Get ready for another go-around in the Animus as the “Assassin's Creed” series returns with its newest installment, “Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.” While the game offers some refreshing new features like multiplayer mode and the ability to command your own league of assassins, “Brotherhood” is often just more of the same.

“Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood”

Xbox 360 and PS3
Ubisoft

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“Brotherhood” picks up where “Assassin's Creed II” left off, with the protagonist Ezio returning to Monteriggioni, believing his journey to be over. He's thrown right back into the heat of battle when the Templar Order, recurring antagonists throughout the series, discover Ezio and his order’s whereabouts and launch an assault on Monteriggioni. With his home and order destroyed, Ezio sets out to Rome to rebuild his league of assassins and take the fight to the enemy.

There's a potential problem in the fact that “Brotherhood” more or less covers the same story as “Assassin's Creed II.” Sure, there are always new twists, but one major plus that separated “Assassin's Creed” from “Assassin's Creed II” was that the sequel covered different stories and protagonists, and also let your character wield different weapons. Some may look on "Brotherhood" as an expansion to an already-great story, but it can also be seen as, once again, more of the same.

In terms of visuals, watching Ezio elegantly cut through his enemies is nothing short of spectacular. However, the problems with combat from the previous games have carried over to “Brotherhood”: it's simply too easy. Holding down the “guard” button and pressing the “counter-attack” button any time someone lunges at you is an immediate kill. You can take down a horde of 25 soldiers while barely lifting a finger. You’d think by now these enemies would get smart enough to all lunge at Ezio at the same time.

Still, there are two major new positives put into this game. First is the multiplayer, something completely new to the series. In multiplayer, you play on the side of the Templars attempting to take down the Assassins. You're given a target to hunt while being hunted on your own in a world full of non-playable characters (NPCs). Soon, multiplayer turns into a game of intense, almost paranoid observation of the world around you as your assassin blends in with the crowd and tries to kill his target. The hunter has become the hunted.

Another big plus is the ability to create your own order of assassins. With his first order destroyed, Ezio must rebuild it from the ground up, recruiting men from around Rome to join him in his quest to rid Rome of the Templar influence. Once they become trained, Ezio can send his assassins to eliminate targets throughout Europe. Their ultimate success depends on how well you have trained and upgraded them.

“Brotherhood” isn't a mediocre game in the slightest. What will keep it from joining the elite status of its predecessors is that it just doesn’t feel completely original or refreshing. Still, it's hard to be too critical of the game given these two standout new features, along with a beautifully detailed 16th-century Rome to play around in. Hack away, Ezio.