Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Essentially an expansion to Assassin's Creed II, but as a full game. It plays the same and looks quite similar, but it's all accompanied with improvements. The gameplay is smoother and the visuals are sharper, but there's more.

I like to look at Brotherhood as a hub or platform of content - because it kind of is. There are TONS of various side quests and collectibles to keep the sandbox compelling. Some of the content offers some fun and unique gameplay opportunities, while others allow for more worldbuilding and storytelling. It's kind of overwhelming how much content this game has, and that's not even counting the expansions.

The main campaign is also pretty solid from a gameplay and mission design standpoint - and thank goodness we can replay story missions again. But the biggest gripe I have with Brotherhood is the story. While Assassin's Creed II's story wasn't perfect, it had memorable characters, a compelling plot, and just some good writing. A lot of Brotherhood's story feels a bit rushed. Certain plot points aren't that well fleshed out, story arcs get wrapped up quickly, and characters don't really develop all that much. When it comes to playing through missions, there is the addition of optional objectives that add to the overall completion of the game. They are fun and add some replayability to accompany the replayable story missions (and some of the side missions). But when you fail an optional objective, the only way to try again is to completely restart a mission instead of from a checkpoint (which there are plenty throughout missions). The more challenging optional objectives become MUCH more frustrating and tedious because of this flaw.

The greatest aspect of Brotherhood is the gameplay. While it all feels like Assassin's Creed II, there are some improvements that add to the fluidity of things. Most notably is the chain kill system. To spare the clunkiness of combat, players can now chain together finishing blows on multiple enemies in fluid motion (as long you're not hit or interrupted). This makes combat feel more stylish and snappy. There's also the addition of hiring recruits to assist with getting rid of enemies - while I barely used this mechanic, I appreciate the effort. While the parkour is largely the same as ACII, it does feel a bit smoother with a world that feels more consistently designed for it.

The visuals have also seen very noticeable improvements. Character models look much sharper and the lighting looks pretty great at times. While the setting isn't my favorite, I do have to applaud some of the environmental design.

Speaking of the setting, there's something about the map of Rome that just leaves me feeling conflicted. It's not a bad open world or sandbox by any means, but I never really found it as intriguing as Venice or Jerusalem. The aesthetic of Rome (from the urban landscapes to the countryside) are fine, but admittedly a bit basic compared to what came before.

In the end, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a noticeable improvement over its predecessor, but it isn't perfect. The variety and quantity of content is impressive. The visuals are a good improvement. But the story leaves a bit to be desired, and I personally didn't find the setting to be that engaging.

I love Assassin's Creed Brotherhood! This one was definitely one of my favorites! I really enjoyed the sword fighting combat. I really enjoyed the aspect of creating your own Assassins and then calling them in as reinforcements. I loved raising up money and then purchasing all the different stores like blacksmiths, and tailors. The missions when you went to drive around in the different creations of Leonardo Da Vinci was very fun and cool. The music sounded beautiful. The scenery was beautiful and well detailed. All the different outfits were cool and fun to wear. Therefore I loved Assassin's Creed Brotherhood! Have a great day and goooo Assassin's Creed Brotherhood!

I was very impressed with Assassin's Creed 2, which picked up on everything that worked about the original game and turned out an overall beautiful sequel that improves in every category. Brotherhood is not as much of a leap forward, but it didn't need to be. It makes welcome additions to the mechanics and overall game quality, though, and continues a story very much in the same spirit as it's predecessor, blending the beautifully-executed Renaissance-era Rome and Ezio's effortless charisma, with the modern-day intrigue and heady mystery of Desmond's modern-day fight against Abstergo.

STORY: In both timelines, this game picks up exactly where AC2 left off; with Desmond and co on the run after Abstergo raids their hideout, and with Ezio in the vault beneath the Vatican following his battle with Rodrigo Borgia. The opening sequences make for a great welcome back to prime the player for another adventure in both timelines. From there, the pacing is very well-done, drawing focus to the main story when necessary, but never unnecessarily closing off the open world to the player. Overall, I found this story a little easier than that of AC2 to follow the first time around, possibly because I was already familiar with the cast of characters. Ezio's story ends in a decently satisfying way, and never seems to get less compelling. Desmond's story remains fairly static until the very end, per the game's internal logic, until, just like in the previous game, it kicks off a crazy ending that leaves the player with many more questions than answers. I can't imagine what it must have been like to play this game back in 2010 and have to wait a year for the follow-up.

GRAPHICS: The trailer for this game, as with the rest of the series, boasts insanely realistic graphics, and the gameplay pales in comparison to it. That's why I'm grateful for more modern trailers that clarify that the footage was captured from a console. For 2010, the graphics are decent, but in 2023 they're nothing to write home about. They're not BAD graphics by any stretch, but they don't hold up to some other games of the time (God of War 3, for example).

GAMEPLAY: There are a few additions to gameplay mechanics here - nothing reinvents the wheel, but they don't need to, and the changes are mostly welcome. My favourite change is the ability to use the titular brotherhood, and send other Assassins on contracts and missions around the entire world, bringing in passive income and generally boosting the immersion of being a leader in the Assassin movement. There is also a general improvement to some of the navigation and UI like the weapon wheel that just makes the game a little easier to use. The one change I'm not really in love with is the addition of 100% sync goals, bonus objectives that aren't necessary but that I feel the need to accomplish, which makes a handful of missions frustratingly difficult. However, the feeling of accomplishment from getting that 100% sync is very gratifying.

OVERALL: AC: Brotherhood is a worthy successor to AC2, with another captivating story and cliffhanger ending, and small improvements here and there to keep the gameplay immersive and fresh. Playing in 2010 may not have felt like a mechanical leap forward players might have hoped for, but playing the games back to back on The Ezio Collection keeps them all feeling very consistent. 9/10, a great addition to the series.

This game is amazing. It introduced some Ai team mechanics which made the game fun for a long time. The story was incredible as always.

I am a big fan of AC. I loved the first game, and I loved the second. Now, for the third game (AC:B), I thought it is quite similar to AC2, but do not get me wrong, if I say it is as good as AC2, I mean it's a great game.

What I loved mostly about this game is that the whole story was in Roma. You did not have to go from one city to another like the previous games. As for the weapons, I was hoping for much more weapons, but yet, the weapons were amazing. I believe it is a bit more difficult than the previous games, but still not very complex. I hate games that are very difficult, which keeps me in a frustrating state.

I was hoping that the player could have control of more than one character (not only Ezio), but this did not happen. Although you can do it in the multiplayer game, but not the main game. Maybe this is something that Ubisoft should look into when designing their next game.

Excellent job Ubisoft. We will be waiting for the next game.