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Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

When Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood came out last fall — just a year after Assassin’s Creed 2 — some feared it would be a quick-release stopgap rushed to market to capitalize on the massive critical and commercial success of its predecessor. Those fears were quickly quashed; not only was Brotherhood a worthy successor, it was the easily the best game in the series.
   
Now, here we are only a year later and once again we’ve got another Assassin's Creed — just in time for the holidays. Unfortunately, Revelations feels like a rushed-to-market throwaway.
   
The biggest problem is a clear lack of purpose to the plot. Brotherhood picked up the story where Assassin’s Creed 2 left off, continuing to follow the life of assassin Ezio Auditore so it could tie up any loose narrative threads. It was successful, which means right off the bat, Revelations has no need to exist. It’s continuing a story that has already arrived at its logical conclusion and is now simply spinning its wheels.
   
Gameplay wise, a few new ideas are thrown into the mix to try and shake things up but none are all that interesting; a mode in which you must defend thieves’ dens from attacking soldiers like in a top-down strategy game is no fun at all, while the introduction of bombs into combat couldn’t be more inconsequential. The game constantly encourages the use of these new explosives — your map is full of black-market dealers where you can buy new bombs; treasure chests filled with various bomb-making ingredients are everywhere; and the stations where you can build them seem to be located two metres apart from each other. However, the combat hasn’t evolved from the past two games to make them of any use — perfectly encapsulating why the game feels so disappointing.
   
What does feel like a leap forward in Revelations is the multiplayer, which takes the rough ideas from the online play in Brotherhood and refines them into one of the most unique multiplayer experiences out there. Every match is a group of assassins hunting each other down in a battle of wits and it’s refreshing to play a game in which deception is the most dangerous weapon at your disposal. If there is a reason to play Revelations, this is it.
   
After Brotherhood proved a fantastic sequel could be made only a year after its predecessor, it’s a shame Revelations comes along and reaffirms fears that a series being annualized will lead to disappointment. Assassin’s Creed is still one of the great modern video-game series, but Revelations will only be a minor footnote in its legacy.

Bits & Bytes
   
Tactical shooter series Rainbow Six will be returning in 2013 with Rainbow Six: Patriots, which will give players control of a counter-terrorism squad going up against a group of domestic radicals.

   
Mel Stefaniuk is a writer who can tell the difference between Mario and Sonic.