Assassin's Creed Revelations
Assassin’s Creed Revelations
Spoiler alert!
Gameplay
Assassin’s Creed Revelations is a third person open-world game set in renaissance Constantinople or Istanbul. You take the role of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a master assassin from Italy in search of the library of the most skilled assassin of all time, Altair ibn-La Ahad.
Apart from the main story there are 8 side quests given to you by the assassin Piri Reis, a bomb enthusiast working for the Ottoman army. Just like in Brotherhood you can recruit citizens to the fight against the Templars and after training your assassin recruits to rank "Assassin" and "Master Assassin" there are 7 Assassin's Den quests, all in two parts. Furthermore Sofia Sarto, an Italian book-merchant, tasks Ezio to find missing books in the city.
What’s completely new in Revelations is the Assassin’s Den defense mini-game, which gives you control of a few rooftops where you can place assassins to hinder the charge of the Byzantine Templars. At the end of each mini-game there will be an over powered war machine to bring down, but as long as you use your cannons wisely it should be no problem.
Ezio meets Piri Reis
Assassin's Den Defense
The combat hasn’t really changed at all since Assassin’s Creed II. The player who goes for full synchronization will block all the time until he has a chance to make a counter-attack. Some players might avoid battle completely, which can be quite a smart technique in Revelations because of the invincible Janissaries of Istanbul. I guess what’s most different is the bombs. Unlike the old smoke bombs Ezio used in Italy, there is now a wide range of bombs available for crafting or buying from Piri Reis’ men around the city. The player is also able to upgrade his armor, weapons and clothes from a variety of stores spread around the city, just like in Brotherhood. Before using a store, however, the player usually has to renovate it. Just like in Brotherhood there are Templar captains spread around the city, who needs to be killed before the stores can be renovated.
There is also a set of special weapons and armor, unlocked by playing the Master Assassin Missions. This feature is quite flawed though, as it is possible to get access to quite overpowered weapons and armor very early in the game.
Another new feature in Revelations is the Hookblade, a combination of a hook and a hidden blade. Using this you can fly over roofs by ziplines. It can also be used to escape guards by rolling over them and throwing them to the ground.
Ezio using the hookblade to use the zipline
Another comeback from Brotherhood is the Full Synchronization feature. Unless you perform some special task a certain way, like killing your target with the hidden blade, or killing five guards from a haystack, you will only get 50% synchronization. Unlike Brotherhood full synchronization doesn’t give any new missions, weapons or armor, except for one of the quests, which gives you a certain characters robes.
Storyline
First a bit of history. Back in the original Assassin’s Creed we first met Desmond Miles, a bartender in New York who has been abducted by a large company called Abstergo. The company, a front for the Knights Templar, makes Desmond relive the story of his ancestor Altaďr ibn-La Ahad by using a machine called the Animus, which makes him able to take control of his ancestor. By the end of the game Altaďr finds something called an Apple of Eden, which is what Abstergo was searching for. The game ends when Desmond realizes that Abstergo’s last subject was writing on the walls of his room with his own blood.
In Assassin’s Creed II Desmond is saved from Abstergo by the lab assistant Lucy Stillman and taken to a secure assassin hideout where he meets Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, two fellow assassins. Desmond is tasked to take control of another ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze in renaissance Italy. Through Ezio Desmond lives through many key events from real history, including the siege of Fórli and Savonarola in Florence. Finally Ezio defeats his arch-enemy Rodrigo Borgia and finds another Apple of Eden, hidden in the Vatican.
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood starts where ACII ends; Ezio is in the Vatican with an Apple of Eden and his uncle Mario finds him there. Rodrigo Borgia has fled the Papacy though and Ezio and Mario leave Rome. Back in the 21th century Desmond and his group of assassins have gone to Villa Auditore, Mario’s estate in Toscana. Desmond once again goes into the Animus to live Ezio’s life. The assassins are searching for Ezio’s Apple of Eden with which they hope to gain an advantage over Abstergo. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood ended with Desmond stabbing Lucy and then being connected to the Animus because of a coma. He is now trapped inside it, together with Subject 16, the assassin Abstergo used to find the Apples of Eden before Desmond himself. He needs to finish Ezio’s story but at the same time he needs to re-live his own life.
Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Ezio has grown old, but he is still strong and agile as ever. His mission is to find the ancient stronghold of the assassins, Masyaf where he hoped to open the library of Altaďr ibn-La Ahad. Masyaf is however infested with Byzantine Templars who have been trying to open the same library. An old journal written by Niccolo Polo, Marco’s father, leads him to Constantinople in search for something called the Masyaf Keys, five artifacts from the First Civilization containing the memoirs of Altaďr Ibn-La’Ahad. They are basically portable animi, which helps Ezio to go back to Altaďr’s time to see how the Apple of Eden shaped his life and the Assassin’s Order. Each of these five keys opens a new mission where you get to play as Altaďr himself in different stages of his life, from the very beginning of his career as an assassin to his last moments.
However, Ezio also gets caught up in the middle of a civil war yet to break out, between the Ottomans and the Byzantine Templars. With the help of the leader of the assassins in Constantinople, Yusuf Tazim, a young Ottoman prince and a woman much too young for him, Ezio finds himself in another back-breaking adventure.
Yusuf Tazim teaching Ezio to use bombs
Desmond’s Story
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood ended with Desmond stabbing Lucy and then being connected to the Animus because of falling into a coma. He is now trapped inside it, together with Subject 16, the assassin Abstergo used to find the Apples of Eden before Desmond. He needs to finish Ezio’s story, which he has been following for two games and at the same time go through his own life all again. When playing as Ezio you will find glitches or errors all around Constantinople. Collecting these will give you access to Desmond’s Story, where you need to use your brains to get through a couple of levels. While in these missions Desmond reminds himself about his childhood, the assassin society he grew up within and why he left it.
Desmond talking to Subject 16 on Animus Island
I can’t say it’s the best of plots and it becomes very repetitive, but in the end we don’t really play Assassin’s Creed games for the plot do we? Assassin’s Creed really had no proper plot and while Assassin’s Creed II was a great game in most ways, the plot was quite cliché there too. To take it further, when compared to Assassin’s Creed III, Revelations is a masterpiece.
Graphics
The city of Constantinople is filled with beautiful models and textures and has lots of unique buildings, like Hagia Sofia and the Galata Tower. Revelations is also the first Assassin’s Creed game where Ezio isn’t in Italy anymore, which makes it all the more interesting.
Hagia Sofia in Constantinople
The models are very well done as usual and the textures are as good as expected from the game. Revelations certainly keeps up the good standard of earlier games. On the other hand, the recruit system is clearly just a rip-off from Brotherhood and the Assassin’s Den defense is just a cheap way of adding time to the game. Invincible Janissaries makes the game annoying at times while all other soldiers are very, very weak.
The invincible Ottoman Janissaries
I think Assassin’s Creed Revelations is worth
8/10
Originally Posted by Mhaedros
