In Memoriam
It’s been quite a long journey for not only our protagonists, Altair and Ezio--but also for us, the players. While the series had a rocky start as a good idea plagued by missions of monotonous and mind-numbing nature, Asassin’s Creed quickly became known for its deep, intriguing and coherent plot, its expansive open world traversal supplemented with a variety of fun and engaging missions, not to mention the extremely well polished and smooth flowing combat. All of these things that put Assassin’s Creed above your average open world game seemed to have been perfectly crafted by the time 2010’s Brotherhood came along, which added on a surprisingly deep and fun multi-player component.
With that being said, the latest entry into the story of Desmond Miles and his Assassin cohorts leaves much to be desired. While Brotherhood made significant improvements to the established formula as well as additions that were integral and fun, this year’s Assassin’s Creed: Revelations seems to be content with not only providing basically what we got last year, but also adding profoundly inconsequential mechanics that don’t seem to improve or worsen the game. That’s not to say Revelations is necessarily a bad one or that it’s not worth playing. In fact, that the game hasn’t really changed much since last year and still be pretty fun is merely a testament to how good of a state the franchise seems to be in as a whole.
The story picks up immediately after the game changing events of Brotherhood, with Desmond’s mind in pieces, his conscious locked deep into the Animus’ “Black Room” to keep him alive. Guided by the mysterious Subject Sixteen, Desmond’s only chance of survival is to relive the remaining memories of his ancestors to obtain a “synch nexus”, in order to separate the colliding memories. Jumping into the Animus, we pick up four years after the end of the last game to take control of an older and battle-weary Ezio, searching for the wisdom of Altair’s library locked inside the castle Masayaf from the first game. In order to access this library, Ezio is taken to Constantinople where he must race against the Templars to find the keys to open up the library. Although the game begins with a short “previously on...”, the sequence itself is nowhere near comprehensive enough to allow newcomers into the series. I highly suggest that anyone interested in playing Revelations should have at least played Brotherhood or Assassin’s Creed II.
Although from the box art to the commercials which seem to advertise the fact that you’ll be playing as both Ezio and Altair, the five to six missions in which you play as Altair are very spaced out through out the entire game and only last about five minutes each. These usually involve walking, fighting, or a combination of both--nothing too deep or engaging. However what these missions lack in variety and action they more than make up for with the interesting insight they provide on the characters. While Altair’s story is very mandatory, somewhat interesting and without a doubt integral to the theme of the game, Desmond is relegated to an optional side-story that does nothing more than provide a regurgitation of what we already knew about him--a narration of his life while solving mundane Portal-esque puzzles. The game makes you assume that you might get something insightful and important to the story by chugging through the five sequences that are available, but these in truth are all completely unnecessary. Unless of course you really love hearing Nolan North talk--if so these sequences are a must.
While it doesn’t exactly provide the titular “Revelations” implied, the story really narrows down on the individuals, becoming more of a character study of Altair and Ezio, delving into their motivations for remaining true to the Creed. It mainly tries to tie up loose ends, providing more clarification than it does revelation. Because of this, the game feels much quieter, subtler, and more reserved, which results in what turns out to be a pretty quaint and satisfying conclusion for both Ezio and Altair. With some degree of political intrigue, a touch of philosophy, and a great deal of personal emotion, the story is really the main draw to the single-player.
The gameplay however is where the game really starts to get a little stale. On a good note, the seamless and smooth combat that is both challenging and engaging remains as such. One of the best parts of this game and the franchise as a whole is simply killing guards with quick and cool efficiency, and credit really goes to the animators for making the movements seem really brutal and authentic. The Assassins that were introduced in the last game return, but not with much more depth than there already was. You can still recruit and send Assassin’s on missions, and use them in just about the same manner you did in Brotherhood. As with that game, Assassins are probably the best thing to ever be included, as it remains a quick way of dispatching enemies you couldn’t care less about. The series trademark free-running remains generally solid along with the introduction of the “Hook-blade”, which extends your reach and makes general traversal a little faster and easier.
Unfortunately this seems to be the only useful addition the game has to offer, as everything else seems pretty inconsequential. The game really doesn’t do a good job of convincing you that certain mechanics are worthwhile, useful, and above all necessary. Revelations’ major advertised addition to the combat and gameplay seems to be the inclusion of bombs. The bomb can be used in combat as general explosive device, in stealth as a distraction device, or a little bit of both, as you can set tripwires with them. These bombs are crafted through materials that you obtain from shopkeepers and boxes through out the game.
When Brotherhood introduced the concept of the execution streak, the mechanic became an integral part of the combat that made it much more exciting and seamless. The bomb on the other hand just seems like it was added because the developers thought it would be a cool idea. Through out my play-through I rarely even used bombs. The only conceivable time I thought to use them were when during the later stages of the game tougher enemies came along who you couldn’t simply counter or kill with execution streaks, but even then I simply called my Assassin’s who the majority of the time got the job done and then some. You’ll be spending about 90% of your time trying to make your way between missions in the large city of Constantinople, so it’s useful to have Assasins you can call with the press of a button who can quickly dispatch guards in your way.
With that being said--there’s a lot of things to do in the city, and not much of it really engaging or fun. Most of this stems from the fact that the player isn’t rewarded with much besides the standard XBL achievement in completing tasks around the city. The game doesn’t attempt to entice you into completing objectives with 100% synchronization, unlike in Brotherhood where you were rewarded with insightful side-missions involving Ezio and his childhood sweetheart. The Desmond sequences are unlocked by collecting “Animus Data Fragments”, which are 100 shiny collectibles scattered through out the city, but you only need 30 of them to unlock all of the sequences, so there isn’t really any motivation besides the achievement to collect the remaining 70.
The most notable thing to do in the city revolves around the concept of “Den Warfare”. This basically a giant game of domination through out the city as you fight with the Templars for control of certain areas. Taking over Dens is done by simply killing the Templar Captain and then lighting up the top of the tower. This is sometimes fun, however occasionally your Den will be attacked, causing you to go through a painstakingly boring and poorly-executed mini-game of Tower Defense. This doesn’t hurt the game, because you can simply let your Den become overrun and take it back the old fashioned way, but it certainly doesn’t add to enjoyment.
The multi-player aspect of the game continues to build off the surprising success it found last year--and it is still an entertaining game of Cat-and-Mouse. With more game modes, more maps, and more characters, there’s nothing more satisfying than sneaking up to another playing and stabbing him in the face. Or seeing the guy who’s trying to kill you, and punching him in the face.
The fact that the changes and additions the single-player employs are completely optional doesn’t do much to set Revelations apart from its predecessors. I’m not saying every single thing should be mandatory, but merely that there needs to be more of a motivation to use the things that are presented. Too many times I found myself playing exactly the same way I played Brotherhood, and that doesn’t help reassure me that my $60 were worth it
I still think Revelations is just as good a game as Brotherhood, if not almost the same game. It’s the inconsequential additions that make me worried about how my money will be spent each year. However unlike other yearly releases like Call of Duty, I think Assassin’s Creed is still a game that is worth buying every year, mainly due to it’s story. The gameplay may remain the same, but the story continues to work at the highest quality, and it’s nice knowing that every year I’ll be getting a quality story that’s over 10 hours. Overall, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is indeed a solid game that is worth playing to anyone remotely invested in the series. The game provides a satisfying conclusion to where we were when Assassin’s Creed II first came out, as well as leaving us wondering where and when we will be going next year. My only hope is that Revelations didn’t just give a conclusion to the story of Ezio, but also a conclusion to the general kind of gameplay we’ve been experiencing with him for the past three years.
