Assassin's Creed: Revelations

[toblix]

Anyone else play this yet? I feel they're rushing these things out way too fast, though it's arguably my fault for getting it straight away. It seems they've polished a lot of stuff, and added some other stuff, but from having played about an hour of it, it looks like it may be too much of the same for me to bother. Everywhere I look is the promise of having to conquer yet another huge city, buy another hundred blacksmiths and art dealers, climb another thirty towers, kill a bunch of captains, recruit assassins, look for chests and collectibles all over the place, etc. It's not as kind this time, either – only a few missions in and you're dispatching people around the globe, the achievements seem more frustrating (100% on ALL the memories), and it seems like you'll have to keep paying attention to your outposts all around the city (and the world) or they'll be attacked.

Also, they added bombs, which seems like a really nice addition, there are lots of combinations of ingredients that make for some interesting effects and uses... could be fun, but maybe enough to make me replay what seems like mostly more of the same.

[Gwardinen]

Yeah, more or less the same thoughts as you. It is definitely an even more polished Assassin's Creed experience, and I actually quite like old Ezio. That said, it is just an evolution on the Brotherhood formula.

Sadly, the AC franchise is taking shorter steps forward with each game it seems. AC->AC2 was a pretty big shift in what the game was about and how it was presented, and to Brotherhood it added a whole multiplayer component and several other key features while refining some others. Now to Revelations, though... I don't see it adding much. You mentioned the bomb making, and the hook changes traversal a fair amount, but other than that it appears to be the same game.

Perhaps there'll be more interesting stuff further in, but currently I suspect this is going to be a game I just have on a slow burn throughout the year. I will probably also be a lot less completionist this time around. It's become clear to me that there are only certain parts of an Assassin's Creed game that are really worth the time I put into them, and I need to retain the focus to strive only for them and not every bloody landmark and collectible and race activity.

[Thrik]

Jesus frigging Christ, this is out already? I'm still only like halfway through Brotherhood which I've been steadily playing since it came out. They really are pushing them out too quickly, a year is barely enough time to build up any real excitement about returning to the formula once again.

I still think AS2 was the better experience just because it seemed so grand and the story was great how it took place over so many environments. Brotherhood was undeniably pure gameplay perfection but I just didn't get drawn into its world like I was AS2's. It actually felt like a big-ass sandbox whereas AS2 felt more like a real world, despite Brotherhood's ultra-refined mechanics. The fact it was one big always-visible city full of invisible borders (the Animus shit) made the illusion less convincing than loading screens IMO.

How does Revelations compare to that?

[Roderick]

Wow, I get the feeling Skyrim is really stealing a lot of Revelation's thunder. Few people are talking about this game.

I'm neither surprised nor disturbed about Revelation's lack of progress. It's been made quite clear AC2-Brotherhood-Revelations is the 'Ezio trilogy', so it should be tonally consistent. The steps forward they've taken have all been for the better. Brotherhood's smaller scale in both story and landmass proved to its advantage, it's a far tighter and more enjoyable experience than AC2, which sort of meandered all over the place. I loved the feeling of slowly unlocking and owning Rome. One great city is better than three good cities.

I will play Revelations in due time, probably as soon as I finish Skyrim (which will take me into the next year first, but still). As I've said before, I'm very interested which direction Assassin's Creed will hear after this title. It should get a new engine (this one's been used for three games now, time to retire it) and a new shift in the ages. I've expressed my desire to see Napoleonic Paris and I'll leave it at that.

[toblix]

Having played some more with bombs, I really really like them. I guess it's weird that this is the first time an Assassin's Creed is actually using a physics engine for something. With all the things going on in the games, it's always been about people (or horses) moving around. Actually bouncing a grenade off a wall and into the face of a man feels weirdly innovative for the series.

[toblix]

I just realised playing this game is a complete waste of time if you've already played Brotherhood. The amount of recycled mechanics is just ridiculous.

[Erkki]

I just realised playing this game is a complete waste of time if you've already played Brotherhood. The amount of recycled mechanics is just ridiculous.

That's what RPS is saying as well. I'm wondering whether I should even play it at all. One thing that would interest me would be if there were more of those capture-the-guard-tower type things to do.

[Brannigan]

That's what RPS is saying as well. I'm wondering whether I should even play it at all. One thing that would interest me would be if there were more of those capture-the-guard-tower type things to do.

I'd be happy if they tossed out the story missions all together and just gave us a ton of the capture tower side missions.

[Orv]

I need to ask, since everything else seems to have gone stale/simply poorly done with Revelations, is the music still absolutely astounding? I own all the other games soundtracks, and I was looking at this one.

I guess I should also ask, since it's one of my favorite parts of Brotherhood, how's the Desmond/Lucy dynamic? She's a lot less weird in Brotherhood, and the banter as they get into the Sanctuary is wonderful. Any more of that here, or should I just skip this all together/wait for an LP?

Edited December 5, 2011 by Orvidos

[Thrik]

I heard this game hardly even bothers with the out-of-Animus stuff.

[toblix]

I quite like the music, actually. Though I probably wouldn't buy the sountracks, there's always a couple of melodies in those games that amplify the incredible ambience and mood of the game by a factor of approx. a million.

[Gwardinen]

So far the out of Animus stuff in Revelations is actually still in-Animus, it's just on "Animus Island". You can hear people talking in the "real world" but not interact with them. That said, I'm still pretty early in the game.

[baconian]

Not really interested in this.

I didn't play Brotherhood because I was looking forward to skipping to a new time zone in each game and I thought it was a bit of a jip that they stuck around in the same place for the next game after AC2.

Seemingly unlike everybody else, I really bought into the Desmond storyline and the Animus conceit and was looking forward to getting him wallrunning around in the not too distant future. I thought the end of AC2 was a kick in the teeth though. What the fuck? Why can't all the conspiracy shit (that I really dig) get by without

blaming aliens for everything? Did they ask George Lucas for advice or what?

Hopefully the next one gets on with it...

[Nappi]

I thought the end of AC2 was a kick in the teeth though. What the fuck? Why can't all the conspiracy shit (that I really dig) get by without

blaming aliens for everything? Did they ask George Lucas for advice or what?

At least, it wasn't the Templars this time around.

Oh, wait..

[Roderick]

I often wonder why more games don't use templar mythology. It seems quite perfect for games.

[Garple]

I thought the end of AC2 was a kick in the teeth though. What the fuck? Why can't all the conspiracy shit (that I really dig) get by without

blaming aliens for everything? Did they ask George Lucas for advice or what?

Or they were inspired by the most recent Indiana Jones. Yeah, The ending to that game in terms of the in animus part reminded me of the ending of the roller-disco epic Xanadu.

[Orv]

(Link as a result of time stamp.)

This is why I love the AC music.

I've decided I'll probably pick up Rev just to play the MP while it's all the rage.

[Thrik]

Oh yeah,

in the games has all been wonderful — hope the guy is kept on board.

I think the problem is they hit on pure magic with AS2, and obviously the natural inclination of any company is to follow up on that as soon as possible, and so we've ended up with an Activision-esque yearly pummelling. No matter how you structure your studio and plan everything, something's going to be sacrificed.

I still find it hard to quantify what exactly is missing in Brotherhood and presumably Revelations too. They're undeniably masterpieces of gameplay, taking the gameplay that existed before and fine-tuning it to perfection. But I can't help but disagree with what some guy on Kotaku said, which is that "you can't have too much of a good thing". Actually, I think you can? But then look at games like Mario and Zelda which just iterate endlessly.

I think it's a combination of not being given enough time between instalments, the games being virtually the same apart from gameplay enhancements and a somewhat non-engaging continuation of the story, and of course the wow factor of first experiencing AS2 being gone.

One thing I'm grateful for is that Ubisoft haven't made these games Assassin's Creed 3, so in a way you can easily just see them as full-price expansion packs that aren't particularly integral to whatever might happen in AS3 proper.

[Roderick]

I think these 'expansion packs' will prove pretty integral, since they continue the story of Ezio and Desmond in pretty huge ways.

I'm surprised you were so wowed by AC2. I was extremely wowed by the first game, but the second felt just a bit messy in terms of story and structure. The environment was great, but less so than the medieval, sandswept cities of AC1.

[Thrik]

I did give Assassin's Creed 1 a good few hours, but the gameplay just didn't grab me. Technologically the game was clearly superb and that of course had the wow factor, but that soon faded as I realised I wasn't actually having much fun.

With AS2 I was suddenly not only faced with an incredible depiction of an era and environment I personally find more interesting than AS1's, but also the gameplay and story were much tighter. I think at the time I said it'd taken a few cues from Grand Theft Auto with regards to how it approaches missions rather than just throwing everything at you at once, and this was to its benefit.

The formula was fundamentally changed between AS1 and AS2, whereas Brotherhood pretty much just took exactly that same winning formula and layered some more complexity on top. It was good but with AS2 already being as long as it was it was too much to go through another massive experience like that when it's so similar, and Revelations is just... ugh.

Maybe I'll get through them over the next few years, at the moment I just cannot be bothered. Another part of why I was more open to AS2 was probably because it'd been two years since AS1, which is a more appropriate time to start missing the formula IMO. If I'd skipped Brotherhood I'd probably be kind of excited about Revelations now — damn.

As for their relevance to AS3, I'm sure playing Brotherhood and Revelations will heighten appreciation of what's going on in AS3 which is why I'll inevitably play them. I'm sure things will be done to help bring people up to speed though as AS3 is likely going to be a radical departure now they've officially scrapped the Renaissance.

[Roderick]

Ubisoft have officially confirmed it won't be Renaissance period? Could you link that, I want to read it. Excited!

Also, why do you abbreviate the series as AS instead of AC?

[Thrik]

Because I am a dick. This is what I get for writing about games at 9am!

I can't find anywhere off hand that says it's definitely without any shadow of a doubt the last game in this era, but I've seen it said in no end of reviews and features that this is the last of Ezio and the Renaissance so it must have come from somewhere. Maybe one of the game's press releases or something.

I think it's a reasonable assumption that AC3 won't be in the same era anyway because they've gone out of their way to keep all the Renaissance-era games apart from AC2 away from the 'AC3' moniker. I think a lot of people would be disappointed if AC3 came along and it was yet more of that period.

As for what next, hell if I know. Maybe we should go the future and the Animus can become some kind of gene prediction device too?!

[Nappi]

I think completely new setting and protagonist has been confirmed on many occasions. This is quite interesting, if legitimate.

I'm still hoping for industrialization era London, though.

[Gwardinen]

How the Desmond thread has evolved is somewhat interesting. AC1 was obviously the introduction to the whole concept of Desmond and the Animus and his ancestors, while AC2 took it off in a whole new direction and brought the larger Assassins/Templars conflict into focus... Brotherhood doesn't really do much of anything with the Desmond thread except at the very end, where it suddenly makes a huge and important change. It's kind of bizarre and out of left field. I now haven't gone too far into Revelations, but there appear to be Desmond's Journey things that you get access to through picking up collectibles. So those may end up being important to that "real world" thread or not.

By the way, I really hope that doesn't turn into a trend. I'm already considering semi-ignoring the Riddler stuff in Arkham City because there's just too much of it and the systems that expose it to you aren't brilliant. Yet if I do I miss out on seemingly some of the most interesting parts of the game. Now Revelations appears to be doing something similar. Not appreciated! Extra content that you have to go looking for is great, but not if it's a reward for vaguely wandering around the world looking for shiny things or, just as bad, repeatedly engaging with uninteresting mechanics to find them for you and just going and fetching them.

[Orv]

Rodi, I think you might be the only person alive with that view of AC1 Vs 2.