Land of Plenty
You've grown with Ezio Auditore through the ages creating his own legacy past that of Altair into an old man with his own history. He's slower, more conservative with his movements but the grace he displays harks to the old adage of Youth and Energy vs Old age and Treachery.
The game was another look at rapid release of games from Ubisoft. Again that come out swinging with some new features and old winners.
GAMEPLAY
The movement, deep sandbox areas, and combat have improved. New features such as a tower defense mini game, bomb crafting are nice additions and somewhat flawed but showing that the developers are willing to grow. The Desmond files are neat little additions but I never felt like I have to play them. The last few still wait for me to pick up and finish. The combat is just as much fun as AC:2 and AC:BH, with it's same flaws but rewarding style and flair that keeps looking more polished.
The collectibles were simple and easy, the 100 data fragments are nothing more then an achievement grab and feels like a return to the flag hunting mess of AC:1. The parchments were a nice touch but only laziness keeps a players from collecting them all early in the game after getting the map to unlock the uber armor of the game.
I liked the challenges of each of the guilds, the unlocked weapons, abilities and guild powers were neat but I didn't explore it until after the game was completed. It's sad they could have been such a vehicle for a deeper experience with the various sister factions and allies, making more missions and encouraging players to use the guilds outside of the familiar boxes of the past. I'm surprised with the lack of guild involvement, other then a single set of missions for the courtesan replacements, there is no engagement with the other factions unlike AC:2 and AC:BH. I had no direct character to become familiar with, making for no encouragement to explore what they could do for me.
I liked the new gameplay features; tower defense and bomb crafting but it got quickly annoying the frequency that I was pulled from my own objectives to save my lair. Felt a little like GTA 4's buddy system. I was always looking for heralds to keep the fuzz off my back and that took away the sandbox feel. Some of the rewards for side missions could have been used to expand the level of defenses, while improved relations with the other guilds could have unlocked more units. But since you're not forced to play the tower defense game they it would have been a waste.
That's the largest note. The game seems fragmented, with so many new features I would have expected them to be more connected and explored allowing for a more expansive game. It's not bad nor does it make the game poor, just wasteful. It's a waste and a shame that the new features could not have been a more complete and balanced part of the whole game. I expect that's whats left on the cutting room floor and it's too bad.
Eagle Vision is the superpower of the DNA line of Desmond and the rest. I like how it distinguished him from other superpowered characters of comics and film. He sees weird stuff and it's helpful. It's not healing factor or lazer beams in his eyes. Its a simple unique advantage that used so well in the series.
Otherwise the horse carriage levels were boring until you were put on a rope or in the sky and more annoying then rewarding. Leaving a taste of getting through it so one could enjoy the meat of the game. The dungeon levels were well crafted if not short and too few. Again I'll chalk that up to lack of time with the developers. There was no big puzzle sections which I found was a good move but it did feel like the game was missing something else. Instead of 4th wall breaking off twisters some more puzzles for Ezio to solve to show off his age and wisdom would have been a nice change of pace.
PRESENTATION
Getting old and less polished, many times I felt that the older AC games looked better close up. The music was striking at times and has been a bit more memorable then in past games. The voice work and dialogue gets top marks as per expectations from this series.
STORY
Beyond the issues with the gameplay that explored only a bit above, the reason why I sat down with the game and made me play through the game was the story. It was nice to see what's been going on with Altiar without having to play the portable games. His sections really made me look at the character like the rest of Ezio's brotherhood. He seemed like a true mentor. It was always a mystery on how the brash hero of the AC:1 became the great mentor and so revered outside of just getting the Apple. Exploring more of what happened between the windows of time would have been nice but I'm glad they cut it as short as they did without ruining what they had with a longer less polished product.
Ezio was fun to play as the old man and I found myself with Wiki every night after playing looking up on how the people at Ubisoft use the history and created such a fun story. I really wanted to see the end of the story with Ezio and Altiar and felt it was a fitting end to their individual stories. Plus the meta story reveal at the end makes me wonder what's next.
FINAL
The game finally felt rushed and just hit the limits of the pace the development team had set. I'm glad next year I'll have a break for my mid Nov game. I'm glad I played it and the previous games and I'll have fond memories. Hell I got all the Achievements for AC:2 and the multi player option is neat and adds some life to the game. Maybe we'll get some more DLC unlike the single extra plate with AC:BH. I dunno but good run folks at Ubisoft.
I look forward to the next game.
I trust the creed.