For those who don’t know, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is the third game in the series, the second starring Italian noble Ezio Auditore. The game begins right where Assassin’s Creed II left off, namely at your villa in Monterigionni. Suddenly, you are attacked by Borgia forces and forced to flee the villa for Rome without your equipment. The rest of the game is spent retrieving said equipment and consolidating your forces within Rome, disrupting the influence of the Borgia family as you go. Also, Desmond and the rest of the assassin gang in the real world have fled from Abstergo to the villa where they set up in hiding with the Animus.
The story in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood continues the story, tying in this new villain, Cesare, into the storyline set out by Assassin’s Creed II. Overall, I felt this game was better told than Assassin’s Creed II, and definitely easier to follow and really fleshed out the relationship between Ezio and the other assassins as well as what the assassin’s are all about. Ezio comes across as a much stronger character than in AC II, often playing the diplomat between the factions of the assassins, a very different person from the clueless young man in AC II. If there’s one guarantee I can make to you about this game, though, is that you will absolutely hate the ending (pretty much no different from the other Assassin’s Creed games).
In the graphics department, AC: Brotherhood is a gorgeous game with great textures and visually stunning vistas. Bringing Renaissance Rome to life is one of Ubisoft’s greatest achievements. The soundtrack and ambient sounds are also superb, featuring sweeping operatic vocals with strings and interesting NPC chatter.
Gameplay-wise, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is very much like Assassin’s Creed II with a few tweaks (all for the better). First, since Rome is such a large place, it became necessary to introduce horses and a better quick travel system (through tunnels spread throughout Rome). Rome, like Monterigionni, is upgradable, allowing you to open new shops and buy landmarks. Renovating Rome allows you to spread your influence and make money to buy weapons and armor. Combat has also been tweaked, you can now perform kill combos (after you kill one guard you can chain subsequent kills together to quickly clear out a group of enemies). Also, secondary weapons have been added to your sword (gun) and dagger (throwing knives), allowing you to use special attacks by holding down the attack button. Additionally, a poison dart shooter and crossbow have been added (the latter is necessary for quickly silencing the uber alert guards). The ability to call your assassin recruits is also very helpful, giving you even more power in your fight against the Borgia. Free running hasn’t changed much between games, but the AI is slightly better at judging where you actually want to go. The addition of Leonardo’s parachute later in the game also makes falling in the wrong spot avoidable.
There is also a multiplayer portion to this game. The main mode, Wanted, is a free-for-all type battle of cat and mouse. You try to assassinate a target while someone else tries to assassinate you, which you try to escape. Pretty simple premise for the most part and also a little bit of a gimmick that quickly becomes boring.
Overall, I highly recommend this game, probably one of the best releases of 2010. If you’ve never played an Assassin’s Creed game you should pick up Assassin’s Creed II and then play this, but the first game isn’t really necessary to know what’s going on.
9/10
yoda
Video Games, Star Wars, and Random Stuff 