Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (2010)

I almost want to rate this 2.5. I can't believe how much I had to curse at and redo sections of this game. Which is frustrating because they added alot of cool things. Unfortunately they I don't think they took the time to really flesh out all those elements so it kinda just ends up being overwhelming at first and by the time your getting it and into it, at the sweet spot. The game is over. Literally.

I'm playing the assassins 'in order' and being the third in the 'series; it is by far the worst so far. Which makes me sad, because the world of Creed, and Enzio's story are great.

Before I rip into this a bit....Things I liked: The fact that you can recruit assassins, train them up, send them on missions, call them to aid you, use them to earn money etc. You can skip cinematics Some of the architecture is really cool You have a crossbow

Mixed feelings: You get to control different 'inventions' like cannons, tanks and gliders. Which is a cool concept. However, they are hard to control and I found myself just wanting to 'get through' those sections rather than really 'enjoying them'. Horses: They can now go in the city! Yay!.....except the city is too tight and windy for them to be of much use. You just end up getting stuck in areas and having to ditch your horse and call it again. Fast Travel: You now have a subterranean way of getting around, BUT you have to manually get to each entry point first and renovate (AFTER you gain control of the area) Which often meant I just traveled via foot, roof and horse. I actually NEVER ended up using this feature, just wasn't worth it.

Things I didn't like... and their were many.... Game play is glitchy and graphics are not as good as the previous Creeds Critical character n get stuck in 'battle' or 'flee' mode (enemy characters did too), but when the side character your escorting does that, you have to restart the memory to make it work again. Their is one room at the very end of the game that is very glitchy, it is all about climbing and jumping but the interface sucks and you end up trying to scale the walls multiple times before it catches. SUPER frustrating. Horses: Graphics are not as well done, Cannot 'sprint horses' so you always end up with this weird slow-motion gallop Layout/Environment: Rome is cool....but it was just chaotic, too much going on. YOU NEVER LEAVE ROME. Which sucked and made for not super intuitive game play. Chunks of the city would be blocked off either because of the memory you were on , the action initiated within a memory OR restraints within a certain memory, all which lead to a feeling of confusion as their is no way to figure out which is tied to a action requirement and which is just too far ahead in the game. Mini map isn’t as great and doesn’t show impassable terrain ( overall more chunky and not as useful) Rome in huge and so are some of the elements. This can lead to some cool visuals but also alot of frustration when looking for treasure and such. Speaking of treasure.. their is not as much of it, it is not as easy to find and they have added 'shop quests' that require you to find things from borgia messengers and treasure chests. So its counterintuitive. Some items in the shops remain locked until you find things for mini shop quests. I completed the whole game and never completed a single shop quest. Granted, I had no idea what they were at first and sold off a bunch of my original items from treasure loot. But the fact that once I figured it out It was a long drawn out struggle to find things....just made it not worth it. The same goes for the 'hidden truth messages, especially ones of large land marks. You can spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to run around and look in crannies. Oh, by the way, they can be located inside actual rooms, behind doorways. Super fun. They also do not auto activate when you are near. Inconvenient. I spent so long trying to get into one in particular before I realized you could actually and HAD to actually climb INTO it to get it to activate.
Let talk about game flow...or lack of it. In particular the rate at which you can earn weapons and armor in relation to total game play seem off. Your still unlocking areas and quests even as you stuck in the 'ending mode' of the game.

THE ENDING: Once you reach a certain point in the game, you CANNOT side track from the mission and do the things you want (destroy towers, assassin assignment, rebuilding, Borgia Towers etc) THEN after you follow through to the end because you had to, their is no option to go back into the animus and fiddle around more if you wanted to. It just takes you back to the final scene. Which is bogus because the way the game is set up, their is no real way to know that before hand and make sure you stop forward game play until your ready to end the game. Because their is alot to do if your so inclined. The game is focused on building up shop quests, rebuilding Rome, tearing down towers, recruiting assassins', destroying corrupt weapons, you know, all the coolest things....then it just drops all that like a bad habit and forces you along in the gameplay. I really didn't like that Also, when you get kicked out of the animus, Desmond takes a little adventure. Which is fine, but it had a very lackluster tomb raider feel and seemed obligatory more than anything else.

OVERALL: This game would have been great given double the memory segments or the option to do your own thing all the way through. It had a very rushed feel and did not live up to the previous 2. Such a shame