Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010 Video Game) User Reviews

Amazing Game, as good as AC2

[opponent69 · 10/10 · 30 December 2010]

I am a big fan of AC. I loved the first game, and I loved the second. Now, for the third game (AC:B), I thought it is quite similar to AC2, but do not get me wrong, if I say it is as good as AC2, I mean it's a great game.

What I loved mostly about this game is that the whole story was in Roma. You did not have to go from one city to another like the previous games. As for the weapons, I was hoping for much more weapons, but yet, the weapons were amazing. I believe it is a bit more difficult than the previous games, but still not very complex. I hate games that are very difficult, which keeps me in a frustrating state.

I was hoping that the player could have control of more than one character (not only Ezio), but this did not happen. Although you can do it in the multiplayer game, but not the main game. Maybe this is something that Ubisoft should look into when designing their next game.

Excellent job Ubisoft. We will be waiting for the next game.

the assassins creed series just gets better.

[tajic_6 · 10/10 · 6 December 2010]

let me start by saying that back in may when i heard there was a new assassin's creed game in work i thought to myself that there was no way they could out best the second assassin's creed game. but some how the people at Ubisoft managed to pull it off and make one hell of a game. the story of the game was so well planned and some of the questions left out from the second game was even answered. Although the second assassin's creed game was a very good game, assassin's creed brotherhood manged to have a bigger city with plenty of missions and better graphic quality. the game also introduced a first ever multiplayer. it didn't fit the actual game story line but it was very well done for a first timer. overall assassin's creed brotherhood will blow your mind with yet another cliffhanger ending.

Amazing Game

[giticomi · 9/10 · 2 October 2021]

This game is amazing. It introduced some Ai team mechanics which made the game fun for a long time. The story was incredible as always.

Another step up for the series – flows well with plenty of detail and loads to do

[bob the moo · 23 January 2011]

When Brotherhood was announced it was sold as Assassin's Creed 2.5 as it wasn't a "proper" next game but rather a direct continuation of part 2; the inclusion of a multiplayer aspect also made it feel like perhaps it would be a shorter game, put out as a stop-gap between 2 and 3 – particularly since it had only been a year since AC2. As a result I didn't get too excited about it and was fine waiting till Christmas to pick it up. Surprisingly ACB improves yet again on the previous game, with lots of little things added, changed and improved. The story continues to be an impressively crafted mix of religion, history, truth and Da Vinci code nonsense but it is still engaging. The overall movement of the series story is not great though but in terms of providing a structure for the game, Cesare Borgia and the recovery of the piece of Eden is more than sufficient to engage in addition to the progress made by Desmond towards the end (even if the end does feel a little rushed when it comes).

As before the game plays really smoothly and with a decent amount of variety. Naturally everything involves going somewhere, doing something and then going somewhere else, but the missions are well constructed and the challenged to do them "100% Synch" by achieving additional challenges makes them more interesting and essentially increases the difficulty for those that wish to try it. Around the main narrative though there is loads to be done. I really liked the addition of the Borgia towers to be cleared, the war machines and the many smaller missions for thieves, mercenaries etc that are scattered around. The collectables are still in place but this time the ability to unlock and buy maps makes this so much less of a chore. Developing the Assassins is a nice idea – not nearly as deep as it could have been but quite good and handy for calling them and earning money. Redeveloping Rome is quite easy to do – a bit pointless considering it surprisingly leads to no achievement but not having to go to one place to do it or get money (the Villa in AC2 was a "once an hour" chore). The little challenges from the various guilds are a nice idea as well and a good example of just how many little things there are to do if you want to do them; none of them will extend the game forever but I enjoyed doing all these things in between story missions – sometimes I would play for a couple of evenings without advancing the story at all. Getting out of the animus is also a nice addition even if it isn't particularly meaningful till the end.

Rome is beautifully designed and there were only some parts that were annoying for having to go all the way round the cliffy areas. Once you accept that things will often "pop" onto the horizon as you approach, it does look good and play well. The cut scenes are great apart from some weaknesses in the facial animation, which put it a step behind some other games where it looks better and has better lip synch. The characters remain engaging as well, although I missed some of the humour from AC2 – Leonardo in particular was such fun in 2 but here he seems too drab and a little dull compared to who he was originally. Ezio remains a great character to play while the modern characters are also stronger and more fun.

The multiplayer shows such potential and I do enjoy it but so far I have played only 10 or so games. The matchmaking is poor and for some reason it will not start till there are a full number of players – if one drops one 5 seconds into the game then it continues fine, but to start needs a full number and wait times have varied between 2 minutes to 30 minutes – there is no need to rush to the bathroom like with COD for sure! The stealth aspect and quality of kills beating quantity works well – I won a game with half the kills of the people sprinting around. At times it can frustrate to try and flank your target at walking pace for 3 minutes only have some idiot shoot you for very few points, but it is thrilling to know you can be thousands of points down but still only need one great assassination for the win! With some work this aspect of the game could be great but for me it is a curio – but not one that I want to play so much that I'm happy to spend 10 minute waiting for 10 minutes playing.

Overall, if you loved AC2 then ACB keeps almost everything you loved and makes it better with lots of minor improvements and extensions. It is a really great game and serves to make the wait till the concluding game all the more painful!

Just fantastic

[vininesti · 9/10 · 3 March 2013]

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is not a full sequel; it looks familiar to It's predecessor, but still it manages to be a different experience. Even though is not as special as It's fantastic predecessor, but It comes pretty close.

Gameplay wise, this game is better. The stealth isn't changed very much, however the combat is. When you're battling enemies, there's an ability which you can perform called "kill streak". "Kill streaks" allow you to easily execute the enemies, and that makes the game easier, but more fun. Stealth stays the same. That means that assassinating is similar, however still incredibly fun. One of the less promising features of this game was the limitation to explore only one city, Rome. I was predicting to be disappointed by that. But, surprisingly, I'm not disappointed. I'm actually pleased, because Rome is an open city and simply beautiful, even more open that the cities of Assassin's Creed 2. Rome is a huge city, with a lot of possibilities, so don't worry. A feature that is worth is the Assassin's Recruitment. If you're in a hard time, you can call your assassins recruit to assassinate the guards. That is a positive point, because it effects on stealth. Oh, this is a change on stealth... OK. You can recruit your assassins recruit by helping them by the Borgia guards; familiar to original Assassin's Creed's citizens when they needed help from Templars. There's also Borgia towers; a new, great feature. Those towers appear to several areas, which are restricted from , obviously, Borgia. Killing the Borgia Capetian will allow you to burn a Borgia tower. And, sure, there is the multiplayer. It's awesome. It's unique, interesting, addictive and, most importantly, fun. In multiplayer, you're able to choose a player you want, and start the game. It is not combat based; it is stealth based. When you start the game, you have to eliminate your target by following the right directions of the compass, and then assassinate the target (recommendable staying hidden) Running can cause you being detected by the target. However, you're a target too. Your enemy tries to assassinate, by following the same rules. So, staying hidden and walking slowly is optional.

Graphics aren't dramatically improved, but facial animations sure are. Assassin's Creed 2 had some dated facial animations, but Brotherhood improve them and make the characters look better, and younger too. However, it's a game that's beautiful to look at. I was totally blown away by the perfect recapture of Colosseum.

So, does Assassin's Creed Brotherhood has a bad point? Sure it does. And that's the story and the ending. The story is weak, forgettable and a disappointment. Especially comparing it to It's predecessor's brilliant story. And, It's ending doesn't answer the conflict behind Templars and Assassins, it just ends; unpredictably, but disappointing.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is a fantastic game. Too bad that It's weak story and It's disappointing ending push it from the "perfection", however It's great improvements and It's awesome additions make this game amazing. A must buy. (9.1)

And so ezio auditore's adventure continues

[elv-95743 · 10/10 · 5 July 2020]

Brotherhood only adds to what makes ezio the best assassin, he shows development and becomes more then a vendetta seeking killer, he seeks to expand the brotherhood for the freedom of italy

A pretty good AC game but not as good as AC 2

[EzioMonty117 · 9/10 · 24 February 2016]

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is the follow up to the critically-acclaimed Assassin's Creed 2, this game, while having New features and better combat, isn't as good as the previous game in the series. Here's why this game is pretty good overall.

The story is basically AC 2's plot but With minor changes. Ezio lives a normal life i Monterigionni, until a bunch of Borgia soldiers destroy the town and the son of the villain in the last game Rodrigo has arrived, With the name of Cesare Borgia, he kills Ezio's uncle Mario and Ezio is shocked of what happened and must take revenge for the murder of his uncle, With help by familiar characters and some New ones.

The Modern day story follows Desmond, after escaping the Secret hideout in the last game With the others. They arrive at Monterrigioni and they decide to hide there, until they find Resources of the apple of Eden which they do in the end.

The gameplay is very similar to the last game but it's improved tenfold. Not only does it run smoother, but it Plays better. The parkour system is now much better than it was before, it is faster and smoother. The open world is better too. Rome is a huge world to explore and there is a lot of sidequests to do, from doing assassination missions and more.

The game's newest feature is the Brotherhood Assist System, With this feature, you can use Your trained recruits to kill off a horde of bad guys or silently kill a bad guy to avoid getting alerted in a stealth mission. I like this feature but it seems to make the game a bit too easy IMO.

The combat is improved too, With the Killstreak system being very useful for combat. The weapons are better, the kills are more brutal and the enemies are harder to kill, the combat is great. The Full Synchronization meter is probably the worst part of the game for me, and here is where the problems lie.

It makes the game way too hard and if you fail the second objective, you can't just restart a checkpoint, you have to start the mission all over again, what a bunch of baloney.

The game's ending is a bit tedious since it's a cliffhanger, OK, so there's a goddess who has Control of the Apple of eden who tells Desmond that Lucy is a Templar and then the goddess manipulates Desmond to kill Lucy and the game ends. Pretty rushed but not bad ending.

The game's story is bland and a derivative, revenge, world domination, Family member, plans, sounds familiar am i right. That's what makes the story lacking.

The Music is pretty good but not as good as AC2's soundtrack which was amazing. The Music in this game is forgettable and sounds like a Pirates of the Caribbean Movie.

The multiplayer, which is New to AC, is one of the game's strengths. It's fun, fast and very challenging, there's many modes to choose from and the best one is the Deathmatch mode (i like to Call the mode that), where you have to find the target that is shown on the screen and kill him without being killed by others. The multiplayer is jolly good fun which makes the game better.

AC Brotherhood is great game With a lot of sidequests, great open world, characters, Assassin recruits are useful and the game's combat is the best in any AC game, the story, Full synchronization meter, ending and Music is not that good and the Multiplayer is Awesome!!!. Check the game out, it's not that bad.

9/10

It was one of the most pleasant and enjoyable game experiences of my lifetime.

[LovecraftKaiju · 10/10 · 24 February 2024]

This was actually my first exposure to the Assassins Creed.

And I can tell you even though many others felt this game should have been an expansion rather than a whole game, I can tell you that it does not matter, and I will fight tooth and nail anyone who says the story execution or game play was bad.

Ezio's character. His charm, his smack talk immediately drew me into the game.

The amazing Roma Atmosphere and architecture was so breathtaking when i climbed my very first viewpoint sync that I cannot help but be a little biased in my review.

I became crazy repairing the architecture around the entire map, it made me set aside hours dedicated to just stealing money from the local populace and guards so that I could rebuild the city for them, It had an amazing Robin Hood feel.

As for the technical.

The free run/climbing mechanic which is now a staple may have put others who played previous games off, but for me it was such a novelty I immediately fell in love with everything this game had to offer.

The story was satisfyingly well executed, Though abruptly starting a continued story line from ACBrotherhood was a bit jarring for me personally when the climax rolled around, but never the less made me more than interested to know what the Lore was behind The Apple, Ezio/Desomnd, Templar's/Assassin's, it was vey compellingly written.

Conclusion - It was one of the most pleasant and enjoyable game experiences of my lifetime.

Recommendation from me.

Platinum #20

[ocesarebr · 10/10 · 28 December 2023]

My favorite game from this franchise and any other franchise. Even though it's the hardest Assassin's Creed game to platinum, it still brings surreal fun to me. The story is very well told, the open world has a lot of things to do, 100% of this game is very good to do. Some 100% synchronization is very difficult, especially Da Vinci's flying machine, some tombs and the last mission of Da Vinci's DLC. But having the crossbow makes it 90% easier to platinum. All the characters fulfill their role well. It's incredible how, for me, this game managed to surpass the second game in the franchise, and that game was already perfect too. Platinum #20 Platinum Game on December 22, 2023.

Still more improvements, a brilliant continuation

[brad-95627 · 9/10 · 9 November 2023]

I was very impressed with Assassin's Creed 2, which picked up on everything that worked about the original game and turned out an overall beautiful sequel that improves in every category. Brotherhood is not as much of a leap forward, but it didn't need to be. It makes welcome additions to the mechanics and overall game quality, though, and continues a story very much in the same spirit as it's predecessor, blending the beautifully-executed Renaissance-era Rome and Ezio's effortless charisma, with the modern-day intrigue and heady mystery of Desmond's modern-day fight against Abstergo.

STORY: In both timelines, this game picks up exactly where AC2 left off; with Desmond and co on the run after Abstergo raids their hideout, and with Ezio in the vault beneath the Vatican following his battle with Rodrigo Borgia. The opening sequences make for a great welcome back to prime the player for another adventure in both timelines. From there, the pacing is very well-done, drawing focus to the main story when necessary, but never unnecessarily closing off the open world to the player. Overall, I found this story a little easier than that of AC2 to follow the first time around, possibly because I was already familiar with the cast of characters. Ezio's story ends in a decently satisfying way, and never seems to get less compelling. Desmond's story remains fairly static until the very end, per the game's internal logic, until, just like in the previous game, it kicks off a crazy ending that leaves the player with many more questions than answers. I can't imagine what it must have been like to play this game back in 2010 and have to wait a year for the follow-up.

GRAPHICS: The trailer for this game, as with the rest of the series, boasts insanely realistic graphics, and the gameplay pales in comparison to it. That's why I'm grateful for more modern trailers that clarify that the footage was captured from a console. For 2010, the graphics are decent, but in 2023 they're nothing to write home about. They're not BAD graphics by any stretch, but they don't hold up to some other games of the time (God of War 3, for example).

GAMEPLAY: There are a few additions to gameplay mechanics here - nothing reinvents the wheel, but they don't need to, and the changes are mostly welcome. My favourite change is the ability to use the titular brotherhood, and send other Assassins on contracts and missions around the entire world, bringing in passive income and generally boosting the immersion of being a leader in the Assassin movement. There is also a general improvement to some of the navigation and UI like the weapon wheel that just makes the game a little easier to use. The one change I'm not really in love with is the addition of 100% sync goals, bonus objectives that aren't necessary but that I feel the need to accomplish, which makes a handful of missions frustratingly difficult. However, the feeling of accomplishment from getting that 100% sync is very gratifying.

OVERALL: AC: Brotherhood is a worthy successor to AC2, with another captivating story and cliffhanger ending, and small improvements here and there to keep the gameplay immersive and fresh. Playing in 2010 may not have felt like a mechanical leap forward players might have hoped for, but playing the games back to back on The Ezio Collection keeps them all feeling very consistent. 9/10, a great addition to the series.

brilliant 3rd installment to AC

[samtimoney-79758 · 10/10 · 2 January 2019]

This game was brilliant, not as good as AC2 but almost just as good, it wasn't long enough for a start and the borjia died way to easily! And for one of them you couldn't even kill them yourself. Apart from that it was very fun, great fighting, love that you can recruit assassin's and send them on missions too, amazing colour compared to the previous 2, massive hit and a massive addition to these amazing games

This is seriously the greatest frat ever

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 20 March 2012]

Desmond and co. arrive at their destination(I'm not giving it away... it's a nice idea, and, well, Templars could be reading this. That last part was a joke), and over the course of this, Ezio gets the closure he's been needing since II(which this expands upon, if it leaves a lot intact... and that, I will not go into a lot of detail on, you can read my review on that one, instead) began. The story(that *again* leaves us with a cliffhanger and more questions than answers) is interesting(as is following what happened with the characters, who are so diverse, developed and varied that everyone will find someone to like and look forward to seeing more of), and for being less grand than the one before it, its beginning, middle and end are made of pure win and epicness. Prime examples are when you have to take care of the somewhat anachronistic war machines Da Vinci has been forced to create, where you literally get ahold of these vehicles(I'm not giving away what they are, it's too badass to spoil) and turn them on the other ones already completed, to even the odds in the battle. This also aids in distracting from this being the first in the series limited to a single city... Rome, and you have to rebuild her, by restoring shops(as well as the aqueducts, and a nifty tunnel system that, along with your ability to now whistle for a horse, allow you to get around much quicker) and buying famous landmarks(making your earnings go up), giving power back to the hands of its people, and you can do this in an area once you've cleared out the corresponding Borgia Tower(kill the captain running it, then *set it on fire so it explodes*), to limit their corrupt influence. Doing so also makes other missions in the area easier, and in addition to the ones you have to complete(making up maybe 20, 25 hours of play, roughly the same for the stuff that isn't mandatory), you again get assignments from the thieves(who can be upgraded to pulling enemies off their steed, by accomplishing the tasks they list; they are still distractions for hire) such as races(although now only with a set time, not against anyone running at the same time, the same course) and spy-ish ones, the courtesans(who will eventually lure away and *poison* guards... how awesome is that!; they'll have you beating up others; and they help you look like you're not up to no good) and the mercernaries(they'll tell ya who to kill; and they can fight alongside you). And that leads nicely into one of the new things this has, and one of the two that lends this its title. You're the leader of the resistance, so you're not alone. In this, you recruit, and then, through use and sending them out in the world(with objectives to deal with), train, assassins. You wind up with a total of 12, and their availability is represented by three meters(that refill over time) on the HUD. When all are full, you can use them entirely on a storm of arrows, that will take out every single foe that you can see at that time(we're talking, tens of them, no problem, if they're close enough to you), and if you use them one by one, it means 1-3 of them showing up to murder whoever you targeted when calling for them. As they gain XP, they will gradually reach the top level and be armed with the double-blades, pistol, smoke bombs and crossbow, just like you. Yup, they finally put it in, and somehow, along with the feature I just mentioned, they still manage to keep it from being just a walk in the park. In fact, for all their teeter-tottering on providing challenge or being excessively streamlined that these have done, we're finally reaching this giving you something to do that takes skill. 60% is the ratio of that, now, where it was 40, maybe sometimes 50, before. And finally, we're getting back to a Prince of Persia approach to how the climbing and parkour is done, at least on some of the more important buildings(you can still mindlessly roam about rooftops), meaning you don't just move into it and rush up it, you have to find the path that will let you scale it(and you may be under fire at this time!). And the other half of the duo? The unique multiplayer experience. Heck yeah. The range of rules and 7 or so modes boil down to basically: every player is out to eliminate others(with instantly lethal means, at first up close, later, as you unlock them by earning points, with slow guns, etc. - yup, like what you usually have in these) with and/or hide from those who are(sometimes, you are only to run and hide from them, you can "knock them out" briefly, but only if you take them by surprise), helped along by everyone(including the AI civilians, similar to SP - some stand in a group, others walk around) taking on the appearance of one of the dozen and a half models(all with their own animations for causing death of others) you can choose, meaning, you can literally blend in with others that look exactly the same as you, actually potentially tricking another human to snuff the wrong "person". Sometimes solo, sometimes on teams, one has crates to steal and another has VIPs that you either have to protect or attack. While you can do the physical feats that you are accustomed to in this, it will paint a huge bullseye on your clothes. Graphics haven't changed, nor has you buying bigger, better stuff in stores, or the gameplay being fun and you being able to take things very much at your own pace(except for when directly out to solve something specific). There is bloody, violent and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to any fan of the franchise, GTA, PoP and Hit-man. 7/10

The final straw

[darkphoenix-83164 · 4/10 · 17 December 2015]

I admit, I enjoyed AC II, hated the first entry, and once again I'm disappointed. The mechanics, save system, platforming and parkour system is infuriating at best. I gave up after numerous times of almost smashing my controller against the wall when the game decides to steer the character left (and to a cheap death) instead of right like it was supposed to. To top it off, I have to go back and do an entire section of clunky platforming all over again to reach said point because the game doesn't auto save often enough. Needless to say, I won't be playing another AC game again. Which is a shame, I was curious to see where the story goes, but it just isn't worth the blood vessels I have to pop in order to do so.

Fun, but tainted by flaws

[eric_buist · 15 January 2020]

This game was very entertaining overall. There were some cool missions. I enjoyed the ones where you have to infiltrate the Borgia castle, it was reminiscent of a Robin Hood movie. There are also fun side missions, like Leonardo's Machines, where you travel to a Borgia stronghold, infiltrate it, and use an innovative military machine against the enemy before destroying it. These are great fun. The combat is also improved, allowing you to go on killstreaks, and you get a crossbow this time around, decreasing the annoying ammo refill trips to the blacksmith. It's also nice to be able to ride your horse through the city instead of having to leave it at the gate. It is amusing though how you can basically gallop through the streets and knock people over without worrying about hurting them.

Now for the bad: 1. You're mostly in one place, Rome, and it gets kind of boring. I was also kind of disappointed in Rome, I thought it was going to be a city even grander than those in AC 2, but it was basically just areas of narrow, claustrophobic, uninteresting streets, broken up by open areas featuring Roman ruins. 2. Infuriating missions. Some missions are so hard, with methods to complete them very unclear, demanding an unreasonable amount of thinking on your feet. I eventually stopped losing it whenever something inexplicably went wrong and just accepted that some missions are basically just like rolling a dice, hoping things work out for you the first time, and succeeding only after learning from your mistakes. However, on one mission, I got to the next checkpoint without even knowing how it happened! Next time I play the game, I'll be as unsure of what to do as I was the first time. 3. That damn Apple of Eden. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to wield it properly without watching a youtube video of someone else doing the mission. 4. It was nice to finally be able to do virtual combat practice outside of the game, I don't know why this wasn't in the previous 2 games. As a veteran of the Batman Arkham games, it was really annoying. But nevertheless, it was finally there, though it was kind of limited. It would be nice to be able to just fight an unlimited amount of guards for an unlimited amount of time. The longest amount of time you can fight is 2 minutes. 5. Soundtrack was forgettable. There were a couple interesting additions, but it was mostly uninteresting, and there was too much rehashing of the 2nd game's soundtrack, which was exquisite in its entirety. 6. Like the the previous installments, the final boss battle was way too easy. It's anticlimactic.

Decent, but it could've been better

[ultimatexstealth · 7/10 · 7 July 2016]

Growing up, I use to love Assassin's Creed; and would obsess over it. Now, I really don't care for it, and have better things to focus on. Luckily, I care enough to type this review. This game made improvements in areas such as combat, making it fast paced, and map size. That's great. But there were flaws with the game. Well, a personal grip I had with this game was feeling this title was a mislabel. The game's sub title is called "Brotherhood." But you don't see much of the brotherhood in the story. The only reason it has that title is because you get assassins you can command to aid you in battle when you want. That's all. They have no impact or place in the story. The next title, Assassin's Creed Revelations, had the brotherhood be more apart of the story, really the side missions did, than AC Brotherhood did. I think before the game was released, the community manager said there would be cut scenes where the protagonist, Ezio, visits the graves of dead assassins to "pay his respects," but there were no instances of such cutscenes. I don't know if they were removed, forgotten or if that was a mere idea that was scraped, but there was no grave scene. I can't find records of this on YouTube or Wikipedia. I can't even find this in the game. Obviously, it was never in there in the first place; I'm just trying to make a point. Another thing about the brotherhood is that they feel so unneeded, due to the combat being fast. Really, you can take out most enemies on your own, and perform missions without their help. There were a few missions where you couldn't call them though, and if you call them into battle, that makes the fight less challenging. I mean, after three hits, you can take out the enemies in one hit; what's the point in calling these novice killers into battle? It degrades the challenge. I know, I'm mostly rambling about the assassin recruits, but it was/is just a big deal to me. Aside from the assassins, the story was good. The story was decent, some memorable characters returned from the previous game and a few improvements were made with you exploring decently built environments. Now multiplayer was a step in an interesting direction. You have targets to kill while you have pursuers in a mode called wanted. There are other modes where you have different objectives and goals, such as capturing or protecting chests, and hunting a group of targets with a pack of players or protecting your self and your team from pursuers. There were good concepts, it's just the servers got bad, and things lagged out on matches. At times, it would be several minutes before I could get into a session. In a session, sometimes bugs and glitches would be every where. But I had fun most of the time. In all, AC Brotherhood is a fairly good game with great concepts and a decent story. Angles such as its story suffer from features it doesn't need and which degrade the challenge of stealth and combat; as well as not having what I thought would've been a significant part of the story not be apart of it much. On the multiplayer side, it suffers from bugs, glitches and slow servers. But the game is great though, and is pretty memorable. I give this game a seven out of ten.

Vexatious game...with bugs...

[dfle3 · 4/10 · 23 June 2011]

Console: PS3

I won't go into the details of the story of this game, as it is reasonably similar to and follows on from Assassin's Creed II...I'll just go into why I'm not a fan of this game. Since I'm giving this game the lowest of all the games in the franchise I've played, I'll just say that it's not as dull and glitchy as Assassin's Creed, but it takes a lot of the things that I disliked about Assassin's Creed II and made them central to the game play.

Before I start...some phrases which come to mind for this game: Vex, vexing, vexatious, trying one's patience,

The Good: Still looks as great as its predecessor...some of the touches are great...e.g. seeing flying bugs around a lantern above a herald at night.

The Ugly: * For me, the most annoying parts of Assassin's Creed II were the side missions which had very hard criteria to complete. With Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, those criteria form the main game...it's not just a matter of doing something to complete a main story mission, you have to fulfill certain criteria in order to get 100% completion for it. These criteria are often absurd and/or arbitrary. So, whilst just completing a mission may be extremely tricky, to get 100% for it can just be plain vexatious. "Vexatious" is an apt word for this franchise...AC:B just takes this to new levels. Of course, you don't have to try and go for 100% completion...I do, when I feel that it achievable...hence my supreme irritation at these missions. It's one of the new elements to the franchise which makes me now want to bail on it.

* Now, it's bad enough that the 100% completion mission criteria are often stupid and arbitrary...it's even worse when you actually FULFILL the criteria and still FAIL! Basically, you have to replay vexatious sections of the game in order to finally have the game recognise that you completed the mission successfully, when it did not do so last time. One assassination required that I use the hidden blade...mission accomplished...but I got 50% completion for it. So, replaying the stupid section again, I used the poison blade...which gave me 100% Sheesh. Inconsistent criteria are also vexatious...you can have two very similar assassination contracts as far as the criteria go...in one case using help gave you 100% and in another case it didn't...logically, with that criteria, they both should have given you 100% or 50%, not one of each.

* As with ACII, a lot of the time you will have to replay sections in order to either complete the mission, or in order to get 100% for it. Annoyingly, some missions do not seem designed to be completed by an average gamer first time. Some missions seem geared to be only completable by elite gamers...who are replaying the mission themselves. E.g. one mission requires Ezio to carry a treasure chest to a certain destination in a certain amount of time. I was wary of marking on a map a place to aim for because I thought a cut scene might kick in, robbing me of that info. The time required to carry the treasure chest is very short...so, just a vexatious process of finding out where you need to be and replaying the section when you fail the mission. Even completing the mission to 100% requires very brisk walking with no wrong turns. Vexatious.

* AC:B brings back an annoying feature of the original game...you can dig yourself into a hole which you can't get out of. I.e. in the first game, the 'final' assassination scenario left you trapped and lead into further sequences which you also could not opt out of. This happens again...I was opting in and out of the main story and was looking to improve my status before I made the mistake of taking on one more mission...from that moment on I couldn't opt out. If you play the main story and don't upgrade, you could find yourself stuffed.

* ACII had the interesting concept of renovating your villa and stronghold. It wasn't really fleshed out...I would have actually liked to have played THAT game, if there was more depth to it. This returns in AC:B, plus you also get the chance to recruit assassins who can help you. Again, I would have liked to have played THAT game IF it had more depth. E.g have the ability to assign functions/roles to assassins or assign multiple assassins to difficult contracts which you yourself play no part in. You can't do that. You can have individual assassin's help you out in general gameplay or have many of them rain arrows down on your enemies which quickly kills them. Since it was annoying how one castle commander you have to kill ran away, I often took the lazy way out by calling on my assassins' arrow storm to kill the target so that I could complete the task.

* A new feature of combat is the "Kill streak". I did not get my head around this. It's not just that you have to kill enemies without taking damage, there has to be a particular (unexplained) method of doing so. This feature sometimes goes towards your 100% completion. There is a "Virtual training" component to the game...which has no actual training...you just have to try and do in a virtual simulation what you have to do in the game proper.

* The vexing puzzles from ACII are back...which go beyond logic and common sense and into the realm of specialist knowledge. If you want to get 100% completion I am pretty sure that most people will need to consult Google and You Tube for solutions or advice on puzzles and how to perform kill streaks. In my books that is bad...games should be intuitive and fun, not homework. This game goes beyond challenging at times into the realm of "too much trouble".