Review: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood manages to do two things. The first is to take the top spot of my favorite gaming series (which was a big chore considering it was CastleVania for the past 15 years) but it also manages to improve on a game that also improved on the original. While it doesn’t fix everything – Ubisoft deserves massive credit for being able to step up the series yet again and improve on an already great game. And it also introduces a new style of multiplayer. Flawed, but still fun and addictive.
- The game is massive. You have a lot of stuff to do. When you clear all of the main missions, you’re a mere 50% of full completion.
- The game adapts a Grand Theft Auto mindset – meaning that there is a large variety of things to do. Whether virtual training, helping out your various factions or renovating the area or playing the main missions … AC:B offers a lot of variety.
- The music is astounding. Assassin’s Creed and Jesper Kyd have been able to pull off an amazing and emotional soundtrack. Guaranteed, if it’s not bought off my wishlist, I’ll own all three game albums by 2011.
- The structure of the game feels solid. That sounds weird, but it’s a living, breathing world and Ezio is handled [for the most part] with relative ease. I also love the detail put into his outfits and love the fact that every weapon has a place on his suit. (He doesn’t just pull a dagger out of nowhere … it’s next to his sword.)
- Multiplayer brings a new mode that I’ve never encountered before … essentially cat-and-mouse where you are hunting someone, while being hunted at the same time. The game also has two other modes … alliance, pitting three groups of two against each other (Group 1 is to kill Group 2; Group 2 is to kill Group 3; and Group 3 is to kill Group 1) and Manhunt, where you play two rounds – one as the attackers and the other with you blending into the crowd to try and not be killed.
- Ubisoft has been able to pull off fast-paced platforming with relatively low frustration. It’s not 100% perfect, but there are many objects for you to choose from that lets you jump from place to place with relative ease.
- Fighting has been improved. You now have the option to do numerous executions back to back instead if beating someone down or playing the “block/kill” game with five enemies. And given your large arsenal of weapons, the deaths are creative.
- The idea that the story is blended into real-life events is a fun take on the era – an era that wasn’t really touched in gaming until the second installment of the series. The fact that you talk to Leonardo da Vinci and Machiovelli is just kinda’ cool. And the idea of conspiracy and whatnot makes it fun. While Ezio may not have existed, the Borgia family did. And the main antagonist, Cesare Borgia is portrayed in the game as he was portrayed in real life.
- As stated before, Ubisoft – for the most part – gets fast-paced platforming done well. However, when you’re in a chase or when you really need the platforming to be spot-on, it seems to fail and you often find yourself missing that jump that you KNOW you should have made.
- The game’s “tutorials” are done poorly. For the most part, I found that I was told what to do in certain situations in the heat of the moment. If games are going to insist on in-game tutorials, they need to be taught when you have time to practice … not when you’re running after someone.
- While the concept of the multiplayer is great … it seems that the backend of it isn’t. I will often time find my target beneath me, but I’m unable to do an aerial kill … yet when in the same situation – just reversed – I am easily killed. So I avoid aerial kills when necessary because they’re unreliable. Getting a game going is a huge pain. It’s bad enough that it takes forever just to find a full group – but the game doesn’t force players to select their preset attacks via a countdown – meaning someone can be away from the game and everyone else will be waiting on just one person. I really, really hope this gets patched soon.
- Load times aren’t that great – and a hefty install doesn’t make it any better. When the game is running on the open-world, the initial loads from starting a major quest or major sidequests is a bit too much.
Positive Points: 8 | Negative Points: 4 | Final Score: +4
Again, considering the grand scope of the game – this is still a very impressive game in my opinion. Ubisoft was able to come through again and take the series and improve on it instead of just sitting where it was at. Don’t get me wrong – most game controls and graphics remain the same … but they have essentially taken everything and improved on it. Personally, I think this game deserves to be Game of the Year.
It’s argued that Ubisoft is taking the Activision route and making yearly installments of the game and not giving the series some breathing room. But like most commentors have said … if Ubisoft continues to improve on the games like they have with AC2 and AC:B, then I welcome yearly games from this series with open arms.
Luckily, another game has already been announced.
