Ever since the first Assassins Creed video game was released in 2007, the series has become one of the most recognizable franchise in the world of video games. The series managed to capture the interests and generated a solid fan base with its unique and interesting history based storyline, intriguing characters and open world game play. Over the years, UbiSoft has released 4 Assassins Creed games up to date on major platforms. When Assassins Creed 2 was released in 2009, it was an instant hit where the game made a lot of improvements over its predecessor.
In 2010, UbiSoft rolled out Assassins Creed Brotherhood, once again it was met with positive reviews and response from the gaming community. This year, UbiSoft released Assassins Creed Revelations, which is no doubt, one of the most anticipated game of 2011. One has wonder how can a developer release one sequal every year within such a short development cycle.. so has the latest installment of Assassins Creed game keeping up with the standard of the previous games? Or is the short development cycle finally catching up with this otherwise remarkable franchise? Let's find out.
Story:
The entire idea of Assassins Creed is, our ancestors' memories are encoded into our DNA, and with a certain scientific method. The memories can be unlocked, this led to a conflict between the ancient assassins order (based on the historical Hashashin order) and the templars order. In the first game, the templar's order kidnapped a young man known as Desmond Miles. In attempt to unlock his DNA memory to determine the hidden location of the fabled artifacts "pieces of Eden". Through a series of events, Desmond was rescued by the members of the assassins order, and agreed to help the assassins to re-live his ancestors' memories to determine the locations of "pieces of Eden", which can help to prevent a global catastrophe in 2012. In the last few episodes of Assassins Creed, Desmond has lived two of his ancestors' memories: Ezio Auditore, a master assassin who lived in the renaissance era, and Altair, a master assassin from the crusader era.
The central story of Assassins Creed Revelation follows three major characters of this franchise so far: Ezio Auditore, Altair, and Desmond Miles. After the events of AC:Brotherhood, Desmond was left in a coma status, and was suffering from the bleeding effects of the machine that was to used to unlock his DNA memories. At the beginning of AC:Revelation, Desmond found his mental self arrived at a strange island. Having realized that he is trapped, he needs to recollect more of Ezio and Altair's memories so he can leave his coma status, and go back into the reality.
Desmond re-lived the memories of Ezio's later life this time. Where Ezio was an older man in his 50's. As a master of the assassins order in the renaissance era. Ezio embarked on a journey to retrieve his predessor Altair's secrets. Ezio's journey took him to Constantinople, where he had to find the 5 keys that will unlock Altair's library. As Ezio found the keys, he discovered that these keys contained the memories of Altair himself by using the technology of the "first civilization".
So in a way, the story of this game can be summed up as the following: Desmond (in 21th century) reliving Ezio's memory (in 16the century), and Ezio re-lives Altair's memory (in 13th century), the memories unveil the secrets of the "first civilization" and the hidden location of the artifacts "pieces of Eden" which can be used to save mankind of the impending doom in 2012.
UbiSoft has already announced that Assassins Creed 3, a game that will be the finalle of the Assassins Creed series is to be released before December 2012.. so how the story will end, it is still to be seen. However, I think the story of Assassins Creed is by far, one of the most interesting stories ever told in the platform of video games. The stories are semi-historical, which actual historical characters and locations. At its core, Assassins Creed is a work of science fiction, but blended with elements of historical fiction with styles similar to Dan Brown's novels. Only that the story of Assassins Creed is a lot more interesting than Dan Brown's stories. I think that is why the story of Assassins Creed has managed to attract the audiences.
Assassins Creed Revelations is the last game to feature the Renaissance era, so essentially. This is the last game where Ezio Auditore will make an appearance. And I have to say, the character of Ezio is one of the best characters in video game stories, and I think this is a fitting end to an otherwise remarkable fictional character.
Gameplay:
There are a few new features added to AC: Revelation. Some are good, some are bad. For example, Ezio is now equipped with hook blades to enhance his climbing abilities, another worth while mention is the addtion of bombs. The only problem is that, while the hook blade is a most welcomed addition to the gameplay. The inclusion of bombs are.. well not so well implemented. In the game, the procedure to craft the bombs are simply too tedious to be useful. I only used bombs 3 times in the game.
Another "not so great" item in the gameplay is the tower defence mode. In AC:Revelation, as Ezio you have to win Assassin territories in the city of Constantinople. However, if you are too "infamous" amongst the templar, it could prompt the templars to attack your dens. This is where the tower denfence mini game comes in. While it is an interesting idea, but this mini game is simply too out of picture in the context of AC: Revelations, and the mini game is overly repatative and can become really frustrating.
AC:Revelation is also considerably shorter compared to the previous three games. The main story will only last approximately 12 hours of game play. While there are side missions, and these side missions are more varied in comparison to the previous games, but I just couldn't really be bothered to do most side missions because they don't provide enough rewards. The only side missions that I completed was the mission to collect the memoir pages of the Turkish general Ishak Pasha, at the end of this mission, I got a set of very cool armor to be used on Ezio. The other side mission I completed was to explore the dungeon of Vlad the Impaler, and I found the sword of Vlad Impaler which is quite rewarding. So maybe in Assassins Creed 3, if UbiSoft can add more rewards to these side missions. It will greatly enhance the values of doing side missions.
It is also worthwhile to mention that in AC:Revelation, the difficulty of combat is a bit higher than before. Having said this, I still think the combat was too easy. Once again I have completed another Assassins Creed game without my character dying during combats (yep, I have never died during the combats in any of the Assassins Creed games).
To summarise, there are enough innovations in AC: Revelations, but not enough to make this game feel like an entirely new gaming experience. Hopefully UbiSoft can come up with some dramatic renovations in AC3.
Graphics:
I have to say, although the graphics engine of AC: Revelation is now looking slightly dated, but it is still an amazing looking game. The city of Constantinople is very well crafted, and I actually believed that is what the city looked like in 16th Century. Having said this, I do think if UbiSoft wants to make AC3 a dramatically improved game, they will have to put some efforts into renovating their current graphics engine.
Sound:
As usual, the sound effects and the soundtracks for AC: Revelation is just as great as all other games in this franchise.
My thoughts on this game:
I remember when I played Assassins Creed 2. Ezio said the Creed of the Assassins Order is this: "Nothing is true, everything is permitted", which is actually a quote from Hassan-i Sabbah, the master of the Hashashin order in the 11th century.
The first time I heard this in AC2 two years ago, there was a massive alarm rining in my mind. Because I thought it was some post-modernism propaganda. However, in AC:Revelation, there was a cut scene when Ezio explained the creed as the following:
"nothing is true" meaning to realize that the foundation of the society are fragile, and we must be shepherds of our own civilization. "Everything is permitted" means to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic.
While I do not entirely agree with this philosophy, but I do agree with some of it. I agree with the later statement that we are to be responsible for our lives, and to live with the consequences of our own actions, but I do disagree with the former statement. Because surely there must be a standard where we should shepherd our society accordingly.. if we do what we think is good for our civilization, without following an absolutely true standard, then how would we know if what we are doing is actually "good"? If we steer our society according to "our" standard (which is adjustable due to circumstances), then how will we be able to tell what is right and what is wrong? What if we go astray?
What about you? What do you think? Do you think this makes sense? If you have played this game, maybe it will be good to discuss this with your Christian friends and see what the Bible says about human responsibility and God's standard.
Conclusion:
Story (8.8/10): AC: Revelation has an interesting story. What a great way to bring a final closure to Ezio and Altair's journey, while building up the setting for the finale! It's sad to say goodbye to Ezio, but in the meantime, I cannot wait to see how the story will finally unfold in this intriguing adventure.
Gameplay (8/10): AC: Revelation has some innovative elements, but not all these elements are well implemented nor fitting. Furthermore, the newly added features are just not enough to make this feel like a new game. Having said this, the open world exploration and the core gameplay is still just as good as the previous AC games.
Graphics (9/10): Though the graphics engine is becoming dated, but AC: Revelation still manages to look great. And because I played this game in 3D mode, the 3D effect is amazing. If you have a 3D HDTV, do not hesitate, play this game in 3D!
Sound: (9.5/10): The soundtracks are very well done, it really captures the essence of the Assassins Creed story.
Sex: None - Another factor I really liked about AC:Revelation is Ezio's low-toned romance story with one of the game's female character (which later became his wife). There are no sex nor nudity scenes.
Violence: High - This is a game about Assassins and Templars.. you will be stabbing, slashing and hacking your enemies all the time.
Final score: (8.5/10) - While AC: Revelation is not the best in the franchise, it is still a good game. With great characters, intriguing story, fun gameplay and most importantly, it's the final chapter of Ezio's story, and a great one as well. If you have played other AC games and like it, then you definitely shouldn't miss this one.
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