User blog:The Crimson Eagle/Assassin's Creed: Revelations Review

My first review (I plan to make one for AC3 BTW) that I've made outside of my head. This will be a review of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, so prepare to read stuff.

Previously
If you want to know what the fuck's happening, you'll have to play Brotherhood first; read at your own peril. In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, we saw Desmond and co. acquire an Apple of Eden. Suddenly, Desmond's physical form was taking over by Juno, a Goddess-like being that came from the race that created Humanity itself, and was forced to stab his ally, Lucy Stillman. Desmond went under a great deal of trauma, and fell into a coma after further exploring the memories of Ezio Auditore, his Italian ancestor.

Desmond's Story
Desmond was put into the Black Room, a sort of "backdoor" in the Animus programming, in order to stay among the living. It is in the "Animus Island" where he encounters the only "man" able to save him: Subject 16, AKA Clay Kaczmarek. He explains that Desmond must finish the memories of his ancestors: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, and Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Doing so will allow the Animus to separate them from Desmond, thus freeing him from his coma.

He also has the ability to view his own memories, going into detail about his former life as an Assassin-to-be, and his escape to New York.

Conclusion: 4/10 It's kind of bland and boring, they are many questions still unanswered, like: "who's Eve?". And the Lost Archive has more "Revelations" quite frankly.

Ezio's Story
Ezio is the main protagonist of the game, and thus his life takes up the majority of the game. After almost a year of travelling, Ezio finally arrives at Masyaf, the ancient headquarters of the Assassin's, in order to gain knowledge about his order. After about two minutes in Masyaf, he is attacked by a large group of Byzantine Templars; eventually Ezio was defeated and brought to the captain for his execution.

Ezio escapes and kills the captain, finding a journal written by Niccolo Polo himself. The journal explains that five Keys are needed to open Altaïr's Library, a "sanctum full of invaluable wisdom". These Keys are all hidden in Constantinople. It is up to Ezio to find these Keys before the Templars, and open up Altaïr's Library.

Conclusion: 8/10 I love Ezio (no homo), but even I have to admit, they changed him a bit too much this time, and the face, HORRIBLE! But his story is good and offers many surprises and exciting moments that are sure to please you.

Altaïr's Story
Altaïr sadly has only a small part in the game, but it goes into detail about his life; detail you could only find in Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade. And who like reading books? NO-ONE! Most of his story is kind of boring, but who cares? If you liked Altaïr, you will enjoy playing as him once again.

Conclusion: 6/10 I like Altaïr, but these memories are just too short, and they're aren't enough. I really wanted a free-roam option as well.

Gameplay
The gameplay is roughly similar to Brotherhood's, but with some new features.

Combat
Combat is basically a copy-paste of Brotherhood, you can still dual-wield the knives and dagger, and the sword and Gun. The Hookblade has a plethora of unique combat animations, and they're awesome, too! The sword has six new animations, and they are kind of bland honestly. And there are no new moves for anything else, nope. Kind of silly in my opinion.

Conclusion: 8/10 I always enjoyed the combat in AC, ACR was just as good.

Hookblade
Ah, the Hookblade. My favourite edition, though it has it's good points and bad. Like I said earlier, it has loads of awesome animations which will make Ezio look epic. It also has the ability to allow you to climb up buildings a lot faster. In AC2, it would take you about three minutes to climb the highest tower; with the Hookblade it would go along much faster. Ziplines are usable with the Hookblade, BUT these are hardly perfect. They rarely go the same way you want to, and they're quite hard to come by sometimes. And you can hook and throw enemies around, hook and run to get past them, and you can counter-steal money away from people, and that pisses them off quite a bit. Most annoying of all is the fact that you CANNOT swap back to the good old Hidden Blade, so you can stab someone with a blunt hook. Me and -S- discussed this a while back, and we both agree: that's just really stupid.

Conclusion: 7/10 I like it, but I'm glad it won't be in AC3.

Den Defense
Ah, some people really hate this, some people enjoy it. Me, I rarely experience it, I always deal with my notoriety, and all my Dens have Master Assassins to protect them.

After capturing a Den, the Templars will want it back, so they will launch a small seige on your Den, and it's up to you to defeat them.

This requires tactical thought (which may explain the hate on this, am I right?), posting barricades to slow the Templars down and Assassins to kill them. You have many barricades and Assassins to choose from, so you can work out the best combinations.

Conclusion: 5/10 I haven't experienced it a lot, but I remember not really enjoying it; but I do like the idea.

Bombs
This new feature is interesting, it allows you to "mix 'n match" your own bombs. I admit, it can be quite annoying having to consider so many options; and you may find other ways of finishing a memory before Bombs even came into your mind. You have a pouch (with a maximum of 5 bombs each) for: Lethal, guess what? They're for killing. Diversion, they're for distracting guards. And Tactical, these bombs are used for stunning and slowing down guards.

Conclusion: 8/10 I really like the bombs, but they seem a bit redundant to be honest.

Desmond's Journey
An addition which no-one really liked, and I'm not surprised at that. I mean, a first-person "place a block here" kind of thing is stupid. This feature requires thought on how to progress through the levels, which I've got to say are quite challenging to complete. The main plot with this is that Desmond has to confront his past and accept his role as an Assassin, as well as fulfilling his destiny to save the world from the solar flare.

3/10 I hate this, I really do. I mean, it just gets so boring and slow. I was also disappointed that the Lost Archive followed this style.

Graphics
The graphics in Revelations are beautiful, they really are. From Ezio's robes to Turkish harbours, the graphics will surprise you.

Conclusion: 10/10 I am amazed with the graphics, I mean it. These beat previous installments' graphics by a mile. AC3 will have a hard time beating these graphics.

Setting
The game is set primarily in Constantinople, "the crossroads of the world". Alongside this are Cappadocia, and underground maze filled with Byzantines, and Masyaf, the the Assassins' paradise.

Conclusion: 7/10 I think that while these settings are good, they get boring really easily, and I still think that there should be more cities to explore.

Soundtrack
Assassin's Creed is well known for it's brilliant soundtracks, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations is no exception. However, I feel that some of the soundtracks are too similar to each other. But the soundtrack is still able to impress.

Conclusion: 9/10 I am impressed by the soundtrack, but it is nothing compared to AC2's "Earth" track alone.

Full Conclusion
In my opinion this game gets a 7/10. It offers many new features, but sadly some of the features fall flat. But overall the game makes up for it and lives up to it's predecessors' standards. If you have been following Assassin's Creed until this point, you must play this game to see the end of Altaïr. And I recommend watching Embers after finishing the game, to see Ezio's final hours.