Quite often in life the only way of finding out how much is enough is by having too much. This rule of thumb can be applied to almost anything and can be particularly useful when calculating how much alcohol you intend to drink on a night out. In certain aspects of life it may not even dawn on you that you’d had too much of something until years later. The point I’m trying to make is that we live in a cynical world where everything is milked for all its worth until people grow weary of it. On the all too rare occasion that something leaves us wanting more we ultimately realise that the fact we still want more is the very reason why such a thing ended why it did.
This may be the most convoluted introduction to a game review in the history of time but bear with me I’m getting there. You see within the first hour of playing Assassin’s Creed Revelations I realised to my dismay that traversing the roof tops of Renaissance Europe no longer held the thrill it once did. Performing intricate finishing moves on hapless guards no longer set my pulse racing. Even ascending perilous towers and surveying the magnificence below failed to excite. In short I’d had my fill. Assassin’s Creed Revelations was now akin to that fateful double Jack Daniels bought at 2.30am which would see you on your knees by the toilet bowl retching and squawking like a wounded animal desperate to be put out of its misery.
The funny thing is it didn’t start off like that. The beginning of ACR sees you once again charged with helping the dithering Desmond to piece his now shattered mind together. You find yourself locked inside the Animus with only the intriguing Subject 16 for company. But it’s not long before you reprise the role of one of Italy’s two favourite sons. Ezio has travelled to Masayf in a bid to uncover some of the secrets which Altair had only just begun to discover. And so for the first hour of the game you find yourself in the snow capped mountains desperately trying to escape the clutches of the clearly irked Templars. No viewpoints, no guilds, no accomplices. Just you and some enemies that need to be dealt with in however bloody a manner you see fit.
There’s no disputing the fact that as an intro it is incredibly linear which goes against everything the AC series stands for. But shorn of the multiple missions and vast atmospheric cities ACR makes a purposeful, pulsating start and it is with some degree of disappointment that you find yourself pitching up in Constantinople once you’ve dealt with the Templars. Upon arriving in the city which is now known as Istanbul things automatically revert to type and it was at this point that the first signs of weariness set in. The tried and trusted AC template has undoubtedly served Ubisoft well over the years but I couldn’t help but feel like some of the excitement charm has been sacrificed by sticking to the same old format.
I’m loathe to criticise such a well designed, eminently playable game but the overriding emotion I felt upon being let loose in this city was one of extreme apathy. Far be it from me to question the abilities of the ancient builders and block layers of the time but at this point all of these cities are beginning to look the same regardless of their location. The freedom to explore these environments which was once a joy has somehow become something of a chore and the myriad of landmarks on my hud felt slightly daunting rather than liberating. This internal conflict saw me marvelling at the dexterity and agility of Ezio as he cavorted around this beautiful setting whilst at the same time becoming increasingly detached from what was unfolding before me.
Some new gameplay elements did spark my interest however, the hookblade is a stylish if superfluous addition but the bomb crafting and tower defence RTS mini game manage to add new and interesting elements to the gameplay adventure . With three different types of bombs each composed of three different ingredients there is the potential to create up to 300 bomb variations which can then be utilised with devastating, and sometimes comical, effects. For example there is the possibility of creating a bomb which upon detonation sends gold shards glittering through the air and sees disbelieving locals scramble for a piece of this unexpected bounty. Messing with those that populate the cities is still one of AC’s guiltiest of pleasures and the more evil minded among you will spend hours mindlessly tormenting the patrons with not a second’s thought for the countless missions available to you.
The other interesting new addition is the tower defence mini game which sees you perched above the battlefield marshalling your troops in the style of a real time strategy game. Rather than offer any great excitement of innovation what this does is offer a welcome change of pace and a soothing alternative to the endless backstabbing and skulduggery. Speaking of backstabbing the combat in ACR is as balletic and brutal as ever, the feeling of being a mere bystander remains however and you sometimes wonder just how you managed to extricate yourself from a battle with such devastating ease. If you ever tire of skewering hapless foes then you can always call upon some of the many Assassins in training that frequent your surroundings. Much in the manner of setting a rabid dog on a noisy neighbour you can simply click your fingers and watch as your eager to please apprentice does your bidding for you.
The presence of these allies means that no longer can you watch your own back and live the life of the lone wolf. Now you must send your acolytes on missions to conquer various cities dotted around the ancient world and once these regions have been captured it’s up to you to ensure that they remain under Assassin control. Again this feels like a bothersome hindrance and most of you will choose to ignore this option once the novelty has worn off. The same can be said of the numerous guilds who continue to hang around on street corners with clearly nothing to do other than get hired by a whimsical Assassin. Of course you can ignore the thieves, mercenaries et al if you so wish but on occasion their services are vital to the completion of a mission.
It is within this sprawling array of options, tasks, quests and side missions that your main goal lies, that of tying up the severely loosened ends of the AC series and bringing Desmond back from the brink via the exploits of his ancestors, Ezio and Altair. As farfetched and as mystifyingly complex as ever the plot of ACR veers back and forth like a drunken reveller and at times you’re left scratching your head and wondering just what on Earth is going on. Being the last game of this current cycle the need to tie things up resolutely and convincingly is a must and you can’t help but feel that a more cut and dried approach to storytelling would have been appropriate in this instance. As it is you will find yourself uncomprehendingly attempting to follow the story safe in the knowledge that so long as you do all as you’re told you’ll eventually get the answers you so desire.
I’m unashamedly relieved that this is the final game of this ilk in the AC series. A once brilliant and engaging gaming experience has become increasingly tiresome and I can’t help but ponder if this is one game too far for the AC series. Anyway who makes things in four these days anyway? Surely a trilogy would have been the way to go!? Releasing new iterations with such frequency was bound to catch up with Ubisoft at some point and they can only have themselves to blame if we gamers become a little jaded by the whole thing. Despite possessing some of the best game mechanics around and a control system destined to be copied for years to come Assassin’s Creed has, for me at least, outstayed its welcome and in the process somewhat sullied my overall opinion of the series as a whole.
However before you put your money back in your pocket and head to your local rental store instead a few things should be kept in mind. If, as a fan of the series, you ask for nothing more than a slightly modified environment, some new gameplay elements and a satisfying finale to the odyssey then you’ll absolutely adore this game. There may not be a whole lot new here but when the old material is still so playable is that such a bad thing? Although inertia set in quite early for me it could be the case that my threshold for all things Renaissance is not as large as it could be and I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from sampling this game. But as someone who has now officially had enough of Assassin’s Creed what I do want is for the series to start afresh. By keeping what made the earlier titles so brilliant and shedding that which has ultimately led to them becoming stale Ubisoft have the opportunity to bring the next sequence of AC games into an exciting new direction. I fully expect them to do so and in the process win back one particular gamer who at this moment in time would breathe easy if he never had to freefall into a bale of hay ever again.
7/10
Get this if
- You can never have too much of a good thing
- You’ve never played an Assassin’s Creed game before
- You like to acquire your historical knowledge solely from videogames
Avoid this if
- You seek an interesting new gaming experience
- Panoramic views do absolutely nothing for you
- You thought The Sopranos should have finished up a series or two earlier
