Assassin's Creed: Revelations Video Review - ZGR
ZGR takes a look at Assassin’s Creed: Revelations!
Assassins Creed: Revelations
Players: 1 offline, 4-8 online
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genres: Action, Adventure, Platformer
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genres: Action, Adventure, Platformer
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
MSRP: $59.99
When a man’s battles have been won and his enemies destroyed, what then? Where does he find purpose and meaning? To find answers to these questions, Ezio Auditore will travel east in search of the lost library of the Assassins. In Assassin’s Creed® Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of the legendary mentor Altair, on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path – one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilize the region. In addition to Ezio’s award-winning story, a refined and expanded online multiplayer experience returns with more modes, more maps and more characters, allowing you to test your assassin skills against others from around the world.
Content downloads,Voice chat
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations… NOT to have DRM?
Posted By Johnny Maloney about 1 year, 6 months ago
The internet’s burning! Run for it Ubisoft, and you might get out alive!
I have this theory about the From Dust kerfuffle. All this nicey-nice, no DRM we promise, pat your head, aren’t you a good boy, have a cookie talk, while they decide to slip it in experimentally, with full intent to take it out afterwards. Why go to all this trouble? I imagine because Ubisoft was fairly curious about how many people weren’t going to stand for those shenanigans after they’d already bought and played the game. When the requests for refunds exceeded the number that Steam was capable of dealing with, Steam redirected them all to Ubisoft directly. You’d think that the mouthpieces defending their DRM, saying it ‘protects their economic interests’ rather than hurting them or their customers interests might notice all that revenue suddenly going back out the door. Well, it seems somebody in a policy making position did notice.
Apparently, Ubisoft has told the affable folks at RockPaperShotgun that Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, though delayed on PC (which might give us a little more time to figure out what edition has what), will be coming to the market 100% free of Ubisoft’s infamous always-on DRM. The only restriction intact appears to be a one time, at-the-start online activation when you first play the game. After that, everything is hunky dory (do the hip kids still say “hunky dory?” What about “neato keen?”… no? “Swell?”) for offline play at your leisure.
I don’t mean to outright accuse Ubisoft of underhanded dealings with their inclusion of the DRM into From Dust, but it certainly seems that the outcome of the whole affair has demonstrated a suggestive set of statistics. Suggestive of what? Nobody knows for sure, but it’s tough to interpret missing DRM from one of Ubisoft’s alpha franchises like Assassin’s Creed any other way.
Source: RockPaperShotgun
Assassin's Creed Revelations Review
The final part of Ezio's trilogy. The now grey haired Assassin is on the trail of the legendary, yet criticized in reviews, Altair. The series has really dragged out the Italian's role, but does this final part of his tale make it all worth it? Find out here.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations Video Review - ZGR
ZGR takes a look at Assassin's Creed: Revelations!
Assassin's Creed Revelations Review
The final part of Ezio’s trilogy. The now grey haired Assassin is on the trail of the legendary, yet criticized in reviews, Altair. The series has really dragged out the Italian’s role, but does this final part of his tale make it all worth it? Find out here.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations... NOT to have DRM?
Recent evidence suggests that the PC version of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations will be coming to market without Ubisoft’s notorious always-online DRM. Other evidence suggests that I’m incredibly handsome and clever. It’s true, you read it on a gaming website.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations... NOT to have DRM?
Recent evidence suggests that the PC version of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations will be coming to market without Ubisoft’s notorious always-online DRM. Other evidence suggests that I’m incredibly handsome and clever. It’s true, you read it on a gaming website.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations Review
Posted By Yousif A. about 1 year, 6 months ago
Assassin’s Creed Revelations Review
If you haven’t played Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, walk away from this review after this paragraph. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations brings to a close the combined stories of the two main protagonists Altair and Ezio. Come into this game without knowing everything and you will just be lost. This title is as much closure for the player as it is for the characters.
| PROS | A wonderfully told story, Altair sections are excellent, contains the best moments for the series, has a guy with my name kicking ass |
| CONS | Subject 16 becomes a wasted character, Assassin management can get in the way of playing the game, Desmond sections |
| WTF?! | Playing an 80 year old man kicking ass |
Coming into the game, you know this is the end of the tale for Ezio Auditore. Now a tired and wiser man than he was in Brotherhood, the master has become the mentor. Ezio is now on the trail of the legendary Altair, trying to uncover the secrets of his library under masyaf, but due to Templar involvement, gets wrapped up in the affairs of Constantinople too. Joining forces with the Brotherhood, Ezio must find the keys to Masyaf and uncover the Templar’s who wish to also gain access to the power apparently hidden within the library of Altair.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations hasn’t really messed with the formula established in AC: Brotherhood. Aside from one brief excursion outside of Constantinople, all of the missions take place within the one city, with optional extras littered about the streets to complete between objectives. There are minor changes to the way you complete side missions (all of them for the better), but ultimately if you have played Brotherhood, you know what to expect.
No Templar ever hits that High five, no wonder your brothers murder them
There are a couple of changes that stand out though. Upon claiming a Templar den by killing the captain and lighting the torch at the top of the tower, you actually establish an Assassins base in its place. Here you can place one of your recruits in charge and complete side quests with them to elevate them to the rank of Assassin Master. However, until your apprentice reaches this rank, your base is under threat of retaliation.
Once again, involving yourself in acts that alert the guards to your presence fills a bar at the top of the screen. Once full, not only will guards attack you on site, but committing more overt actions could bring down the Templar’s on one of your new strongholds.Should this happen you will have to defend the den through a rather poorly controlled, but aesthetically pleasing tower defense game. Every victory you earn unlocks new units to use to defend your dens in the future, but if you play your cards right (like I did), you’ll only have to play this mode once or twice through the game before you’ll have a Master installed, locking out the chance of Templar offensives.
If you lose during a defense, it’s simply a case of recapturing the den, which laughably can be done immediately and is often quicker than trying to defend yourself in the first place. The only problem with solving offensives in this manner is that upon capturing a den you automatically fill your notoriety meter, sometimes getting caught in an infinite loop of taking and defending dens.
The first time you play a defense its fun, but the novelty soon wears off when Templar’s bring seemingly unfair ‘boss’ weapons to bare at the end of a round, often demolishing your well thought out plans with ease. However, it’s nice to see that the developers took into account the to and fro of the war between these two factions and tried to implement a harsher punishment upon those who go about their travels without caution. Not to mention that tearing down posters to reduce your notoriety has been removed from the game, with the developers finally realizing that no one ever used the other methods of decreasing guard awareness due to the simplicity of the former task.
They may spell it differently, but this Yusuf is blatantly based upon me!
The other major change comes from the implementation of bombs. Very early on in the game you will be introduced to these new items and how to construct your very own set of explosives. Bombs fall into 3 categories; offensive, defensive and diversion, all of which can be customized to suit your play style. I ended up using poison offensive bombs to remain quite, a smoke screen for defensive measures and cherry bombs with added bang to lure the guards as far away as possible. Try and play AC: R without using bombs and you’ll soon find yourself in a world of hurt. It takes some time adjusting to the idea, but once you realize that guards have been placed with the express intention of forcing you to use these new additions to your arsenal, they become second nature.
The rest of the additions included a more involving missions for your recruits to undertake, the hook blade and parachute add some extra mobility, the controls have been rejigged to allow for the new inventory/moves and a few other cosmetic changes. It’s the same rounded experience we have come to expect from the series, complete with sometimes frustrating plat forming mechanics and some odd hit detection. I will say that combat has at least been reworked so that countering every time won’t work. The first time you come across a Janissary, you block, he pulls a flintlock pistol, you do tilt your head and question the fairness of the situation, before realizing that an offensive right about now would perhaps be a good idea.
Aside from trying out these new additions, you may want to get on with the actual story. Not to quickly mind you. After completing Revelations, I realized that the main story missions could probably have been completed in roughly 5 hours if all other factors were ignored. Thankfully, there are plenty of reasons not to do this, with tons of extra things to collect and faction objectives that can unlock additional perks, but I digress.
8/10
Assassin's Creed Revelations Review
The final part of Ezio's trilogy. The now grey haired Assassin is on the trail of the legendary, yet criticized in reviews, Altair. The series has really dragged out the Italian's role, but does this final part of his tale make it all worth it? Find out here. Assassin's Creed: Revelations Video Review - ZGR
ZGR takes a look at Assassin's Creed: Revelations!-
February 18, 2012 at 02:30pm
Yousif states “If you haven’t played Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, walk away from this review after this paragraph. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations brings to a close the combined stories of the two main protagonists Altair and Ezio. Come into this game without knowing everything and you will just be lost.”
Revelations has become a labor of love (the Kinks), but I must say if I had to do it over I would have went ahead with Brotherhood first.
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November 19, 2011 at 08:51pm
Very positive review, I may have a diferent opinion in a whole, this was probably the best concept and the best chance for a OUTSTANDING plot but too many wasted oportunities and the rushed development makes an impact making the game with the feeling… unfinished…
Inception-esque plot having Desmond inside the Animus was THE GREATEST WASTED
CONCEPT FOR AN AC GAME! WHY?
Imagine if ACR had this in the game….
1) Instead of making Desmond run through a portal to Ezio’s memories, why in the world they didnt use the oportunity to make Desmond being able to played inside an artificial multicultural utopia inside the animus with a major conflict between Desmond and subject 16 in masterful intriguing story of gathering his ancestor memories (that would’ve been Ezio’s sequences)????I expected too much…. maybe when in the future
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November 20, 2011 at 04:33am
I don’t necessarily agree on getting rid of the Ezio parts and putting Desmond in his place, since the next game will be all about him, and the story of Ezio is awesome in it self.
However, I too was disappointed in the Desmond parts. Instead of having those first person portal-esque parts, they should have made some more interaction between 16 and himself and some AC like levels for Desmond to complete.
I loved this game, but I still feel let down. It just feels like the series has been giving us less and less content since AC2, removing great parts like the rift puzzles, virtual training, all the different destinations you could visit, having the guilds be ingrained into the plot, Hidden tombs.
The graphics were better, and the story and multiplayer is excellent. But the shortness of the story and the lack of content makes me favor Brotherhood/AC2 over this game. -
November 18, 2011 at 11:33pm
I can not WAIT to jump into this game.. however I am trying to get through Brotherhood right now.. so I cant… I LOVED Assassins Creed II and Brotherhood is great to a degree.. I have found some ofthe controls a bit clumsy and the AI get stopped by people sitting down…but I still am loving the story and the actual maps are amazing in detail!
I also got the orginal Assassins Creed with Revelations for the PS3, so I may play that as well before I jump into this game.
This is the first series that I actually completed, and got a 91% completion of the trophies too.
Thanks for the review… I will have to read this in a few days so I dont spoil the story
I actually have never had any problems with DRM ruining my game. Even so, it’s good to know that they are refining the system to a one-time activation while still blocking pirates out.
Many people who have issues with DRM affecting their computer are pirates of one type or another; as a result, I’m always going to support DRM, though if it really does hurt my computer, I won’t buy the game.
I love Assassins Creed games, but thanks to Ubisofts DRM their games have been on my blacklist as long as they have it. If AS Revelations really comes free of that crap, it will be an instant preorder to me.
It’s essentially ‘You paid $60-$90 to rent a game from us. You don’t own it in any way, shape or form, and you may as well bend over and drop your pants now.’
Okay, so I’m harsh on DRM. But frankly, it’s a tactic that is totally ineffective, since a quick search of torrent sites will show you that all DRM games have had the technology circumvented soon after use. It doesn’t stop pirates, and it inconveniences legitimate gamers.
Hell, a better option was implemented by Bethesda many years ago. Release broken game, people pay for it, then download fixed game.
I wish publishers would just abandon proprietary DRM and GFWL and just use Steamworks, it would make everyone’s lives easier. The simple fact is Valve was the industry leader and they have a wealth of early implementation experience. Steam isn’t a hassle like some other distribution platforms and the fact that you can buy a Steamworks product key from a third party to save some money and activate it over steam is extremely convenient.
If Assassin’s Creed Revelation’s used Steamworks I’d probably buy the game on PC to save some money, the fact that it doesn’t means I’m going to eventually get the game on 360 or PS3 when I see it on sale(probably not on Black Friday, but hopefully the day after Christmas).
The issue they face then is, when I finish the game, I will might end up reselling it. I actually liked Brotherhood’s multiplayer except for the long kill animation that ruined it (when it finished your pursuer was almost always waiting behind you). If Brotherhood didn’t have that I’d have kept the game. I love AC and Splinter Cell but my only other complaints about Ubisofts games besides DRM, is that Ubisoft relies on older engines to keep development costs lower. They need a new Engine they can use for AC and Splinter Cell going forward as well as Beyond Good & Evil 2 when ever they decide to get back to work on it.
*IF* AC3 came out next year, was as good as “Ezio’s games”, and at minimum used Steamworks I’d have no problem with pre-ordering it for PC. A beautiful new engine would be the icing on the cake that would push series into the realm of Triple A status for me.
I think the hip kids totally still hunky dory. Though ‘hip kids’ is probably not a term that teenagers these days self-identify with, so the hip kids are all 30+.
Would be helpful if I knew what the heck DRM was. Can anyone tell me? O.o
Digital Rights Management. Essentially a blanket term for “security measures” to try and stifle game piracy, most prevalent on the PC. For years now, Ubisoft has required a constant internet connection to play most of their games on PC. A break in the connection and you either need to wait for it to re-establish to continue playing, or you get booted from the game and lose all progress from your last save point.
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. it’s “copy protection” implemented with the goal of stopping piracy/theft.