For those who love AC2 this one is definitely for you, but don't expect the same "oohs and ahhs" that AC2 had.
Basically Ezio returns from the vatican and some unfortunate events lead him to Rome where he must hunt down Borgia leaders Cesare and again Rodrigo. While Rodrigo is portrayed to still be a large enemy in the beginning of the game, he some what takes a side step and lets Cesare take his place. Your job is to destroy Cesare's grasp over Rome and finally kill him.
While AC2 followed the theme of killing off the Templars, this game focuses more on killing the Borgia. The game also uses what seems to be the same graphics and same mechanics. (Same issues and glitches too!)
Another thing that made this game a bit stale after awhile was the fact that you are confined to Rome. Which is a city about the size of one of the larger cities in AC2, so major downsizing on the world map. The only time you leave Rome is when you get out of the animus or go on side missions or critical missions in the story that take you out of Rome.
I also have to say that too much of this game is random side quests which are either very minimally tied to the main objective of the game or not at all. So much so that you eventually feel like an assassination contract is the same as going to an elderly neighbors house to do a chore that doesn't even need to be done for them.
One major disappointment in this game is the recruiting of new assassin's which is why this is called Brotherhood. You are rebuilding the order by recruiting assassin's into your new order in Rome. However, none of them really play any role in anything. In fact you could probably play the entire game without ever recruiting an assassin or using them while roaming around Rome. (Provided you aren't sent to recruit one in a primary mission.) I'm not saying you can do everything 100% without them, but you can certainly finish the game without even utilizing the assassin recruitment.
Perhaps the recruitment would have been better if each assassin was a voiced over character that added something to the order. Instead you have assassin's that have the same tools the other 9 or however many assassins have. Each assassin looks basically the same as all the other assassins of their gender as well. I'll admit it's a neat idea, but it was not used correctly.
The guild challenges help by unlocking strong weapons once completed for each faction. However, the frustrating thing is that you will most likely not finish any of the challenges unless specifically looking them up and doing them. This is because many of them are hard to do and some you need to do up to 25 times before it's completed. While doing this. Is about the time I lost interest in this game. Which is why I'm reviewing it more than half a year after it's release.
I cannot deny that this game has a lot of content, it's just some of it seems very out of place. There are mechanic issues that are still present which make some missions very frustrating because Ezio runs up walls you're not even close to, he jumps off invisible things, controls don't work right all the time, and while running near walls he does kick offs from the wall when not even running up it at all. Many missions give you no sense of direction or idea of what you are doing. While there are some new weapons, some were taken out and most of them are the same from the previous game, the only new weapon is the crossbow. It also does justice to AC2 by closing gaps and black holes within it's storyline in side missions, but the missions leave the present day storyline of Ezio chasing down Cesare full of gaps and black holes.
About a year was spent making this game and you can tell.
However, if you are a fan of AC and liked AC2 the game is certainly one to get. Just don't expect it to be like AC2 and be ready to work through some frustrating issues.