The game play is about the same as previous installments, though there have been a few additions like the hookblade; it’s a nice touch as it adds some style and combat variation. But it doesn’t feel necessary, it’s mainly there to add a few inches when you jump but I’ve never had a problem; I can always hit a ledge without its help, and you can climb anything without it, it’s mostly a convenience. The bomb crafting is nice and the use is even more fun, the variation for wide gameplay is great; you can kill, distract, or the always entertaining just fucking with people. A small annoyance is the finishing kill, some of them feel drawn out in a "Look what I can still do at 50!" kind of fashion, nice to watch but overdone. Other than those, the climbing and acrobatics is still spectacular, though inebriated humorous and difficult. The combat is fun to watch and the variations to assassinate and escape will always entertain. There is a tower defense mini-game that is fun but if you want to do it again you have to fuck up people’s days and piss off the Templars to where they will attack a den. There are still the store renovations, the brotherhood missions, assisted assassinations, and territorial conquest is familiar, just tailored to an older Ezio.
Multiplayer is still unique. The addition of the chance to learn more about the Templars and their history is a good drive. On top of leveling, the multiplayer you really need to have a knack for it, you need style not just bloodlust. The main pull of having to out NPC people and sneak up on the un-suspecting is the most satisfying of kills. You feel like you earned for it instead of blind-firing around a corner like other modern games of a different genre. While “performance enhancers” are in use it’s immensely difficult to distinguish faces in the crowds and notice subtle movements. Keep in mind that like in any multiplayer game there are douchebags who are out to prove that their internet “ego” is bigger than everyone else's and ruin the game by just running around and assassinating people or just standing on buildings flying from rooftops to assassinate or make it impossible to catch, granted they always lose because they are going for quantity over quality of kills, which is how the point system works. They just make it difficult to enjoy the core aspects the game.
The graphics are up to date, the soft textures are nicely done but that was a technique perfected long ago by Ubisoft with Splinter Cell. The environments, although rather brown and grey, still have a sense of life to them, like when your back is turned you know the daily life of Constantinople is still happening.
Finally some answers and still there are more questions! I knew going into this that this is not the last in the series, the continuation of the 2012 Doomsday Theory is finally confirmed and I’m sure they're going to release the next game mid to late 2012. I hope that Desmond will not be getting his own game; he is just not an interesting character despite the ability to travel and view his own memories about how he got to where he is, an interesting approach to a puzzle game. The Ezio campaign is fun but nothing new. The switch from renaissance art to ancient literature for storytelling assistance is a nice change of pace and a very useful way to educate the audience, and might encourage them to educate themselves in many aspects of the game from the fall of the Byzantines and the rise of the Ottomans, to ancient literature, and key players of the time. The story itself is fun you must get five keys to open the library of Altair to find the grand temple, each key holds a memory of Altair, to teach a lesson of what the assassin guild stands for. The memories I enjoy because it brings closure to an interesting character that I felt was left hangout to dry, and was only briefly mentioned in the previous game.
I give it a total of 6.5/8
