I suppose this sounds predictable after my last post, but believe me when I say I've been working on some other articles and games between these times. Actually to be fair my reasoning for jumping back in is way more ridiculous than analyzing the mixed feelings I have for the series. Its actually that I went from watching a bunch of BBC Robin Hood stuff on netflix to finally getting back around to watching the Zorro movies I saw when I was little (it was also one of my earliest halloween costumes, so that makes this sort of related to this seasonal timing.... ok not really, but who cares). At the end of the day I love the vigilante rouges, romanticized theives, or whatever you want to call those character types. I wish gaming had more of them (actually I want a robin hood game SO badly, even started planning it all out in my head) and I started thinking of the closest encounters to them we've had. Its somewhere within Thief, Sly cooper, Assassins Creed, and even a bit of Dishonored that we might find the best cases with maybe some influence leaking in from this years Shadows of Morodor and Watch Dogs. Then I really started trying to recollect the story and motives of Ezio from brotherhood, knew I wanted to replay it, and so I gave in and opened up a new profile instead of wrapping up AC4 or 3... and I believe I made the right call, because as it turns out I'm right to say brotherhood is just flat out superior to the majority of the following series.
For a while whenever I briefly gave this game praise, I always backed it up with a disclaimer excuse. It was my first in the series, its been a while, and it was all so new at the time but may feel old now. Pfft, all of those were just poor excuses. Sure my memory wasn't quite so accurate to what the game was, but I'm actually finding it better in a few cases. For example, I totally forgot there were horses.... yeah, dumb but true. The armor isn't breaking as often as I remember it, meaning its not an annoying process to run and get it repaired. Similarly, weapons and attacks are stronger than I recall. If you get surrounded batman arkham style you don't just button mash to the best of my knowledge. When the followers of romulus pulled that crap I watched their every move, noted their every frame, and gripped on that deflect and counter button at perfect timing to get some incredibly sick kills, and before I knew it 15 people were on the ground and I hadn't been hit once. It felt incredible compared to the obvious red flashy and counter because that's all you've got type of move set future AC's employ. At the end of the day I do know that counter is 90% of what matters in the whole series, but the freedom, timing, and lack of flashy give-aways disguise it in a process that makes it all the more fun. Meanwhile the parkour system is better since you feel like you can drop and move more precisely.
However are there downsides and parts where my mind went weird? Well sort of. For starters the very first hour or so is just a pain. Long loading screens everywhere accompanied by the fact that they show and stop at the dumbest of moments, and combined with the blinding white flash it makes the entire thing more disconnected than it really is. That's saying something to, because as it was its still fairly disconnected and it felt like the story had entire chunks cut and pieced together like some sloppy cardboard and glue job of putting together a story. Once you get into Rome and start the sequence where you look for help, things begin to retain a stronger sense of immersion and consistency, and I can't help but feel like this is one of those games worth replaying just because I hear so much more due to aging wisdom. Its just one of those games you wont get the first time playing if you're young. Still despite this there's still some odd moments where the story is, as I've described Ezio before, more style over substance. Another downside is just some of the better innovations or choice made over time from the series. Here I can't seem to assassinate people off from a ledge, aiming with tools is a complete pain and somewhat down to chance, some of the animations or jumps just don't connect, and the worst thing is how tight this game is in level design which just contradicts and ruins its run & jump system. For all my complaints on AC3 and 4 the one thing they got right that I never realized until now, is that these games need more open space. Its not just because space is good or anything, its just because tight spaces does not work with the running and climbing system of this game. I've been dashing through halls, ancient tunnels, or tight allies only to have him bump into a wall and because of climbing he doesn't just bounce off the wall, he actually takes about 3 seconds out to try and climb a giant unclimbable wall. That's not something you want to happen when on a time limit, trying to test an odd building, or running from a bunch of guards. Its terrible, and by comparison the open-ish streets of Boston and woodlands or the beaches of the Caribbean make a huge difference since you've got some room to keep on the ground. You don't go up a wall or building unless you really intend to. Oh and finally, its kind of just sad that I can't use my tools anymore and it feels where not to see Ezio ever use contextual cover or whistle tricks. I'm actually kind of glad whistling is gone because that's what 80% of AC4's land missions boil down to; You sit and wait in the bushes, lure guards, kill them, and repeat over and over and over again. Its the only effective and perfect way to work that game's stealth system and its terribly boring after some time. Still its just a bit jarring to have that capability ripped away while it still parades around the same basic tactics as that game. While I can live without the graphical enhancements its also just an immersion bug when I try to hide against a wall and it really doesn't effect a thing, he stands up straight up against a wall like always. There's no crouch, no bushes to hide in, no walls to push up against, and you really feel vulnerable if you want to be hidden. Unless there's just the perfect haystack, or well, you're not capable of truly hiding and its just a matter of guessing the line of site. That combined with the less intuitive nature of using something like throwing knives makes it feel a bit.... off, compared to its successors. Still I'll take this game over all that.
Despite all those negatives though, I can't keep myself from enjoying this game and remembering why I truly loved this series. Yeah some of that new and refreshing charm is washed away, this was especially clear with how obvious I could see through the scripted and repetitive nature of Desmond's part where as before I put up with it fine because it was a new mystery. Still its worth revisiting and its worth saying that this is one of the best open world games I've honestly played. The charming characters, the fun combat that the rest of the series mostly destroyed, the merchant system truly encouraging you to own the whole town and driving home that narrative point about giving things back to the people for your cause is just incredible. Let me give you this final scene to ponder on why this game is incredible. In a task to take a tower over and win a piece of land, I had to locat a capatin within a small square building area. I climbed the roof tops, took out a higher up guard, and surveyed the ground. I realized the captain was under an archway and the only way to get from the roof top, to him, was through two guards which may allow him to escape and cause a big fight I didn't want. Then I had an idea. I went back to the roof watchmen's corpse I silently took out, dragged the body out near the edge, and then dropped it a couple feet away from the two guards. They were fascinated and frightened at the same time as they took the bait and drew out, and right as I was ready to swoop in and dive for the captain... he took the bait to. In complete over-excitement of this lucky catch I made the jump too early and landed on the wrong guy, but never the less right beside the captian. I countered the other guardsmen before beating the crap out of the captain. Swing after swing, his armor took a thrashing as it slowly whittled down way too awkwardly for my comfort. I eventually had him cornered and decided it was time to improvise. I picked him up and shoved him into a great wooden scaffold, crushing him under far more than just armor and sharp steel, and rushed out of the area alongside the terrified citizens and escaped the sight of any other guards. I then claimed my territory and felt far a deep satisfaction for everything that had happened. This was that moment where the game felt it set off a welcome signal with a bang, and it felt so good to be back. Of course this entire time I keep thinking to myself though.... why the hell isn't revelations this much fun!? No seriously, I never could figure out why I just didn't care for that one. It was basically AC brotherhood 2.0 with a brand new and interesting setting, and a bomb mechanic. It had no La Volpe, a more confusing plot, and I remember being furious with this one outpost mission, but I don't think that was ever an excuse to quit it. I've put more effort into the lesser 3 and 4 games that followed it... so what gives!? I plan on visiting it soon after, its time I tie up some loose ends within this series. For now though, I'm excited about finishing my meeting with this game's guilds and setting up the assassins function.
Oh and for the record, this is amazing and all but I still want a true Robin Hood game. I'm seriously considering a full article dedicated to my expectations around one, and how I'd prefer it to be handled. I think it could really happen. Oh well, for now there are Templars just asking for hidden blade acupuncture.
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