Assassin's Creed Revelations is the last and probably the worst Assassin's Creed game to star Ezio Auditore di Firenze, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. It's actually a great game but Assassins Creed 2 and Brotherhood were so good that they set the bar really high. The problem with Assassin's Creed Revelations is that it feels to similar to previous games. It has a few new features and some of them are fun, while others aren't very fun and are honestly pretty bad. Thankfully though, it does keep the signature game play elements that it's famous for. Not to mention, it still has terrific graphics and a very likable protagonist in Ezio and Altair from the original Assassins Creed also makes his return.
Story
The story mode in Assassins Creed Revelation pales in comparison to its predecessors, Assassins Creed 2 and Brotherhood. In Assassins Creed Revelations, you start off as playing the present day protagonist Desmond Mason. Desmond's mind has been trapped in the Animus and he still suffering from the guilt of what he did in Brotherhood. The only way for Desmond to be free is for him to see the rest of Ezio's memories. Desmond in Revelations now has his own missions that you can play through known as "Desmond Sequences". These missions are generally very boring, I do not recommend playing them and this is one example of a new feature that didn't work well.
Desmond once again goes through his ancestor Ezio's memories and he discovers four years have passed since the events in Brotherhood. Ezio now travels to Masyaf to find out the secrets of the Assassins and find out the true purpose of being an Assassin. In Masyaf, Ezio finds that there are a lot of Templars there and he finds Altair's library but discovers 5 keys are required to enter and that those 5 keys are in Constantinople. Ezio, escapes from the Templars and goes to Constantinople to find the keys. In Constantinople, Ezio meets several new characters including some memorable ones such as fellow assassin Yusuf and fellow Italian Sofia. As missions progress, you find keys which let you live the memories of Altair. Altair's memories are fun to play with and older players will like to play as the returning hero. While as Ezio, you will also be involved in the Sultan situation in Constantinople and try to help resolve it. The templars are also in Constantinople and have a significant role in the story. The story is generally disappointing and does not live up to the Assassin's Creed standard but the ending is will once again regain your interest and in typical Assassin's Creed fashion, it will leave you scratching your head. The single player mode took me around 15 hours to beat but it might take you more if explore everything and do everything that there is to do in Assassins Creed Revelations.
Graphics and Presentation
Visually, Assassins Creed Revelations does not disappoint. Assassins Creed Revelations is beautiful and wonderfully detailed. It is a great representation of Constantinople during the Ottoman Empire. You will be in awe when you are travelling around as Ezio and witness famous landmarks such as the Hagia Sophia and attractive buildings and mosques. Revelations looks great at day and night. Watching the sunset in the game is a must and it is a revelation in its self. The water looks great too and you will notice that is there are quite a few missions in Revelations involving water. Constantinople is full of life and it is nice to go through the grand bazaar and see what people are doing and see how people lived during that time period. The animation is also first class as expected.
Sound
I thought that the sound in Assassins Creed Revelations was amazing. The music is appropriate and still great and very epic in the moments that it needs to be. The soundtrack is wonderful and the voice acting is once again superb. The voice actors gave great and convincing performances in Revelations and really added to the game. Ezio, despite the fact that he is old still has a lot of charm and charisma and other characters do as well, except Desmond. Desmond is still bland and boring despite the fact that he is voiced by one of the greatest voice actors in the video game industry, Nolan North who also provides the voice of Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series. All the weapons also sound good, especially the hook blades and swords.
Gameplay
The gameplay is the most important aspect of a game. Even if the story disappoints, the gameplay can lift it up and that is exactly the case for Assassins Creed Revelations. The gameplay is once again terrific. All the signature gameplay elements return such as the beloved free running parkour aspect and the hidden blade. Free running is better than ever and has been expanded by adding a hook blade which lets you climb buildings faster, assassinate guards near ledges and grab something when you're falling down. Revelations makes traveling even more fun as throughout the game, there are zip lines, which you can glide down from and you can buy parachutes which let you glide through the air when you are falling.
Another returning aspect in Revelations is recruiting assassins. To recruit assassins, you must rescue normal citizens when they are in need of help and in return they will want to help you and become an assassin. You can send these recruits off to contracts, which help them level up and help them achieve the highest rank possible which is master assassin. The contracts send your assassins off to different parts of the world to help stop Templar influence in those places and instead assert assassin control. From these contracts you can gain money and other goods. Once a recruit becomes a master assassin they have to do a mission which involves defending an assassin den from templars.
In Revelations there is a tower defence minigame which involves you trying to defend your den from a vantage point. From that vantage point you can assign assassins where to go and move equipment in order to stop the templars. I felt this minigame was quite boring and was unnecessary.
Something new I liked in Revelations was making bombs out of ingredients that you find. Throughout Constantinople, there are many bomb making spots and in those spots you can make some handy bombs which might assist you in combat. There are a variety of bombs which you can make such as smoke bomb or a poisonous bomb. Overall, I liked this new touch.
Ezio's gun also makes a return in Revelations and it is more useful than before. Your gun is useful because it helps you when an enemy gunman or sniper is far away and you can't just attack him with your sword or blade. There are also other weapons you can use when an enemy is far away such as a crossbow, knives or bombs.
While guns and bombs are cool and all most of your time spent in combat will be using either your sword or your blade. Swordplay is fun and enjoyable and the new animations make them better. Also, it is a bit bloodier and more violent than before. You will also be using you're hidden blade which has now been modified into a hook blade a lot. You can use your hook blade to stealth assassinate your enemies and you can also use them in regular combat. The actual combat in Revelations is not hard and actually a bit easy.
In Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, multiplayer was introduced and it was warmly received. Multiplayer returns in Revelations and I thought it was decent. It was fun to play at the beginning but as I played it a bit more I got bored. There are several general multiplayer modes such as Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Deathmatch is probably the best and most fun and in it you are assigned a target and you must assassinate him but there is also an assassin after you. Unlike in Brotherhood, the targets don't all look similar and it provides more of a challenge. Overall, multiplayer is average and the real fun is in Revelations' single player.
The Verdict
The latest iteration of the Assassin's Creed series, Assassin's Creed Revelation is a bit disappointing when you compare it to its predecessors but it's still a great game. It has a weak story, Desmond is as boring as ever and some of the new features don't work well but it still has the tremendous signature gameplay, the beautiful visuals and graphics and you get to play as Ezio and Altair. Overall, I liked Revelations and thought it was a good conclusion to the storylines of Altair and Ezio.
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