First Impression: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Foodette Reviews

This game is sloppy Hot Pocket wrong.

The driving force behind Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood just feels wrong, I mean. It all began when I first looked at its box art. The front cover is dressed up in the series clean and simple fashion, and overall it looks nice. What makes this one's front cover stand out from the other games is the addition of other characters standing behind the Assassin, making a potential gamer want to flip it over to find out what Ezio's entourage is all about. What's so bad about that, you ask? Well check out the text inside of the Assassin's seal.

Click Image to Enlarge (Ubisoft Entertainment)

"I have always fought alone. But one man cannot defeat the entire Templar Order. So I have recruited my fellow Assassins. Together, we will cleanse the corruption from the holy city of Rome. Together, we will forge The Brotherhood." 

Not only does this game flat out state that it's main premise is multiplayer, it also gives one the feeling that this merely a shameless spin-off not worthy to be it's own videogame.

In fact, until a recent Google search revealed that there's an actual story mode in this one, I was under the impression that this game was exclusively a multiplayer title, and that's why it just felt wrong. Where previous titles placed emphasis on an over arching adventure of wonderment and bloodshed, this one places it on online multiplayer. That is something that I expect from a modern shooter like Battlefield 3, and not from an Assassin's Creed game.

The Badass Trailer

What is it?
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a spin-off of the previous Assassin's Creed title, Assassin's Creed II. Despite what Ubisoft's advertising campaign may lead you to believe, there's a 15 hour long story mode that continues exactly where Assassin's Creed II's story ends, and of course there's a new-to-the-series multiplayer mode.

How Much I Have Played so Far
I'm just about half way through the second memory (chapter). I'm playing at a steady pace as I've yet to complete any side missions. I have yet to try the multiplayer.

My First Impression
Judging from the box art and from what little I have played of it, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood feels more like an expansion pack to Assassin's Creed II. Hopping into the story mode after logging into XBL to download an update, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the visuals, somehow, look even better than before. Immediately noticeable are some tweaks to the fighting mechanics that really turn Ezio into a smooth criminal of sorts, pulling off combos on multiple enemies that would even make Batman blush.

Not that you'd want to,
but Click to Enlarge (Bear Market)

Truth be told, my first impression with this game is very much like snacking on a wet hot pocket that's been hastily thawed a few minutes before the start of your morning class. It doesn't taste any good, but you're still going to eat it, begrudgingly dodging the looks of others in shame because you know they're judging you so hard right now. You chew slowly, hoping that with each tiny bite that it gets better, despite knowing in your heart that it won't. Oh yes, that sloppy, ice-cold center is going to slip n slide down your throat any second now.

I'm exaggerating, of course, but I haven't seen anything that wowed me like the first two titles and the overall impression I'm getting from this one is "expansion pack", and that is not a good thing when you're talking about a standalone videogame that once commanded 60 of your hard earned dollars. Chances are that the story will pick up steam soon and the multiplayer just may change my negative view of AC:B "buy me because I have multiplayer" angle.

So tell me, what do you think of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's multiplayer? Let me know in the comments below, and please show some love if you enjoyed this preview by tweeting/Facebooking/liking/+1 upping it!

(P.S. If you don't know what a hot pocket is, imagine a mildewy bath cloth that you would use to bathe your dog with wrapped around a slurry of processed meat and animal oils)