Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

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Did the third aspect of Assassin's Creed offer any new framework of play or stay in Italy to deepen the character of Ezio? I had long played the original Assassin's Creed, but not really focused on the second, lack of time. Assassin's Creed: The Brotherhood is not an expansion or a sequel made in haste. Assassin's Creed is an out-and-out, and a surprise to those, almost the majority, who believed that it would be a quick then to win the most money at the expense of devaluing the series. Probably the game again to be a blockbuster, but sales are well deserved and a satisfied user. Assassin's Creed: The Brotherhood is comparable in size to Assassin's Creed 2, although only take place in the city of Rome, and also includes a fun multiplayer mode.

About the Game:

The Brotherhood is a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed 2, ie, the adventures of Ezio report, which appeared as finalized by the end of the previous title. But there is more that Rodrigo Borgia, as we found out, and Caesar, his son, soon besieges our village of Monteriggioni and caused irreparable affront. Again Ezio will have to exercise a murderer, just a year after completing their revenge believe, and this time will have to carry their gear to Rome, capital of the Papal States, but a bit far from its glory as capital of the Roman Empire.

Rome is a territory of the Pope, for that (and not so long ago) lord of half Italy and the Borgias are practically a political movement led by Cesar, the commander of the papal armies. The city is something like political and socially dominated by the Borgias and their allies, embarrassed and frightened people, and we will play an important role in restoring vitality to the ancient capital of the world, despite its many monuments of the past , at the city level pales in comparison to Florence and Venice.

This medieval Rome that we are, which is to take the Renaissance, in contrast to the cities from the previous game and is almost the entire area Ezio action during the game. It's a much bigger city than Venice and Florence in Assassin's Creed 2, about three times Florence, but also very diverse. Broadly speaking, medieval Rome is not that of the Caesars, for much of the city is not urban, but rustic area where there are monuments and buildings, but just people. This means that, in the absence of roads and open areas that connected the cities of the previous game, we have all types of scenarios, urban and countryside, in Rome itself.

The city is large and varied. Urban and rural parts are very different but they all share the legacy of imperial Rome. There are buildings of the Roman Empire, as everywhere, in fact, have come down to us, "and is a pleasure to climb the Pantheon or the Coliseum or commit murder in them, to cite two examples, and also able to buy it then (although this just give us income, other than the owner feel the satisfaction of the monuments of Rome).

Upon our arrival in Rome fulfill a series of missions to give introduction to Machiavelli, Ezio's main ally in this struggle against the Borgia underground. Over several parts, spread over "DNA sequences", we will organize our revenge through contact with the three guilds of Rome, Ezio natural allies: the courtesans, thieves and mercenaries. Missions Assassin's Creed: The Brotherhood continues the path of improvement that began in the second half. This time there are fewer missions but last longer, often taking place in various settings and having to do several things, often making two or three missions a micro itself, but conveniently divided into fragments.

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Gameplay:

Fewer missions, but longer, interesting and varied, and contain the added bonus of qualifying "100% synchronization", ie made them as Ezio at the time, which moved the game means an extra challenge: comply within a time limit, undetected, without killing any enemy or losing life, apart from other less occasional challenges as "no swimming", will we get 100% of the timing and, therefore, replay makes (we repeat them when you want). More replayability, more variety and, above all, we note that no extra quests have been added unnecessarily lengthen the duration of the story, which had criticized in the second half.

But apart from the main missions, spun in a linear fashion, there are many things to do in Rome: a staggering number of side missions, organized into different types, which will give us all sorts of extras if you fill them all. From murders to special orders of the Templars, going through all kinds of events that arise as the messengers Borgia, we'll have to chase across the rooftops to get extra items or the missions of the stores, which will give us access to special equipment. This is shown in the map of the game, and if we look without filters, as it is by default the number of icons can become dizzy.

Much of the number of missions and options are unlocked by capturing Borgia Towers overlooking the city of Rome. Borgia, twelve towers in the city, each dominating an area, and until we get to burn the tower we unlock some side quests in that area, nor can we rehabilitate the shops. The dynamics of the towers is completely integrated into the game, without being missions are restricted areas where the guards are very alert and we discover very easily, and in them is a major Borgia, whose difficulty level we indicated the game. This difficulty varies, there are some who flee just see us and therein lies the complexity. Others cannot be killed from behind, and will be very good fighters. There are two or three really tough Borgia Torres require a stealthy approach and a degree of luck.

Once the commander killed, and burned the tower will become a "Tower of Murderers" and from there you can access the management menu of brotherhood. Also unlock local businesses, can buy and rehabilitate them. Buying blacksmiths, stables, medical, art shops, tailor shops and banks, we will hold those businesses and we bring in money every twenty minutes, and discounts. We can also buy other things, from buildings to thieves, courtesans and mercenaries, to buildings of Rome and the Pantheon, the Baths of Caracalla or the Coliseum, as I had counted. We can also rehabilitate a series of tunnels that connect the different parts of Rome (after a short loading time), and the aqueduct of the city. Purchase and rehabilitate buildings that become our addiction can be a concern, and the only mistake of the game in this regard is that the map does not differentiate very well when a building is rehabilitated or not, makes his semi-transparent icon, but not always it shows well.

There are two extra adventures that deserve separate consideration because of their size. The first are the haunts of Romulus, a number of levels in catacombs and ruins that have to go to get keys that give us access to the crypt of this sect that worships the founder of Rome. Mixed puzzle missions, platforms, and a bit of combat, the style of Assassin's Creed 2. They are completely optional, but very satisfying, as those.

The others are those of Leonardo Da Vinci. Only the first is mandatory (like that of Romulus), and those missions will have to go to the factories that Caesar Borgia is on the outskirts of Rome, which manufactures the machines that Leonardo had designed for him by force. These missions are very interesting but also difficult to see ourselves obliged to carry out alone, and demand for much of the mission to remain undetected by the enemy. But at the end of each mission will have to control the machine in question (as a gliding machine bomber, a tank or a gun, etc.), and that experience is worth the extra effort.

A playable level, the big news is that we will have a number of murderers aides to help out in missions and that will make a real help when things get ugly, hence the title game. Advanced few hours, Ezio becomes the leader of the murderers in Rome and began recruiting people who are in distress. These recruits will become part of our Brotherhood; we can manage from the various towers to conquer or from pigeon houses to see the map. We can have up to twelve acolytes to our service, depending on how many have done Borgia Torres burning murderer and these learners will level up and enjoying new skills as they gain experience.

There are two ways to gain experience, one is helping us, and another is by performing missions abroad, on missions in cities like Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris and Moscow, also some historical background. These missions have different difficulties and a tasty reward in the form of experience, but depending on your difficulty and number of murderers who will send more or less chance of success. Sending a sufficient number of murderers have enough experience with a 100% chance, but the experience is shared in, and the murderers will be a few minutes (between eight and twenty) of real game without being able to serve our interests. There are of course various "attitudes" to take to the management of our clan of murderers, from the wise, always trying to 100% to the risky and can get "highs" of experience very quickly.

But while on route running missions for tanning, our murderers cannot help us in Rome, and perhaps we miss. The murderers are not required to meet the missions of the game, but will be of great help in many situations, so it is smart of Ubisoft. We are not required to jump through hoops to have our learners Brotherhood murderers and care as if we were a Boy Scout monitor, but if we do we will be easier to some particularly demanding game situations, such as when many enemies around us in a pitched battle, or when we have to eliminate enemies in one of those missions that being discovered the equivalent of "sync."

Pulando LB or L1, our murderer will strike the selected target. Sometimes fall from the sky to stab, more to come from behind, or climb up to the enemy's position, or even arrive on horseback. It is very fun to see action at our murderers, because they do very well, sometimes just as we would, and it then fight alongside us until the problems are over. We can call up to six murderers, two by two (leaving the other six, if we had, in reserve), and have your life bar, so you can die in combat. But when they are at high levels, our murderers are very efficient killing machines that can with any enemy and surprise us more than once. It's nice to spend time managing the murderers to go up in level, and then call them and see them come on horseback, in a hurry, and thunder to clean shot at enemies beset us. "Those are my kids." If we have three levels of support, the maximum, can trigger a "rain of arrows and holding the button, which instantly end the enemies that have marked. In short, an interesting addition, as we said, it is not mandatory to use, making the game is somewhat half way, not a radical departure from the formula above, but a choice but to follow, necessarily have to use sparingly. Maybe you use too little.

Another important development is the combat system. Still not perfect and is still one of the weak points of the game, but was changed to include the item "combo of deaths." As many of you know, kill an enemy in the game with normal attacks are slow and sometimes almost impossible. In Assassin's Creed The Brotherhood our best friend is still the counter, stopping a shot from the enemy and kill him in the act with another of ours, but this time this type of death machines, along with that we get normally, can be linked in a rapid death combo that can extend long time. Pressing L3 can select the next enemy to attack and the blow dealt it will be deadly, and so on until there are no enemies to be conquered, or attack one of them we interrupt the combo. This makes it extremely easy battle, but at the same time it trivializes and makes the challenge does not survive, but to make the longest possible combination. Anyway, you need a good look for a next installment.

Also observed changes in the story and characters. If Assassin's Creed 2 progressed much time to give a reason for everything we did, and make the characters imported, the Brotherhood emphasizes this further. We will meet with old acquaintances but reveal much personality. The villain, Caesar, is not as twisted as his father, but much more aggressive, violent and overtly crazy and evil. Lucrezia Borgia is completely in his role as a myth of lust and manipulation, and Ezio, and in forties, is more stereotyped than ever in his role of avenger / redeemer, calling for "liberation" of Rome like a leader few centuries later. Machiavelli and other extra characters are also much more involved in his role, the characters are more stereotypical, but they talk more and more things happen, so the story becomes more interesting, though the conclusion is somewhat abrupt and sometimes is somewhat disjointed . At the same time, the "other" story of Desmond in this game to be their ancestor in virtual reality, keep going.

Finally, the novelty of the game and the series: multiplayer. For the first time included a component of this kind, and Ubisoft Montreal has done a test and a post timid, but has given the Brotherhood in a very complete with its own set of development and levels, and multiplayer modes in recent times, and enough game modes. All multiplayer mechanics revolves around the same idea: to kill a target and kill us keep the player for which we aim. Some of these dynamics, tested and in a game of first-person shooter, Ubisoft has added all kinds of elements to make it a very fun multiplayer mode.

Obviously we do not know who our victim, we have only a "snapshot", which is one of the standard models of game. But all the characters look the same, as we move among multitudes of different types (nobles, doctors, etc ...), so we'll have to look at what makes the crowd, who were behaving suspiciously, to kill without we find before. At the same time, another player is doing the same with us, so the multiplayer mode has surprises to give and take. Perhaps we are about to kill our prey, only a few meters from the nearest end of the most secretive and elegant, and we find a dagger neck, because our tracker has done exactly the same, but before.

This idea will add items, costumes, special powers to use temporarily and other game modes to vary the formula. Wanted is the standard, one against all, in Alliance, we can team up with another murderer to kill a third. In Advanced Wanted follows the idea of Wanted, but making the radar not detect the height, which gives a different touch, and finally, Manhunt is for teams of four, alternating between hunters and hunted, and each team is assigned to a character type (all noblemen, courtesans, etc ...). Is lacking a multiplayer mode that does not revolve around the same idea (the anonymous murder), but it is a great start and definitely a breath of fresh air for the console multiplayer, so dominated by sports and action games first person, with few exceptions such as GTA or fighting games.

A graphic level, Assassin's Creed The Brotherhood does not progress too much about the second part, although the difference is especially noticeable on the faces of the characters, much improved compared to the previous game. Ezio and especially the secondary characters are more carefully about facial expressions, and a higher modeling faces. Apart from that, the graphics engine the game keeps moving competently, and his large, beautiful scenery, with occasional sudden appearance here and there, this sometimes causes problems when suddenly collided with a guard who had not previously been and starts chase, but it's not coming to dramatically affect the game, which looks impeccable despite having lost some impact.

The sound recycled in part the soundtrack of Assassin's Creed 2 but includes some new music and new sound effects. What is again an unsurpassed level is the dubbing, the same as the original voices for the characters themselves, and acted so well as in the previous delivery.

[GaMeR-BoY]

Conclusions:

Episode after episode, Assassin's Creed is improving its formula to achieve a remarkable level of excellence. The greatest virtue of Assassin's Creed: The Brotherhood is also its biggest flaw. For those who played Assassin's Creed 2 and are fans is a follow almost natural, and includes many things to do, giving the game almost for granted that you know how to do it and do not need much help, which is great for the experienced user who does not want to waste time on training missions. But at the same time, it is a game somewhat closed to those not familiar with the saga, and which acts as a continuation of Assassin's Creed 2, therefore, it is advisable to begin the adventures of Ezio at the beginning.

If you did not like Assassin's Creed 2 will hardly convince the Brotherhood, but if you're one of the many followers of this saga, this game is the icing on the previous final. Perfect your gameplay and includes a lot of things to do in the city, and add a fun multiplayer mode that will bring a breath of fresh air to PS Network and Xbox Live, mainly for not being an action game in person. A game that meets and exceeds expectations, and that will quiet a lot of naysayers. Assassin's Creed seems to be stuck with annual deliveries, although we did not venture to say if it is a good idea to release another in 2011. The Brotherhood perfected a formula, however, must continue to evolve, and we'd love to know what time brings the next installment in Ubisoft for that to happen. It has a lot to choose from and that guarantees many and varied Assassin's Creed for the future. It is simply the best of Assassin's Creed.