After “Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood” was released in 2010 earning positive reviews and sold millions of copies worldwide, Ubisoft immediately worked on a follow up titled, “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.”
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations was released in 2011. (same year Skyrim came out) I received positive reviews from critics, fans and gamers alike. Plus, it sold millions of copies worldwide. Revelations is the final chapter of “The Ezio Trilogy,” followed by “Assassin’s Creed III” ending a story arc known as “The Desmond Miles Saga.”
“Valhalla” is the most recent installment of the series. Netflix has green-lit a live action adaptation of Assassin’s Creed. To prepare for the upcoming TV series, I want to share my thoughts on Revelations. By the way, I’m a huge fan of Assassin’s Creed.
This review contains no SPOILERS. Feel free to read my non-spoiler article.
Rich & Poor Aspects
Rich: Roger Craig Smith reprises his role as Ezio Auditore Da Firenze and he did an excellent job for his voiceover performance.
Nolan North (my favorite voice actor) reprises his role as Desmond Miles and he did an excellent job for his voiceover performance.
Graphics still hold up for a game that came out in 2011.
Gameplay retains core elements from previous installments such as parkour allowing you to sprint, jump from one building to another alongside climbing. Combat remains a vital important element allowing you to dodge, counter attack and perform a killstreak on enemies. If you’re discovered by guards performing illegal activities, you can flee from them hiding in a haystack, blending in front of a crowd, find shelter inside a rooftop garden and dive underwater for a few seconds. Eagle Vision highlights your target. Red is enemy, blue is friend, white is object and gold is target. You can purchase weapons, shops, armor, books, ammo, medicine and treasure maps,
Ubisoft innovated new mechanics like a “Hook Blade” which allows you to zipline from Point A to Point B. You can use it as a weapon in combat. Hook Blade helps you climb on walls much quicker. Bombs are added in the game. You can create your own bomb with the right ingredients by using them as a weapon or distract enemies. A Tower Defense based missions defending an Assassin Den from Templars. Eagle Vision is given an upgrade allowing you to track down a target’s trail as well as study a guard’s movement. Data Fragments serve as collectibles replacing flags from previous games. A first-person platform based missions involving Desmond.
Set after the shocking conclusion of Brotherhood, Desmond’s mind is trapped in some sort of limbo within The Animus’ “Safe Mode.” He meets Subject 16. A previous guinea pig from Abstergo/The Templars who used him to seek The Apple Of Eden. As you may know from previous games, it’s a powerful artifact. Desmond must relieve Ezio & Altair’s memories until the end of their lives if the former wants to restore his mind and leave The Animus’ Safe Mode for good.
Due to Character Development from the previous two games, Ezio is much older and wiser. He’s still got it for a man pushing 60 remains an assassin expert like “Leon: The Professional.” Ezio continues his war with The Templars with the help of his recruits and new allies.
Ezio, Altair & Desmond are playable. Ezio is the primary character, Altair is available if you obtain a key resembling a disc and Desmond in the first-person platform missions.
A memory within a memory sequence transitioning from Ezio to Altair is probably a reference to “Inception.” Heck, even the opening scene matches the aforementioned movie’s opening scene.
Soundtrack has several good tracks.
The game is primarily set in Constantinople.
Ezio’s catchphrase is, “Requiescat In Pace.” It means “Rest In Peace” in Italian. Never gets old hearing him utter out his delivery right after he annihilates a target.
There are three eras for each character. Ezio lives in The 16th Century during “The Ottoman Empire.” Altair lives in The 12th-13th Century. Desmond lives in the year 2012.
Main Missions has 9 chapters labeled as “sequences.”
Side Missions contains a lot of things to do including hunting down additional targets. Training your fellow assassins by giving them assignments. If they succeed, they’ll level up. Once they fully master their abilities, you will be given a special mission based on your comrade’s promotion. Destroying a Templar Den will allow you to recruit citizens. Exploring Constantinople by climbing on top of buildings. Once you synchronize a viewpoint, a portion of the map is revealed. Loot treasure/bomb materials.
If you wish to complete the game 100%. Good luck. Attempting to replay the missions by earning full synchronization is gonna be very tricky.
Unlike the first game, Altair is given a Middle Eastern accent.
If you purchased DLC or own The Ezio Trilogy, “The Lost Archive” expands more context surrounding Subject 16.
The final scene sets up Assassin’s Creed III.
Poor: You can only reduce your wanted level by bribing a preacher. The last two games allow you to remove posters a eliminate a witness. Where’s the fun in that? Why can’t these two things remain intact?
The Final Verdict: A-
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is a final swan song to The Ezio Trilogy. If it weren’t for one problem, I would’ve given Ezio’s last entry my highest grade an A, FOR APEX. Regardless of one con, I actually enjoyed Revelations. If you wanna relive the games before Netflix’s upcoming live action series, I highly recommend them.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 