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Assassin’s Creed II was hands down one of the best games of 2009. Heck, even one of the best games of all time! So to be the successor of such acclaim really puts the pressure on. Announced back at E3, there was alot of hype and excitement about this game and, despite being part of the Assassin’s Creed series (or because of it), there was doubt that it could live up to the name.  Rather than moving the series to a different era, Ubisoft decided to keep Brotherhood in the same timer period as Assassin’s Creed II - like the recent release of Fallout: New Vegas shows, it’s a hard job trying to make a game similar to its predecessor without making it just the same game but with new missions.

And if you’re wondering whether this is just a spin-off borrowing the franchise’s title, let me tell you: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is Assassin’s Creed III in all but name.

<Beware mild spoilers in this paragraph> At the very start, you are slap-bang at the very point you ended Assassin’s Creed II, you are taken through a quick glance at Rome before travelling to your fully-renovated home in Monterigioni. Complete a few boring errands, and then the game really puts the pedal to the metal. You are in bed with Caterina Sforza, when you hear a canon blast and before you know it you’re running out onto the rooftop, only to find an army surrounding your town with fire rising from the wrecked shops and buildings. As soon as you get into playing you are straight onto a horse, which is part of one of the new mechanics; the ability to ride horses in cities. You are riding around, dodging falling wreckage and cannon balls. Your horse dies and you are forced to climb onto one of Monterigioni’s walls, where you will explore the canon, also a new feature. You take out a fair few enemies, then you are forced into hand-to-hand combat, exploring the new take-downs and finishers. Then you find that Mario has been captured and is being held at the city gates. You free-run over to the marker, only for you to be shot, Mario killed, and you loose 50,000 florins, all your armour, your uncle, and the apple. And that is just the first sequence.

When Ubisoft released information on Desmond’s story, they claimed that it would be more interactive and that we would be seeing a lot more of him in Brotherhood. Although this is true, it’s not in significant quantity, as you only saw desmond once or twice in Assassin’s Creed II; instead you choose to leave the Animus 2.0 whenever you want and check out Monterigioni (your new hideout) and look at your emails, as pointless as they are. Also, you can often interact with Shaun, Rebecca or Lucy whenever you want, although there is only ever a new conversation every sequence or so. The bulk of the game is set in renaissance Rome, and this is where the game becomes an Assassin’s Creed game. Sure, in the present you can free-run like you’re a god, but you loose the interactive, open-world part of the game. When you are in the Animus 2.0, you have to know the mechanics of the game if you want to get on with the game straight away, as there is no ‘tutorial’; at the start you see a few hints on the basics but you never see more than ‘hold R2 to weapon cycle’.

When in Rome, you are forced to complete a few missions before side-quests are unlocked. The story is action packed and ranges from sneaking into a french fort disguised as one of them, to destroying a base using a (far-fetched) tank that Leonardo Da Vinci built, before destroying it. There is enough to do in Rome other than the story itself for a lot of replay value. Even the 16 hour story is just the icing on the cake. The story sees you as Desmond replaying Ezio (Confused much?) as he tries to reclaim the apple and stop Cesera’s reign over Rome. by destroying the 12 Borgia towers and freeing the district from Borgia influence. Most of the gameplay consists of stabbing, shooting and throwing people to their deaths, although there are a few missions that break away from the hide-in-the-dark-oh-shit-they-saw-me-stab-stab-stab. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing, but I prefer exploring new mechanics to doing the same thing in three games. Overall the story is compelling, addictive and fun. It brings together a whole new style of gameplay without losing its core elements.

Graphically, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is still sound, a few texture problems here and there, but nothing major. It hasn’t improved drastically from Assassin’s Creed II, but that doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. Until you look up. Now I’m not saying  it has to be as perfect as RDR, but static images? Come on, the only dynamic bit is the transition between one picture of the sky to another. I was disappointed with this, although I won’t be asking for a refund for something that I barely noticed in the first place.

The biggest new part of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is multiplayer. Although completely new to the series, Ubisoft Montreal pulled it off without a hitch. Multiplayer is smooth, and extremely satisfying to get that last kill when the timer is flashing 5..4..3..2..(KILL)..1.. The most worrying thing about multiplayer was how perks and power-ups would work. People wondered if any one ability would be overpowered. Would it be to easy to rank up? Would it be up to scratch? The answer to all but the last question, is no. Multiplayer is sound, all the abilities, even the most powerful, are well incorporated and seem fair. And the ranking is hard, except for one flaw; Manhunt. It is so easy to rank up, my gameplay time is 4-6 hours, and I’m more than half way to the maximum level (50). The other game modes rank you up at an adequate rate. In case you didn’t know, Manhunt is a game mode where your placed with 3 strangers, against 4 other strangers, you take it in turns of 5 minute rounds to kill the other team. What makes it the esiest to rank up is, if you are hunting, they CANNOT kill you, they can stun and hide from you, but it’s inevitable that you will get 5-6 kills per round, and when you are being hunted, and are defenceless, your only escape is to walk around with a look-alike, or stun the enemy.

There are (disappointingly) only 4 game modes. Wanted, Alliance (featured in the Beta), Manhunt and Advanced Wanted. In Wanted you will spawn with someone to kill, and someone who is hunting you.  You use your skills as an assassin to track down your target using the nifty compass on your HUD. Sometimes, there will be other people after the same person you are hunting, which is indicated underneath your target’s photo. Your pursuer/hunter, and how many there are, is also on your HUD, you can have no more than four people chasing one poor soul at a time. The same goes in Advanced Alliance but for the exception that some HUD element will be disabled for a harder chase. In Alliance, it is the same as Wanted, except you are partnered up with someone and can only kill the same two people, like a chain (team1-team2-team3-team1.. etc.).

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is one of the most original single player and multiplayer experiences a game could offer. The story is gripping, exciting and fun. The multiplayer is fun, addictive and totally unique to the usually run ‘n’ gun in most games. With the addition of multiplayer, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is one of the best value for money games you can buy, and will bring you hours and hours of fun if you want it.