I go to war with the Borgia in this episode of Battling the Backlog
When the first Assassin's Creed was released, I wasn't sure what to think. We were told a story of Desmond Miles, a kidnapped bar tender who held the genetic memory of his ancestor, Altair. Desmond had to relive Altair's memories to unlock some dark secrets from history. The exploration of the Altair's Middle Eastern world was brilliant. The animations, art style and combat all seemed pretty great. Despite all of this, the game didn't manage to fulfill it's potential. With repetitive missions and an overall dryness to it's story, the game didn't do as well as we all had hoped.
A New Hope!
But then Assassin''s Creed 2 was released. Continuing the story of Desmond, but changing over the story to be set in Rennasaince Italy was a clever move. This allowed for a more varied art style, more weapons, and different types of areas to explore. Most importantly though, was the introduction of Ezio, the new Ancestor protagonist. Ezio was a more human protagonist, complete with friends, family, and a sense of motive.
Assassin's Creed 2 was much, much better than the original game, despite only being released a couple years after. Like many others, I was shocked at how great it was. I did not think the developers would be able to out-do themselves any time soon. So when Brotherhood was announced, I was skeptical. And remained so for a while, despite how great people said it was. Eventually I bought it during a Steam sale, but only got around to playing recently. And boy, oh boy do I regret that.
Continuing the story of Ezio Auditore de Firenze, Brotherhood picks up right where it's predecessor left off. Ezio now has the powerful artifact called ?The Apple?, and returns home to the villa he spent so much time in during the previous installment. After some 'down time', the villa is attacked by Cesara Borgia, one of the Templars Ezio fought against so hard to take the Apple. After some plot twists, Cesare takes the mystical artifact, leaving Ezio for dead. Brotherhood truly begins when Ezio travels to Rome to kill Cesare and take back the Apple.
Rome wasn?t rebuilt in a day!
On arriving in Rome, we learn that the city is ruled by the Borgia, a corrupt Papal family. Ezio must sap their power from the people before he can make his attack for the Apple. Ezio does this through main story missions, though almost all side missions revolve around fighting against them. Between missions, the player is given a huge sandbox of Rome to explore. He is able to climb buildings, ride his horse through the city and country side, chase down pickpockets, and renovate buildings to restore Rome's former greatness.
The renovation is pretty simple. The player first must free an area of Borgia control. The first step is is done by assassinating a local Borgia commander before they can run away. If they do manage to get away before the player can kill them, he must simply wait until dusk/dawn in the game world for them to come out of hiding. Then Ezio will climb the nearby 'Borgia Tower', a tall building with flags on it, and light it on fire. This also serves as 'synchronizing' with an area, which will update the map with all the icons for businesses and quests.
Once the player has taken control, he finds boarded-up buildings with signs on them and pays a fee to open them back up. Once they are renovated, they provide two bonuses. Ezio can buy or sell items to them, and they add money to the 'revenue.' Revenue is a sum of profit given to the player every twenty minutes, which can be used to buy more items or renovate more stores.
Renovation does not accomplish much, unless you need emergency equipment or ammunition, or you are trying to get 100% synchronization to the game. 100% synch is difficult, because each mission offers two ways to be completed. The 'wrong way', and by doing exactly what the game wants you to do. For example, some missions do not want Ezio to be detected by guards. Others will ask the player to kill a target through a specific means, like stunning them with a smoke bomb before using the hidden blade.
[Firenze]EzioA. has ASSSASSINATED [Borgia]randomguard3168!
Each button corresponds to a part of Ezio's body. For example, one button will be his head. This is used for talking, whistling for his horse, or using Eagle Vision. Eagle Vision is a mode where everything in sight is color coded. Unnamed enemies will be red, targets will be yellow, and key items will be blue. Every thing else is a dim, greyish color. Eagle vision is used in missions to find your target, but is also used to find Glyphs. Glyphs are parts of the Animus that will unlock a puzzle. Once the puzzles are done, part of a video is unlocked. It takes all the Glyphs in the game to be collected to see the entire footage.
These controls especially makes a difference during combat. The foot button is used to kick the stronger guards to lower their defenses, or dodge attacks from the faster guards so you can counter-attack. Counter attacks are extremely useful, as they always have been in the Assassin's Creed series. They are performed by using a 'defense' stance and attacking at the right moment during the baddies' swing. If you get enough one-hit-kills in a row, you will enter execution mode. In execution mode, Ezio will instantly kill any enemy he swings his weapon at, long as he isn't interrupted. There are tons of different animations for each counter-attack or execution. While executions are satisfying, they seemed to become easier as the game progressed. This was due to a combination of better weapons, and becoming good enough at the game that I knew exactly what to do.
For when Ezio doesn't want to be detected, but still wants to get some good ol' fashioned killing done there are a few choices. There is the poison-blade, which will cause victims to stumble around swinging their weapon as if there is a pinata nearby. Then there's the unlockable poison-dart gun, which does the same thing but at a distance. Also is the fallback from Asssassin's Creed 1, the throwing knives. Throwing knives can be found on pretty much any dead guard, so despite their short range they can always be replenished. And my favorite, the crossbow which are purchasable further in the game when the player has a good chunk of change.
Let?s make some friends!
Brotherhood is filled with side missions. While it's not an Elder Scrolls game, there are quite a few smaller storylines in the game. My favorite is the ?Leonardo's War Machines? quest chain. Ezio must hunt down the war machines that the Borgia forced Ezio's pal, Leonardo DaVinci to invent. Each mission follows a simple format ? Sneak through a fortress, find and destroy the blue prints for the invention, and then play with the new toy. Toys varied from a tank to a bomber plane. These were some of the most joy-filled moments of the game, using the bomber to swoop down on Borgia troops, to throw fire bombs at them before flying away at high speeds. The best thing about these scenes is that they some how managed to fit in the feel of the game, despite being complete 180's in gameplay.
Another of the additions to the game were the Assassin Recruits. Assassins are recruited by saving armed citizens from guards before they're killed. After saving a certain number of recruits, Ezio will be able to summon them to help in combat. And once you have even more, he is able to call for an arrow volley. This is a really easy way to take out a bunch of guards in an area, though there is a pretty long recharge for this ability. The arrow volley is another example of making the game a bit too easy, but keeping up the feel of being an absolute badass.
One thing I noticed about Brotherhood that I am not sure I enjoyed was the graphics. Some parts of Rome felt more dry and less colorful than the cities in the game's predecessor. Despite this, there were the green fields outside the city, and many of the characters wore interesting, and colorful clothes.
The voice acting in the game was good, but the only characters that stuck out were Ezio and Desmond. The music though...Oh man, I loved the music. Running across the rooftops of Rome..Climbing the Colleseum...Or even walking through the city all had their own style of music. Each type of area had a distinct feel to it, with the music fitting the mood perfectly.
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is not perfect, but it is pretty damn fantastic. Assassin?s Creed 2 delivered on the promises that the original game made, and Brotherhood manages to exceed that. I have to recommend it to pretty much anyone who enjoys stealth, visceral combat, parkour, science fiction, alternate history, and most importantly...Fun.
This is an attempt at a new style of review for me. Since I usually do smaller budget games, I need the practice on a 'big' budget title. If you could give any feedback, I'd hugely appreciate it. If you want to see more of my reviews, check out ChronoGamers.com [http://ChronoGamers.com]
When the first Assassin's Creed was released, I wasn't sure what to think. We were told a story of Desmond Miles, a kidnapped bar tender who held the genetic memory of his ancestor, Altair. Desmond had to relive Altair's memories to unlock some dark secrets from history. The exploration of the Altair's Middle Eastern world was brilliant. The animations, art style and combat all seemed pretty great. Despite all of this, the game didn't manage to fulfill it's potential. With repetitive missions and an overall dryness to it's story, the game didn't do as well as we all had hoped.
A New Hope!
But then Assassin''s Creed 2 was released. Continuing the story of Desmond, but changing over the story to be set in Rennasaince Italy was a clever move. This allowed for a more varied art style, more weapons, and different types of areas to explore. Most importantly though, was the introduction of Ezio, the new Ancestor protagonist. Ezio was a more human protagonist, complete with friends, family, and a sense of motive.
Assassin's Creed 2 was much, much better than the original game, despite only being released a couple years after. Like many others, I was shocked at how great it was. I did not think the developers would be able to out-do themselves any time soon. So when Brotherhood was announced, I was skeptical. And remained so for a while, despite how great people said it was. Eventually I bought it during a Steam sale, but only got around to playing recently. And boy, oh boy do I regret that.
Continuing the story of Ezio Auditore de Firenze, Brotherhood picks up right where it's predecessor left off. Ezio now has the powerful artifact called ?The Apple?, and returns home to the villa he spent so much time in during the previous installment. After some 'down time', the villa is attacked by Cesara Borgia, one of the Templars Ezio fought against so hard to take the Apple. After some plot twists, Cesare takes the mystical artifact, leaving Ezio for dead. Brotherhood truly begins when Ezio travels to Rome to kill Cesare and take back the Apple.
Rome wasn?t rebuilt in a day!
On arriving in Rome, we learn that the city is ruled by the Borgia, a corrupt Papal family. Ezio must sap their power from the people before he can make his attack for the Apple. Ezio does this through main story missions, though almost all side missions revolve around fighting against them. Between missions, the player is given a huge sandbox of Rome to explore. He is able to climb buildings, ride his horse through the city and country side, chase down pickpockets, and renovate buildings to restore Rome's former greatness.
The renovation is pretty simple. The player first must free an area of Borgia control. The first step is is done by assassinating a local Borgia commander before they can run away. If they do manage to get away before the player can kill them, he must simply wait until dusk/dawn in the game world for them to come out of hiding. Then Ezio will climb the nearby 'Borgia Tower', a tall building with flags on it, and light it on fire. This also serves as 'synchronizing' with an area, which will update the map with all the icons for businesses and quests.
Once the player has taken control, he finds boarded-up buildings with signs on them and pays a fee to open them back up. Once they are renovated, they provide two bonuses. Ezio can buy or sell items to them, and they add money to the 'revenue.' Revenue is a sum of profit given to the player every twenty minutes, which can be used to buy more items or renovate more stores.
Renovation does not accomplish much, unless you need emergency equipment or ammunition, or you are trying to get 100% synchronization to the game. 100% synch is difficult, because each mission offers two ways to be completed. The 'wrong way', and by doing exactly what the game wants you to do. For example, some missions do not want Ezio to be detected by guards. Others will ask the player to kill a target through a specific means, like stunning them with a smoke bomb before using the hidden blade.
[Firenze]EzioA. has ASSSASSINATED [Borgia]randomguard3168!
Each button corresponds to a part of Ezio's body. For example, one button will be his head. This is used for talking, whistling for his horse, or using Eagle Vision. Eagle Vision is a mode where everything in sight is color coded. Unnamed enemies will be red, targets will be yellow, and key items will be blue. Every thing else is a dim, greyish color. Eagle vision is used in missions to find your target, but is also used to find Glyphs. Glyphs are parts of the Animus that will unlock a puzzle. Once the puzzles are done, part of a video is unlocked. It takes all the Glyphs in the game to be collected to see the entire footage.
These controls especially makes a difference during combat. The foot button is used to kick the stronger guards to lower their defenses, or dodge attacks from the faster guards so you can counter-attack. Counter attacks are extremely useful, as they always have been in the Assassin's Creed series. They are performed by using a 'defense' stance and attacking at the right moment during the baddies' swing. If you get enough one-hit-kills in a row, you will enter execution mode. In execution mode, Ezio will instantly kill any enemy he swings his weapon at, long as he isn't interrupted. There are tons of different animations for each counter-attack or execution. While executions are satisfying, they seemed to become easier as the game progressed. This was due to a combination of better weapons, and becoming good enough at the game that I knew exactly what to do.
For when Ezio doesn't want to be detected, but still wants to get some good ol' fashioned killing done there are a few choices. There is the poison-blade, which will cause victims to stumble around swinging their weapon as if there is a pinata nearby. Then there's the unlockable poison-dart gun, which does the same thing but at a distance. Also is the fallback from Asssassin's Creed 1, the throwing knives. Throwing knives can be found on pretty much any dead guard, so despite their short range they can always be replenished. And my favorite, the crossbow which are purchasable further in the game when the player has a good chunk of change.
Let?s make some friends!
Brotherhood is filled with side missions. While it's not an Elder Scrolls game, there are quite a few smaller storylines in the game. My favorite is the ?Leonardo's War Machines? quest chain. Ezio must hunt down the war machines that the Borgia forced Ezio's pal, Leonardo DaVinci to invent. Each mission follows a simple format ? Sneak through a fortress, find and destroy the blue prints for the invention, and then play with the new toy. Toys varied from a tank to a bomber plane. These were some of the most joy-filled moments of the game, using the bomber to swoop down on Borgia troops, to throw fire bombs at them before flying away at high speeds. The best thing about these scenes is that they some how managed to fit in the feel of the game, despite being complete 180's in gameplay.
Another of the additions to the game were the Assassin Recruits. Assassins are recruited by saving armed citizens from guards before they're killed. After saving a certain number of recruits, Ezio will be able to summon them to help in combat. And once you have even more, he is able to call for an arrow volley. This is a really easy way to take out a bunch of guards in an area, though there is a pretty long recharge for this ability. The arrow volley is another example of making the game a bit too easy, but keeping up the feel of being an absolute badass.
One thing I noticed about Brotherhood that I am not sure I enjoyed was the graphics. Some parts of Rome felt more dry and less colorful than the cities in the game's predecessor. Despite this, there were the green fields outside the city, and many of the characters wore interesting, and colorful clothes.
The voice acting in the game was good, but the only characters that stuck out were Ezio and Desmond. The music though...Oh man, I loved the music. Running across the rooftops of Rome..Climbing the Colleseum...Or even walking through the city all had their own style of music. Each type of area had a distinct feel to it, with the music fitting the mood perfectly.
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is not perfect, but it is pretty damn fantastic. Assassin?s Creed 2 delivered on the promises that the original game made, and Brotherhood manages to exceed that. I have to recommend it to pretty much anyone who enjoys stealth, visceral combat, parkour, science fiction, alternate history, and most importantly...Fun.
This is an attempt at a new style of review for me. Since I usually do smaller budget games, I need the practice on a 'big' budget title. If you could give any feedback, I'd hugely appreciate it. If you want to see more of my reviews, check out ChronoGamers.com [http://ChronoGamers.com]
