AC: Brotherhood Review
It has only been a year since the last Assassin title and know with a large emphasis on team mates and multiplayer is there enough to make this a must buy on your holiday list or is it just a quick cash in.
This game’s is a continuation of Ezio’s story, starting off with a quick recap of the first two games and then quickly getting back into the game play by starting just before the final cut scene in the second game ends. While they do a job of getting the overall idea of the game it will be easier to understand for those that are caught up with the entire story. After a great confusion of what to do after finishing his long quest Ezio decides to go home believing that his work is finally done but sadly that is not the case, with his villa under attack from Caesar’s Army and after doing everything you could, all that you worked so hard on in the second game are destroyed and to video game fashion during this you lose all of your money and equipment. After a terrible voyage you find yourself in Rome and with nothing but the devastation of what happened to your home only vengeance is running through Ezio’s mind.
When this game was first announced it was an intriguing idea to bring a co-op idea into the fast and intricate fighting style of this game. Along the way you will run into people that you can help and in turn they will work for you doing assignments all over the country earning you money and they experience. While there not running across the land you can call upon them to fight your enemies so you stay hidden or when there is just too many of them. They work magnificently, one call and from the top of buildings or behind ruins they will get rid of your targets and as fast as they got there they leave like true assassins. However while this is a good way to stay hidden it’s not really needed for any other reason than gaining more cash, fighting in this game is easier than the previous ones (if that is possible). Like before even if you’re completely surrounded enemies will wait and go one at a time so you can counter kill them, now when you get a kill you can go into a kill streak where ever enemy will die in a single hit and will never block making huge assaults a cake walk. Very quickly you are able to gain new items and weapons but outside of the hidden blade I doubt you will be using much of anything else, only on the fact that there is just no reason to. Other than that the rest of the game play hasn’t changed at all, which is good, why change what isn’t exactly broken.
Like the previous games the landscape is vast and just getting to the next mission or finding optional side quests can take quite a bit of time, and while that is a good opportunity to do some of the extras for those that want to progress in the story will be happy to find that there are passageways that will take them to any area in the game as long as they have been upgraded to do so. For this you will need money to buy them but you can also buy stores and landmarks all over Rome, while the last game did this it was way too easy for the small area of things to buy but now it feels far more worked out.
The obvious biggest change to this game is the multiplayer, which takes on a different idea compared to pretty much all other multiplayer games. Other games want to you running to kill your enemies and finish your objections as fast as possible; this game wants you to go as slow as possible. You are given the task of killing another person in the stealthiest of way not only because you get more points for it but because there are others out to kill you as well. For those that like to run around to find your target might not like this game for its all about blending in and moving as slow as possible to look like an NPC. Things like running, climbing or anything that you would do in the games single player is a definite give away to everyone else. Despite that, the multiplayer is actually pretty fun, planning routes and acting in ways you and the idea of humans doing their best to not be humans gives it a bit of depth that is quite a bit of fun. That’s not to say its without its problems, somewhat small maps making it easy to be killed because they saw you get someone else, and occasional spawning right beside your mark is a bit of an annoyance, other than that it’s a good addition to what they already give you.
With it originally looking like a multiplayer addition with a quickly thrown in story, it’s obvious we got so much more than that. A great story that helps the story and everyone in it, and a fun multiplayer that isn’t afraid to do its own thing, for those that haven’t tried these game yet now would be the best time.
I give an 8/10
