Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Review - The liberation of Roma has begun!

Assassin's Creed II was always going to be a tough act to follow and with rumours flying left, right and centre about where the franchise will head next, the invitation to spend more time in Renaissance Italy with Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a welcome one. Expanding upon the template adding new mechanics and features, while continuing the same story where it left off Brotherhood might not be Assassin's Creed III, but it's still a fresh and engaging extension of Ezio Auditore's story.

Tracking the Borgia to the Vatican in Rome at the end of ACII, Brotherhood follows an Ezio who after years of assassino experience under his knife-laden belt, has hung up his blades for a comfortable carefree life at his Monteriggioni villa. This retirement is short-lived however, as the Borgia mount an all-out attack on the village, reducing it to a smouldering mass of rubble, forcing Ezio back into action on a quest for vengeance against the forces of Cesare Borgia. Unfolding across nine sequences, Brotherhood continues in a similar vein to its predecessor, with story-driven set-pieces galore, that make the most of Ezio's assassin's guild and continue to inject the series with the variety that was so lacking from the first game.

In ACII, we had but a tantalising glimpse of Rome, yet in Brotherhood the entire city is your playground, and restoring the dozens of dilapidated storefronts, banks, stables and faction buildings while removing the looming Borgia towers that cast their ominous shadow over the whole of Rome. Bringing life back to the streets helps Ezio to win the hearts and minds of the people, reducing the stranglehold that Cesare and his armies have over Rome's rooftops, winding alleys and crowded piazzas.

As a location, Rome is every bit as evocative and atmospheric as Florence, Venice and Firenze, but as a vast, seamless environment, unimpeded by the intermission of a loading screen, it feels like a cohesive whole, enhanced by the addition of horse within the city walls. There are still departures to other locations to destroy Leonardo's Borgia war machines, granting a break from the norm with missions involving soaring on a Da Vinci glider fitted with a cannon, ploughing through Borgia soldiers in a wooden tank or riding a gun turret in a breakneck on-rails sequence that feels out of place, but is no less enjoyable.

Then once you get into the real meat of the game, you'll begin to assemble your order of assassins, rescuing rebellious citizens fighting against Borgia oppression and enlisting them to join your cause. First, you'll reacquaint yourself with familiar faces like LaVolpe, Bartolomeo and Machiavelli to reassemble the fractured mercenaries, thieves and courtesans, rebuilding their base of operations, giving Ezio a starting point to form his own assassin guild.

Recruiting regular citizens, means that you'll need to toughen up and fashion them into proficient killers, and you do this by accessing pigeon coops dotted around Rome. From here you can send your burgeoning assassins out on contracts around the globe with each successfully completed assignment granting florins, items and XP to upgrade their armour and weapons until they reach level 10 and earn the right to follow in Ezio's footsteps to become a fully-fledged assassin. After initiation, they're given the Auditore robes, take the leap of faith and become as efficient and ruthless as Ezio himself.

Ezio can summon his assassins when the on-screen indicators turn red and if you have six or more allies under your tutelage, holding down the left bumper calls in an arrow storm, sending a volley of crossbow bolts zipping in to take out any nearby enemy infantry. Ezio himself, being more experienced is also a far more accomplished fighter, able to chain together brutally quick kills with just a push of a button, enabling you to execute some multiple swift kills in a matter of seconds. Countering his enhanced abilities and the option to call in extra help, are the increased numbers of enemies that you find yourself up against.

You'll seldom die under the duress of the Borgia however, as Ezio keeps a cache of medicine that can be administered at any time. Desynchronisation more often than not is invariably down to some slightly overly vigilant AI during some of Brotherhood's tougher stealth missions, where detection results in an instant fail state. These are some of the game's most infuriating and patience-wearing moments that are thankfully few and far between.

It's worth noting that Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is so much more than the sum of its parts, with numerous challenges, side quests, contracts and secret Followers of Romulus tombs to discover and explore at your leisure. Or, if you need a break, jumping to the pause menu gives you the option to leave the Animus at any time, where you can continue to further Desmond's part of the story in 2012, where there's a familiar area to rediscover in the modern day. Desmond is still very much at the heart of Creed in fact and Brotherhood pushes his plight forward in a meaningful way that makes the wait for Assassin's Creed III all the more excruciating.

The bottom line is that there's literally hundreds of activities to engage in and plenty to soak up and unearth, including a new Subject 16 puzzle to unravel and more collectibles to gather, which are more than just lazily added filler, revealing something about the story while adding something worthwhile. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's single-player is predictably fantastic then, making for a more than worthy sequel with a compelling narrative that covers everything. Murder, betrayal and intrigue beats at it's centre and that it's really only half of the game - incidentally clocking in at a good 10-15 hours or so - is quite remarkable.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood could have been shipped as a straight-up single-player experience and we'd have probably still been more than happy, but now multiplayer forms a substantial part of the game, with this the first outing for the series online. If you're concerned that it might take something away from the story or it might not deliver on its promise, worry not. Multiplayer is no mere afterthought, but rather an outstanding, impeccably presented and enormously playable part of Assassin's Creed.

Fundamentally, it all works incredibly well, casting you as a member of the Templar order training under the watchful eye of Abstergo's malevolent overseer, Vidic. Putting your assassin prowess to the test, you'll need to blend into crowds, tail your target and try to elude pursuers. Pulling off silent kills while incognito is the aim, granting larger awards the better the quality of your kills. Earning XP after each match levels you up, unlocking perks like improved sprint speed, disguises and additional tools to enhance your assassin.

You'll also unlock new game modes beyond the standard Wanted match type, which is essentially your basic deathmatch. Unlocking Alliance once you attain level 5 grants a team-based mode in which you're partnered up with a twin and you must co-operate to outwit the opposition. Later unlockable modes like Manhunt mode are no different, giving you just as much scope to try and out think your opponents in a team battle wherein one side takes the role of hunter and the other the hunted. Things can get mighty frantic, but being executed normally boils down to either a lapse in concentration or a slow and patient pursuer that bides their time. We sincerely hope that the multiplayer finds the audience it deserves, as what's been achieved here is immensely playable.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is no hastily cobbled together, cynically made sequel. That it feels as new and exciting as Assassin's Creed II did a year ago is testament to how much new stuff Ubisoft Montreal has crammed into the game, making it an outstanding sequel that marks a new high for the series. Multiplayer is an incredible new addition that feels in no way tacked on and actually works remarkably well. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's story meanwhile isn't as compelling as Ezio's journey in ACII, but it's still hugely engaging nonetheless. Rome is also a fantastic and beautifully realised setting, making every moment you spend around its landmarks, aqueducts and densely populated streets an absolute pleasure. It's for these reasons that Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is every bit as essential as it's forebear, an outstanding achievement and a magnificent game in its own right. When in Rome, you won't want to leave.

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