Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood PS3 Review

Assassin’s Creed is one of few recent new series that have become phenomenal in their quality and fanatical in their following. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is the third game in the series, but takes place shortly after the events of Assassin’s Creed 2. It can be considered sort of like an Assassin’s Creed 2.5 rather than an actual full blown sequel. The game was created more for the multiplayer that fans have been screaming about since the first game, but it does still have a fairly lengthy single player campaign if one completes all of the optional side missions as well. The single player campaign takes about 5 hours to complete if the player just rushes through the story and ignores all side missions and upgrades.

The story in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood takes place immediately after the events of Assassin’s Creed 2. Ezio has recovered the Apple of Eden, has let Rodrigo Borgia live, and returns to Monteriggioni to tell the rest of the assassin’s what has occurred. Machiavelli is upset that Ezio let Borgia live and tells him that it will come haunt them later. Soon thereafter, the town is besieged by Cesare, Rodrigo Borgia’s son and Ezio is forced to retreat with his mother and sister. Mario is killed by Cesare at the entrance to the walled town and the Apple is taken by him. The mission becomes recovering the Apple and avenging Mario’s death.

In the present day, Lucy, Rebecca, Shane, and Desmond flee their headquarters as the Templar agents are coming to assault the compound. They grab their equipment, including the Animus, and head to Ezio’s estate in Monteriggioni, which lies in ruin. After some platforming, Desmond reaches the underground vault area of the estate and they setup their new base of operations within. Desmond re-enters the Animus and continues the memories of Ezio to locate the Apple of Eden.

The single player campaign in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is very similar to Assassin’s Creed II, but with some major additions. Now, instead of rebuilding Monteriggioni, Ezio rebuilds Roma. Portions of the city are controlled by Borgia men, which mean the local shops in the area such as the blacksmith are shuttered and unavailable to Ezio. The only way to reopen the shops is to kill the leader of the local Borgia Faction and burning the local Borgia tower, which also serves as a synchronization tower. As the player frees up areas, the shops are available for purchase and produce income every 20 minutes for the player, which are deposited into the local bank. As the player opens up more banks, the total amount that can be deposited is increased to a maximum of 80,000f. The player can purchase shops, banks, historical landmarks and tunnels. The tunnels allow Ezio to fast travel between zones within Roma. Shops also have optional quests that allow the player to purchase certain weapons, armor, and item upgrades. Enemies drop items in addition to money and weapons. Items can be used for certain quests or sold to shops for money.  Treasure chests make a comeback as do flags and a small amount of collectible feathers. In addition to the treasure chests, there are now Romulus treasure quests, which are basically similar to the Assassin’s Tombs in Assassin Creed II. Romulus treasure quests are platforming mini missions that unlock a special armor set if all are completed.  There are also virtual training missions to test the player’s ability at combat, platforming, assassinations, and collecting flags.

The most interesting addition to Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is the ability to recruit assassins. In Assassin’s Creed I & II, the player had optional side quests of helping citizens being harassed by guards, but with no real reward. In Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, saving these citizens in distress allows the player to recruit them as assassins and send them out on contract missions. The recruits gain experience on each successful mission allowing them to take on more difficult missions. The assassins can be sent in groups of up to 5 at a time and as they gain experience, the player can upgrade their armor, weapons, and equipment. Assassins can also assist the player in real time missions by jumping out and assassinating targets marked by the player. The assassins do take damage and can die permanently whether in the contract missions or in the real time missions.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is a solid single player experience, but where this game really shines is in the multiplayer. Multiplayer allows for ranked and player matches with up to 50 levels of progression in leveling. There are also challenges that reward the player with extra experience for completion. Players are allowed 2 perks, 2 abilities, and 2 streaks. Abilities range from disguises to being able to poison a crowd. Perks enhance the player such as being able to wall run a bit higher or how many civilians a player can run into before one becomes unbalanced. Streaks are bonuses that occur when a player either kills many enemies, dies, or loses a contract many times. Streaks can be increased bonus XP for kills or resetting cooldowns after loss of contracts or death. Every level increase unlocks a perk, ability, streak, character, color, gear, or a profile slot. Players can choose from a myriad of personas such as a blacksmith, courtesan, priest, doctor, etc. There are 11 personas to choose from at the start of the game, with 3 unlockables during level progression and 1 unlockable through UPlay. There are also several other unlockable personas that were included in preorders of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.

Multiplayer in Assassin’s Creed consists of 4 modes named Wanted, Manhunt, Alliance, and Advanced Wanted. Wanted is basically deathmatch, with players involved in a free for all for kills of between 6-8 players. Manhunt is a team deathmatch mode in which 2 teams of up to 4 players each compete in hunting and being hunted. Alliance is a modified version of team deathmatch in which 3 pairs of 2 players each compete in hunting and being hunted. Advanced Wanted is the same as Wanted, but with harder target identification and combat.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is a must have this holiday season just for the multiplayer. Teaming up with friends and going on the hunt or hiding from being hunted is an adrenaline rush of fun. The single player is fun at first, but quickly becomes monotonous like the first game and the ending will leave most players scratching their heads in confusion. It is obvious that Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood was primarily a multiplayer game with single player thrown in as an afterthought. As such, the developers should have just scrapped the single player and made Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood a multiplayer only game. Most players have played through only half or less of the single player campaign and have jumped right into the multiplayer where the fun is at. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is a great game to have for the multiplayer experience, but for those looking for a repeat of the success and fun of Assassin’s Creed II, look elsewhere as the boredom and repetition of the story mode will put players to sleep.