Follower Saturday: Assassins Creed II and Assassins Creed Brotherhood

We both sincerely apologise for the unschedualed delay.(I sound like the intercom at an airport)
I think we'll go cronologically so we can begin with assassins Creed II as we aren't doing I today.
Assassins Creed II is set in 21st century. The main protagonist is a man named Desmond Miles and it begins with his escape from Abstergo Industries.
 
He has received, through genetics, the memories of an assassin using a machine called 'The Animus'. The assassins name is Altair ibn La-Ahad. Here he discovers prophetic warnings of the end of the world from subject 16. After Desmond's escape from Abstergo Industries he enters 'The Animus 2.0', which is far more advanced than the original, in which he receives the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an early 15th century assassin in Italy. Ezio becomes an assassin after his family are murdered by family traitor. As Ezio the player can explore Italian cities in open world game play. Throughout this period, Desmond, as Ezio, discovers glyphs left by subject 16 that when pieced together make a video of Adam and Eve in a futuristic Eden. The video ends with the Binary code from this futuristic Eden. Desmond can only visit the memories that begin in 1499 and there are years missing.
The assassins memories begin whith the asassination of Ezio's father and brother and his escape to his uncle Mario's villa in the country with his mother and sister. The search for the conspirators takes Ezio from Florence, to San Gimignano, to Forli, to Venice and eventually to Rome.
As Ezio proceeds, he destorys many political enimies and gains allies like Niccolo Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci who helps him to improve his gear using schematics fround in Altair's Codex pages.
Eventually Ezio discovers that the main offender is Rodrigo Borgia who ultimately meant to detroy the Medici family with the help of the Doge of Venice and the Pazzi family(basically everyone is corrupt).
When ezio finds Rodrigo Borgia, he is in posetion of the apple from Eden, the one which Altair recovered centuries before and that borgia believes himself to be 'The Prophet' who will lead the Templars to a fabled 'Vault'.
Ezio recovers the apple and Borgia flees and Ezio's allies reveal that they are also assassins and believe that in fact ezio is the fables Prophet.

Ezio strikes Borgia done but cannot kill him because doing so will not bring his brother and father back, he uses the apple and the Papal cross(also part of Eden) to find the vault where he finds a holographoc figure called Minerva who talks directly to Desmond and the others in 2012. She explains that she is from a future far advanced to those they coexisted with, the early human race. the two humanoids hada  great war and then there was a global disaster and the survivors of both races banded together to prevent it from happening again. She tells Desmond(using his name, a bit creepy) that 'the rest is up to you'.
Desmond and the other 21st century people are forced to flee with the Animus as Abstergo troops attack. While on the run, Desmonds companion, Lucy, explains that there are faults with the Earth's magnetic fields and that a meteor hitting these would result in a global catastrophe just as Minerva said so they headfro the Temples built by the two races from the future and prepare to reenter the Animus.

I, Titus, have played this game for endless hours. It is exiting, sometimes difficult and allways murderously(see what I did there?) enthralling. I have wasted more time than I care to admit in my dark computer room staring at the screen for hours, not even realising the time passing. It's exiting learning new ways to kill people and running from the guards and planning strikes and leaping off of buildings. Some times I'd forget the story completely and just go on a killing spree to see how many I could kill in half an hour. I wont boast my awesome score becasue I am a modest being. Sometimes.
The graphics are realistic to a complimentary extent and I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline. It just goes to show that a story doesn't have to have an original storyline to have an original story. I think the creators, Ubisoft, did a highly commendable job and I am eagerly looking forward to the next one coming out on the 15th of November(which happends to be just 2 days before my birthday(all the best stuff is coming out in November, like Christopher Paolini's New book in the Eragon series). What can I say. November is the best).
I give Assassins Creed II an GGGGGGGG(8/10) rating for his great use of killing and cool graphics.

 

And now for Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

It's 2012, and after escaping the Templars' attack at the end of the previous game, Desmond and the crew escape to Monteriggioni where they are able to build a new hideout in the ruins of a village (this being the first AC I played I was rather confused).

In order to power up the base and get all the equipment (including the Animus), the electricity must be restored. This is your first mission playing Desmond. Once the electricity has been fixed and is able to power the equipment you are hooked up to the Animus so that you can control Ezio through Desmond (something to do with his genetic memory - Titus can explain). Your mission: Find the Apple of Eden as it could prevent impending doom That is said to be coming within the year (suspense).

Ezio:

The year is 1499 and Ezio exits the Vault, still confused by what he saw inside (yeah, I was confused by this as a noob to AC). Together with his Uncle Mario, they escape Rome and arrive at  Monteriggioni - Ezio's home. Once he's settled in, he is pleased by the fact that his personal vendetta has been taken care of and his days as an assassin are over. Sadly for Ezio, Niccoló Machiavelli - Leader of the Assassin Order - challenges Ezio's decision to leave Rodrigo Borgia (the new Pope) alive rather than do away with him.

The next morning, Ezio awakes to an attack on Monteriggioni by Rodrigo's son Cesare Borgia. Resistance is futile as Mario is killed by the cold and ruthless hands of Cesare and the Apple is lost to Rodrigo's son and the Templars (really not a good day so far). Gathering his family, Ezio escapes with them (Aenead style) to Rome - the centre of the Templar Order in Italy (damn). Again, he is seeking vengeance against the Borgias - poor man gets no rest. It is in Rome that he discovers that the assassins are failing in the battle against corruption. With a strong determination to bring the Guild together, Ezio convinces Machiavelli that he will be able to lead and build a Brotherhood powerful enough to destroy the Templars and Cesare Borgia (cue dramatic music).

Over the next four years, Ezio performs tasks that will cripple the Borgia's hold on the capital, sabotaging resources and assassinating people that are especially close to Cesare or working for him. Slowly, these actions prove fruitful as Rome is slowly returned to its former glory.  Not only this, but Ezio has managed to turn the Brotherhood into an orderly, capable and respected force. As thanks for his work, Ezio is promoted to Head of the Order and given the rank II Mentore.

Learning of Ezio's actions, Cesare confronts his father, pleading for more money...and the apple. Rodrigo, knowing of Cesare's lust for power, refuses. He then attempts to poison his son (the Borgia family were always so kind), but the plan backfires and Cesare ends up killing his father. Ezio was witness to all of this, and after learning the location of the Apple (St. Peters Basilica), retrieves it and uses its powers to force Cesare's followers to back down, leaving Cesare open for arrest and Rome in peace.

However, when Ezio uses the apple to check Cesare's whereabouts all is not well and something must be done...

Gameplay

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood is a fantastic game, there is no doubt about it. The controls are generally easy to navigate, although having to read the extensive guide on which controls to use and when can become a little tedious.
For me, the beginning of the game and previous events were not explained (or if they were I missed them completely), and although many people who played Brotherhood will have played the previous two games, I was one of the minority who did not and would have appreciated a retelling of prior events.
Graphics were brilliant - dispute the comical blood spurts - and whilst they may not be as grand as other games, it was definitely playable and character movements and features were great.

Overall rating for Brotherhood: GGGGGGG (7/10) rating
ENJOY