Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Review
Assassin’s Creed is a perfect example of seeing developers learning and refining their game with each iteration. The jump from the original to AC2 was incremental to say the least, and Brotherhood is a total refinement of the improvements they made in that game. That does however, make Brotherhood a little less impressive than its predecessor was and makes the core mechanics which the game is built around age quicker than they would otherwise.
The biggest draw in Brotherhood is the story, seeing the further development of Ezio’s character as he accepts the increasing amount of responsibilities that he must take on. The game picks up literally on the final note of AC2 and wastes no time getting straight to the point of the game. You have an entire new city to explore (Rome) and it looks simply beautiful. The odd person or building can look pretty rough around the edges, but it’s really hard not to lose yourself in the world.
Getting around said world is much easier this time, you can now call for a horse whenever you want and ride it through the streets. Which admittedly can be awkward, but is still much faster than walking or climbing over buildings. There is also a fast travel system in the form of underground tunnels, these need to be unlocked by burning down Borgia control towers and are dotted around all over the map. The Borgia towers are a nice addition as they add in some combat sections to the viewpoint synchronisation. Which is still one of the best things to do when you’re not stabbing dudes. There’s also a plethora of shops for you to buy and renovate to increase your income, this is a good system, but it doesn’t take long to net serious cash and makes supplies rather trivial.
The dungeons also make a return from AC2, but take the form of sub missions. They manage to combine a good variety of the games mechanics and even make better use of them than some story missions. Some of which do feel more like side missions that are there to simply pad out of the game time, but there’s not enough of these to considerably lower the quality of the experience.
There have been some slight improvements made to the combat in Brotherhood, most notable of which is the kill streak system. By successfully executing an enemy, you can target another during the animation and immediately kill them afterwards. This can be done for as long as you pull it off (or there are enemies present), but the un-responsive controls take away a lot of the fun from this addition. The climbing is exactly the same as it was in AC2, but the system feels decidedly more erratic than before. Especially seeing as there are several sections where rapid direction changes are required, something which the system cannot handle very well and often results in frustration. The combination of these two main problems is largely why Brotherhood feels a little dated, they are by no means game breakers, but they certainly highlight the area in which the game is severely lacking in comparison to what others have done in the genre.
Multiplayer has found its way into the Assassin’s Creed franchise with this instalment. I didn’t get much time with it simply because I couldn’t find that many games. That being said, what I did play was pretty refreshing, it has a much slower pace than the vast majority of other multiplayer experiences. Taking a slow approach to assassinating your target has the biggest reward and acting like you’re supposed to be an A.I. character is much harder than you might think.
Brotherhood is not going to change anyone’s mind who doesn’t already enjoy Assassin’s Creed, the core gameplay is still the same and the story and setting are easily the biggest attractions. Brotherhood undeniably makes less of an impression than AC2, and that is really what makes the game age because there has only been a year between the two. That being said, if you enjoy what Assassin’s Creed offers, then there is no reason you shouldn’t play this latest instalment.
