Assassins Creed: Revelations Review (PS3)

Assassins Creed has been a huge cash cow for Ubisoft over the years, backed up by massive television advertising campaigns. While I have enjoyed the games in the past, I have found them all slightly repetitive after a few hours of climbing, jumping and killing. The latest Revelations follows on from Brotherhood, adding a few new features but basically retreading the same old ground.I make no pretenses, Revelations could almost be classed as a mission pack for Brotherhood. While this will sound primarily negative, Brotherhood was easily the best game in the series and I was saddened when it ended, hoping they would release another in the coming year.Revelations won’t attract a new audience who found the older games ponderous and repetitive, because the development team have decided to ‘leave the concept well alone’, which in regards to a business model makes a lot of sense. Sadly this means that you would be hard pressed to tell whether you have loaded Brotherhood or Revelations – until you would check the weaponry for the new ‘bomb’ section.Revelations is the last section of the storyline for Ezio Auditore, the star of the Assassins Guild who is almost a rock star in the world of Assassins Creed. I really like how they have aged the character by peppering his beard with flecks of white. His face is more wrinkled, and you can tell that he is tiring of the life and might even want to retire to the countryside with a nice lass. Thankfully Ubisoft will end his lead role in the franchise before we take to a zimmer frame and ‘portable ladder’ power ups so he can climb the buildings.This game is based around Auditore, as he struggles to make sense of what has happened so far (aren’t we all having the same problem?). As the complex and confusing storyline continues, we experience Ezio’s story through Desmond, a modern day assassin who uses the ‘Animus’ machine to experience his ancestor’s life. I gave up trying to follow all the nuances of the storyline a long time ago, just waiting for the dialogue to pass before undergoing the next mission.Desmond is facing a rather serious situation this time around however, he is strapped into the Animus, but has spent so long in it, that his brain has lapsed into a coma after the events of the previous title. He can sometimes hear conversations close to his physical body, but his mind is firmly locked in the Animus. Revelations continues to complicate the story by adding in ‘Subject 16′, a new character who died before the events of the first game. We find out that he has been transferred into the Animus, much like the background for a shoddy science fiction film. This is where Assassins Creed falls down for me as I feel it would have worked much better as a native period piece, with a new character for each game. The sci fi elements just don’t excite me at all, taking me out of the ‘world’ of the Assassin and into a B movie style sci fi set. I am sure however I am in the minority.Subject 16 was responsible for all the cryptic writing in the previous games, and I have to admit I started to warm to his character, as he seemed slightly more rounded than many of the other entities in the game. Oh yes, Altair makes an appearance in Revelations as the story line is finally brought to a conclusion.This leads me to another point I feel I need to make. If you are interested in picking up an Assassins Creed game, they are best played in order, which is probably why Ubisoft have included the first game for free on this disc. Tempting players to play the first episode could very well lead to sales of other games in the series.As you shift between Desmond, Ezio and Altair you begin to wonder if the developers are deliberately trying to keep the gamer on edge, because just as you settle into the role with Ezio, you are brought back to earth with a virtual thump, tying up some storyline thread from Altair’s experiences in the first game. As the game progresses, we also see that Altair is aging as you progress through some of the later experiences in his life. If you haven’t played the earlier games in the franchise this will all be completely meaningless and even more confusing than it was for me.The story sadly in Revelations is deadly dull, and very ponderous, slowing down the more interesting action elements (which there are, it isn’t all bad). You kill many of the bad guys, without really feeling connected to their actions. Sofia is a new lady in Ezio’s life, who is young enough to be his daughter, and while she is pretty has very little in the way of a fleshed out character. I quite liked Yusuf, a young Assassin who is in awe of Ezio and who teaches him the ‘new cool way’, featuring a plethora of bombs and new weaponry at his disposal. Yusuf is also quite astute to the situation, as mid way through the game he utters ‘Sometimes Ezio, I wonder who the mentor is?!’. A subject we can all relate to, as we spend time with our parents teaching them the basics of technology, while the younger generation leave us for dead. Ezio is somewhat of a relic now, aging and out of touch with the modern times … but thankfully still deadly with swordplay and stealth based combat.Ah, the combat. How I could complain that nothing has changed, but this time I hadn’t expected it would. Combat is based around timing button presses to counter attack enemy units, often instantly killing them as you do so. It is literally as dull as dishwater and needed something more skillful and rewarding from the very start. You can be circled by 10 enemy soldiers at any time and only 1 (or at most 2) will attack Ezio at the same time, while the other 8 wait their turn. Almost as if a director is waiting in the wings to shout ‘Ok number 3, your turn!’.