4.5/5 ★ – TwistingStew69's review of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

The second instalment of the Ezio trilogy is a perfect sequel that is rare to see in games today. This trilogy means a lot to me, especially Ezio, as a character, and this is where he feels he's at his best. Assassin's Creed 2 is a journey over a decade that shows Ezio rise to be the Assassin he needs to be. In Brotherhood, however, he's the best he'll ever be, and we see him lead the Brotherhood of assassins and become a legend. The story itself is a lot simpler than the previous. A big reason is how Rome is the only focus here, whereas in AC2, there were multiple regions to explore. The story, being what it is, doesn't deprive the game of any fun, however. Due to the 1 year gap in release, the gameplay doesn't evolve much, but it does a great job to show a difference. The combat feels a lot more fluid, especially the gun and the introduction of the crossbow. The parkour is generally the same but feels smoother here with how the layout of Rome is. Despite having a smaller map, the game does not feel smaller than AC2. In fact I spent more time on this than the previous. Whilst there are fewer missions in the main story, the side missions more than make up for it. The Leonardo missions especially are some of the most fun in any Assassin's Creed game with how you get to be so stealthy and use these machines that aren't in other games. The flashback missions in Florence and Leonardo with the Temple are also fun to go through. The most fun, however, is the inclusion of the present-day story. Desmond is the main character of the franchise at this point, and so his story is something that was heavily being built towards in the previous 2 games, but here we get to see it in a new light. You get to experience what running around as an Assassin would feel like in the present day, and it just feels right and something we should have got ages ago. It does, however, hurt to know it's essentially all for nothing, but that's for a review in a future game. There's a lot about this game that makes it brilliant. The characters are written well except Cesere, who is a bit of a goofy cartoon character. Everyone else is especially within the Creed are done justice. The introduction of the Assassin's and being able to use them against enemies is fun and something that needs to return in a modern game. The graphics have held up well as they did with AC2, and the artistic look is slightly better here. I do prefer the soundtrack in AC2, especially when roaming the city, but most of everything else is shared between the 2 games.