Even the greatest heroes can't live forever. And so it goes for Ezio Auditore di Firenze, who finally steps aside to make room for new champions in Assassin's Creed: Revelations.
This is another quality entry in a quality series, and it unleashes you in a visually stunning re-creation bigone
of 16th-century Constantinople. Additions to the movement mechanics
make exploring the city a joyous exercise in high-flying parkour, with
you as Ezio leaping across rooftops and flinging yourself up exterior
walls like a Renaissance superhero. Like many sequels, Revelations
giveth, and Revelations taketh away, so you lose certain elements
(horses) in favor of a slew of new ones (bomb crafting). Lots and lots
of new ones. Assassin's Creed: Revelations is sometimes a lumpy
Frankenstein's monster of a game, half-formed appendages stitched into
place regardless of whether they belong there or not. Thankfully, when
Revelations remembers to be an Assassin's Creed game, it soars into the
Turkish skies, reminding fans why they fell in love with this
freewheeling series.
The master becomes the student.
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Expectedly,
Revelations isn't all Ezio's story. It's also Desmond's. You remember
Desmond, the bartender-cum-assassin whose mind is probed to discover
truths that could potentially prevent the earth's destruction. Desmond
looks different than you might remember: faces have been redesigned,
features elongated, making your old comrades-in-conspiracy feel a bit
unfamiliar, game bigone garden
as if they have had plastic surgery since you saw them last. In any
case, Desmond's mind is a prisoner within the Animus, the machine that
allows his associates to tap into his ancestral memories. This
computerized sanctuary is presented as an island, where shimmering doors
leading to who-knows-where punctuate a virtual seaside. Here, Desmond
and the enigmatic Subject Sixteen explore the bartender's memories and
regrets in long conversations that illuminate Desmond's former life.
In
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Desmond was becoming a full-fledged
assassin, and you guided him through dank caves and across rooftops as a
sort of Ezio-lite. The character arc matched the gameplay arc: Desmond
was gaining confidence, and this was reflected in his ever-improving
abilities. Revelations tries a more thoughtful approach but falls short.
Subject 16 starts as a mystery and remains one, making for an
unsatisfactory replacement for the team with which Desmond has typically
interacted. Meanwhile, Desmond passes through those shining portals and
into his own memories. These memory levels are made of gray columns and
tiled floors that glisten and undulate like digital rivers. You move
through them in first-person view while Desmond talks himself through
the pain of his past. This synthetic cyberspace makes for an effective
backdrop, but the accompanying gameplay is anything but fun. You create
blocks and ramps out of thin air to pass through these levels, but
moving across them feels flat, link tai game bigone
and jumping is inexact. The flatness turns to frustration as you
encounter gusts that move the blocks you create, and deal with energy
fields that cause them to dissipate. These levels are one of
Revelations' many attempts to force elements into a game that doesn't
benefit from them.
The good news is that you spend the bulk of
your time as Ezio, though he isn't the only historical presence taking
center stage. Altair from the original game returns as a playable
character, and Revelations makes good use of the parallels between the
heroes' lives, and scenes near the conclusion resonate with great
emotion. Yes, there is a "holy cow!" moment near the end, as expected
for an Assassin's Creed game, and the final shot will have fans--once
again--wondering what comes next. But it's the calm before the storm
that ties two lives together and thus impresses most; there's a moment
when you realize you will miss these assassins of centuries past. As for
Ezio's story, well, the man is older and tired, and the story reflects
this weariness. It introduces new characters, the best of whom is Sofia,
an Italian bookseller who welcomes Ezio's formidable charms. But the
main plot, involving political unrest among the sultan and his family
members, is merely serviceable, lacking the personal touch that made
Assassin's game bigone cho iphone Creed II's narrative so enthralling.
Nevertheless,
Revelations is as absorbing as its predecessors, because it's so much
fun to move through Constantinople and other key areas. This is due in
part to the world's sheer beauty. Deep golds and reds make a stroll
through the grand bazaar a feast for the eyes, and famous landmarks like
Hagia Sophia cut striking silhouettes against the night sky. Row a boat
across a strait, and you marvel at the authentic wake that ripples
behind. On the PC, the smallest details are as impressive as the grand,
sweeping vistas. The scars criss-crossing Ezio's weathered face; the
finely crafted designs threaded across Yusuf's gauntlets; and the
deep-green ivy climbing the worn face of a domed mosque: these elements
are uniformly impressive. At high resolutions, certain technical
imperfections stand out more than they did on consoles, such as some
object clipping and animation glitches. (Some asynchronous sound effects
can also prove distracting.) But overall, Assassin's Creed:
Revelations' presentation is dazzling.
The other reason
exploration is so joyous is that the simple act of moving from place to
place is so satisfying. Animations remain generally great. Ezio doesn't
grab some unseen outcropping as he scales towers: he reaches for actual
ledges and outcroppings, which makes his impossible acrobatics feel
authentic. Climbing a tower reaching into the heavens, admiring the
view, and then making a leap of faith into a hay bale hundreds of feet
below is a delight, as it always has been. But Revelations expands the
parkour aspect of the game by giving you use of a handheld hook. With
this hook, Ezio can scale upward more quickly and glide down
ziplines--and even assassinate rooftop guards as he skims past.
The
hook also allows you to reach out and grab walls as you fall--walls
that would be out of reach in previous Assassin's Creed games. You can
also buy parachutes and activate them in midair, which feels free and
easy, like wafting downward on a cool breeze. Revelations makes it more
fun than ever to stay on the move. In fact, some of its best moments
focus on fluid parkour, such as an atmospheric trek through a dank cave
and an exhilarating escape from a flaming boat. The best set pieces are
those that focus on movement. How unfortunate that other such events are
less successful--and that the game leans on the lesser ones so early
on. Avoiding rocks as you are dragged behind a careening carriage isn't
fun, nor is bashing other carriages as you drive one. Another
carriage-focused mission is more entertaining and has you activating a
parachute and flying behind the vehicle as a sort of Renaissance-era
parasailer. It's nice to have the variety in between long stretches of
fighting guards and wandering among crowds, but earlier games simply did
such diversions better.