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E3 2011: Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Ubisoft's E3 demo shows off some of Constantinople and some of Ezio's new weaponry, as Assassin's Creed Revelations closes the book on Ezio Auditore's saga.

Ozzie Mejia

June 10, 2011 8:00 AM

QUICKTAKE: The Ezio trilogy concludes when the Italian assassin goes forth on his final adventure in Assassin’s Creed Revelations. This game takes everything great about the series and places it in a new setting, 16th-century Constantinople primarily, to close the book on Ezio and pave the way for the next chapter in the Assassin’s Creed story. THE DEMO: This demo fast-forwarded towards the latter half of Ezio’s adventure, as the assassin is in pursuit of one of his foes trying to flee the country with a valuable key. After meeting up with the Yusef, the leader of the Assassin Order in Constantinople, Ezio goes off on a mission to try and break a Turkish blockade to reach his own ship. Demonstrating the new hookblade attachment and the new zipline mechanic, the demo ends with Ezio reaching his ship and setting course back to Italy. THE DETAILS: After spending his first two adventures in Italy, Ezio now moves on to Constantinople in 1511. Having spent his entire life motivated by revenge, an aging Ezio comes to realize that he known next to nothing about the Assassins and what they stand for. A large part of the game’s quest consists of Ezio trying to learn more about what he has fought for, with many of his answers lying within the life of his ancestor, Altair. In terms of artillery, the game’s big addition is the hookblade, which is exactly what it sounds like--a hook embedded at the end of one of Ezio’s blades, concealed within his wrist. In addition to using it for assassinations, Ezio can also use the hookblade to make climbing easier, as it can be used as a grappling hook. Another new element the hookblade is used for is traveling by zipline. The ziplines are set up throughout Constantinople by the Assassin Order within Turkey and are used to move large distances quickly.

Ezio's story concludes in Assassin's Creed Revelations.

Some of the major elements of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood return, including the ability to have allies fighting along your side. Like all of the games that came before it, history plays a big part in Assassin’s Creed Revelations. The mission played out in the demo saw Ezio trying to escape a blockade, set up by raising a giant chain that extended across the pier. The Turks in this time period used this method in order to cut off enemy fleets and prevent them from moving forward. As Ezio mounted enemy ships, he found a Greek fire cannon. Greek fire was a naval weapon similar to napalm, used to set fire to enemy fleets and would continue to burn, even while underwater. The historical setting also serves as a contrast to Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. While Brotherhood was set in a declining Roman landscape with the object to renovate it as much as possible, Revelations features Constantinople at its peak. While I wasn’t shown any playable moments with Altair, the game’s mission design director, Falco Poiker, noted that Altair’s missions would be played out as Ezio’s memories. Pointing out the similarity to the movie “Inception,” Poiker said Altair would be played out as a memory of Ezio, who in turn is a memory of his descendant, Desmond. A portion of the game featuring Desmond was also shown, but I’ll refrain from going into detail on that, as it contains major spoilers for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. When asked if Altair’s missions would contain the exact same style of play of the first Assassin’s Creed, Poiker answered that Altair’s missions are being refined to fit the evolving control mechanics of the series--however, that is currently a work in progress. Assassin’s Creed Revelations is expected to arrive for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 this November. Watch the Shacknews E3 2011 page to follow all our coverage of this year's show. You can also subscribe to it with your favorite RSS reader.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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June 10, 2011 8:00 AM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, E3 2011: Assassin’s Creed Revelations.

Ubisoft's E3 demo shows off some of Constantinople and some of Ezio's new weaponry, as Assassin's Creed Revelations closes the book on Ezio Auditore's saga.
- cptstern
  
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  June 10, 2011 8:02 AM
  
  Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks
- Mrc32
  
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  June 10, 2011 8:28 AM
  
  I can't wait. Easy buy for me on Day one.
- Haxim
  
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  June 10, 2011 8:48 AM
  
  I will play this.
- [deleted] 322056910
  
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  June 10, 2011 3:06 PM
  
  [deleted]
- vandelehart81
  
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  June 12, 2011 4:33 AM
  
  Looking forward to this!
  
  I hope after Ezio's story is complete they set the next Assassin's Creed in Russia. The events surrounding Rasputin seem like a good fit with the Apple.
- InkedPhoenix
  
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  June 12, 2011 7:06 AM
  
  Want.