User blog:The Joker~/Assassin's Creed Revelations Review.
Short version: Why does this even exist?
And yes, my previous review should die and burn in a fire. I think I was suffering some sort of fever while writing it, it was just plain terrible.
Anyways: Assassin's Creed Revelations is the 4th entry into the much acclaimed Assassin's Creed series, being released only 1 year after Brotherhood, how does this sequel hold up?
Too asnwer that question right off the bat, not very well.
The story: If you did not play Brotherhood nor Rev, avoid this section: After the end of BH, Desmond fell into a comma, Lucy is dead, the team has the POE, and at the end, a mysterious voice puts you back in the Animus.
Too help out Desmond, the team *Shaun, Rebecca and another certain character* put you into safe mode. Just the basic functions for the animus. He is then put into the Animus Island, the most basic form of the program, no memories, just basic physics. There he meets Subject 16, who unveils that the only way of coming back into his normal state is by completing a sync nexus, until there is not much his ancestor can show him.
From there, enter Ezio for the third bloody time, as he ventures into Istanbul *Or Constantinople* in the hopes of finding the Masyaf keys, leading into Altairs library.
Now, the games story is divided into three sections: Ezio's, Desmonds, and Altairs.
Ezio's part is flat out terrible. The characters you meet are really not interesting and bland, huge lack of character development, criminally short, with me clocking in at about 9 hours. The entire story it self does not hold up too well, as it really does not grasp your interest like the others. Also, a odd lack of Assassinations in Assassin's Creed.
Now, Desmonds portions-Those are OK. While the gameplay of those is largely different, I will explain that in the gameplay section. The story itself gives Desmond some backstory, and does a okay job at it.
Now, the Altair parts-Those are the only good highlights of the story. They put in missing blanks from Altairs life, and really expan upon him and the Levantine Assassin Order. Those are the best segments of the game, even tho they are very short.
There is a surprising lack of revelations in Revelations. The DLC had more revelations than the main game.
The ending how ever, is actually pretty nice pay-off, and is a nice goodbye.
Gameplay-Oh god...here we go....first of all, let me address this right off the gate: The gameplay did not change much, still same fighting mechanics, free running, and so forth. There are a few additions, but they fail too stand out or do much difference. Some are downright terrible.
The bombs-Those are useless. Now, when you loot treasure chests or bodies, you get ingridients. Which you can use too craft bombs. There are three types: Lethal, Diversion and Tactical.
Lethal is self explanatory, kills people.
Diversion is used as a well...diversion, too distract guards and what not.
Tactical serve other purposes, such as throwing them at enemies and going for 1 hit Assassinations.
There are I think 125 different bomb combos, but the problem is here: They are useless. You really will never need them, everything can be done without them. They are just there for the sake of saying Here, something new!
Den Defense-Oh god...WHY?! WHY?! this is probably the worst edition of them all. Now instead of Borgia towers, there are Dens which you clear by killing the Templar capatin. Now they would like too have their Den back, by engaging in a Tower Defense mini game.
Here is the problem: Tedious, boring, horrible design choices, and also really lacks any strategy. It was shoved down with no reason, just like the bombs. Past the first forced one, avoid it like a plauge. There are 7 dens in total, but they serve another purpose.
The Hookblade-I honestly feel this did not add much. It added the ability too climb faster, but did we not already have the similar climb leap? the zip lines are a nice addition, but past that, it does not function in a different fashion than the double blades in combat, and Counter-Steal is something you dont really need too do. Ziplines, in case you are wondering, are a new mechanic that lets you zip across Constantinople faster.
Speaking of money, the economy has been changed. Now when you renovate, you get notoriety. The problem is, Den Defense rate is dictated by how notorious you are, the posters have been removed, Heralds became less, and reduce less notoriety. Again, Den Defense effected another concept in the game.
Desmond Sequences-Those are just terrible. They are first person platformer segments where you create blocks and move on them, those are really just boring and serve no purpose but too make you punch a wall. They are really annoying, and if not for the story in them, I would have not bothered *and the trophies*
Eagle Vision recieved a change, now it is activated by pushing on the one of the Analogs, and sync with view points moved too the Traingle button *On PS3* personally, it did not bother me much.
There are a few trivial changes, like a second weapon wheel for ranged weapons and medicine.
In terms of value, Revelations fails. There is BARELY any side content, at all, and the story is extremely short. If you dont like the multiplayer, prepare for lack of anything too do really quick.
Setting-Constantinople disappointed me. Not only is it smaller than Rome, but the city as a whole really just feels bland. They could have done so much with it, yet it felt like a after throught for the devs.
Multiplayer-The multiplayer...it really is a step backwards. I was huge on the BH multiplayer, it felt unique, and I really could not wait for Rev.
Now here are the things they did well:
Extra customization-Now you can make your persona feel more unique, as you get too choose how he looks like, his weapon, and so forth. But do keep in mind, ALOT of personas share alot of the same characteristics due too the added customization.
Narrative-Now, you get cutscenes every couple of levels. Those show the Abstergo Recruit rise into the Inner Sanctum. I found those too be one of the things that kept me going, as they really are quite interesting.
The bad: Everything else. They really messed up. The first thing I am noting is the balance between Rush vs Stealth.
Now, it seems the game is all rush-pro. Brotherhood had a place for both, but the game just encourages rushing kills and chase kills, one thing supporting this is the way stuns work now.
If both you and your target press stun and kill at the same time, you drop down too discreet, no matter your incognito or silent. This may not be so bad, right? well, the problem is now the game puts a big fat stun prompt on the top of your head, and the stun range has been increased. Add in how now smoke bombs are much more powerfull, and you can literally play stun only. Also, the redesigned stealth meter encourages rushing. With the it starting at discreet, meaning most players just give up and rush.
Another problem is Smoke Bomb. In BH, Smoke Bomb was acceptable. It had risk vs reward, now, you can drop it in the middle of animations, you can THROW them now, and so forth make them really powerfull, combine them with Poison, which now is much easier too use, and everybody just does OSB.
Graphics-As with AC, the visuals improve every game. AC:R looks much better than all the other games in all regards.
Soundtrack-While I do feel this one is a tad bit lacking, it is still pretty awesome. You have earned your rest brother is specifically a great track. The main theme is not bad, tho it has a much bigger focus on vocals.
Summary: I believe AC:R should have not happened, it was clearly rushed with un-needed rushed ideas and so forth, I can understand tho, they needed more funds for ACIII, which looks amazing so far, but that does not let them off the hook. Would have been a good 3DS game, not a full X360/PS3/PC game.
4/10 from me.