Assassin's Creed Brotherhood [Possible Spoilers]

The Game Room
1

Initial impressions…

Well, it came out yesterday with any fanfare being drowned out by Modern Warfare: Black Ops. I was anticipating a highly rushed game due to it being released exactly one year after AC2. Fortunately, it doesn’t play like it was rushed (mostly).

If any AC fans were looking for a continuation of AC2, they got it. ACB starts right where AC2 left off, with all of Ezio’s abilities and equipment intact (he loses everything later, but there’s a very good reason for it).

First, ACB brought back the AC1 practice of reliving memories. Yay!

Combat’s a bit better and more challenging. Ezio gets a couple of new moves, such as kicks and automatically firing his gun as part of a combo move. Fists are no longer the best weapon, as disarming an enemy of his weapon and killing him with it can no longer be done (at least not that I’ve found). Enemies no longer attack one-by-one like in a kung fu B movie, and they will overwhelm you if enough reinforcements are called. Enemies also now can attack on horseback, which will chew up your health if you don’t find a way to beat them.

One great addition in ACB is the inclusion of “Borgia towers”. Borgia towers are used to control parts of the city. While in effect, you cannot access any shops in that district. Each Borgia tower comes with a Borgia Captain who you must assassinate before you can burn the tower. I found this to be a lot of fun and strayed often from the main quest just to burn some towers.

Rome itself is expansive with plenty to do and explore. None of the areas looked rushed; as a matter of fact, it almost looks as if Ubisoft put more time into their design than they did in AC2. Some subterranean areas are a bit too dark, which can make platforming and finding handholds frustrating at times. Some areas also took on a God of War-esque feeling when giant walls and doors are moved through some unknown feats of engineering. I haven’t decided yet if this is good or bad.

I only have three real gripes with the game so far. First, graphics don’t always process correctly. Cutscenes have a tendency (though rarely) to be blocked by the head or body of an NPC civilian. NPC’s on horses also have not been perfected, and I’ve experienced a few times where an NPC’s horse and legs are halfway in the ground. Finally, Ezio just takes way too much damage. I don’t know if they nerfed falling damage, but you can jump from great heights without losing so much as a square of health.

I haven’t tried multiplayer yet, but I plan to this weekend. I’m on the PS3 version, so hopefully my opponents won’t be of the World of Warcraft “omg ill pwn ur ass” ilk.

2

I’m enjoying it greatly so far, hell of a lot better than Black Ops.

One thing I hate is the new 100% syncing they introduced. Ok, I don’t hate it, I just hate the way it’s been implimented.

They give you a task you need to do, some of which is really hard, in order to sync the memory 100%. I don’t know why you need to do that, but I’ve been trying to get it done. Anywho, if you fail at the task and you want to do it again, you have to do the entire mission from the beginning. An example is when you have to tackle a courier in under a minute. So I failed the first time (fell off a ledge) so I went to do it again. It started me from where the mission began and I had to walk all the way with Machiavelli, then I had to fight a small group of people, and THEN I could attempt to tackle the damn courier in less than a minute.

So far, though, I like the game. I like that they kept a lot of the puzzles that they had in AC2, but I will miss the assassin’t tombs and the puzzles from there.

3

I’m surprised there hasn’t been more than one response to this thread. Not a lot of Assassin’ Creed fans on the Dope?

I tried multiplayer (the big marketing point for ACB) for the first time last night. The learning curve is steep, but once you figure out the radar, you’re good to go. It feels like multiplayer mode was rushed to meet the release date, so I imagine Ubisoft will be patching it in the future.

As for fun, it was okay. I spent the most time in Manhunt (teams of 3-4 players take turns hunting each other) and if was fun for about an hour, then I went back to story mode.

4

I’m playing it now, and enjoying it quite a bit. I played a little of the multiplayer beta when it was out, and the multiplayer seems pretty straightforward to me, albeit very different from any other multiplayer game I’ve played. I’ve played AC 1 & 2, and the one thing that I keep noticing is that they are really taking gamers feedback to heart and making serious improvements when warranted, so I have high hopes for how the multiplayer will develop.

5

One thing I don’t get is why do they insist on having annoying people beg for money?

The first game had the beggar women and the second had those damn music players.

This one has beggar women AND music players, although the latter aren’t as annoying as they used to be. It’s still frustrating to have women chase you down even though you’re sprinting full speed and get in your way.

6

My daughters have already announced they’re getting me this for Christmas, so I won’t be able to post on it until then. But I did love AC1 & 2.

I loved the minstrels. I loved to grab them, throw them to the ground, then kick them in the nads until they went unconscious. Then I’d throw them in a canal. I could keep my kids entertained for hours doing this. I’m only disappointed that the guards somehow found this to be a hostile act, instead of putting the boot in themselves.

BTW, in AC2, did you know you if you went to the section of Venice where everyone’s partying, you can knock down a musician (not the same as the traveling minstrels), pick up his instrument, and use it as a weapon?

7

There’s an achievement/trophy in this one if you kill a guard with a broom.

The guild challenges are a nice touch…but does anyone know what counts as a “guard post” for the courtesans? I’ve shot just about every stationary guard I could find, and am only up to 4 on that one.
I’m not all that far into it yet, but I was rather amused by the reviewer who complained that money and equipment loots are too plentiful and should be scarce like in AC2…

because a 30,000 monument investment that returns 60 every 20 minutes is gonna keep you in crossbow bolts.

8

Just bought it but will have to wait until tonight until I can get to play it. I’m stoked, although I’ve no intention of going into the multiplayer. I just want to stab faces again.

9

This game, even though it’s a game, is starting to make me feel a little disturbed with myself and my obvious disregard for (video game) human life.

“Hmm…I could go around this building or I can throw a smoke bomb and execute four people in less than five seconds. I think I’ll go with the face stabbing.”

“Oh shit, someone has seen me on the roof. I could drop down or stab them in their face. Face stabbing time…”

I enjoy some of the background conversations.

One of the heralds: To whoever it is that thinks the rooftops is his own personal playground, please be careful with the laundry lines. Tampering with them has made them slack and is really messing up the drying.

Or something like that.

10

Resurrecting this thread since I got this for Christmas and have been playing nearly nonstop since.

I’m thrilled I’m still able to do this, but I’m annoyed that it now increases your notoriety. At least the wanted posters are mostly at ground level now.

You’ve probably already found this, but a guard post is a doorway or gate that the guards won’t let you pass through - if you walk up to it, they push you away. That’s where you have to snipe undetected.

AC & it’s descendants and the GTA games are the ones that leak into my real life as well. At the supermarket over the weekend I was wishing for a hidden blade so I could stealth kill the annoying woman in front of me at the cashier. I even bet the bagger would have started shrieking “The Lord is my shepherd! The Lord is my shepherd!”

So far I really like it. The Borgia Captains are a lot of fun, especially since a lot of them run away from you & escape, so you can’t just stock up on ammo & health kits and chew your way through the defenses - you’ve got to plan those missions carefully. The kill streak mechanic is a nice addition as well.

I was getting a little annoyed at the politics in the glyph puzzles, right until the customer service call with Comtastic. Then I laughed out loud.
I don’t know how you’d get through them if you don’t know how to play chess, at least to the point of knowing the legal moves for each piece.

I think it’s a nice successor to AC2. Doesn’t feel rushed at all, certainly not as much as the DLC missions for AC2.

11

This is the first time I’ve seen this thread. I (mostly) finished playing. It was every bit as good as AC2.

I can’t get one of my trophies unless I restart the game. Those of you that have completed it know what I’m talking about. It’s the 2012 trophy.

Loved the surprise ending.

I still hate that when running through a crowd of people and I forget to push circle button, I fall to the ground. Geez, this is a guy who can scale a building with his fingertips, and get him around people and he’s clumsy as hell!

I agree that the shop quests were pretty cool; however I still need one more Vlad The Impaler coin. I have all of the treasures; I guess I need to just send out my assassins on missions; and do a lot of messenger tackling. :frowning: What a pain. I’m glad a friend was playing too, because somewhere I missed the purpose of the shop quests and was wondering why I was getting weird things along with treasures that I found.

I liked the Guild Challenges; but they’re really no different than trophy challenges.

12

Ha ha, I’m glad to see you say this. That happens to me all the time now. My wife thinks I’m crazy. We were in church the other day; and mentioned to her how I could travel around the top of the church from light to joist, etc. (Traditional Catholic, so there were plenty of similarities).

13

So based on the pretty much universal acclaim for AC2 and ACB, Ubisoft Montreal has a tough choice to make with the next installation: Continue the saga of the wildly popular Ezio Auditore da Firenze, or move to a new time period with a new assassin?

I think Victorian England or Feudal Japan would make great settings.