games website Exclusive: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood review in detail

Before you jump into Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, there's one thing you need to know: the first hour of the game is a little silly, but don't let the long, boring lesson get in the way. The rest of the game is fun. After sneaking into the Colosseum and thrusting a sharp knife into the throats of three musketeers, undetected, I had to admire the game. The world of Brotherhood has reached an unprecedented level of openness and complexity.

I can observe the Bishop from here.

Various crossing

Brotherhood picks up right after Assassin's Creed II, where Ezio, the assassin god who lives in the late 15th century, has just defeated the disgusting Pope. He returned safely to Rome, but did not expect to be happy with his lover that night, and the next morning the wonderful sex was rudely interrupted by a surprise attack by the Pope's son. Goddamn shelling!

Then you need to break out of the Animus for a fairly long, boring session. Finally, Ezio travels to Rome to overthrow a tyrant. This is where the game really begins.

Like AC2, the game is advanced through a series of memories from Ezio. These missions are diverse and include stealth, combat and dialogue styles, and even the simple escort mission is designed to be very elaborate. Even though the game is full of jumping levels on rooftops, you won't get bored.

Alley-OOP!

The free movement and combat systems take some time to master. On an early mission I had to track down a thief, but when I ran into a crowd and fell into a haystack, I accidentally killed a woman in my path. But the more I played, the better I got at it (and the less fun it got). Annoyingly, though, the game sometimes had glitches, like when I was sneaking around and suddenly a hostile guard appeared in front of me for no apparent reason.

In addition to the main quest, AC2 also contains a large number of side quests. You can take enemy territory by force, recruit and manage men, invest in property - I spent a lot of time playing these parts, or wandering the streets of Rome and chopping up a few hapless guards. The single-player game is at least 15 hours long, and if you're not satisfied, you can try the multiplayer game.

A kill streak can wipe out a team of enemies in an instant.

Simple and rude

The multiplayer game includes a simple but very challenging stealth hunt mode, where you can play as a solo killer or in a team (you will have a target to kill and other players to hunt you). You know where your targets are and what they look like in general, but the map is full of stupid faces, and all you have to do is keep an eye on your targets while losing track of your pursuers. The game is well designed, not just a simple assassination mission, but more like a tense cat-and-mouse contest. I've had some good moments, but I've also had some bad moments.

Of course, the biggest improvement in Brotherhood is that it finally does away with always-on, AC2's much-maligned DRM technology. The game itself wasn't much of an improvement (especially in the story), but the progress certainly earned it a lot of popularity, and the game itself was a very interesting sequel.

Conclusion

In an intense adventure game, there are plenty of things you can do -- and, of course, plenty of ways you can stab a dead person.