A few months ago I decided to replay every mainline Assassin’s Creed game. My original plan was to play one a month but life really got in the way of that one, so my goal now is to relax and enjoy each entry as I would any normal game. In fact, I have decided to not let time constraints get in my way and hamper my enjoyment of the experience. With that out of the way I can finally talk about what was (and still is) my personal favorite game in the long running franchise, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood came out in 2010, a year after Assassin’s Creed II. This in fact, is the game that started the yearly release cycle that would be followed all the way up to Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Assassin’s Creed II set the bar for open-world action games, and made many improvements on the first game. Brotherhood took those improvements and just pumped everything up to eleven, adding improved and more diverse side quests, a deeper narrative and an in-game economy that actually mattered.

Brotherhood starts immediately where Assassin’s Creed II left off. As Ezio is now hunting down his family’s murderer Rodrigo Borgia, who has become the Pope and fled to the city of Rome. Assassin’s Creed games are known for their sprawling open-worlds, crammed with things to do and Rome at the time was the grandest city in the series. Ten years later, the activities hold up, but the world itself is kinda of dull.

Ezio proves himself once again as one of gaming’s all time most iconic protagonists. In Assassin’s Creed II, we watched as a brash boy grew to be a wise man over the course of 10 or so years, and it was amazing to see his character arc continue to grow over the course of story.

Rome introduces many new side quests, ones that actually flesh out the world a little bit more. You will now find yourself running across civilians that will ask you to help them out in some way. For instance, as you run across the rooftops in the poor district of Rome there’s a woman whose husband has turned to thievery and a life of crime. It is then up to you to hunt him down and kill him to end his poor choices.

Now unfortunately there weren’t many different outcomes for these side quests. Most will start off intriguing but the majority will end with you assassinating your targets. I would have personally liked to have seen Ezio talk to these crooks and try and correct them on their path, rather then just sticking a knife in their backs and calling it a day.

The NPC side quests may be a little disappointing, but playing Leonardo Da Vinci’s missions are an absolute treat. They are also a great break from the normal run, stab, and hide routine that you get used to throughout the roughly twenty or so hours it will take you to beat the story. Leonardo has been forced to help the Borgia family create weapons that are capable of destroying not only the Assassin order but also taking over mass cities as well.

These missions will have players sneaking into a fortress to hunt down plans for machines such as tanks, Gatling Guns, and even the glider from ACII. Each mission that Leonardo presented me was welcomed with open arms. They were some of most fun I had in the game, and were not only entertaining but also wildly over-the-top, bringing along some great memories.

Missions are not the only thing improved upon. The game’s economy was completely reworked and now money actually matters. Once Ezio has entered Rome, he begins taking down the Borgia’s influences by purchasing property and handing it over to the Assassin order. This gives the game a very personal sense of ownership over not only the city, but also its inhabitants. It also gave me even more reason to care and recruit citizens to the order.

Yes, you can now rescue citizens and train them to become master assassins. You train them by sending them off on timed missions and leveling them up. I loved taking a high level assassin, pairing them up with a new recruit and sending them on missions together. Not only does this net XP for the recruit, but it is a nice way for me to pretend they were bonding as master and protege. The recruits are not safe during combat and when one dies right before your eyes, it hurts and you feel like you lost a good soldier.

Speaking of combat, early Assassin’s Creed games tend to be very lackluster in some regards. It can be satisfying to watch but the execution is lacking. Ultimately, the combat in early games left me a bit empty-hearted. Combat consists of holding one button down as you wait for a counter, so you can pull an instant kill. However, in Brotherhood, Ubisoft made things a little easier by adding a multi kill system. Once you counter one guard, you are now able to chain instant kills as long as you aren’t interrupted.

This means that you can just rack up the body count with relative ease. It also helps that there are some new, gory, and oddly satisfying kill animations. Combat still grows stale after the first 5 or so hours though. Even if you purchase other weapons like hammers or crossbows, it just doesn’t save the monotony from becoming more and more apparent the longer you play.

I originally played Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood on the PlayStation 3, which meant lower frame rates and 1080p visuals, so replaying Brotherhood on the Xbox One X was a treat. I was able to get a more stable frame rate and the blue mist that plagued the original release is gone. Now everything just looks a whole lot prettier and the parkour is smooth as silk.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood right now still stands as my personal favourite AC game. There is a lot to love, with its great story telling, a feeling of ownership and responsibilities over Rome and fun (but repetitive) combat Brotherhood stands tall ten years later. I personally believe it should really be either revisited by fans or experienced by new fans who where introduced to the series with Origins or Odyssey,

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Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

$34.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Ezio’s growth as a Mentor
• Fun and varied missions
• Recruiting People to be Assassins

Cons

• Stale Combat
• Repeating cutscenes