Same 'ole assassin's with some new toys and new friends.
I loved the incorporation of the assassin recruitment and missions. Having a team of assassins with you at your disposal is actually quite fun and very useful in many situation. After you have several assassin's recruited, you can call in what is called an "Arrow Storm" and watch your enemies drop like flies. I would have loved though to see Ubisoft include some cinematics with the missions which my recruits completed. 30-60 seconds of my recruits completing their mission would be a great experience and offer our hands and fingers a chance to take a break from the countless murders we take part in. I did not like however how many times new missions would appear for my recruits. Leveling my recruits up was easy...TOO easy in my opinion.
There is another new aspect which is called Den Defense. I could have done without that but it was still fun to do and I could see how in a brainstorming session when someone was hung over that this got included in the game.
I thoroughly enjoyed the implementation of the bomb crafting and using them in MANY situations. Bomb ingredients are everywhere and I literally never had to purchase anything. I simply stole all my items from dead guards or took them from loot chests. That part was quite cheap to me. It should be much more difficult to find ingredients for making bombs. Then again, I could blow up my house with stuff under my kitchen sink too. Hmmmmm!!!???!!!
The feel, look, and story line of the game are on par with previous AC titles. It did add some weird puzzle solving animus levels which I was not a fan of. The game did however take a turn for the better in regard to graphics. It is better and definitely smoother game play. The world of Constantinople is IMMENSE and the attention to detail through texture and lighting is simply AMAZING! The bottom line is that this game is in fact just another AC title and the difficulty was just too easy as was with previous titles.
They could have added different assassination techniques or SOMETHING to add some flare to the kills. Pouncing on guards and stabbing them with a blade deserves several styles and methods.
It is a time consuming game if you decide to try and unlock everything. Running straight through it shouldn't take too long though.
Enjoy, game on, and be happy!