Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood | A-

The final notable release of what has become the year of the sequel is Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood — the direct successor to one of the best games of 2009, Assassin's Creed 2. Brotherhood takes place almost immediately after the events of the previous game, rather than entering a new era and introducing new characters.

The single player follows two story lines. In the present day, Desmond Miles, a descendant of the ancient order of the Assassins, uses a device called the Animus to relive the memories of his Renaissance-era ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze in order to find the location of an artifact known as the Apple of Eden. The player primarily takes on the role of Ezio during memory blocks and follows his story as he releases Rome from the corrupt hands of the Borgia family and the Templars.

Like its predecessors, Brotherhood remains a third-person action game. Mechanics work similarly to the previous games, implementing a system of low profile (stealthy) and high profile (aggressive) actions. The game tries to emphasize stealth, but the player can (and sometimes must) engage in upfront, open combat. Unfortunately, while the stealth elements can provide an interesting challenge, the open combat is made much too easy. Players can tear through large groups of enemies with relative ease through counter-kills and the new execution streak feature.

While it looks nice and fluid, this is a problem because in a game in which the player is called an assassin, it is too easy for stealthy assassinations to turn into complete bloodbaths. This should not diminish from the overall experience. Brotherhood is a beautiful looking game. The city of Rome is spectacular, character models look nice, and the combat animations are some of the best I've seen.

Most know what to expect from the single player, but multiplayer was uncharted territory for the Assassin's Creed franchise. Though it is a first for the series, Brotherhood provides an amazing multiplayer that offers a refreshing deviation from the usual online MMO, shooter or sports game. The level up system that the game utilizes is typical: players unlock new equipment, weapons and perks as they earn experience.

Players are thrown into a map full of NPCs. Each player takes on the appearance of a certain NPC character model. The object is to assassinate the given target without killing an NPC lookalike. Players are given radars to find their target, but in more advanced game modes the radar only gives a broad general area in which the target could be. In these cases, players must use observation to determine where the human player is hiding. The multiplayer rewards players not necessarily based on the number of kills but rather how stealthily said kills were obtained.

Brotherhood provides the great campaign experience that many remember from Assassin's Creed 2. Ubisoft did not have to include a multiplayer for people to buy this game, but they did so and it is implemented beautifully. Be sure to put Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood on your holiday wish list, as it is a legitimate Game of the Year candidate.