Game review: Assassin's Creed - Revelations

There's exactly three reasons why I hate Ubisoft.

Number 1, their DRM policy circa AC2. 

Number 2, the disappointing 2009 Prince of Persia, tarnishing the memory of one of the best trilogies of games ever for a quick buck. 

And number 3, their tendency to end Assassin's Creed games on cliffhangers and not churn the next one out fast enough.

Now, Revelations is the fourth multi-format AC game (excluding the PSP-only Altair's Chronicles game), and the formula remains largely the same. It's actually interesting, seeing them as an arc, how every game in the series adds something new and improves on the failed or badly realized novelties of the previous game. Before reviewing, let's take a quick look at the arc, shall we? This shall also serve as a handy recap guide to whatever has occured in the AC games so far plot-wise, so consider this both an explanation and a spoiler bonanza on the tangled web that is the AC story. Consider yourself warned if you haven't played the previous games yet. Or, in other words, let's break it down, spartan style: fast and lean. Pay attention, there will be a pop quiz at the end.

First off, the protagonist. You're playing Desmond Miles, a contemporary bartender with a shady past, held imprisoned by the Abstergo corporation, a Big Brother meets OCP kind of  organisation. Abstergo is looking for something, and for some reason they believe Desmond to have the key to help them get it. So they strap him on to the Animus, and through science, force him to relive the memories of his ancestors, encoded deep within his DNA. In the first game, Desmond relives the memories of...

...Altair Ibn Al-Ahad, an 11th century Assassin. Altair is a cocksure, arrogant youngster that in his arrogance, both shames himself and fails a critical mission that puts the whole Assassin Order at a disadvantage against their age-old enemies, the Templars. Hence begins the long road to redemption in a mostly open-world environment that, nevertheless, was relatively empty. Al Mualim, leader of the order, would assign you three different targets at any one time, one in each of the main cities you could explore: Acre, Jerusalem and Damascus, as well as the mostly tutorial village of Masyaf, all aesthetically and culturally unique but functionally the same. To do so, you'd have to do a few mini-missions from a selection of mini missions (always the same ones, btw) in order to gather intel, then go in for the kill. There was talk of a conspiracy, of secrets, of the promise of power beyond mortal imagining. This only made sense at the very end, when it is proven that the artifact Altair's been hunting down is taken by Al Mualim for himself, giving him freaky reality-bending powers and a lust for control that forces Altair to confront and kill him. And only then is the artifact proven to be...alien? Super tech? Who knows? Abstergo now know where the artifact, called Apple of Eden, has been hidden, and intend to kill Desmond. But Desmond seems to wake up from the Animus having absorbed Altair's legendary eyesight, which allows him to see all the scribbles that have been drawn in blood on the walls of the lab and subsequently scrubbed off. And then the game ends....

...only to be continued as Lucy Stillman, the assistant of the Templar doctor in charge of the animus projects reveals herself to be an Assassin and helps you break out. Retreated to the relative safety of an Assassin cluster on the move, you're offered a chance to help the Assassins track the Apple down by reliving the memories of Rennaissance assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze, from moment of birth (literally) and onwards. This game offered more things to do in this open world, including shops to own, buying and selling of items, missions that were more personalised to the story at hand, tighter and improved mechanics, stealthier assassinations, a world of possibilities and a character you cared for eventually. Ezio sees his carefree teen years end abruptly when his father, older brother and baby brother are unfairly accused of treason and hanged, Ezio only surviving their fate by chance. Gradually he learns the truth: he's been born into a family of Assassins, and the war between them and the Templars still rages on, even in secret, and both sides are still after the Apple. It takes him more than a decade to track down the instigator of his family's death, his journey taking him all across Italy and ending up, for most of the game, in Venice. Ezio has a knack for seducing women, making friends (Leonardo Da Vinci among them) and getting to the bottom of things, if late. Ezio finds Rodrigo Borgia, the man behind the set-up, but only after he's managed to become the Pope. Nevertheless, Ezio storms the Vatican, kicks the crap out of Borgia (even though he has the Apple, but sparing his life) and activates the Apple which has him converse with the hologram of a "woman" calling herself Minerva, one of those "that came before". Freakily, the hologram stops talking to Ezio halfway through and starts adressing Desmond instead, as if knowing he'd be reliving this memory. And then the game ends...

...only to see the rest of the story unfold in the next game, that sees everything Ezio built in the second game crumble and fall as Borgia uses his own influence and that of his son's military genius, Cesare, to obtain the Apple and mount a devastating offense on Monteriggioni, Assassin stronghold. Meanwhile, in present times, Desmond, Lucy and the rest of the gang are discovered and have to flee their current location, ending up in present day Monteriggioni. Ezio is left with no other choice but to go to Roma, strengthen the Assassin foothold in the city and pry it (and the Apple) back from Borgia/Templar influence. Brotherhood limits itself to just one huge city instead of the various locations of the previous games, and has Ezio build a new Assassin Order almost out of scratch: recruiting new Assassins, training them, calling them in combat and even sending them on missions on their own. All the mechanics of the previous game return almost entirely unchanged. However, the recruits have less personality than cabbage, and Brotherhood has less personality than the previous game. Last minute save: the present day gang pinpoint and obtain the Apple underneath the Colosseum in Rome. Upon Desmond touching the Apple, Minerva seizes control of his body and forces him to stab Lucy dead, then Desmond collapses with what seems like an aneurysm. He survives when the gang and their heavily hinted at but no-show so far leader, Bill, strap him on to the Animus to save his mind, which unfortunately ends up forcing him to keep reliving the memories of Ezio. And then the game ends...

...to be seemingly concluded in Revelations. We knew there was going to be an Assassin's Creed 3, and Ubisoft have on various occasions confirmed that neither Brotherhood nor Revelations are it. This is just the continuation of Ezio's story, handily filling in some gaps in Altair's story as well and fleshing him out better than he had been before. Revelations promised a lot of things, but did not quite deliver on most. It did, however, deliver in unexpected areas. Let's take it from the top.

Story-wise, we see Ezio visiting Masyaf, in search for the library full of Assassin secrets left behind by Altair. Upon arriving, though, he finds out Masyaf is not a good place to be an Assassin anymore, and he finds out the hard way. Outnumbered and outgunned, Ezio is quickly subdued by the Byzantine soldiers/Templars there, and finds out that these Templars have taken Masyaf and are trying to find the keys left behind to unlock the library. The local templar commander, Leandros, goes so far as to tell Ezio they already have one and that they're in the middle of finding the other four. Right before Ezio kills him, that is. 

So Ezio embarks to Constantinople/ Konstantinoupoli/ Konstantinyye/ Istanbul and works with the local Assassin guild (lead by the immediately likable Yusuf) and the Italian scholar/bookshop owner Sofia Sartor to find the rest of the keys before the Templars. And, of course, gets way, way more than he bargained for. Conspiracies concerning the soon to be vacated Sultan throne, Templars snooping around, animosity between the conquering Ottomans and the conquered Greeks/Byzantines...it's all reaching breaking point, fast, and Ezio is right in the thick of it all.

We were promised the New York of its time, as the city connecting Europe and Asia has often been called, and we get it. The hustle of its streets is so much more lifelike than the locations in previews games, bustling with life, merchants, bystanders and beggars calling out, reacting, advertising in several different languages, leaving no room for personal space, down to random stabbings and muggings. From its wealthier areas to its slums, this city has more of a character than any city in an AC game so far, with AC2's Venezia as a close second. Unfortunately, unlike Roma, Constantinople feels fairly small as a city, but that's not my biggest gripe with it. We were promised Constantinople before and after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman one, before as Altair, after as Ezio. Unfortunately, Altair is only limited to 5 memories, of which only 4 require any input from the player, and they all take place in Masyaf. You do not get your chance to free-roam as Altair. If you were hoping for that...well...tough luck. But I digress. The game mechanics remain largely unchanged, apart from five things that are either new or completely renewed: the Assassins, the Assassin Dens and the new crafting mechanism, parachutes and the hookblade, Ezio's new toy. Let's look at them separately, shall we? 

The hookblade takes the place of one of Ezio's hidden blades and fulfils several roles: that of a blade, of the metal cestus that allowed better grips and longer jumps and also as a mechanism for zipping down ziplines which, handily, Constantinople is full of. This allows for both fast travel and also zipline assassinations.

Then there's parachutes, which can now be used at your discretion in free roam and allow for safe landings or parasailing, in one notable case. Not a new feature per se, but in this new environment they do become much more important than they were.

Then there's the bomb satchels, which allow you to craft and have up to three different types of bombs at any one time from materials you'll find in the world or as rewards from missions: lethal, tactical and diversion. While sometimes handy, this feature seems like the most slapped-on one, and it easily gets forgotten later on. 

As in previous games, the enemy has various locations that allow them to excise control over a district which you can and should take over. This unlocks several perks, more Assassin recruitment slots, shops you can buy or use, landmarks you can purchase and a safe house.

Unfortunately, when your Templar awareness gets high enough, the Templars will attempt to retake your Dens, and you'll have to play an annoying tower defense mini-game to keep your Den and all that entails. So annoying, in fact, that many players will finally have a reason to strive to keep their templar awareness down. This reviewer only had to perform Den defenses twice, and one of them was the unavoidable tutorial one. All thanks to keeping a low profile, spending some coin to spread the correct rumours and silencing several officials. And, after a while, making sure all the Assassins assigned as Den Masters were high level enough to ensure the Den was immune to attacks.

Ah, yes, the Assassins. Revelations takes Brotherhood's most prominent but eventually poorly realized feature and makes it shine by giving several different possibilities for recruiting new Assassins, not just saving a citizen from police brutality. Sometimes you'll spot a particularly agile person, or a skilled pickpocket, or a person with a great sense of honor and purpose. This time around, half the Assassin recruiting is actually done by unique mini missions. And, for seven of your Assassins, those you select to become Den masters, an extra couple of missions that progress their abilities, their understanding of the Creed, and give you a much needed suspension in disbelief of their existence. 


All in all, much like Ezio, Revelations is older, deadlier and wiser, but doesn't last as long in the sack as it used to. Fairly short, running on an engine that's showing its age more and more, Revelations isn't the shining jewel on the AC crown, despite several unique action setpieces that are taking their cues straight from Hollywood Blockbuster 101. That spot still belongs to AC2. Still, there's moments in it that will get your blood pumping, moments when you'll get goosebumps, and moments when you'll just have to stay still for a moment and let it all seep in. 

What more can you ask for, kardashim?