Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Review

Gaming Platform: Sony Playstation 3

Genre: Action:Adventure

Manufacturer: Ubisoft Montreal

ESRB Rating: Mature 18 +

Developed by Ubisoft Montrea as a direct sequel to Assassin’s Creed II, the Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, is a third person historical action adventure game. The main protagonists of this game are again Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Desmond Miles. Multiplayer feature is included in this game, which is the first for the Assassin’s Creed series.

Story

Live as Ezio, a renowned master assassin, in his struggle against the mighty Templar Order. The game is set in Rome, Italy’s greatest City, the seat of power, corruption and greed. In this journey, Ezio has to defeat the corrupt tyrants, which requires not only power but also leadership. A brotherhood of assassins is under command of Ezio, who work together to defeat their bloodthirsty enemies and thus prevent the extinction of their order.

Key Features

The key features of the Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood are listed below:

• Players can choose among a spectrum of authentic classes, these different characters possess different weapons and killing moves. With highly detailed maps and a rich variety of different multiplayer modes, a player will never fight in the same manner twice.
• Fifteen hours of action-packed single player gaming can be experienced by gamers as Ezio, the celebrated master assassin. These missions are set in the breathing, living and capricious city of Rome.
• Gamers can recruit and train assassins, these young assassins can be deployed across the city as per the gamers’ wish. They can be called for aid in missions.
• Gamers collaborate with real historical characters; these characters include greats such as Niccolo Machiavelli, Caterina Sforza and Leonardo da Vinci.
• Gamers can eliminate his or her enemies by using tools such as parachutes, poison darts, hidden blades and hidden guns. There is also a flying machine included in the game to help in the missions.

Game play

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is a third person non-linear action-adventure video game, like the earlier versions, the mechanics of gameplay are based on crowd-blending stealth, melee fighting system, parkour movements and assassinations. The combat in this game is completely reincarnated; multiplayer gaming is included for the first time in this game. Ezio is provided new gadgets and also junior assassins who aid him in his pursuit. The gameplay is ultrafast with some amazing weapons. The combat is hand-to-hand as well as stealth. Horses play a great role in Assassins Creed II, they are not only means of transport but also become a component in acrobatic combat moves.  Also, there are certain environmental objects like the flower pot, which allows Ezio to move faster inside the town.

Multiplayer Game modes

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood features a multiplayer mode; this is the first game in the series to include this feature. There are six different modes in the multiplayer mode, the gamer has to use their assassination and stealth skill in this gaming mode. This feature includes a leveling system, this allows gamers to unlock booty by gaining experience points. The various multiplayer gaming modes are listed below:

• Wanted: In this mode, 6 players are dropped on a map, and they must locate and assassinate each other. But it is a death match with a twist, each player is assigned a target and they have to assassinate that person. The goal is to assassinate his target without being spotted or killed by his own predator.
• Advanced Wanted: This is same as wanted with increased difficulty
• Alliance: There are 3 teams of 2 players; the objective is to score maximum points, eliminating their target team, avoiding their predator team
• Advanced Alliance: It is same as the Alliance mode, with increased difficulty
• Manhunt: in this gaming mode, there are two teams of four, one team is the hunter and the other team is the hunted. The hunter team has to assassinate the other team while, the other team has to escape the assassination attempts. The motive is to score the maximum points
• Chest Capture: It is same as the Manhunt, only addition here is that the hunted team has to steal chests by standing close to their hunted team

Characters

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood has a spectrum of characters for a player to choose from, in total, there are 17 characters. All these characters have unique signature weapons and assassination moves. The characters include barer, priest, courtesan, prowler, noble, doctor, executioner, smuggler, captain, thief, blacksmith, mercenary, harlequin and footpad. As the players escalate to higher levels, these characters can be customized, and the customization options include change of clothing and equipments.

Downloads and Expansions

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood for PS3 has an exclusive feature. This feature allows the users to download free additional content. This free downloadable content is known as Copernicus Conspiracy, it became available in November 2010. This feature, allows gamers access to several new missions, these missions are related to the famous Renaissance astronomer, Copernicus. These new missions include assassination, courier and protection missions. Ezio has a task of foiling a conspiracy against Copernicus and thus, defending his philosophy.

ESRB Rating

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood has rating of Mature 18+; this rating is provided by ESRB. The rating of this game is M, because of the extreme violence and language in this game.

Price

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is handsomely priced, but the amazing experience that is delivers surely justifies its US dollars 49.45 price tag. As far as the value for money goes, this game has adrenalin-pumping action, breathtaking visuals, challenging missions and an engaging storyline, what more can a user demand from a game. So in terms of value for money, the game scores a perfect 10.

Awards

• The best action adventure game award at the Spike TV Video Game Awards 2010 was awarded to Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was nominated in 7 categories at the British Academy Video Games Award 2011, this includes Best Game.

Issues

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is an amazing game in almost every aspect, but it is only meant for the hardcore fans of the Assassin’s Creed series. The game is a continuation of the previous story, but there is no freshness in the newer game. Gamers, who are expecting something new from this game, will remain disappointed. Other than this, there are no issues with this game, it is brilliant from the word go.

Verdict

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is a great game, breathtaking visuals, amazing action, tedious missions and an engaging storyline; truly, everything a gamer expects. The multi-player suite that is introduced in this game is amazing, Ubisoft Montreal surely deserves applause for this brilliant innovation. Ultimately, it is dependent on the user’s expectations from a game, that decides his or her satisfaction; if he or she is looking for a solid action-packed adventure, this is the right pick.

Rating: 4.5/5