Assassin's Creed: Revelations review

Assassin's Creed: Revelations review

by Jimmy “PJ” Vermoens

The creed of the assassin's has been unleashed unto the world a few times already. Sometimes it happened with massive success, whilst sometimes it failed to deliver. Now, an era has ended. Whilst Desmond Miles is still our main character, we see an end come to the other characters we have come to love. Specifically, the storylines of both Altaïr ibn La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze are completed. They have nothing more to tell us. But, did this happen in style, or was it a bust?

After the conclusion of the previous game, Desmond finds himself in a coma and put in to the Animus. There he meets up with the infamous Subject 16, who tells him that, in order to save his own mind, he needs to get to know everything that Altaïr and Ezio haven't told him yet. Allow the Animus to separate them properly. And so Desmond is put back in Ezio, who is on a quest to Masyaf. Once there, he finds a library that is tightly locked up, and Templars that are looking to open it. So then it becomes a race to the keys to the library, that mainly takes place in Constantinople.

Along the way, Ezio meets up with a wide variety of interesting characters. Like the city’s head of the Assassins, Yusuf and his love interest, Sophia. It's here that we find a huge improvement in the characters, because they're interesting for once. All we had before was Uncle Mario, and he isn't exactly around this time around.

Each time Ezio comes closer to opening the library in Masyaf, he learns more about what happened to his ancestor, Altaïr. By the end of the game, their faiths will be revealed to you. The most important improvement for me, was that it all felt more coherent. Where as in previous game, much time lapsed between missions, here it all happens in one go. That, and everything happens for a reason in the story.

All in all, a very intriguing story that is extremely helpful in getting you through this game. Alongside the voice acting, which is once again top not in all but one department. Damn it, Ubisoft, DID I DO SOMETHING TO OFFEND YOU, SIR? Those of you that played this game just chuckled. Those of you that haven't … I am so sorry for your impending suffering.

Also, beating the everlasting shit out of beggars and street musicians is still tons of fun. Though I did prefer poisoning them and watching them bellyflop on the ground, flailing their arms and legs around like nuts.

The music of the game seems to be stuck in one mode unfortunately, and that seems to be the epic mode. Previous games had some heart pumping music and also some light hearted pieces, but here it all seems to go away in favor for the “epic” variety.

Graphicswise, the engine is starting to show its age. Everything looks better than it did in the previous games, but there are a lot more glitches and Ezio's lips look a botox accident.

Instead of improving or changing their gameplay system, Ubisoft opted to once again just add more. More! MORE! Everything is basically the same as the previous games. Platforming is still done by going down a predetermined path, sometimes forced to fail because of the camera or because the A.I. Is actively trying to cheat by making it artificially difficult.

Fighting is made a lot more difficult because enemies now attack during unskippable killing animations. It's extremely frustrating to once again have to revert to AC2's style of playing when a system is in place to make fights faster and more fun. Though you are given a few more fun toys like sticky bombs. Yes, Sticky Bombs. I loved those.

To make money, you again have to go around the city and buy every store and landmark in sight. Though now they, again, artificially make it harder by upping your notoriety each time you buy something. Meaning you have to waste time tracking down heralds and then get back to buying stores.

There are a few new additions to gameplay, like the previously mentioned bombs. Which you can gather ingredients for and make yourself. There's also the Hookblade, which allows you to climb faster, reach further and zipline all across Constantinople. The best part of the game, if you ask me.

Also making a return is the city defence minigame where you have to create a brotherhood and send them out on missions. BUT GUESS WHAT? This time, it's a money sink if you don't pay attention. I just went one city at a time and did as many missions as I could before moving on. Never really reading the mission either. I just went GO and that's that. Yeah, I lost lots of money that way. Luckily, getting your brotherhood up to snuff isn't pointless this time. They actually take a part in the ending of the game this time.

And then they added Den Defence. The main reason to get your brotherhood to its maximum. You see, each district has a den. Each Den can belong to either the Templars or the Brotherhood. You have to conquer each district and then put a level 10 assassin in charge of it. Besides giving you additional story missions, these assassin's will also automatically defend these dens when they reach level 15.

The minigame itself is basically a non-functioning version of a strategy game. It sucks. Just, skip it if you can. When you need to go to defend your den … simply let it be conquered and then take it back from the templars, skipping the game.

M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-multiplayer! It's a fantastic experience when you get a chance to actually play it with skilled people. The only mode worth a damn is Assassination, which is pretty much a Free For All situation, making it oh so tense. But, the game is just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to glitchy and buggy to be any good. There are certain rules in place, like you can avoid getting killed or you escape and whatnot. But, the lag of other players and the bugs make it virtually impossible to enjoy it to its fullest. There's a storyline in place this time, but it isn't worth it. Play it when they fix it.

And judging from Brotherhood, that's never.

Final Judgement

I may have berated the game in this review, but it's still one of the best games currently available for the PS3. It has a great story, fun gameplay and a location that doesn't get tiring, unlike Rome. Missions are very varied as well, and the Roma faction is a welcome change to the Courtesans.

9/10