Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

When Ubisoft first introduced Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood to the world, I was apprehensive. The whole thing reeked of being a quick cash-in that didn't explore any new territory. Ubisoft made two Assassin's Creed games that covered very different times and locations, with two very different protagonists, only to make a third game that picks up immedaitely where the second left off. Don't get me wrong, while the original Assassin's Creed seemed to end Altair's story appropriately, sequel Assassin's Creed II left off on a major cliffhanger that begged for another installment to the series; just not necessarily more expansion on Ezio's story. Our story begins as Ezio returns from Rome, having not quite finished what he set out to do, but still shaken by a haunting, confusing vision. Ezio didn't actually get around to killing the antagonist of AC:II, which proves to be a major misstep as his comfortable home is attacked, his mentor slain, and Ezio and his family are forced to flee back to Rome again. After this brief intro we return to the present day and check in with the third protagonist of the series, Desmond Miles. For those who don't know, Desmond (who also didn't know this) comes from a long bloodline of assassins and is able to re-live his ancestor's 'genetic memories' in some pseudo-scientific way by stepping into a machine called the Animus. A modern incarnation of the Knights Templar are after him, believing his genetic memories hold the key to ancient secrets, and willing to do anything to retrieve them. In both Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II we bounce back and forth between the present and the past, telling two stories simultaneously. Here in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood however, we get two extended prologues and then nothing but Ezio up until the climax. I thought this worked well, as I wasn't too invested in Desmond and his crew evading the Knights Templar, but loved seeing Ezio fight the Papacy and Italy's royalty, all of whom were Borgias. Rome has been taken over by the Borgia's oppressive rule, and in order to retrieve a stolen relic Ezio needs to overthrow the entire family. This definitely worked better than in Assassin's Creed II, where there was no clear antagonist or specific goal to reach. Ezio builds up an army of assassins on the side to help him in his task- you can send them off on missions across Europe to level up, and then call them into fights in Rome whenever it feels like Ezio needs some help. Aside from the main campaign and the assassin brotherhood sidequest, a huge part of the game comes from renovating Rome. You may remember in my previous entires mentioning one of my favorite parts of the game, finding 'scenic viewpoints' which are usually just little outcroppings at the top of high towers that are difficult to reach; at the top you can 'sync' with the viewpoint, getting a nice panoramic view from up high as a musical flourish plays; at which point several nearby locations are added to your map, and you can blindly swan dive off of whatever cliff you just climbed- there's always a bed of hay to break your fall. In Brotherhood this is taken to another level as about half of the scenic viewpoints are used as Borgia strongholds- now Ezio must first infiltrate an area and assassinate its guard, then climb to the scenic viewpoint, light the fortress on fire and dive off, thus eliminating the Borgia influence on the surrounding area. When this is complete Ezio can invest his money opening shops and purchasing from them, and it's so easy that it brought out the OCD in me as I tried to renovate the entirety of Rome. Really, I have to give it up to Ubisoft for their attention to detail in Brotherhood. It felt like every decision was made not to show off or to pad the game's length, but simply based on whether it was fun. While Ezio's story ends on a predictable note, we get a lengthy epilogue as Desmond and his friends in the current day search out the location of that relic Ezio was trying to get back. We get another major WTF moment, which has me pumped for Assassin's Creed: Revelations, the final game in the 'Ezio Trilogy' and one that brings back the first protagonist, Altair as well. Will I finish Revelations in time for the upcoming Assassin's Creed III? Not a chance.