I think I’m in a minority here – I’m one of the few gamers on the planet who has never played an Assassin’s Creed game before. They always tend to get released in silly season – towards the end of the year – when the videogame market is saturated in new releases. As such, I’ve always had my time occupied with other games...

So it’s nice to be able to finally try one out and see what the hype and praise for the series is all about. Revelations is the fourth game in the series and it follows a branch of the story that began with Assassin’s Creed II – once again the play controls a pretty generic young man called Desmond who must experience the “genetic memories” of an ancestor – the charismatic Italian Assassin, Ezio Auditore. Through a computer / plot device called the Animus 2.0, Desmond can relive the life and times of his antecendent member of the Assassins.

After a brief set of tutorial levels, the action swiftly moves to Constantinople aka Istanbul. It’s a stunning setting – a vibrant beautiful city, at the height of the Ottoman Empire’s power. It also provides a backdrop for yet another game that involves free-running around roof tops and group brawling.

Your Local Guardian: Review - Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Xbox 360 version tested)

Uncharted 3 and Arkham City have already provided plenty of this already in 2011 – so it’s interesting to compare AC:R to them – and in terms of raw gameplay mechanics AC:R works very well. The combat is more varied then both of the other games, there are far more actions available to the player and an experienced player can really execute a lot of versatile and creative attacks, distractions, explosions and so forth.

The only fly in the ointment for me was that this extends to climbing and running also – on too many occasions I would simply try to scale a building, only for the control scheme to automatically change when I walked up to the side of a wall – instead of climbing I would end up jumping away and falling into the streets below. There were so many choices in terms of action that I would often end up choosing the wrong one.

But these sorts of controls can offer real depth to an expert gamer. My other brother-in-law Tony is a lifelong Assassin’s Creed fan, he’s unlocked every single achievement for every single title. This is the kind of depth he would relish and appreciate in a way that more casual gamers might not get.

So Ezio, our avatar’s avatar arrives in Constantinople, making new friends and enemies, acquiring new armour and weapons and exploring the evocative backdrop of the city. One change to his loadout is the hook-knife. Quickly at the beginning of the game, one of Ezio’s trademark concealed sleeve knives is broken, so on one hand it is replaced with this. As the character Yusuf explains in the game “…it is composed of two parts. The hook and the knife.” Aha. But this proves to be a handy tool, to climb up walls like a cat’s claw or even to zip line along washing lines etc.

It’s a convincing game world though, with plenty of free exploration, action, intrigue and historical glamour. There is also a very substantial multiplayer mode – improved further upon last years. This has a free-roaming mode at its heart as before, but it also includes Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes. There’s a decent ranking system at its core and, like Uncharted 3, will provide a lot of longevity once the campaign is completed.

Overall, then, I liked it. It really does transport the player to another place and time. It shows the historical glory and splendour of the Ottoman Empire, while providing cutting edge stealth and free-running action. I knew I had been neglecting a very important series of games by not playing the prequels – I’m glad to have had the chance to get to know them now.

8.5/10

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is out now for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3