Final Thoughts - Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Xbox 360)

First impressions are everything. Assassin's Creed 2 was an amazing game. That was my first impression with the series. I'm glad I played the second game in the series first, because the first game was mediocre at best. The newest game, Brotherhood, is really more of an expansion to the second game in every manner of the word. The story follows that of Ezio Auditore da Firenze and continues just moments after Assassin's Creed 2 ends. It seems to me that these two games together actually make what the developers had originally planned; a single game.

Simply put, the game is great, with lots of new material and content to explore. If you were a fan of the second game, there is no reason to pass this one up.

But, with that out of the way, I want to focus on the true story of the Assassin's Creed series. Stop reading if you haven't played any of the games, because we're going heavily into SPOILER territory. You've been warned.

The real protagonist of Assassin's Creed is that of Desmond Miles, and it's his story that has really pulled me into the series. Living in the modern day, he is forced to relive the memories of this ancestors in what basically amounts to virtual reality, searching for ancient artifacts in the middle of a war between the Assassin's Guild and the Templar Order. As his story progresses though, it becomes much more than that.

The games introduce the idea of ancient civilizations, the birth of man, alien (maybe) technology, and the coming apocalypse; it's far more interesting than the history lesson that the games portray. It's in these brief moments as Desmond that I am truly engaged. These moments bookend the games and the end of Brotherhood is a doozy. It leaves WAY more questions than answers. Unlike Assassin's Creed 2, where the ending was pretty clear about what was this was all about, Brotherhood takes this information, throws it across the room, and makes you question everything you know up to this point.

THIS, is a great story telling mechanic and I applaud the developers for making this game series thought provoking. Julie and I sat around for two days after completion, discussing the story, the implications of certain events and dialog, trying to figure out what comes next. Story is everything and it's great to see developers focusing more on this as well as design and gameplay. Brotherhood impresses and I CANNOT wait until Assassin's Creed 3.