The gaming world at large has adopted the Assassin’s Creed games as the de-facto modern action adventure sandboxes they are. We have followed the series with great interest, and even though there has been numerous sequels we are still terribly excited by this year’s entrant into the series; Revelations.
We got our hands on the game’s multiplayer mode through Ubisoft’s PS3-exclusive beta and we were pleasantly surprised with what we played. Brotherhood’s multiplayer was a little side-distraction, and whilst it was fun enough it didn’t really have that little something extra to keep you playing. Going by the beta though, Revelations has improved on the multiplayer experience and provides you with more fleshed-out gameplay mechanics.
We played with the game’s wanted mode, where you have to kill target whilst avoiding being killed by your pursuers. It’s a fun if confusing little mode, as it’s not abundantly clear who you should be hunting. However, that’s part of the point as you’re all supposed to be assassins out and about on the day job so blending in is the name of the game. It’s quite odd though when some of the playable character models stand out from the NPCs (no long-con pun intended) whilst others look exactly the same as the AI folk. Regardless, it still presents an enjoyable challenge.
There are audio and visual clues when you get near your target/get hunted down so that helps, but there’s a large sense of tension in that anyone can randomly turn around and literally stab you in the back. Apart from that, this mode had all the usual bells and whistles you expect from modern multiplayer games such as point bonuses. Killing a higher-ranked assassin nets you more points, as does doing it in an original manner. Deathmatch mode follows the same rules, apart from the fact you’re not allowed to trigger chases or use a compass.
Next up is the manhunt mode, which pits one team against another with each team taking turns to pursue the other. This is where we personally had the most fun, as the points accumulate rather rapidly and the desperation one feels when chasing down a good for nothing assassin is terribly great fun. It’s here that you will get to see some of the game’s more expansive environments and experience more gameplay aspects.
We were impressed with the fluidity of the movement and just how fast you can traverse the landscape. It genuinely feels much faster than Brotherhood, so much so in fact that we’re wondering if this will be toned down a touch for the game’s story mode. For multiplayer, it makes sense as you blindly run around panicking about your next kill but it does make getting to each place ridiculously easy (especially when coupled with this mode’s instant win button: a massive radar).
On the whole then, Assassin’s Creed Revelations’ multiplayer is shaping up to be a sizeable piece of the final game’s package. The experience and unlock system have combined well with the refined gameplay to complete a surprisingly compelling experience. Whether or not it distracts you from Ezio and Desmond’s latest adventures remains to be seen, but we definitely recommend giving it a go.
