More of the same, but for now at least it's still fun enough.
When Brotherhood came out a year after Assassins Creed 2 I was skeptical that all story aside the game play would simply be a retread of that second game, but it managed to tweak enough to be a worthwhile venture in it's own right. Revelations on the other hand doesn't quite live up to the title and while still a worthwhile venture for anyone already invested in the series, it doesn't really throw anything new into the mix.
The story gives Ezio a good send off and fills in some of Altairs history which is pretty cool, but things don't progress so much on the Desmond front. Sure by the end of the game he "knows what they have to do" but they don't elaborate any further on that, which makes this game more filler than anything.
From a game play stand point it plays largely identical to Brotherhood in my eyes.
You're still taking over Templar turf, climbing to the top of a tower and lighting a signal to capture it and have yourself a new Assassins Den. You're still recruiting Assassins and sending them out on missions across Europe to net them experience and yourself gold.
Data fragments take the place of feathers and collecting them allows you to play through these out of place, first person puzzle segments that fill in some details from Desmonds past if you're interested in that any.
Combat is still largely centered around countering and stringing together kills in a way reminiscent of the combat from the Batman games.
Bomb crafting is new but aside from the missions in which they were introduced, never really necessary. The only one I ever really used was the smoke one anyway, which appeared in previous games.
Another new addition is a tower defence mini game, in which you're stopping dudes from reaching the gates by setting up walls and dotting your assassins around the place as necessary.
Aside from the one mission in which you need to do it I never sought it out.
In fact I never sought out any of the side stuff, this coming from someone who did almost all of it in Brotherhood. It's just too familiar at this point. The story stuff is great, even if it doesn't necessarily progress anything but I don't feel as compelled to see anything else.
I really don't know what else to say.
It's just so much like Brotherhood. Perhaps too much.
It's still great fun to play, but a revelation it isn't.
