Megabits column: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

A few months ago, Megabits of Gaming was asked to contribute a monthly column in Charged Middle East – a leading Dubai-based gadgets and games magazine that provides news, reviews and features on the latest home and consumer electronics.

Each month, Megabits takes a look at a new release in a gaming franchise and considers how its evolved over the years and what makes it great!

Here’s the latest of the articles from the February 2011 issue. For more about the magazine, check out its Facebook page after the jump.

Stealthily climbing up the Christmas sales charts; Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was a surprise contender to sneak into the coveted number one spot. Had it not been for the perennially-successful FIFA series or the ridiculously popular Call of Duty: Black Ops, our parkour-loving protagonist may well have triumphed.

Described by many as Assassin’s Creed 2.5, the third game in the series since 2007 is a shining example of what happens when developers actually listen to the consumer. The feedback after the much-hyped launch of the first in the series was mixed to say the least.

Adopting the role of master assassin Altair during the Third Crusade in 1191 AD, we were promised an exciting new free-roaming world that would combine the coolest elements from classic titles such as Thief: The Dark Project (1998), Hitman: Codename 47 (2000) and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003). Its environments were unique; any building or mountain could be scaled, any obstacle overcome (except water, which caused our hero to drown even when it barely covered his boots)… However, for some reason it just wasn’t that much fun.

The premise ticked all the right boxes: a memory-based time traveling storyline, a free-running hero, unrivalled graphics and, most importantly, the ability to assassinate targets in a variety of gruesome ways.

Sadly, there was very little substance to the game and you’d find yourself roaming about aimlessly between each repetitive mission. At first this wasn’t too bad as you soaked up the atmosphere of 12th century Jerusalem but the appeal quickly wore a little thin.

Few would have expected the subsequent games to be any better, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. The sequel once again put you in control of a robed killer, just as happy to scale a tall building as to leap from the top. This time round, however, your playground was 15th century Italy and your missions were seen through the eyes of Ezio, a decent sort who had to quickly learn the art of stealth and assassination following the brutal murder of his father and brothers. By honing your skills as you progressed through the missions, you learned how best to dispatch your enemies and retrieve those all important treasures and trinkets.

Forgive the slightly convoluted story and you would quickly become engrossed by the new environments of Florence, Tuscany and Venice - vast, living, breathing cities. Besides the actual gameplay, the cut scenes and voice acting were a marked improvement on the original too.

The fighting elements had also been much improved and somehow, the multitude of button presses and combinations required to get Ezio about the place didn’t seem half as complicated as during Altair’s outing.

So to Brotherhood, and the story picks up where Assassin’s Creed II ended - our suave protagonist Ezio making a welcome return, funky cape and hidden knives included. This time it’s off to the city of Roma - offering plenty of new towers to climb and loads of lovely vistas to gawp at.

Granted, it’s more of the same, but every element of the title is an improvement on its predecessors. Ezio can now call upon his titular “Brotherhood” to help out too, recruiting and dispatching fellow assassins to get some assistance should he find himself in trouble.

As a final nail in Altair’s coffin, the new online multiplayer options add a whole new dimension – you joining likeminded killers in a race to track down your prey before meeting your own untimely demise. Inspired.

Few games manage to evolve as quickly and effectively as the Assassin’s Creed series – particularly bearing in mind that this all taken place in a single console generation. Ubisoft has achieved something exceptional with its relatively nascent IP; if nothing else, it has proved that the customer IS always right.