When it launched in 2007, Assassins Creed was one of the early IPs (Intellectual Properties) for the current generation console. The first game in the franchise was met with praise for its graphics, open-world-go-anywhere-climb-anything-structure, a captivating story and, above all, for giving players the ability to don the role of a kick-ass assassin. Critics complained about repetitive mission structure and an overall confusing ending.
Fast forward four years and we have Assassins Creed Revelations, the fourth title in the on-going war between the Assassins and Templars. The game has undergone some dramatic changes over the past few years and has tried to improve on the previous installments taking into consideration the gamer's feedback. Does it deserve a position on your trophy wall or are you better off purchasing another blockbuster title this holiday season?
Story
The story arc brings to an end the saga of Ezio Auditore da Firenze (our lead protagonist from AC2 and Brotherhood), Altair ibn-La'Ahad (from AC1) and Desmond Miles, the poor modern day soul stuck in the whole mess. Those of you who are new to the franchise will be greeted by an intro movie bringing you up to speed with the events of the previous game as all the stories are interconnected. Think of it like the concept portrayed in Inception - a dream within a dream. Desmond Miles is a modern day bartender whose DNA has access to the lives of his ancestors who were master assassins.
You are reliving the memories of Ezio (in the period 1511 AD) who is now much older but can still maneuver through the game as well as he did before - in fact better than his previous outings. He is no longer a novice assassin but a master and takes no orders from every second character you come across in the game. His quest, this time round, is to search for the "truth" about the Assassins' order and he must find 5 keys left behind by his ancestor Altair which unlock the door to his (Altair's) library.
When you search for the keys, you get to relive key moments from Altair's life (he lived during the Crusades), which gives you more information about the war between the Assassins and Templars. Add to the fact that Desmond is stuck in the machine (the Animus) through which these memories are accessed and you have one heck of a complicated story to follow if you aren't aware of the happenings in the series.
Ezio's saga takes place during the rise of the Ottoman Empire, which means there's a history lesson in store.
GameplayThe gameplay in AC Revelations is an add-on to the gameplay mechanics from Brotherhood with a few tweaks which are for the better. Navigating through the environment is as easy as holding down two buttons on the controller and pointing with the analog stick. For traversing the environment, you can still climb anything and go anywhere. But there is an addition to your arsenal called "the hook blade" that helps you climb structures faster, zip line across wires strategically located throughout the city and adds a new set of moves to your combat list.
Speaking of combat, it has been greatly improved upon in Revelations. The controls have been tweaked to give you access to a primary weapon, be it your sword, crossbow, knife or your bear fists and a secondary weapon such as your gun, throwing knife or bombs. Combat in the game is still very easy and taking down the enemy is as simple as stringing together combos by timing your attacks. Ezio has a couple of new moves added to his list, which appear quite awesome when executed.
While searching for the 5 "Masyaf" keys, you will enter cave like structures and have to solve some simple puzzles and traverse tricky areas and take out the occasional guards. These missions are some of the high points in the game as their pacing is swift, gameplay is visually beautiful and at the end of these sequences, you get a satisfying feeling of accomplishment.
The Assassins recruitment makes an appearance in Revelations as well and you can recruit citizens from the city and add them to your assassin's army. Once trained, these assassins can help you in missions, take down enemies or send a shower of arrows if you ever find yourself surrounded. Calling for aid and executing these moves is as simple as pulling the left trigger on your controller and equally satisfying.
The only downside to the gameplay is a new addition called 'capture the den'. Essentially you take over a Templar controlled area and as the game progresses they attack the den and you have to defend it. To defend the den you essentially play a mini strategy game that involves you placing barricades and assassins "strategically" around the den to prevent the enemy from entering. These gameplay portions drift away from the main story and core gameplay mechanics and are just very frustrating.
Being an open world game there is the large city of Constantinople to explore and a lot of side quests to complete. Just by sticking to the main story, upgrading the assassin's army and taking on a handful of side quests, we managed to beat the game in around 12 hours but expect to invest many more hours if you wish to beat the game 100%.
If that wasn't enough, the game also offers online multiplayer. It was introduced in Assassins Creed Brotherhood and quite honestly felt underwhelming. That trend continues in Revelations and multiplayer is just gimmicky. You have the standard modes such as capture the flag and death match along with a unique story-oriented quest mode. But the overall appeal is very underwhelming when compared to the multiplayer offerings from Call of Duty, Halo, Uncharted, Gears of War and more. You won't be hooked online for long in the multiplayer offering of Assassins Creed Revelations.
GraphicsFor its time, Assassins Creed 1 looked awesome. The Anvil engine was revamped for Assassins Creed 2 and tweaked accordingly for the forthcoming games in the franchise. In 2011 however, the game looks a bit dated and the Anvil engine is showing its age. The character animations look good, no doubt, especially in combat but aren't as cool when compared to the likes of Uncharted 3. The movements look smooth and the animation of Ezio traversing the environments and taking down enemies looks satisfying but is in dire need of an update.
Constantinople is a large city so you can expect the occasional texture pop-in but entire areas draw in as you approach them, characters pop in the middle of an environment or are drawn in when you approach them. Some cut scene animations look stiff and the characters are virtually expressionless most of the time. Explosion, smoke and fire effects look very dated when compared to similar scenarios in competing games. It just brings down the overall effect of the game.
The city of Constantinople itself is very well represented. True to tradition, there are architectural marvels from the 1500s present in the game and you can get a quick synopsis of the historical structures by pressing the select button. The Assassins Creed franchise has been praised for representing cities quite accurately in terms of their look and feel and Constantinople doesn't disappoint. This is the closest you will ever get to see 16th century Constantinople digitally represented.
SoundThe voice acting and background music in Assassins Creed Revelations is some of the best in the gaming business. You have Italian and Middle Eastern actors voicing appropriate characters adding to the realism of the game. After the criticism of AC1's voice acting, the series has only improved for the better. There are subtle dialogues which are spoken in the native language of the time period, be it Italian for Ezio or certain Arabic words used by supporting characters that makes it even more real and gives players a realistic sense of the situation they have been put in.
The background score is breath-taking drawing inspiration from Greek, Renaissance and Middle-Eastern instrumentals that hum at different intensities to suit the situation you are in the game. There are points in the game where the music will just die down letting you enjoy natural sounds such as people talking in the streets, chatter in the market, running water, so on and so forth.
Verdict:It may be a lot to take in if you are new to the franchise but fans of the series will undoubtedly be happy with the overall package the game has to offer. The story, for once, presents some form of closure even though it still does leave you bewildered at the absolute last moment. The ending sequence of the game too is the best in the series and one that we will remember for quite some time. A must own for fans of the series and a definite must try for new comers who dare.
Score:Story: 4
Gameplay: 3.5
Graphics: 3
Sound: 4
Overall: 3.