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Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Review

Though a must-play for fans, this entry advances the franchise with uneven results

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Just barely over one year ago, Assassin’s Creed II hit store shelves and made a huge impact on the gaming world. Taking the series from a fledgling IP with some interesting but flawed concepts to a true AAA title, it solidified the Assassin’s Creed series as an important and powerful member of the current generation and exemplified all that a truly great sequel should be. It was better in almost every regard than the original. Now it’s another year later, and Ubisoft has unleashed a third game in the series with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Is it a quick and sloppy cash grab or just as big an improvement over Assassin’s Creed II as that title was to the original?
 
The main motivation to play any game in the Assassin’s Creed series is the singleplayer campaign and its associated storyline. It’s why so many of us trudged our way through the repetitive and lackluster first installment and blew our way through the second. With Assassin’s Creed II’s story ending in such a final and thought-provoking manner pointing the narrative towards Desmond’s future storyline rather than back at Ezio’s, it was impossible for Brotherhood to pick up with any reasonably comparable amount of excitement and immediacy.
 
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
 
As quickly as you obtained the Apple of Eden at the end of Assassin’s Creed II, Ezio and his brethren lose track of it in a rather uncharacteristic and somewhat unbelievable lack of forethought. The game then relies on the tired and frustrating mechanic of removing all of the items and abilities you gained in the previous game and then asking them to regain them exactly in the manner you did before. The storyline here is frustrating and problematic, but ultimately, it is just boring, feeling like an epilogue to Assassin’s Creed II that has been stretched almost 20 hours long, rather than a compelling narrative in its own right.
 
Outside of the game’s fiction, many of the game’s most problematic mechanics have seen a lot of added polish and reworking. Combat now flows much more quickly than before. No more will you find yourself simply waiting for a chance to counter-attack each enemy one at a time. The ability to chain together series of assassinations and block-breaking kicks quicken the pace and make you feel more like a powerful assassin and less than a rat trapped in a corner.

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#2 Jan 4, 2011 12:44:59 (Jan 4, 2011 12:44)

kamikaziechameleon
This game starts off with a bang, but the story seems to go everywhere and when the game concludes(a very long winded 1hr plus conclusion) I was left utterly confused.  So many things happen in the last act or two that make no sense.  Gameplay wise this is AC at its best but the story for the franchise still kinda stinks a big one.  In the prior games the enzio and altair's conclusions made sense but in this one it makes no sense what is going on.  Then there is desmond and his story stinks more than ever but the good thing you can say for it is how you are able to opt out of it almost entirely with the begining and end being the exception.
#1 Jan 4, 2011 10:03:09 (Jan 4, 2011 10:03)

TheLazyPerfectionist
 I've just got this for Christmas and I'm absolutely loving it so far, more so than AC2. I admit that having the assassins do the work for you does feel a little cheap, but its still awesome seeing them dispatch of a load of irritating guards. My main gripe is that there's still no crouch button - ridiculous for a game that prides itself on stealth.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood box art Platform:
Xbox 360
Our Review of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
86%
Great
The Verdict:
Game Ranking
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is ranked #103 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #14 out of 103 games reviewed in 2010.
102. LittleBigPlanet 2
PlayStation 3
103. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
104. FIFA 11
PlayStation 3
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Screenshots

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
14 images added Dec 27, 2010 23:11
Videos
AC: Brotherhood - Story trailer
Posted: Oct 18, 2010 22:09
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