REVIEW - Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

 As a Catholic games reviewer, I have developed a subtle alarm system in the back of my head that alerts me to early signs in a game that indicate it is either technically poor or morally offensive.  So for instance, from a technical standpoint, I might hear the ringing of bells when the first level is a sewer level, or if I spend the first thirty minutes mired in tutorials and cut scenes.  From a Catholic perspective, alarm bells may ring if the opening phrase of dialogue includes profanity, or if the first time I kill a bad guy a voice blares through with "BOOM!!  HEAD SHOT!!", or if the female sidekick is wearing little more than a bikini and a pair of high heels.

Imagine then the blaring klaxon that rang out in my poor coffee-addled brain when, before I had even got to the menu screen of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft), a disclaimer appeared stating,

"Inspired by historical events, this work of fiction was designed, developed and produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs."

When a game feels the need to assure you that it is not a work of anti-religious bigotry before you have even chosen the difficulty setting, you can be guaranteed that there is trouble afoot.  Call me cynical but when a game feels the need to use the religious version of the "I'm not racist, some of my best friends are black..." line of defense, it makes me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

Assassin's Creed or Nicene Creed?

Ezio, not yet having mastered the art of camouflage.

It turns out that my instincts were 100% correct.  Let me be clear when I say that this game might just be the most anti-Catholic game I have ever played, and I have been playing games for over 20 years.  The plot and tone of the game comprise of a 20-30 hour anti-Catholic screed, so much so that I am surprised that the disclaimer didn't also state "Ubisoft would like to thank Jack Chick and Richard Dawkins for their help on historical and religious matters in the game."

This isn't a knee jerk reaction, I tried to view Brotherhood in the best light. I kept reminding myself that it was intended as a work of fiction, and that at various points the game makes subtle distinctions, and that the ending of the game seems to paint the Church a little better, but ultimately I failed, or should I say the game failed - Brotherhood is just plain offensive.

The Da Vinci Creed

Brotherhood is the third game in the successful Assassin's Creed series that involves lead character Desmond Miles recalling various memories of his ancestors in order to stop a modern day conspiracy that involves temples, Templars, hidden secrets in churches, and generally nothing that you haven't seen a hundred times before if you have so much as sniffed a Dan Brown novel.  AC Brotherhood is set in early 16th century Rome, and is the second game of the series to recall the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze - a nobleman turned assassin who, having had his family killed in the previous game, is out for revenge against the ruling Borgia family.

Those readers with a knowledge of Church history during the Renaissance will shudder at the name of Borgia.  The Borgias were a Spanish-Italian noble family who managed to entangle themselves with the Church, and produced the so-called "Borgia Popes" - a set of Popes who now symbolize the debased standards of the papacy at the time.  One of these Popes was Rodrigo Borgia, who took the name Pope Alexander VI, and was known for having had many mistresses and having fathered a number of children.  Alexander was Pope at the time that AC Brotherhood is set.

This is the closest you will get to a smile from Ezio.

Consequently, it would be unfair to demand that Brotherhood present the Church as a glorious and ever-sacred institution at that time.  There is no need for game developers to rewrite history in order not to offend Catholic sensibilities.  In fact, it could have even opened up the game for praise from a Catholic perspective had it adopted a plot in which the good Catholics try and reclaim the Church back from the debasement that it underwent during that time.  This would not only be historically accurate but would also add a sense of balance to proceedings.

However, where Brotherhood goes awfully wrong from a Catholic perspective is that it takes a particularly bad period of Church history, and then plays the fiction card in order to make the Church even more debased than it was at that time!  The Pope and his son Cesare are not just slimy, corrupt figures but are also shown as being involved in the intertemporal conspiracy that the game is based on, and the Church as a whole is presented as if it did not have one redeeming feature or person within its ranks.  While you will meet corrupt, sexualized Cardinals conducting orgies, listen to Church officials explain how slavery is OK, hear stories and jokes that encourage the myth that all priests are pedophiles, and encounter many Church officials who can be bribed or corrupted, at no point will you encounter one single good priest, nun or member of the laity who identifies themselves as Catholic and who wants to bring the Church back to its state of holiness.  Instead it is a case of The Church hierarchy vs "The People".  Everyone involved with the Church is evil and corrupt without exception, while everyone outside the Church seems to be absolved of any wrongdoing they may have engaged in, just on the basis that they are not part of the dreaded Catholic Church.  There is obviously an anti-Catholic agenda at the root of this game, and it does not even attempt to disguise itself.

No Popery!

Ezio killing an unarmed man.  But this is fine...apparently.

As Ezio, you are put in charge of a mysterious Brotherhood of assassins (and yes, they profess a creed!)  The best I can describe the Brotherhood as is a sort of pseudo-spiritual, anarcho-communist band of people that kill people that they don't like.  While the gamer is constantly assured by the game that one is on the side of "the good guys", it was often very difficult to see how that was the case.  Within the first hour of playing I had already helped establish two brothels (thereby perpetuating the prostitution that the Brotherhood condemn Church officials for engaging in), collaborated with thieves, had indiscriminately cut my way through a whole host of guards, and had walked through a crowd pickpocketing the very people my Brotherhood was claiming to protect, all in order to fund yet another brothel!  Yet the Brotherhood is still presented as a the pinnacle of moral superiority, dedicated to vague slogan-like 'principles' such as "Everything is permitted" and "Nothing is true!"  The whole thing plays out as if it were written by a college freshman who had just discovered Nietzsche and wanted to "overthrow the system, man!"

The juvenile moral posturing is made even more agonizing by one of the worst stories I have ever encountered in a video game.  This isn't simply my dislike of its view of the Church - the story is just so tedious, and I have noticed this common complaint on gaming websites not known for their Catholicism!  If you have not played Assassin's Creed 2, then you will be completely lost by the complexities of the main conspiracy that involves the Apple of Eden (which is really a weapon apparently), the Knights Templar, the Goddess Minerva, some corporation called Abstergo and the Goddess Juno.  The icing on the cake comes with a final level that involves the Goddess Minerva shrieking banalities at you as you try and navigate a frustrating platform level that looks like something off the set of a Lady Gaga music video.  Add to this a host of main characters who are so forgettable that after playing for over 25 hours I could only name three characters off the top of my head, and you have a story that really damages the game.

"You Wanna Be in My Gang, My Gang?"  "No..."

Try and do this without humming the Batman theme!

All the above is a terrific shame, as when you get away from the story, the gameplay is very good.  If you have not played the previous games, Ezio is a nimble assassin who can jump around Prince-of-Persia style across rooftops, climb up the sides of buildings, sneak around guards, and assassinate people without them knowing it.  The game eventually allows you to hire your own assassin apprentices, who you can send off on missions all around Europe to build up their strength and to bring in more money, and who you can then call on when in trouble.  Additionally, you can invest money into dilapidated buildings in order to restore banks, art houses, blacksmiths etc all so that you can then purchase various goods from and so that they also generate income for the Brotherhood's coffers.

It is this part of the game that Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is at its best.  I spent many hours happily scurrying around Rome, reclaiming parts of the town from the Borgia and then rebuilding those areas to generate income.  The side quests are varied and lots of fun, and will have you doing everything from climbing up the Colosseum, to stalking a spy back to his base without being seen, to flying around in Leonardo Da Vinci's helicopter prototype terrorizing Borgia guards.  The controls are a little clunky at times, especially in periods of hectic combat, but they are workable, and very quickly the player will find themselves scampering up buildings, taking out a guard and then soaring off the top into a haystack in order to remain unseen.  It is all very satisfying.

The graphics are quite lovely.

Even the story missions are very varied and lots of fun once you get through the dreaded cut scenes that update you on the story.  Sneaking into the Vatican in order to say "Hello" to the Pope was a particular favorite of mine.  The experience is enhanced by some very beautiful landscapes and environments.  I found myself frequently stopping to admire the view, especially from the tops of the tall buildings the game had me climbing.  The soundtrack is also a high point.  Beautiful melodies that weave traditional Gregorian chant with more modern "chillout" tracks result in an exceptional soundtrack that make one seriously consider purchasing the CD.  The varied missions, the soundtrack, the graphics and the ease of navigation all blend together into a game that is very easy to get caught up in, and will eat into significant chunks of your free time if you immerse yourself in it.  It is not all perfect for gameplay however.  While most of the missions are very good, there are a number of stealth missions that result in instant death if you are spotted.  Combine this with extremely long loading screens, and replaying these long missions over and over again can become very frustrating very quickly.  In spite of these quibbles, the gameplay and presentation are by far the strongest points of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Conclusion

From a technical perspective, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a deeply immersive, well-designed game that is let down by a tiresome, clichéd and frankly laughable storyline that takes itself way too seriously.  Once one escapes the story for a while, the beautiful graphics, excellent soundtrack, the ability to recruit assassins, restore entire towns, and to engage on a series of fun and varied side quests will distract from the dour narrative for many hours.  Yet clunky controls, long loading times, some frustrating missions, and of course the dreaded main storyline all detract from what could have been a quite exceptional game.

From a Catholic perspective, Brotherhood's presentation of the Church as lacking any moral merit whatsoever and as entirely depraved and corrupt, as well as the sense that the game is doing nothing more than indulging in the most hideous anti-Catholic prejudice makes this a game impossible to recommend for Catholics who do not wish to play a game that uses their religion as a target for sneering attacks and ignorant prejudice.  In addition, instances of strong non marital sexual content, implied scenes of incest, rape and prostitution, frequent bloodless violence,  and infrequent profane and crude language do not make up for well rendered churches and the occasional Gregorian Chant.

The Technical Rating for this title is 7/10


The Catholic rating is O --Morally Offensive.