Assassin's Creed: Revelations is done. If you can recall my review of the last installment I said Brotherhood should not have been its own game due to lack of substance, but this one had more going for it. It explores not only Ezio's but Desmond's past, as well as concludes what happened to Altaïr after the events of the first game. Overall I found it a nice wrap up of the first two arcs, even though the last boss fight was just a ten-second punch out midair. Well, I guess it's better than Assassin's Creed II's boxing match with a fat man. Historically it's a shitfest, but we've come to expect that from Assassin's Creed from the get go.

What I hated most of all was "fixing" Desmond's brain. They did this via an abstract, first-person, platforming section. As you float through the air, dodging lasers, Desmond's monologue would appear and he would explain his past. This part was not fun or particularly revealing: He was raised an Assassin and ran away from home. Yay. I'm hoping this doesn't become a thing, kinda like sneaking did to the Zelda series, because that would be the death of me.

They introduced customizable bombs to this game, and clearly Ubisoft wanted you to use them. There were bomb sidequests, bomb refill stations placed strategically around the city, and often helpful hints would appear on the screen suggesting to use a bomb. I never did and just killed people instead outright. The crew from Brotherhood still exists, although there are long periods you can't use them. And I've noticed they're much more buggy, i.e. sometimes they would appear but just stand there uselessly as the enemy continues to swing at me. From my understanding the Assassins are a purist type of group who raise people from childhood or only recruit the best who are willing to fight and die for the cause. My experience so far however is just you find a woman who's good and pickpocketing, say your skills could be placed to greater use, and then she's in.

But the most asinine part was the DLC. At the end of Brotherhood, you're possessed and then stab and kill your girlfriend. No explanation, the game ends there. Revelations doesn't either... unless you play the DLC. You understand? An integral part of the plot isn't revealed to you unless you pay money for it. THAT is inexcusable.

At the end you find out what the Assassin's Creed games are about... which is pretty stupid, at least from what they're telling me now. An advanced civilization from thousands of years ago was completely destroyed by a solar flare and it may happen again. Yep. That's what we've been playing for up to this point. If you asked me from the first game years ago what I thought the secret behind everything would be, that was very far down the list right below Giant Onion Attack.

So yeah, I wouldn't say it was as compelling as Assassin's Creed II, but not as bad as Brotherhood. If you're into the Assassin's Creed games you pretty much have to play it, but you could do worse.