A whole new world. The war between the Assassins and Templars rages on, but for Altair, Ezio, and Desmond things are finally wrapping up. It's about time that we have some answers to the many questions that have warped our minds into knots.
1. Gameplay _
_If that was the case, why do I feel like this chapter of the story answered very few questions? _In case you haven’t played the previous games (which you should, they’re a lot of fun), the main character is known as Desmond. It turns out that Desmond is an Assassin, a member of a secret order whose sole purpose is to protect the freedom that humanity enjoys. The Assassins’ enemies are known as the Templars, who are trying to create peace through strictly enforced order. It’s a bit like the Cold War, except without nuclear missiles. _Due to circumstances beyond Desmond’s control, he’s now stuck in a machine called the “Animus”, which allows him to relive memories of his ancestors. The consequences from the previous game require him to use the animus to sort through his memories. Evidently, unless he completes the memory line from the previous game, the Animus will be unable to sort Desmond out from his ancestors and what will be left will be some chaotic mix of three lives. _So now Desmond, who is reliving the life of Ezio, must discover the secret that Altair left behind. Confused yet? Good, it’s only just beginning. _Unlike the previous games, which had a clear cut antagonist, Revelations introduces what should be an antagonist but leaves him completely absent throughout the rest of the game. Instead, Ezio is tasked with finding five keys with which he will open a vault. The rest of the game is spent completing seemingly menial tasks all bent on accomplishing this goal. _There were so many problems I encountered that made this game less enjoyable than I expected. These weren’t obvious problems (like bugs or glitches), but minor things that really irritated me as I made my way throughout the city. For example, one of the best parts about the previous game was the amount of space that the player was given to roam around. It allowed for a wide variety of landscapes. The player could climb through market districts or on large monuments, but could take the time to ride on horseback across the Roman countryside. The variety was nice and made certain locations easily distinguishable. _That variety was completely absent from this game. Instead, the player will be constantly surrounded by tall structures interspersed with a few monuments. It is almost impossible to remember where specific locations were because every location looks exactly the same. _The developers also seemed to spend an absurd amount of time working on the bomb crafting system. Normally I would applaud the amount of work they clearly put in, but in this case it made very little sense. Some of the bombs are completely useless. For example, there’s a concussion bomb in the “lethal” category that doesn’t kill anyone. In fact, it hardly even damages targets. This wouldn’t necessarily be a problem since it did slow down targets momentarily except for the fact that there were other bombs that were far more effective at doing the exact same thing. There are two types of “poison” bombs, one lethal and one a non-lethal stink bomb. A lamb’s blood bomb would convince people they had been injured (supposedly), which made them vulnerable to attack, but so did a caltrop bomb (which was far more effective since it also made people stop moving for quite some time). Pyrite gold bombs would make civilians go wild but do very little to distract guards. And there are still four other bomb types that I haven’t even covered. _So, to review, to slow guards down you can use a concussion grenade, caltrop grenade, stink bomb, or lamb’s blood bomb. The options are great, but with all quickly available and some clearly more effective than others (caltrop > others), why would I even bother with the rest? Including variations like lethal poison grenades and lethal fragmentation grenades makes sense, but calling something different doesn’t make it different. _Most of the other problems are discussed extensively in the “Frustration Factor” section below. _The multiplayer was almost exactly the same as the previous game, so whatever your feelings were about Brotherhood’s multiplayer will almost certainly be mirrored in Revelations. _I also feel compelled to mention the fact that despite this game being the end of the Desmond/Ezio/Altair storyline, it ends on a cliffhanger. It was an absurd disappointment. _
_The multiplayer game mode will play towards those who are skilled enough to be able to take on opponents. Those players who find that they enjoy the perplexingly frantic stealth gameplay of the multiplayer will get a good number of hours of entertainment from the online features. _
_The game’s notoriety was also rather poorly designed. For some reason, the player would gain notoriety for buying property. With enough notoriety, the Templars would launch an all-out attack on one of the Assassin’s dens throughout the game. The player would have to go to that den and complete the minigame in order to protect the den. It was so easy to increase notoriety that it is almost impossible to go throughout the game without having to complete the den defense minigame at least half-a-dozen times. _This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that the later levels of the minigame are nearly impossible to beat. The templars will eventually get extremely strong war machines that are able to break through even the strongest barricade in a matter of seconds, leaving the player’s den completely defenseless as the war machine rolls down the street and annihilates the building. The pseudo tower defense game would have been fun if it weren’t for the fact that it was repetitive and difficult. _There was at least one mission where the parameters of the mission made things so difficult and/or boring that it was a chore to complete the objectives. Usually this involved objectives such as “take no damage” or “don’t kill anyone”, which defeats the whole point of being an assassin. I can understand the necessity for encouraging stealth and careful planning, but the mechanics of the game discourage patience since carefully executed plans usually have as much chance of being successful as a fast-paced improvisation. _This was especially true for one mission where I was supposed to defend a herald from attacking Templars. Three Templars would attack at any one time. One would run to attack me, one would run to attack my student and the third would rush to attack the herald. However, the parameters of the mission stated that I had to prevent the herald from getting any damage. This was nearly impossible since the game never made any indication as to which Templar was going to attack the herald. After restarting the mission almost a dozen times I ended up throwing caltrops on the ground to stop the rushing Templars, then killing them as they hopped around like idiots (the caltrops did not affect me, my friend, or the herald). It didn’t feel like I was being rewarded for solving a puzzle, but more like I was fighting against the failures of the game. 2. Parental Notices _
_Normal weapons, such as swords and axes, are going to also cause a few very bloody finishing moves. These moves will occur frequently at the end of combat. _However, gore is never included in the game. Explosives, most of which occur only when the player uses a grenade, cause targets to fly away but don’t cause any visible damage. _The reality is that while combat is a somewhat frequent occurrence, the vast majority of game time will be spent in transit between locations and missions. Combat significantly lengthens travel time, and as a result it is very likely that players will seek to avoid combat unless it is necessary for a specific objective (or it is forced for some reason). _
_Some of the guards mentioned once that they should go check on a shady madame’s girls. However, prostitution is never mentioned anywhere else in the game. _
_The only other example of substance use is the occasional civilian sitting down smoking hookah from a water pipe. This is very mild and easy to miss. _
3. Other Factors _
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_The game tries to explain the creator race and names three Roman gods as the creators, but the entire thing seems like a watered down mix of a number of religions. _The vast majority of the female civilians in the game will be wearing some sort of burka or hijab. The clothing is clearly designed to be accurate for the time period, region, and ruling religion. _
_Theft and murder are going to be very common occurrences within the entire storyline. The player will be tasked dozens of times with stealing some nameless object or killing some nameless target. There are very few missions that don’t involve theft or murder in some way. _However, the Assassin’s many enemies are just as anti-law. Corrupt government officials, brutal guards, and an overall sense of oppression will also be present throughout the game. Guards are seen less as the classic protectors of the population and more of an obstacle to achieving a given goal. _
_The real problem comes when certain team members are less able to accomplish the given task. I played a capture the flag game that highlighted this problem. One member of my team was clearly acting as the defensive player while I acted as the offensive player. The opposing team seemed to play entirely offensive, which made capturing flags relatively simple. The problem is that two of my teammates did very little to help in accomplishing the goal. _This is almost certainly a result of the “leveling” system of the multiplayer. Players are awarded most for getting kills, not for completing the objective. So those players who are focusing on increasing their level will not fight to win but instead fight to get kills. Unfortunately, this leads to some fairly boring and often frustrating matches. _
_The player will also be required to perform “leaps of faith”, which are basically blind jumps off of tall structures into supposedly softer objects. These objects can be anything from bales of hay to flowery bushes. The heights from which the player falls are irrelevant, he will always emerge from the hay or bush completely unscathed. _The game developers added in some extra elements that change the way that the player roams around the map. The addition of the “hook blade”, a blade with a strong hook added to the middle, allows the player to quickly leap up the sides of tall buildings. Far from the first Assassin’s Creed game’s slow, methodical climbs, the player is now able to practically fly up the sides of even the tallest towers. _The game also includes a number of well-placed zip-lines that the player can use to cross large gaps with intense speed. The player uses the hook on the hook blade to zip down a wire from one rooftop to another. _Parachutes also reappear in Revelations. This allows a player to prevent instant death by opening a square parachute. The parachute slows the descent of the player and allows a large distance to be covered without ever touching the ground. _There are two missions where the player will have to both drive a horse and carriage and maneuver around obstacles as he is dragged along by said horse and carriage. It makes very little sense in terms of physics. _
_The artifacts in the game seem somewhat magical in nature, especially the “Apple of Eden”. However, it is explained as some sort of advanced technology from a previous creator race and, as a result, is not magical in nature. _As a result, magic is not an issue in this game. _
Sofia, the main character’s love interest, is kidnapped by the Templars late in the game. The player has to rescue Sofia from being killed by the Templars.
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