In 2010 Ubisoft gave us Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, the second part of the Ezio Trilogy. Brotherhood opens up where Assassin’s Creed II left off; with Ezio at the bottom of the vault in the Vatican. After making his way home to a familial homecoming and meeting the Borgias strike again starting Ezio’s odyssey to permanently remove the Borgias from power in Rome.
Over the course of the game, Ezio shatters Borgia control and works to restore the Assassin Brotherhood, ultimately ending in a showdown with Cesare “I’m the King of Italy” Borgia. It is a lofty storyline for a very loft game and it is executed damn near perfectly. Along the path to his final vengeance for his family and home, you’ll experience the growth of the Brotherhood, the shattering of a dynasty, and some of Ezio’s most personal memories. There is no better way to describe this game other than: HUGE. Yes, this game is huge. And yes, I know I described AC:II that way but Brotherhood blows that out of the water. Multiple threaded stories interact with Ezio’s liberation of Rome, an expansion of a previous mini-game, and the introduction of another that is absolutely entertaining.
Brotherhood reigns in the time advancement that made AC:II a little jarring (12 years pass between discovery of the vault’s location and entering it).
In addition to the story quests and side story quests, there are more skill challenges that made the exploration of Rome come to life though once again, the free-run quests remained annoying as hell. Ubisoft expanded on the property restoration aspect of AC:II allowing you to rebuild not only several dozen shops but also famous landmarks of Rome. In the end, if you complete this mini-game, you will own almost all of Rome after shattering Borgia influence throughout the districts. The new mini-game is completed by rescuing citizens in danger from Borgia’s army and training them to be assassins by either calling them to aid you in battle or sending them on valuable strategic missions in cities throughout Europe and Asia. If done fully to completion Ezio has a private army of assassins that are just as deadly as he is.
The graphics for Brotherhood were similar to their predecessor, though now at least Ezio seems to age beyond his 20s finally. The landmarks, which is a hallmark of the series, were rendered to accurately look like their real world counterparts. I’m unfamiliar with Rome’s geography, but I believe this was Ubisofts first run at making the geography somewhere close to accurate.
Likewise, the sound for Brotherhood is on par with previous entries and the voice acting was consistent and entertaining.
The controls are continually being refined at this point and the combat system is likely at its peak in this game. The chain “executions” work fantastically for crowd control and the guards frequently panic and surrender when you’ve just killed five of their friends in front of them in under 10 seconds. Unfortunately, the age of the separate button for tools is still a ways down the road.
Summing Up:
Story: 5/5: As per the last run, this is a history buffs wildest dream. So much European history is delivered through this game including the decline of one of the most notorious families to have ever lived. The meta ending for Desmond this game is even more shocking than the last. Ezio is perhaps one of the most likeable video game protagonists ever and though we still know little about Desmond his place in the story to come is finally becoming clearer.
Graphics: 5/5: The upgrades were welcome and we finally are seeing some age progression. There’s even a joke about it early in the game when Ezio is referred to as a “man of your age.”
Sound: 5/5: Top-notch.
Control: 5/5: For my second run through it was a lot like sitting behind the wheel of an favorite car. The controls just work. Sometimes the accidental wall grabs when you run into one can be frustrating but it is the nature of the beast. Unfortunately, in a later entry, this gets A LOT worse.
Playability: 5/5: Yup. Perfect score. Ezio and his world remain fun and relatable. Not only relatable, but it is damn near believable. I mean sure, nobody ever parachuted off the Vatican in the 1500s but the basis of the story remains grounded in historical fact. ACII, Brotherhood, and Revelations, collectively known as the Ezio trilogy, remain very popular in the Assassin’s Creed series for these reasons.