So I spent a good part of my snow day morning struggling uphill with Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. My rage resulted in a review I've posted on Amazon. It is TOTALLY TL;DR worthy. You may SKIM it then.
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I know I'm going to get ostracized for saying anything bad about this game, so allow me to point out a few things first and foremost: I loved both Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed 2. I'm HOOKED to the series. When this title was announced I was a bit dismayed to find out it continued the adventures of Ezio Auditore da Firenze. I personally felt that his story arc was over and done with, and that UBI should have moved to the next of Miles' assassin's ancestors. I can understand why UBI would be quick to cash in on Ezio Auditore: he is an incredibly sympathetic character (compared to Altaïr Ibn La'Ahad, a mangy dog would come off as more sympathetic) and the Italy of the Medicis proved to be an incredibly fun setting for a game.It just seemed to me that aside from the DLC which I have yet to play, the story of Ezio was over. So this title felt like shameless cashing in, I felt like it would be fluff.
I then read that the greater story arc set in present day, detailing the struggle between the Assassin's and the Templars is somewhat progressed in this game,and there seems to be a twist at the end, so, begrudgingly, I bit and bought this game. So far, I am incredibly let down.
Now, this game is the most polished of all Assassin's Creed. The gameplay has finally hit its stride. The swordfighting, I feel, has finally answered the various claims that it was dull and repetitious. By including a variety of enemies as well as new weapons, and the ability to call upon your underlings, not to mention that enemies now will not (always) wait around until you dispatch one of their own to take a hack at you, UBI has effectively replicated swashbuckling in all its glory, I feel. There's a lot less of the old "jump exactly the opposite direction I intended Altaïr/Ezio to jump" that plagued the first two titles. UBI also added a feature to allow you to hotkey any four weapons/actions to the dpad, which I thought added more guesswork to your preference, but it also adds the element of 'on-the-fly' that Assassin's Creed 2 sometimes lacked. I do take issue with the horses in this game though. They kinda gallop at a lumbering pace. It could be said that it's because you're within Roma...well, what about on the outskirts? I dunno. One of my favorite things to do in the first two games was ride around, and get a sense of speed. Small issue, to be sure.
The graphics are as lush as Assassin's Creed II. I can't fault it for being exactly the same as before, seeing as how Assassin's Creed II was a very beautiful game, and still quite recent.
The soundtrack of the game is essentially the same, although I will say: there's a feature in the game that allows you to burn down watch towers to reclaim control of Roma in sections; whenever this happen, a dark, sinister theme would play. First few times it played, it was pretty cool. After the 5th or 6th time, it got old. Don't know why. The voice acting in this game is pretty uneven, in comparison to Assassin's Creed II. In ACII, the voice acting within the Animus was I would say top notch, if a bit comical at first. Outside the animus it was horrifyingly bad. This time around, the voice acting within the animus is some of the worst I've seen this gen, whereas the voice acting for the present day Assassin's was better, I feel.
As I've mentioned, this game introduces some new features, which I feel add to the gameplay in very refreshing ways. For one thing, you embark on rebuilding Roma, and reclaim it from the Borgia. You do this by capturing towers (sort of like the view points in the first two games), which normally entails killing a squad commander and then setting the tower on fire. Aside from the dark theme issue I already mentioned, this was probably my favorite addition to the gameplay. As you recapture more and more sections of Roma, you are able to renovate quite a number of things in the city: You can renovate shops, such as blacksmiths, art vendors and tailors, just like in ACII. You can also renovate doctor stands this time around, as well as well as stables, where you would be able to pick up a horse, and banks, where you can pick up your future deposits. You are also able to renovate entrances to the underground catacombs, which are then used as 'fast-travel' hubs in the city, derelict buildings which you can use as headquarters for either of your three allied factions (courtesans, thieves and mercenaries), and historical points of interest, such as the acueduct and the Colosseum. All these renovations of course bolster your money-generating capacity; the more you renovate, the more you earn. This was done to bolster what was considered as a flimsy economy in ACII. All it really does in my opinion is prolong the inevitable: that given enough grind, Ezio will have enough florins to fund a crusade or cure the bubonic plague. I've yet to renovate absolutely everything, but I have not found myself in need of picking pockets.
Another addition is the introduction of your assassin brethren. This is a great addition, but it gets old fast, and it actually becomes a crutch that the game, I feel, abuses. You rescue rebellious romans from the clutches of Borgia's men, and induct them as acolytes of the Assassin's. These newbs you can level up two ways: by either calling them into battle, where they will aid you with their great, or lacking, prowess. You can also simply grind assassin contracts. This is the safest way to level your assassins, and it's a great way to come by loads of cash, and special items. You simply select a mission, select up to five assassini to send, and voila, just wait until they report back to you (sort of like jobs in Final Fantasy Tactics) The more assassins you send on an assignment, the less exp each one gets. After some exp, they will go up a rank, up to the 10th rank, where they go through the rituals of becoming actual assassins. When you have enough assassins, at least six, you can call an 'arrow storm': your assassins will dispatch every enemy in the vicinity with unseen crossbows. This is pretty cool, although it feels cheap, but the cooldown is a lengthy one, so that offsets the 'awesome cheapness' effect. Otherwise, you can call upon your assassins three times consecutively, in groups of two. Your assassins level pretty fast and once they reach the level cap, they're pretty much indestructable, as long as you make sure you don't send them on suicide missions (and the mission will tell you the probability of success before starting, so it's a sure thing). You can recruit as many as 12 assassins, so once you get closer to that maximum, the whole recruiting new assassins is another grind. And, again, it's a great source of money and special items. These special items you can use to either sell them or as requirements for 'shop quests'- the vendors will often require special items to unlock certain special items, armor and weapons. This was also a welcome and refreshing addition, albeit, a bit difficult to complete thus far.
The biggest draw I would say is the multiplayer. There are no words to describe how FUN the MP is. I would say the experience is comparable to when Modern Warfare came out. It just blows you out of the water. I played one mode so far, Wanted. You basically have to find and execute your target, and you rack up points for the finesse with which you accomplish this. Of course, the twist is, you are also the hunted. I had my concerns of how a game where everyone is trying to stab everyone else in the back would work. The answer is, beautifully. You basically have to become an expert in subterfuge, and learn how to blend in, and not act erratically so as not to stand out. This is harder than it sounds. It's incredibly addicting, and nerve wracking. I would say the MP is the games shiniest prospect.
Which brings me to why I'm not giving this game full marks. First off, the story, so far, is INCREDIBLY weak. Aside fromt he political intrigue and tidbits of what seems like true speculative Renaissance history, the story itself lacks SO MUCH of what the first two games had, that I feel I'm basically plodding through to the end, so I can call it good and wait for ACIII. You attempt to retake Roma from the Borgia and his demented children. Ok. Um. And what does this mean for the greater arc of the game? With such a huge revelation at the end of ACII, why is this even relevant? Well, the game takes the time to explain why they are revisiting Ezio's past, but the reasons are so flimsy, it just screams ka-ching. So you go around eliminating personages of some importance to the Pope, and you uncover yet another plot of intrigue. It just doesn't feel cohesive though. Another set of missions have you working for Leonardo DaVinci, who asks you to destroy his inventions, comissioned by the Pope under pain of death; these missions, I feel, made at least some sense of WHY you were doing what you were doing. There was also a subplot of a secret sect, the Followers of Romulus, who don wolf-skins and live as wolves ( a far cry of the Cynics? I don't think UBI would have made that allusion intentionally) which feels, in all earnest, a bit disjointed from the rest of the storyline.
Finally, my biggest issue with the game is the mission mechanics. First off, this game is a direct continuation of ACII, and I would dare say it would be extremely difficult for a newcomer to simply pick up and play ACBR without any issues. The gameplay, and controls, are largely the same, and that's good, I feel. They did however set to make more varied missions, as this was one of the bigger complaints of AC and in a lesser way, of ACII. The result however, is a string of escort missions, of missions with obscure directives (Such as, kill the guards up ahead, but don't stray too far, but don't let the guards get too close, but don't let anyone see you kill the guards...in fact, just use your assassins, but again, don't get too close....) or missions with exacting auto-fails (you were seen? Fail. You stumbled? Fail. You fought? Fail) In the beginning, the game gives you a bonus (full synchronization) if you fulfill the mission within certain parameters, but later in the game, you fail a mission for reasons which oftentimes remained a mistery: I've had to fail missions repeatedly to find out WHY I was failing in the first place. Basically, the game does a lousy job of telling you what to do. And this is a departure, for the worse in my opinion, of the formula of the first two games. The first two games would allow you to accomplish missions in whichever way, some of which were incredibly graceless and brutish. This time around, you are left to divinate the ONE way to complete a mission.
I really hope that ACIII, whenever it comes out, does not take the exact same approach.
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