Factions, Romulus lairs and full synchronization
The main storyline has Ezio gaining the support of the thieves, mercenaries and courtesans and reclaiming control of Rome district by district. The primary quest is cutscene heavy, but free (almost entirely) of the quick-time events that irked me in Assassin’s Creed II.
It is the secondary quests that make up the bulk of the game, however. There are ten puzzle sequences, or clusters, to find and complete around Rome. They are completely optional, are occasionally difficult, and add another few hours of gameplay to Brotherhood.
The Romulus lairs take the place of the assassin tombs and Templar lairs from Assassin’s Creed II, with the same irritating fixed camera angles and insane amounts of beam jumping.
The Romulus lairs feature more swordfighting than the tombs of Assassin’s Creed II, but are less challenging – at least until the fixed cameras make using keyboard controls clunky and tedious. You can also relive some of Ezio’s past memories that we missed out on in Assassin’s Creed II, which focus on his turbulent relationship with Cristina.
Done all those? Destroy war machines, complete all the faction quests and collect all the feathers and flags. And those? Well, now replay all your memories and try to get fully synchronized on each. Each quest you do, both primary and secondary, has optional objectives attached to it, such as “do not kill anyone” or “complete within x seconds” or, my favourite, “do not be detected.”
This system encourages you to vary the way you play the game, and sometimes adds a second layer of difficulty for those of us who like the extra challenge.
Building a Brotherhood
The final key gameplay addition adds a little dash of strategy and RPG to the world of Assassin’s Creed. Over the course of the game, Ezio is able to build up his own Brotherhood of assassins who can either be sent off on contracts around Europe for money and items, or can be called upon to help out in combat.
As they level up, the recruits’ armor and weapons need to be upgraded and they’ll be able to deal with tougher foes and trickier contracts. If you have enough assassins who aren’t out on contracts, you can command them to unleash a storm of arrows on masses of unsuspecting guards. This is a great new mechanic that shows how Ezio has grown and developed as a character, and it’s pretty awesome to have a small army of ninjas under your command, too.
The icing on the cake?
Brotherhood is in every respect a better, deeper, more polished game than its predecessor. Ubisoft successfully identified ways to get the most content packed into a game with limited development time by reusing old areas and adding many forms of similar gameplay and quests within these areas. The addition of multiplayer, where each player has to locate and assassinate their target, fits nicely, rather than feeling tacked on.
There are still plenty of gaps to fill. In Revelations, I hope to see the assassin recruits remain but have greater customisation and progression. Horse riding is far too clunky, as is swimming.
The full synchronization concept should be expanded to feature several different levels, such as “not detected,” “detected once” or “detected multiple times,” allowing players to aim for secondary targets if they fail full sync.
Still, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood had many memorable moments. I wandered into a new area of Rome and the local gang descended upon me, thinking Ezio would be easy to mug. It was unexpected and left me slightly confounded for a few seconds. Rome was a desperate city that needed saving.
Brotherhood also contained one of the best entrances for any character ever. Ezio hears noises coming from a cardboard box. In a brilliant homage to one of Metal Gear Solid’s most enduring moments, it signals the entrance of Leonardo da Vinci into Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. I think I laughed until I cried.
Brotherhood is my favourite of the series so far. The scale of Rome is incredible, and you are able to ride all the way around it with no loading screens, and nothing telling you you’re going in the wrong direction. It is easily the most “open world” of the three games I’ve covered so far, and I love that.
The storyline is still linear and the gameplay straightforward, but there’s a huge range of choice of how to go about completing the missions. When the game ends with the death of Cesare Borgia at Ezio’s hand and the apparent death of Lucy at Desmond’s hand (thanks to the Apple of Eden), you’re left desperate to know what happens next.
If you don’t like conspiracy theories, then this isn’t the game for you. For the other 99.9% of the population, it might be worth taking a leap of faith into the world of Assassin’s Creed.
What did you think of ‘Brotherhood’?
Next time we reach the end of Ezio’s trilogy with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.
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