I have nothing but praise for this series and Brotherhood is no exception. The story starts off almost exactly like Metroid. How so? Well, in the Metroid series Samus is almost always robbed of her entire arsenal at the beginning of the game to basically give you something to do. In Brotherhood you're still Ezio (say it with me now, et-see-oh). And Ezio comes back from a battle where for some very, very, very dumb reason he didn't kill the guy that ends up burning his home town to the ground. Probably the only boneheaded move Ezio will ever make, or if it isn't, it's the biggest boneheaded move he will ever have made. In the events of this ordeal Ezio is shot and falls from a great height. He wakes up without his armor or weapons, and has to start over.
I suppose I should mention that your present day Assassin sleeper cell is now based in a new location. A familiar location. But that part of the story is too much fun to spoil even a bit. I will say that Desmond is now able to free roam the area where your group is sequestered for brief stints whenever you want.
After being mostly recovered, Ezio decides to strike back at the guy that destroyed his home town and tromps off to Rome, which is completely under the influence of the Borgia (main antagonists of AC2). Everything from 2 is here. You can walk around and pick pocket money all day and then just tear down fliers as you go along so people don't get too pissed.
The nice thing is that citizens of Rome know they're under oppression. The not nice thing is that they don't ever shout "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
Ezio must destroy the influence of the Borgia from Rome one district at a time (the city is still mostly free for your roaming pleasure). You do so by killing the captain of a tower and burning the tower down. After a certain story event they become "Assassin Towers". After burning them down the influence in the area is suddenly removed and you can start renovations on buildings in the district. Yup, you're Rome's sugar daddy. Nothing opens until you pay for it. You want to visit the blacksmith? Better pay up, cause he ain't open until you fix up his shop. And no, you're not getting a discount. The same goes for the tailors, art shops and most of the doctors (some of them have stands that just open up once you remove the Borgia influence).
Right now, I'm going to stop talking about story and gameplay to tell you something about the graphics. They are breathtaking. Rome is breathtaking. Ubisoft did a wonderful job creating things like the Parthenon and the Colosseum. As always the city is always completely rendered. So when you hit a viewpoint on one of the seven hills and see the Colosseum from a mile away, it's simply magical. And the level of detail just keeps getting better. There are even more kinds of people walking around than in AC2. More speeches being given. More conversations to overhear. More unique people. It's nothing short of immersion. You can get lost just being in Rome....
Back to the game part.
You're free to do what you want and progress the story at your leisure just like in AC2. Eventually you'll hit walls where there is nothing left to do until you get to the next sequence (chapter). Soon you're on your way to renovating the different factions (thieves, courtesans, and mercenaries). You're told that the more quests you do for them, the better off the end game but I'm not sure how it works in the long run.
You're again looking for flags. Those damned flags... But now you can buy maps that show the locations of flags(GLEE!!). And any flag you see is marked on your map for later (JOY!!). There are other collectibles, too, but I'm assuming there are no maps for those. This time there is another "Truth" to find and since Rome is so bloody huge and it's monuments are even bloody huger, well, have fun not using a FAQ.
Again, Rome is huge, and at this point in the game I'm stuck there but I know there are other cities to visit yet. So getting around isn't exactly fast. Thankfully there is a fast travel system. Tunnels run under the city all over the place. Very few of them are initially available, and in order to use them you'll have to renovate the entrances. After that you can get around pretty quick. Before that you're on foot or on a horse. Horses can run around in cities, which is a nice touch.
In all your travels be sure to be "collecting" goods. When you open chests they will give you money and often some kind of item. These can be sold directly or saved for "shop missions". You trade in a lot of stuff and the shopkeeper unlocks something extra pointy, etc for your purchase that is beyond what you can normally afford. You can also get items from tackling thieves and messengers that occasionally pop up.
By far the newest function of Brotherhood is that you're now running the entire Assassin's guild, which was devastated at the beginning of the game. Around the fourth sequence you'll start recruiting. The recruiting missions are super easy and involve saving citizens from the guards. Once the citizen is saved you can talk to them and they join up and become instant assassin's. You can have one for every liberated district.
What can you do now that you run the guild? Well, you can start off by sending your newbies on missions around Europe and Asia. These are completely passive and just happen while you play the game. The assassin's assigned to contracts are gone for 8-20 minutes and then are just back for use again. They gain levels and you assign them new armor and weapons (very simplistic). Then send them back out for newer, harder missions. They even bring stuff back, like money and goods. Occasionally they'll bring back a new weapon for the black smithies to sell to you at a non-discounted rate!
Well, that's not too great. It sounds like a minigame. Lame.
Oh, not so quick! Not only can you have these guys going on missions, but you can also use them in your day to day doings in the city! That's right. Somehow any assassin that isn't out on assignment is following you around the city waiting for the signal. You target some guards, make the hand gesture and, from out of nowhere they strike! Giving you instant kills and access to areas that you didn't think you'd be able to enter without causing a ruckus. That's right, you have nothing to do with the fight. So if the mission requires you to be anonymous the whole time, you can send your underlings to their doom as you watch and sip coffee. Or, you can call them in if you're in a tough fight, they'll even stick around to help you kill any stragglers (they always fight until you become anonymous).
There is a meter showing whether or not you have assassin's at your beck and call. Once you use them the meter depletes and slowly regenerates while these assassin's assuredly are going back to the base of operations for a quick nap.
Did I mention these guys are sneaky SOBs, too. Like, really sneaky. You could be trudging through the catacombs and find a room surrounded by guards. Call in your lackeys and, literally from out of nowhere they'll spring in, kill things, and leave. Even though the only entrance and exit was the way you came. You'd think being the leader YOU could sneak like that... hmm....
Then there was the "arrow storm". If you have lots of assassin's and a full assassin meter you can use the arrow storm. What's that? A giant group of guards numbering in the teens is in your way? Well the arrow storm will take care of that. Make the signal and arrows and bolts from out of nowhere cut down ever single soldier in the area, making it a clear path for you. JOY AGAIN! Seriously, this can help you out of any number of binds.
There is a lot more to this game that I cannot even start to cover without making this review far too many pages (war machines, Ezio's past, etc). Overall this game is as close to a 10 as I would be able to find. Everything about it is awesome. :)
