So I rented the game yesterday and finished it today. Here are some of my impressions
I really thought that story was bad.
I felt like a lot of the characters didn't matter and didn't really have a solid foundation to stand on. Not only this but some of the characters that I liked didn't get enough screentime or didn't get developed enough. Yusuf is a great example of this. He was so awesome when you first met him but you only see him a few times throughout the game. I understand why you see him so few times, and it's due to your missions not really coinciding with Yusuf's, but I felt like Ubisoft could've developed on it more. I was also disappointed with Subject 16 in the same way. I really wanted to know more about 16 and have more cutscenes with him but it didn't end up that way. Suleiman is an awesome character and I wished there was more interaction between him and Ezio. He's sort of like the Leonardo of this game and that was very refreshing. Also, his dad is a douche.
The actual narrative was interesting at parts but for the most part wasn't really all that interesting. While in ACII and ACB, the narrative focuse on Ezio's goals for the most part, in this game it focuses mostly on filler stuff, which was trying to stabilize Constantinople. I understand that if the game focused just solely on retrieving the keys then it would be short but still.... meh. Anyway, the parts of the narrative that was really good was the Altair segments, the Sofia Segments, every interaction with Suleiman, and the ending. The ending was really phenomenal and Ubisoft really crafted Ezio and Altair to be something very real. I feel like in a lot of video games, these characters are really flat because it's only a small segment of their lives, but with Ezio you get to see how his story pans out from his youth until old age and that's quite a feat.
Gameplay was very bland. I loved ACB because it felt something of a refreshing take on ACII since it was a large town with various things to do and more quests than normal. Plus the town felt really coherent compared to ACII and as a result the world felt more connected and your affiliation with the Assassin's and other Factions felt more connected. However, in this game, there isn't much of a departure from ACB and as a result it feels not as fresh. The hookblade was a nice addition but other than traveling around the city and platforming, it isn't very substantial. Also, traveling by hooklines suck since you hardly use them. Sometimes traveling on ground is just easier and faster than using hooklines. Bombs, completely useless if you're just going through the game. I can see how it's needed for 100% syncro but not needed. Honestly, I thought the bomb system wasn't even that well developed and it was very boring piece of arsenal.
My favorite parts of the game were all Key retrieval missions and the entire last segment of the game. The parachute segment was nice and felt very refreshing after you've been doing the same thing for the past 2 memory segments. The key retrieval missions were great because some were really great setpiece moments, some of the best I've seen in the industry. I'm not talking about the escape from the harbor. The mission when chasing the boat, I think key number 3 or 4, was just amazing. Platforming was very fun.
Training Assassins and then doing Templar hunting missions were bad. In the ACI and ACII, I felt something when I killed my Assassination targets. Not only this but the assassination targets weren't nobodies. They were people that had something very interesting to say with deep motives and such. With Brotherhood, they sort of eliminated that. This, they went even further. In fact, I feel nothing when I assassinate the targets in this game because I feel like they are just lacking so much in character development. In ACI, there was no development but at least they had a long speech after each major assassination, here it's bad, like real bad. Training assassins are meh in this game just like ACB, and they didn't really do anything with it here other than den masters which is just lame.
Den protection. I thought this was just a hassle sometimes. I want to do extra missions or story missions but when a notice saying your den is being attacked I'm liked "Ugh". It's sort of refreshing because it's a different type of gameplay but it's super cheap. It can be super easy until the stupid battering ram, cannon, or fire thing comes up and it's super dumb to destroy. It destroyed the fun in my opinion.
I had a pretty good time with the game but that was because of the main narrative portions and the development of the characters. The series is definitely getting stale for me and while I felt that ACB was pretty substantial in comparison to ACII, I feel like the transition from ACB to ACR isn't as good since it's just like a reskin of ACB except in Constantinople. Gameplay elements are getting bland and the method they're using to make it refreshing isn't really working. Graphics are sort of all over. Horrible sound syncing makes certain scenes awkward and the shading is really awkward. The shadow/shading looks almost grainy making Ezio with his hood on look really pixelated. Other than that, the new facial animation/detail of Ezio and other other characters are nice.
EDIT: I also forgot to add, Jesper Kyd. Oh my goodness. This game has such good music and it's amazing. Credits song was absolutely phenomenal.
