Assassin's Creed: Revelations Review
Unlike the characters within it, the latest entry makes this action franchise begin to feel a bit old
In addition to the solid and entertaining story of our Italian killer, each key that Ezio finds lets him peer into the life of Altair. During these sections, players get to experience key events from his life following the conclusion of Assassin’s Creed I. It’s an “Inception”-like effect, providing a lot of insight for the character during his later years. As mentioned, and without spoiling anything, the paths of Ezio and Altair do often cross, and lead to a very satisfying conclusion for the fans of the series who have been following these two heroes from the beginning.
As you may have already guessed, the gameplay in Revelations is very similar to that of Brotherhood and ACII. Controlling Ezio, players are free to explore the wonderfully recreated city of Constantinople, much as they did in Rome last year. Ezio controls in much the same way as before, as old age has barely taken a toll on his combat and platforming abilities. Scaling buildings and towers, running across rooftops and counter-attacking foes in combat is as smooth and well animated as it has always been. A couple of new additions include a hookblade and a parachute. The latter functions much in the same manner as you’d expect – having a limited number of chutes, which can be filled up at vendors, Ezio can open a chute mid-fall and safely glide to the ground. It’s a mechanic that’s mandatory during only two story missions, and is otherwise not of much use. There aren’t many reasons or opportunities to jump from particularly high objects that would provide sufficient gliding distance, and the ability to jump into a stack of hay remains much more practical.
The other core gameplay addition is the hookblade, which introduces a couple of new abilities. While platforming and jumping, Ezio can extend himself further thanks to this new blade, slightly improving your chances of jumping higher and not faceplanting to the ground below after a long jump to the next rooftop. Players are required to use the blade proactively by hitting a button, so it does have an element of skill. Similarly, a couple of new combat moves with the hookblade lets players jump over their opponents, potentially killing them in the process. Zip-lines also make an appearance throughout the city, which give Ezio a Batman-like feel and an extra opportunity for aerial assassinations. The hookblade is a nice addition but it hardly revolutionizes the platforming or combat gameplay.
What’s much more prominent is the addition of bombs. Ezio can now collect ingredients and then craft bombs at various locations around the city, or purchase ready to use devices from special vendors. Bombs help elevate the gameplay in a number of ways thanks to their wide range of possible effects. Sure, there are damage-causing bombs, with sticky and delayed timing variety. More interestingly, other types of bombs include distracting, smoke, fear-inducing, and even tripwire. These add a ton of new possibilities and solutions to all of Ezio’s daily guard problems. Luring away guards or dispersing a crowd for an easier escape are some of the new possibilities that have a real impact on how you get out of tricky situations.
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