash cow ploy?

[Flibbity Floid]

I think you're final statement is right. I didn't see too much of the story getting haphazard. I thought it was a decent way to mix in science, religion and sci-fi without dealing with the whole arguments of time travel. Of course, todays games seem to leave more questions than answers but this series has a lot of, not so much answers but area's that slowly fill in the blanks and it's not over yet.

[Irishbrewed]

@floid. I thought it just left to many questions on the table, and not in a good way. The writers might have hit their stride with the sequels but the first one was not a concise story. Or should I say the game did not convey that story very well. They had a real Deep and far fetched story to tell that ones you finish you kind of understood what was going on but while playing u never felt motivated by any plot lines, just gameplay. If that makes sense, at least from my expirence. When it was over you were like "ah okay so that's what they meant" but it was very anti climatic. Meh I'm bias I didnt like the gameplay outside of the first couple hours so I'm sure that changed my view on the story, it just didn't grab me.

[eZACKe]

Picked it up for $16.19 yesterday off of Amazon due to Black Friday lightning deal plus $20 promotions on video games I had from pre-ordering BF3.

[Flibbity Floid]

@ Brewed - What was all over the place about it? I found it pretty on the spot but then again, I read these kind of stories all the time. The only difference with this one has to do with the Animus and it's "Genetic Ancestral Memory" idea.

[eZACKe]

I happen to think this franchise has one of the best stories in gaming right now. Haven't been able to pick this one up yet due to a lack of money and a lot of good games atm. Will be picking this up over the Christmas Holiday though. Thoroughly looking forward to it. 

[Irishbrewed]

I can't believe this franchise has done so well with a story considering the first games story was all over the place.