The fourth Assassin’s Creed game to release in five years, Revelations might easily be met with suspicion. Does it offer anything new or fresh? After all, Ubisoft has already announced that it’s the last time we’ll play as charismatic Italian assassin Ezio Auditore or Crusades-era counterpart Altaïr: this parkour-inspired action-adventure series is moving to a new setting for next year’s installment.
Revelations is arguably a minute evolution over Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, but we wouldn’t dismiss it as “more of the same.” For the most part, Ezio’s final tale offers a dizzyingly dense, nicely refined adventure that’s as enjoyable as it’s always been.
Picking up immediately after the close of Brotherhood, Revelations finds Desmond Miles — the present-day heir to the assassin legacy — in a coma. He’s got nothing to do but wander the glowy expanses of Animus Island, hopping in and out of Ezio’s memories as well as his own (which unlock as you collect Animus fragments when playing as Ezio).
As if that weren’t meta enough, Ezio spends his time in the sprawling cityscape of Constantinople chasing down Masyaf keys that trigger playable memories of his ancestor, Altaïr. Navigating each of the three assassins’ personal journeys works amazingly well. Desmond’s challenging first-person puzzle segments — riddled with his thoughts on his assassin-skewed upbringing — are a nice peek into his past, something we’ve never really glimpsed in previous games. And Altaïr’s memories (some of which will be familiar to those who played the first AC) flesh out his character even more than the game he headlined.
For longtime fans, it’s an irresistible chance to spend more quality time with the three characters we’ve enjoyed thus far. But with no convincing villain this time around, and an overarching story that’s spread a bit thin, it starts to feel like the true goal is closure. That may explain why there’s no real downtime: by giving you tons of busywork, Revelations keeps you from contemplating its lack of narrative meat.
The game’s dense laundry list of Templar-squashing side quests will seem impenetrable at first, especially for those who didn’t swim Brotherhood’s waters. Even more than in that game, you’re responsible for coming to grips with all the nuanced layers of gameplay slathered over what’s already come before, which makes for a whole lot of learning curve. For one thing, you’ll be learning how to wield the surprisingly handy (and fun) hookblade — your all-in-one gadget for riding ziplines, grappling ledges that would’ve otherwise been out of your reach, and yanking enemies off of roofs. Plus, you’ll have an upgraded, much more in-depth ability to micromanage your fledgling fleet of assassins — something you’ll see most clearly when dealing with the Mediterranean Defense mini-game and its ties to the new Templar Awareness meter.
Everything you do in the game — from buying real estate and shops to taking over Templar dens — nudges the Templar Awareness meter upward in small increments. You can lower awareness by bribing heralds or taking out wandering enemy captains, but if you let it max out, there’s a chance the armored jerks will attack one of your Assassin Dens, which then triggers another new aspect of Revelations: Den Defense.
Of all the new-fangled features, Den Defense — the optional tower-defense side-games in which Ezio doles out various units to take down baddies before they sink your figurative battleship — provides the least amount of fun. After all, sitting on a rooftop giving orders seems antithetical to what Assassin’s Creed — a series that revolves around running, stabbing, and sneaking — is all about. Thankfully, if you manage your Templar Awareness meter, you’ll never get bogged down in Den Defense shenanigans.
That’ll leave you to dive headfirst into the more worthwhile delights on-hand in Revelations’ beefy, 15-hour-plus campaign — and in its refined multiplayer suite, which revives the stab-or-be-stabbed nature of Brotherhood’s fantastic online offerings. Most of the multiplayer modes — like Escort (similar to VIP) and Artefact Assault (a riff on Capture the Flag) — are fun diversions, but the slightly retooled return of Manhunt (a four- to eight-player, hunter-vs.-hunted stealthfest) is the real deal, and worth the price of admission all by itself. Even if Revelations’ multiplayer is a tough sell in a shooter-packed holiday season, it remains exhilarating stuff.
What’s available here remains as ridiculously appealing as ever. It’s still a thrill unique to the series to be perched six stories high, looking out across miles of meticulously rendered game world — even if that dazzling, danger-filled world has grown overly familiar, having traded what was once revolution for iterative evolution.
Publisher: Ubisoft • DEVELOPER: Ubisoft Montreal/Annecy/Shanghai/Massive • ESRB: Mature • MULTIPLAYER: 4–8 over Xbox Live (team or versus) • ACHIEVEMENTS: Measured • COST: $60
+ Free-running across densely packed city streets still feels liberating; so much to do!
+ A fond farewell to characters we’ve grown to adore; fun, worthwhile multiplayer options.
– Though optional, Den Defense bogs down the game’s pacing; series feels overly familiar now.
? Anyone else chuckle at Ezio “blending in” with a gaggle of comely Romani dancers?
Gamer83
November 15, 2011 at 10:51pm
Nice review, Francesca, I'm glad the game turned out to be great. I figured it would but when companies go on to these yearly cycles it can sometimes have a very negative effect. Probably will be a while before I can play the game, likely won't be until after Christmas but Halo Anniversary and Saints Row The Third should tide me over until then. Tons of great games, so little time to play them all.
