Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is the 3rd game to feature Ezio Auditore, and the 4th game overall. While it doesn’t really move the present-day plot along very much, it does conclude both Ezio’s and Altair’s (the protagonist of the first game) storylines, effectively wrapping up every major loose end before the start of AC3. The game primarily features an older, mid-16th century Ezio, on a quest to learn more about Altair and the Assassins. This leads him from Masyaf to Constantinople, where the majority of the game takes place.

The new setting of Constantinople is visually nice and as usual is a cool place to explore. However, it feels smaller than previous games. My feeling is that making this game was most definitely more of a financial than a creative decision. In other words, because of having to crank out a new game on a yearly basis, the scope of Revelations had to be reduced. This is not only reflected in the smaller size of the world, but also in many of the creative aspects. There are no major changes to the established formula that one might expect from a series on its 4th iteration. The mission types and game mechanics are all pretty much the same as in Brotherhood and AC2. Luckily, that means that the game is technically near-flawless... however, on the flip-side, it’s creatively a bit stale.

The one major thing that Revelations introduces is a sort of "tower defense" sub-game, which involves (you’ll never see this one coming) defending towers using various types of Assassins and defenses. However, this is an odd addition, as I came to find out, it can potentially be avoided entirely. You see, these missions supposedly only pop up when your notoriety gets too high, but if you manage to keep your notoriety low and assign Assassins to each of your towers (as I did), you will never experience this mini-game beyond the initial tutorial. I had completely forgotten this was even a thing until I was just now thinking about what new mechanics were added to this game. So unfortunately I can’t speak to how good or bad this new addition was. It just seems an odd choice to add this whole mechanic and then not have it be a mandatory part of the main game.

One other new gameplay addition comes in the form of a series of optional 1st-person puzzle levels. These are available in the present day Desmond sections, and serve as a way to tell the story of his past. These levels are really hit or miss. The 1st-person controls are awkward and the abstract nature of the levels is a bit odd. I thought the idea was interesting, but eventually the whole process became quite tedious. Your mileage may vary on these levels. They are completely optional, however, so there is nothing lost by avoiding them, except some Desmond back-story. Incidentally, there is also a DLC pack featuring similar levels which fills in the story of Subject 16 (Desmond’s Animus predecessor) and Lucy Stillman. If you like the style of these levels, you may be interested in checking that out, but I’m not sure it’s worth the price (I recommend just watching the important bits online).

At any rate, the main draw in this game is clearly what it does to conclude the storylines for Altair and Ezio. For that reason alone, it’s worth checking out if you are a fan of the series or either of those characters in particular. However, just keep in mind that other than that, this game is literally just more of the same, with little innovation. If you played the previous games and find yourself tiring of the AC formula, Revelations likely won’t satisfy you from a gameplay aspect. But, if you can handle one more round of the same thing, this is a nice ending to the first part of the AC story, and worth checking out.

Grade: B

Note: I don’t recommend playing any of the Assassin’s Creed games unless you have an Xbox360 controller (or equivalent-featured gamepad). The AC games have complicated control schemes and were clearly designed with controllers in mind, so proceed with mouse/keyboard at your own risk.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is the 3rd game to feature Ezio Auditore, and the 4th game overall. While it doesn’t really move the present-day plot along very much, it does conclude both Ezio’s and Altair’s (the protagonist of the first game) storylines, effectively wrapping up every major loose end before the start of AC3. The game primarily features an older, mid-16th century Ezio, on a quest to learn more about Altair and the Assassins. This leads him from Masyaf to Constantinople, where the majority of the game takes place. The new setting of Constantinople is visually nice and as usual is a cool place to explore. However, it feels smaller than previous games. My feeling is that making this game was most definitely more of a financial than a creative decision. In other words, because of having to crank out a new game on a yearly basis, the scope of Revelations had to be reduced. This is not only reflected in the smaller size of the world, but also in many of the creative aspects. There are no major changes to the established formula that one might expect from a series on its 4th iteration. The mission types and game mechanics are all pretty much the same as in Brotherhood and AC2. Luckily, that means that the game is technically near-flawless... however, on the flip-side, it’s creatively a bit stale. The one major thing that Revelations introduces is a sort of "tower defense" sub-game, which involves (you’ll never see this one coming) defending towers using various types of Assassins and defenses. However, this is an odd addition, as I came to find out, it can potentially be avoided entirely. You see, these missions supposedly only pop up when your notoriety gets too high, but if you manage to keep your notoriety low and assign Assassins to each of your towers (as I did), you will never experience this mini-game beyond the initial tutorial. I had completely forgotten this was even a thing until I was just now thinking about what new mechanics were added to this game. So unfortunately I can’t speak to how good or bad this new addition was. It just seems an odd choice to add this whole mechanic and then not have it be a mandatory part of the main game. One other new gameplay addition comes in the form of a series of optional 1st-person puzzle levels. These are available in the present day Desmond sections, and serve as a way to tell the story of his past. These levels are really hit or miss. The 1st-person controls are awkward and the abstract nature of the levels is a bit odd. I thought the idea was interesting, but eventually the whole process became quite tedious. Your mileage may vary on these levels. They are completely optional, however, so there is nothing lost by avoiding them, except some Desmond back-story. Incidentally, there is also a DLC pack featuring similar levels which fills in the story of Subject 16 (Desmond’s Animus predecessor) and Lucy Stillman. If you like the style of these levels, you may be interested in checking that out, but I’m not sure it’s worth the price (I recommend just watching the important bits online). At any rate, the main draw in this game is clearly what it does to conclude the storylines for Altair and Ezio. For that reason alone, it’s worth checking out if you are a fan of the series or either of those characters in particular. However, just keep in mind that other than that, this game is literally just more of the same, with little innovation. If you played the previous games and find yourself tiring of the AC formula, Revelations likely won’t satisfy you from a gameplay aspect. But, if you can handle one more round of the same thing, this is a nice ending to the first part of the AC story, and worth checking out. Grade: B Note: I don’t recommend playing any of the Assassin’s Creed games unless you have an Xbox360 controller (or equivalent-featured gamepad). The AC games have complicated control schemes and were clearly designed with controllers in mind, so proceed with mouse/keyboard at your own risk.