Assassin's Creed Revelations and Impressions

By the light of Assassin's Creed Revelations in the foreground I give you my 'old man Ezio' impersonation. That's right, my old and tattered 'lucky' gray hoodie is about as close to "cosplay" as you, my dear friends, will ever see me. Now as for firstborn, she had to get in on the Assassin's Creed dress-up too, here she is sporting the 'royal indigo' print (costs about 2000 gold in one of the shops) and is wielding the sheath to my good tomato-slicing kitchen knife. Even without the beard she makes a far better Ezio than I do!

I played the first Creed game and thought, "Wow, this is pretty cool, a bit repetitive, but pretty darn cool." The action was good, the story pretty neat, and admittedly, the historical details really enhanced it. Then came the sequel, Creed II, and I was blown away, I still contend it's one of the all-time videogames out there. The scope, the depth, the story, the mechanics, I was just blown away, they took everything they learned from the first one and made it better. Then Creed II Brotherhood came out. A sequel? Kind of, just more of a super expansion of Creed II, they added some neat little additions and tried to make a multiplayer out of it too. I liked the extras, more of the gameplay was cool, and overall I'm clicking away, still a happy Assassin's camper.

Now comes Creed Revelations. The makers, Ubisoft, know they have a good thing on their hands. They've perfected and tweaked everything into a well-oiled machine, but in a way that's also the problem. Revelations is more of the same, for better or for worse.

Instead of Italy, you're in Constantinople. The NPC's wear brighter clothes and have different accents, but it's the same game. The story doesn't go to any great lengths to suck you in either and a lot of the facets I enjoy, like buying/upgrading armor/weapons and the like, seems tacked on and doesn't hold any gameplay value.

It's a weird situation, if you played the other Creed titles, and loved them like I did, you're going to like this one too. I enjoyed it, but nothing new was added to my experience. Up until now each title added extras the previous one didn't, extras that added to the overall game. Any extras in Revelations are just kind of there. Like I said, it's a tried and true template, it's hard to go wrong with, but this will probably be my last Creed game unless they really add something new the overall experience the next time around.

As for storyline, well it's a bit convoluted but they do seem to be shooting for some kind of closure, wrapping up any loose ends for either of the main characters from the previous three games, Ezio and Altaîr. There aren't any cliffhangers for those two and you don't get the impression they'll be coming back. Now the other main character, without any spoilers I'll just say Desmond, is definitely poised for a return comeback down the road.

If you're a huge fan of the series, you've probably already picked this one up, if not, I suggest doing so. If you just looking for a great game and not planning to experience the whole Assassin's Creed universe, I would turn to the used aisle and pick up regular ole Assassin's Creed II.