Ubisoft recently extended an invitation to Sony to head over to their offices and bear witness to the first few hours of Assassin's Creed: Revelations. After getting his hands on the game, Senior Social Media Manager of Sony Jeff Rubenstein is now providing answers to some of our questions for the much anticipated sequel.
Not only were they able to catch a first look glimpse of Assassin's Creed: Revelations gameplay, Rubenstein actually witnessed all of it in 3D. His response, "those leaps of faith are now even more impressive." He doesn't go any further in regards to the 3D presentation as he wanted to focus on answering fan questions which had a lot to do with the mechanics and features of the game.
And don't fret about spoilers, most of what is covered, like I said, has to do with gameplay and the story is mentioned rarely (you can learn about the story in the Extended Story Trailer.)
(Click on any of the images below to enlarge)
Here are a list of a few things that stuck out to Mr. Rubenstein:
- The control scheme has been revised, pushing Eagle Vision to L3. This frees up the Triangle button for secondary weapons such as daggers.
- Altair comes into play via flashbacks following the thrilling Masyaf key retrieval missions, which are the successors to Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood’s Lairs of Romulus.
- The game map now has a Google Maps-style satellite view that I enjoyed while skipping around the sprawling city of Constantinople/Istanbul.
- The Den Defense mission brought tower defense-style sequences that are completely unlike anything I’ve seen in the Assassin’s Creed universe.
- I saw someone actually *use* the Apple of Eden.
- I noticed some different UI in the Animus, and started to wonder why the interface was different (and no, Ubisoft wouldn’t tell me).
- I saw Ezio stab a dude with a guitar — I think they called them “lutes” back then.
On to some of the questions that fans have asked: In regards to Ezio's old age, Rubenstien points out the use of the hookblade and how versatile it makes him (as one could tell from a previous video using the hookblade.) The hookblade will give Ezio more reach and make the parkour experience more inventive. A few new moves also noticed were the ability to hook and run, a unique leg sweep, and chest stomp moves — he also comes well equipped with all of his infamous moves from previous games.
For those wondering if you can still call out other assassins to assist you, yup, it's going to be a part of this game as well. In Revelations, the system has been upgraded so when players recruit and send them around the Mediterranean on missions to level up, the recruits can achieve the level of "Master Assassin," who can then be assigned to protect Assassin dens, preventing further Byzantine attacks.
"There are also new challenges associated with these moves which yield tangible benefits. For instance, using your arrow storm and calling in your assassins a set amount of times will reward you with a faster recharging assassin signal, allowing you to use them more often. Similar challenges also applies to bomb usage and the various guilds, encouraging their use."
Aside from the additions of the hookblade and bombs, there are no other new weapons - but the bombs sound really interesting in how they can be customized. The bombs come in three different variations: lethal, tactical, and diversion. Players will be able to combine different shells (impact, tripwire, sticky), actions (explosion, stinkbomb, smokebomb), and explosion radii to help out in any situation. (Watch Ezio at work playing with his bombs).
Jeff also mentions that the trophy list is similar to that of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, with various multiplayer and single-player trophies. As for finding Leonardo DaVinci, he did not spot him on the map, but that does not mean that the possibility isn't out there.
Also reiterated was the fact that players who purchase Revelations for the PS3 will also get the original Assassin's Creed for free on the same Blu-ray disc.
With almost a month away, how excited are you for this title and the new gameplay features?
Be sure to check out the latest trailer and nab Assassin’s Creed Revelations when it releases November 15, 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
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Source: PlayStation Blog
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