Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Game Review

The Assassin's Creed franchise has been extremely successful since the first game was released in 2007. Assassin's Creed II followed up on it's predecessors success, improving on everything we loved about the first game and replacing what we didn't enjoy. Now fans have a new experience to look forward to, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. This is a continuation of the story in the second game and while fans might be disappointed that they will have to wait a little longer for Assassin's Creed 3, Brotherhood delivers yet another fantastic experience with multiplayer to keep fans happy for now.

Brotherhood might have a harder time proving it's worth, it's not set in a different time period and continues the story from Assassin's Creed II. One of the thing's i love about AC games is exploring for the first time and getting to see these beautiful cities. So when i am playing in a setting i spent countless hours on not that long ago, it makes everything feel slightly less astonishing. In Brotherhood the action shifts it's direction towards the capital of Italy, Rome. Like previous titles there's also a modern-day component. The game is once again framed by the on-going battle between the Templars and Assassin's, and players are actually assuming the role of Desmond who lives in the present day and is able to experience the memories of his ancestor Ezio using a device called the Animus. The game switches between the two time periods with the bulk of the action taking place in past-time, renaissance Rome.

Throughout the release and hype of Brotherhood, Ubisoft Montreal have stressed the fact that there will be enough new innovations and evolutions to keep the gameplay and overall game experience feeling new and fresh. They are not lying, there is just as much content here as in Assassin's Creed II. It's absolutely fantastic to see this level of work put into a game which is not a full title, reminds me of that hugely disappointing, lazy, and overpriced game "Halo ODST".

I won't spoil the ending of the second game, but just know Brotherhood picks up right where the second ended. The story picks up with Ezio ready for some well-earned rest, however, Cesare Borgia (son of Rodrigo Borgia) is ticked off and mounts a full scale attack on the Assassin's. The villa in Monteriggioni is destroyed and all the work you put into getting the best armour and weaponry in the second game are gone, just like that. It would have been nice to be able to start with everything you achieved in the second game but this is just what happens in video games.

This leaves Ezio with no other choice but to set off in the direction of Rome to deal with Cesare. The city is divided into 12 districts, each of which is overseen by a Borgia tower which represents the control Borgia has on the area. The people in the area are oppressed, shops remain closed, and soldiers are out in force. None of this will change while the towers remain standing. You're goal is to assassinate the tower's captain and burn it to the ground, the area will then open up for business. Ezio is then able to renovate blacksmiths, banks, stables, and much more. These all add to his income in much the same way that renovating Monteriggioni did in the second game. The more shops that are open, means the more items and perks Ezio will get. With every bank that opens, Ezio can carry more cash. The more tailors you have, the more throwing knifes Ezio can hold. There is an extremely rewarding feeling every time a tower crumbles into ash and this is why the game can be so addictive at times. Each defeated tower will open up another assassin appreciation spot as well, so there are plenty of rewards to make all you're hard work feel worthwhile.

An important factor to note, while Borgia towers are a key element to Brotherhood's structure, you can complete the game without ever dealing with one of these towers. These towers determine how hard it will be to complete missions in that area, and what good you will have as an Assassin. So technically you don't need to burn any of these down, however, if you do you will be greatly rewarded for you're efforts.

So how do you get to each captain? well, that's up to you. Each tower is surrounded by a compound where the guards are on high alert, so it's up to player's to work out the best path for each captain. There are a few easy towers but for the most part they are quite challenging and more importantly, it's fun. The tense stealth approach can take allot of patience but the reward is worth it, i was tempted at times to strike a guard and had to hold myself back.

As with most other open-world games, allot of the player's time will be spent on missions which don't advance the plot. The game is extremely addictive and at times you will find you're self spending hours and hours just searching for hidden treasure chests, taking on assassination contracts, doing missions for various guilds, or just exploring and climbing the beautiful landmarks (Coliseum) and environment.

Leonardo da Vinci is back as well and with more weapons for Ezio, he has also been pressured into creating war machines for Cesare. It's up to Ezio to destroy these plans and prototypes. You will find you're self mounted on a horse and cart while wielding a chain gun, piloting a boat with a naval cannon, gliding about in the paraglider (modified to fire bombs) and manning a renaissance-era tank. These new additions add a great deal of variety to the gameplay and help break up the pacing of the action, they will feel like frantic high paced car chases from a Hollywood movie at times.

The three major changes are, The Assassins guild, the tweaks to the combat, and the ability to ride you're horse anywhere. Recruiting assassin's, who can be called upon at the press of a button is obviously the biggest one. Witch each tower destroyed, a slot opens up for Ezio to recruit regular citizen of Rome. Calling an assassin is as simple as clicking the LT/L1 button on the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 controllers. It's extremely fun to watch the different way's you're assassin's will take down the selected victim, it really feels like you are the powerful leader of some underground organisation. Once you have six assassin's you have three groups that can be called, with a cool=down period of a few minutes for each.

Assassins gain experience through combat but they can also be sent off around Europe to complete various contracts. The greater the difficulty of a mission, the higher the XP and cash reward will be. If you are willing to gamble on a lower assassin completing the tougher challenges then you could end up with an extremely experienced assassin rather quickly. These assassins can die but it's very rare, so there is not much to worry about unless it's a tough contract.

The assassin recruits also help give a sense of scale to this fight, no longer is it just one man, now with the help of a city Ezio can take down this ruthless tyrant. It makes everything just feel much bigger, and more like a war. The only downside to having all these assassin's at you're command, is that it lowers the difficulty of the game. Assassin's Creed II was a tough game and extremely challenging in some areas, this game does have some hard moments but for the most part it will feel allot easier than the previous two games in the franchise.

The assassin's are not the only new addition making Brotherhood feel too easy. The inclusion of the crossbow, a personal favourite of mine, means you no longer have to watch you're step on rooftops. In the past games you would sneak up on a guard or hang from a rooftop before pulling him off, not any more, now just simply target them from another rooftop and fire you're trusty crossbow. This does feel very satisfying and it's allot of fun to do, but the Assassin's Creed games have always been about a sneaky stealth approach. Now it just feels a little too easy.

I should also mention that looting dead guards body's is far more rewarding than in ACII, you can top up on smoke bombs, crossbow bolts, poison, bullets and medicine with ease. Compare this with the significant financial investment and effort required to stay topped up in the first game, and everything begins to feel like a walk in the park.

Combat in Brotherhood is absolutely fantastic, as usual with an Assassin's Creed game. Dodging and countering may be two simple thing's, but in AC games they just feel extremely satisfying and fun to pull of correctly. Now however, Ezio can also kick people which staggers them and leaves them open for an attack. This new addition to the gameplay opens up the combat system in many way's and allows player's to string combinations together with much more ease.

The highlight would have to be the sub-weapon, why just stab someone with a sword or dagger when you can shoot them in the face after slashing their neck. These new combo kills are brutal, thrilling, and will never get boring or repetitive thank's to the many beautiful realistic animations.

Ezio's ability's on horseback have also been greatly improved upon. Now he can take the horse almost anywhere within the city and summon one with the press of a button (PS3 triangle, 360 Y) as well as leap from one horse to another for a kill. There is also the option to stand on horseback and jump off so the developers certainly added allot of extra gameplay mechanics to the horse riding and they all work perfectly.

The massive city of Rome is an impressive sight, it looks gorgeous and it has all sorts of systems that can impact on Ezio and be used by player's. Killing people in public will raise you're notoriety, and guards will pay much more attention to you. To lower it you can do a few various thing's, rip down wanted posters, bribe heralds, or kill witnesses. You could always avoid this approach and just blend in with the crowds. While anyone who has played Assassin's Creed II will already know about the way Ezio can blend in with crowds, anyone who missed out on that game will find these ability's rather fun and enjoyable for a while.

But possibly the most exiting new addition to an Assassin's Creed game, is multiplayer. The multiplayer is inventive and extremely different from anything i have personally ever seen before. In a strange, but cool twist, you actually play as the bad guy's (Abstergo Agents) the modern day Templars. Turns out this is how they're training to hunt the assassin's.

Multiplayer is a simple but extremely effective concept. You are given a target to hunt, while also becoming a target for another player. So while you hunt you are being hunted at the same time. This felt really unique and i don't think there is anything quite like it. The radar helps you track you're target but the game takes place in bustling locations full of NPC's, giving you're target the opportunity to blend in with the crowds. Some special ability's give you the ability to transform all the people around you into an identical copy of you're self, making it much harder for whoever is pursuing you to find you. One ability even let's you change character models altogether which is really useful once you have been spotted, just loose you're pursuer and change character models so he was to find you all over again.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has four multiplayer modes. Wanted and Advance Wanted are both the same but with the latter being a slightly harder version with some tweaked rules to the action. They are both free-for-alls and extremely fun to play. Advance Wanted is my favourite because the radar only narrows things down to an area but doesn't give away who is the assassination target easily. This provides some of the most tense and patient games i have ever had on an online game. It would be constantly worried about making one slight awkward movement that would indicate my position to anyone watching. These two game modes are definitely a great addition and provide allot of extra hours of fun after the main game is finished. Alliance splits player's into partners of two, while Manhunt divides player's into two teams. In Manhunt one team hunts while one hides, the team who must hide gain points for remaining undetected and the closer they stay to one another, the more points they will earn.

Overall Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a fantastic package which contains just as much, if not more than AC2. The game looks outstanding and gameplay has been improved upon in a few critical areas. The game is quite easy in some areas and will not last too long but with multiplayer fans will surely be enjoying this game for months. The multiplayer is fantastic and really shows the potential Assassin's Creed 3 has to become something truly special.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a fantastic game and not to be missed 9/10