Assassin's Creed Revelations

First off, the draconian DRM Ubisoft employed in previous games has gone. All that is left
is a one-time online activation for the game which is very reasonable, and what numerous other
titles also employ. If your connection cuts out during gameplay you won't get kicked out of the
game, you just carry on how you should. You can also enable offline mode from within the Ubi
launcher. The reason why the Ubisoft Game Launcher still exists is because the game has uPlay
achievements and rewards tied into this thing, as well as save game synching and automatic updates
and patches so it's not going away anytime soon. Now that the DRM has been toned down its unobtrusive.

Performance wise the game is excellent after the 1.01 update. Just like previous releases expect
a nice clean look, detailed textures and environments and just a big step up from the consoles.
Constantinople is a beautiful place to look at and has some brilliant views in store for you.
The character faces esepcially look much better, some reviews were saying this game is showing
signs of ageing but i disagree completley, if you want to see ageing look at Modern Warfare 3.

Gameplay wise nothing has changed much, there is a new hookblade with ziplines around the city to
speed up navigation, a few new kill animations, auto-walking when blended, master assassin missions,
better camera angles, some great platforming pieces, improved eagle sense, stalkers which randomly
attack you, plus a few other minor things but at its core its still the Assassin's Creed we know.

Having said that there are a couple of major new features, bomb crafting and den defense being the
big ones. Bomb crafting seems alright, although the game seems to want you to use them all the time
which becomes annoying. It's a nice feature, not very deep because the variety of ingredients and
types of bombs you can make is quite limited, but it's a step up from just using smoke bombs i guess.

Den defense looks out of place and can be very annoying because if your notiriety reaches maximum
(which it will often because completing missions, killing guards and even rebuilding shops affects it)
then your dens that you spent time taking over will get attacked. You will then need to rush back and
enter this mini game and defend them, if you lose, the den goes under templar control and you will need
to recapture it again. The game gets boring after 2 or 3 times and smells of "filler material". However
you can level a recruited assasin to 15 and put him in charge of a den, this locks the den and templars
cannot ever attack it, which means the den defense game will no longer happen. You'll need to do this
about 7 times for all your dens, it is worth it though if it means avoiding this very annoying mini game.

Story wise the game is very satisfying, the main focus is Ezio again and his time in Constantinople spent
finding Altair's keys, aiding the Ottomans and finding love. The Altair sequences are very brief but
intersting nonetheless giving you more info on what happened after AC1. The Desmond sequences are even
shorter but give you a backstory on Desmond and his life before he was captured by Abstergo. In the end the
game provides a very nice conclusion to the stories of Ezio and Altair and sets the stage for Desmond and
Assassin's Creed III which comes out next year.

Be sure to watch Assassin's Creed Embers to see the final moments of Ezio's life, the short video is
included in certain editions of the game but you can probably find it on the Internet if you look hard enough.
It's a touching video and provides the real ending for Ezio, whilst the game just ends his time as an Assassin.

Multiplayer, just like the singleplayer consists of small improvements but nothing major. New characters, new
maps (along with some classics from Brotherhood returning), new abilities and perks, more customisation options,
new gameplay modes along with more balanced gameplay especally when defending. It's a very unique mode and in this
age of FPS dominance and twitch shooters i think it's brilliant. The achievments and trophies for MP are much easier
this time round, so if you want 100% on everything you'll only need to do a few things online unlike Brotherhood
which required you to do quite a few tricky challenges to earn trophies and achievements.

Overall the game does not do anything new in a great way, the bomb crafting seems half developed and the den
defense smells completley of filler material and looks out of place. There is also plenty of content that's
been cut out such as Assassin Tombs, Templar Lairs, Horses etc which is a shame - i completed it 100% in just
20 hours. But the minor features and tweaks are welcome additions, the main story is interesting, it's still fun,
and the game provides a satisfying ending for Altair and Ezio which i suspect is why most people are getting this.

8.5 out of 10

The game is, quite frankly, amazing.
Visually its beautiful - free running is as fluent and fun as its ever been.
Plenty of missions to keep you busy.
HUGE improvement from Brotherhood.
Rank 2 on my games of '11.
This game is a must have it really, truly is incredible.
The cities are amazing, the tombs are breathtaking!
Even the music is great.
BUT it's a port (So what?) Bit glitchy at times but it clears up fine. Havent had a go at multiplayer and i dont really intend on if i'm honest unlesss it means i unlock those outfits.
U-Play is a slight pain in the ass but its fine.
I'm finding combat a bit more hard and intense and i'm actually dying for once occasionally which gives a nice change.
Bit fiddly on the keyboard but after a while you get used to it.
I couldn't stop playing it is a really great game. 9.5/10

Definitely another great game from one of the best video game franchises. The story is once again in depth, immersive and highly addictive. The new additions, while thoroughly enjoyable, fail to improve much on brotherhood but there is an improvement none the less. The den defence minigame adds a nice strategic element and is a lovely break from the free roaming nature of the rest of the game. All in all, an absolutely fantastic game which furthers one of the best game series, not by much but still enough for it to be essential in any gamers collection.