ASSASSIN'S CREED BROTHERHOOD (Zero Punctuation)

Subscribe to Escapist Magazine! bit.ly/Sub2Esca...
This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
Fast-talking Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw reviews a new game each week in this animated series that combines informed critique with cutting humor. Watch the next episode of Zero Punctuation a week early, only on The Escapist.
Escapist Magazine!
The latest from Escapist Magazine: escapistmagazin...
Subscribe: bit.ly/Sub2Esca...
Like us on Facebook: / escapistmag
Follow us on Twitter: / theescapistmag
Find us Google+: bit.ly/Escapist...
Follow us on Pinterest: bit.ly/Escapist...
Check out our Merch: www.splitreason...

[@ToaofDeath]

I'm convinced Shaun was created in reference to Yahtzee.

[@paddydahunter9252]

Im not unconvinced that Yahtzee didn't actually play Shaun....

[@Differentad-mq9tk]

Shaun?

[@lennychurch]

@@Differentad-mq9tk The snarky misanthropic British man he refers to at the end.

[@bobmcbob49]

Summary of every assassin's creed game: you're broke for the first few hours, but after that, you have more money than you have any idea what to do with

[@dariodibartolo343]

Actually, the monetary system has never been developed as well as the other aspects (hystorical references, settings) of this serie...

[@andreykravchenko6829]

I have 4mill. brotherhood :P

[@andreykravchenko6829]

***** Ya same for me!

[@Blackopsgod0001]

***** I just checked, and my current amount of cash is $48282395........ I didn't those dots in there for affect. I actually just have more money in that game than it can count.

[@nathanl5856]

***** The reason it feels long in brother hood is becasue it is in some cases. If you are doing a memory mission the timer actually stops, and can even reset if you fail. So you can spend hours going straight through the story, and never get a single gold piece.

[@ToaofDeath1]

I actually thought of Yahtzee when Shaun started complaining about everything you do.

[@XShedinjaNinjaX]

"Nightmarish tidal wave of money that only grows the more you try to get rid of it?" That is the only time I'll ever hear that ever, I think.

[@lolrus5555]

XShedinjaNinjaX Well I mean, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure did exactly that.

[@miamiwendigo]

Nightmarish tidal wave of money that grows the more you try to get rid of it

[@14hourz82]

miracle man,curse you with infinite money

[@thatdapperfellow]

I mean, exponentials and shit.

[@DarkLightProduction9]

That last joke had me on the floor crying. Nice connection there.

[@zeldafreak888]

Dark Light Productions I never made that connection until this video

[@Ward1706]

"Thank you, father, this has been a great comfort. It's a shame you're my current target. *stab*"

[@MegaKamil1999]

yahtzee and shaun in one room would make the building explode with cynicsm.

[@CheekiBreeki1986]

My sides just went into fucking orbit. Thanks a lot.

[@Match25]

I like the recruits. Felt like it was a miss opportunity in IV to not have 9 Man of Wars back you up

[@Match25]

And have them all be women, nothing like a harem of Assassins

[@BGame46M]

amateur match And yet in that one mission where you have some of your trainees disguised they're all males.

[@Match25]

Actually if you pay attention to the ceremony you will see there will always be men and women, suggest despite having only access to a few your league is much bigger

[@buca117]

+amateur match The number of male recruits I watched die, helped along their way, or actively killed in Brotherhood would make Stalin proud as a peach.

[@Match25]

buca117 all to make your harem? I say those were acceptable losses

[@djolegusman]

Finally someone who prefers singleplayer.

[@timebomb4562]

+Djordje Gusman i prefer single player just sitting in my room alone while i reevaluate my existence

[@jesseleroux6307]

+timebomb456 only coop and singleplayer for me

[@JelliThePilot]

Eh, I like singleplayer, but I also really like multiplayer. Because I like having friends.

[@fantasyconnect]

+AlexRed95 Then get friends in real life, if you need video games to get friends then you are actually quite sad.

[@carmengonsalves3988]

only single player for me not going to use Internet not going to pay but I will enjoy playing with NPCs which is what I like about games

[@snakelord2]

MORE FUCKING GOD DAMN BY THE JESUS MONEY! lol i like that

[@purplefanadic234]

I couldn't stop laughing at the part where he says "your my next target, stab." I'm actually still laughing as I type this X,D

[@johndjboy]

OMG XD i'm reading this guys comment and i'm like oh wow can't wait for that part to come up, then i start the video again and it comes out of nowhere. i fucking dropped my mouse laughing, it hit the floor clicking on another review (fall out NV) so i had to reload the video but not before i watched that part again LOLZ

[@leguan278]

Real Gamers Only i'm a banana

[@thepedanticreviewer7493]

You like the sarcastic British guy? He's the only reason I ever came out of the Animus on this game! Also, animus is the laziest name for a soul device. It's Latin for soul/wind!

[@judgeholden6761]

MORE FUCKING GOD DAMN BY THE JESUS MONEY! I am going to incorporate this into my daily convo as much as possible.

[@angeldeb82]

LOLed at the funny little cute imps that provide comic relief, especially with Ezio training little assassins for that! I also like how a human guy playing with Yahtzee suddenly gets turned into an imp! :D

[@Khalith]

"I own your house" gets me everytime.

[@ethanstarbuck5323]

I used to not like this guy, because of his animation and his speed talking, but now he's my favorite game review... ever.

[@pej55]

"Are you planning to assassinate the Borgia? Or just evict them?" I had to clean my keyboard after that one having spat my drink on it laughing. Its a credit to Yahtzee's style that even games or series that I like are my favorite videos to watch since I have first hand experience with all his complaints.

[@rayanderson5797]

In renaissance Italian politics... Either one one works, really.

[@topher691]

Upon my second play through of AC:2 I found myself having much more fun imagining Shawn as Yahtzee.

[@christophersmith8848]

My friend gave me Brotherhood for free, and I have since played the shit out of it.

[@Lovenaut]

3:55 Has to be my favorite scene in all of hs reviews ever. I totally felt that way in AC:B

[@MegaKamil1999]

the bit where shaun puts the hat on... LOL

[@DannyShaq26]

1:45 SLAYED me "It's a shame you're my current target. *STAB*"

[@lucianmcdaniel2228]

"Little Assassin Kindergarten" had me rolling XD

[@ComicWriter232]

I love this game, but......ugh, he has his description of Desmond spot on. I mean damn, they couldn't find a more boring, every-man character if they fucking tried. Every time there's a Desmond mission, I want to blow my brains out and get back to Ezio...............................blegh :(

[@lifeofanidiot]

it's okay he's dead now :)

[@Scorecatron]

Zero Shootman Now we have to deal with that faceless, nameless, speechless and expressionless floating camera.

[@Senthain]

Scorecatron Seriously, fuck that camera.

[@NinjaGidget]

I was hoping that once he was out of the picture, the whole "future" part of the games would be Sean and Rebecca having a total snark-fest, occasionally interluded with snogging. *sigh* Back to the fan-fic forums...

[@geoffjanes2088]

Am I seriously the only one who thought Desmond's story was extremely interesting??? I always loved when they pulled you out of the animus for more present day plot stuff. IMO Desmond wasn't bland. I can however, understand why others think he's about as interesting as a sack of rocks. I guess i'm the only one who was sad when Desmond died :(

[@OleandyrTheGreatDragonGod]

Yahtzee is famous for talking fast... so I cranked the video speed all the way up to 2 just to see what he sounds like even faster!!! Long story short, I think I fried my brain a bit there... XD

[@Ace-qi4qc]

+Jango Yifftail Dude put it at half speed its even better. Sounds like he's high and drunk while trying to explain the game.

[@DJzSith]

OMG thats so much better!

[@togekiss1995]

Seriously, I feel like the double time is basically my minds version of how the Irish sound. The half speed is my minds drunk Irishman.

[@veryfancysavior7265]

I once sent all my recruits to help me fight a FREAKIN 50 MAN ARMY I'm not joking lets just say there were no survivors except me

[@buca117]

"Only I survived."

[@veryfancysavior7265]

Nope revelations did the same thing once I tried to call my assassins to help me fight in a roof most of them fell and died I retreated but I couldn't save the rest because I was very low in health then one of the bad guys shot me while I was running and I died I didn't play assassins creed revelation for 1 month after that

[@veryfancysavior7265]

I meant the recruits

[@veryfancysavior7265]

Just don't fight with your assassins on roofs dumb fucks love to fall

[@Nick-mp1zh]

+Saleh ALShami Man I went out of my way to test my recruits against small armies like that. "There's no room for the weak!" I declared as I sent 4 level 1 recruits up against 50 soldiers. Long story short, I would be a terrible boss

[@claymore604]

If you could play as the assassins you send on missions instead of just text screens, THAT'D be excellent.

[@MrRenard7785]

But Connor does, in fact, pursue targets on both sides. The developers said in an interview that they didn't want the maing plot element to be "Help the Americans win the Revolutionary War," they wanted to keep it about assassinating Templars, using the Revolution as a framing device for all of the intricacies of the plot. The fact that Connor helps out Washington is simply for Connor's purposes (and also because you'd be hard pressed to find any historian who'd put Washington in a bad light).

[@trustworthytim4762]

This was the best game in the Ezio trilogy. Its combat was the best and starred my favorite character in the series.

[@x2kopatroop2x]

mines Edward from 4

[@x2kopatroop2x]

not saying its my favorite game I like Edwards design

[@0fucksftw]

Nah AC 2 is legendary, bro-hood and revelations are pretty good but feel too samey and dont have a good story or towns that can compare to AC 2 with bro-hood taking away some of the freedom and fun of AC 2 and revelations slightly restoring it ,and it goes downhill with 3 being a shitstorm of well shit and AC 4 being a fairly solid if really repetitive and tiresome game.

[@CoolCatInATopHat]

This was my favourite game in the series. Yet to play IV, but this was great.

[@SuperMiracleMan]

You do realize pirates aren't that stealthy. I only played AC II and a little bit of Revelations but I enjoy the series. But I understand Black Flag is a far cry from the first idea of the series. Hopefully Ubisoft decides to base the next game somewhere like Feudal Japan. Of course I did see a possible fan art of assassins in nazi Germany. Sadly that game might end up becoming a spunk-gargle-wee-wee if that was the next setting.

[@SadButter]

Shadow_Plays "Hopefully Ubisoft decides to base the next game somewhere like Feudal Japan." That's actually exactly what i've been hoping too, but I think they would have to replace future Desmond with another character so it would make sense to have an ancestor in Japan. It could probably be a change for the better though.

[@BasicallyTom]

RandomGuy1994 Future Desmond dies in III

[@SadButter]

BasicallyTom Oh... Well normally at this point I would probably start yelling at you for spoilers, but since people say this franchise started getting lame onwards from Brotherhood I wasn't gonna play that far anyway so you are forgiven.

[@SuperMiracleMan]

Also I've seen a playthrough of AC III so I knew what happened to him. Also Yahtzee says Desmond kicked the bucket in his Black Flags review.

[@babypolerpopster]

0:28 He would love "The Ship".

[@JHillvids]

I can't wait to see the AC: Revelations review done by this guy . . .

[@TheMayorofSpace]

i like how yahtzee dosen't spoil the ending for us. untill the acr reveiw

[@FinestSeven]

"Ezio gets around fast for a bloke wearing an entire laundry basket" :D

[@Arcemz]

Connor does not fight on the side of the Americans, but he does not fight on the side of the British either. He is an Assassin, and he will fight Templars. The Templars are on both sides, meaning Connor will fight people on the British and American armies.

[@Pholadis]

Ironically, the multiplayer of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood was actually done first in a game known as "The Ship".

[@TXFDA]

the Ass Creed multiplayer was fun. My first experience with it being AC3. I enjoyed it and wish they'd bring it back.

[@camillebanez8958]

I kind of hate how they continued Desmond's story in Brotherhood and Revelations, I wasn't interested in either of them for the history bits, er, the Ezio bits, and when I picked up 3 and immediately felt VERY lost with Desmond's story, I got a bit sore with Ubi about making those two games seem unimportant by not tacking a number on the end.

[@agentwashingtub9167]

I like this one the best.

[@agentwashingtub9167]

James Watson I disagree with July me. AC 4 is the best.

[@jameswatsonatheistgamer]

AgentWashingtub I liked AC4, my favourite is AC2.

[@agentwashingtub9167]

James Watson I chalk that up to nostalgia, but to each there own.

[@JSone4Design]

Yahtzee, you clairvoyant, you knew what was going to happen in Unity.

[@DarkAssassin2259]

"MORE FUCKING GOD DAMN BY THE JESUS MONEY!" I lol'd so hard at that. It's the only part I ever really watch anymore in this video :3

[@tardisrocks]

I just looked it up, Shawn is voiced by Danny Wallace, Wheatley was voiced by Stephen Merchant (both according to IMDB)

[@Ya_Mosura]

Jasper Kyd is the best thing about Assassins Creed.

[@AutocraticAnarchy]

Despite everything. AC2 and ACB DO teach us ONE valuable lesson: How to swear in Italian.

[@DreamGeimer64]

I always knew that Yahtzee was reminding me of someone...

[@SnarkyZazu]

I always see the assassin face as a really big smile with two white eyes above it

[@Bigbub66]

A game needs to be able to stand on it's singleplayer alone first and then add multiplayer.

[@Veteran94s]

i don't think activision heard you

[@scottski02]

If they ever add it at all. Honestly I don't give a shit about multiplayer, unless its Starcraft.

[@SinerAthin]

It sorta depends what game you're creating. True for AC, but if you're creating something like Battlefield, Singleplayer can go fuck'all xD

[@hawkeyegough9090]

SinerAthin you either make both multiplayer and single player good or you go with just one

[@ichigo709]

Hawkeye Gough and that one should be single player. To quote a wise man: "I will not play any multiplayer if I cannot physically slap the other players across the face."

[@Alucard2356]

"Can't think why!"

[@fonetik4o8]

I totally agree with you that split-screen is a lot more fun than playing with your friends online, however the issue is that splitting the screen in half decreases fps especially in newer more graphic games. Hopefully it will be back once the new generation of console with better processors come in.

[@theslimcreeper3779]

What I found the most hillarious was the rite, when one of your students became a Master, I think. Because, the whole point of the last games hidden blade was, that it was upgraded in a way, that didn't require the one-finger-chop-off. But you know Ezio, that big ol Drama Queen. Gotta have those chopped of Fingers because... Uhm dedication to the cause I guess? I mean, not everybody can have killed-family-revenge-plot-motivation because they are the protagonist, am I right? Or maybe they were in desperate need for some snacks, but what do I know?

[@arkavius2272]

By far my favorite AC game

[@GalanDun]

There's a 3DS dungeon crawler called Heroes of Ruin that allows for single player instances, local multiplayer, and online. If they allowed you to choose to exclude one of the options if you wish instead of one of the three that'd be great

[@TheRaginAsian]

Anyone besides me think that Shawn was based off / is an expy of Yahtzee? British, they look very much alike, and most of all, snarky as all hell. I think Ubisoft loves Yahtzee and Zero Punctuation. XD

[@Nymphonomicon]

I am reassured by the fact Yahtzee refers to that game as "X 2" like I do... I know it's "10 2," but X-es are such great letters that using them for numbering is an aside in my mind.

[@fearedjames]

All of the story was random unrelated deeds by templars, the intro and the ending scenes, and short conversations with the guy at the hidden bases.

[@Salorlor]

The problem with split-screen is that you're playing with an aspect ratio more commonly used in fortune cookies.

[@5Kaine]

Now that's an iconic quote from the past :"MORE FUCKING GODDAMN-BY-THE-JESUS MONEY!!!"

[@D3wd20p]

3:15 Oh god I just got that.

[@hwate8]

If there's two things that vastly differentiated Brotherhood for me, it was the Recruits and the heavily-tightened open world that was JUST big enough to enjoy exploring with a slightly-improved sense of improving/capitalising the world around you (because it makes it easier to restock no matter where you are as you 'work'), but no longer suffered the 'just Synchronize then go back to ignoring the map' issue quite as hard. Also, trying to downgrade back to AC2 is HORRENDOUS because of how many options you lack (like the bombs, or the crossbow that completely obsoletes the wrist-mounted 'gun'. Still not quite sure WHY they left that in, I understand NOT removing a perfectly-good option from the player's arsenal, but it's not as if it adds THAT much utility over the crossbow that reloads faster, reloads while walking faster, holds more ammo, does enough damage that it kills ranged enemies in one hit, and y'know, IS SILENT).

[@smugsneasel]

00:33 Oh so THAT'S why he uses the demons.

[@zelg.5551]

This "money problem" reminded me of Yakuza series. >Yakuza 1-6: money is always valuable, it's a pain in the ass to save up even just one million > Yakuza Zero: you can literally throw away money, and spend tens of billions in just one playthrough

[@cgunugc]

At ours, we set up the best computer in the house off in a corner with no keyboard, and ran the lan wire from that. Any in-game disputes were solved by throwing bean bags at the offender's head. Until we knocked over a $200 monitor, it was the best LAN I've ever been in.

[@BrightFilms117]

@FMicrowave reminiscing over the first time you played it would be sitting down and remembering it and how much you enjoyed it, replay value would be something that isn't a one time wonder and is worth playing through again instead of moving on and playing something else.

[@bexly96]

When he mentioned it basically being Assassins Creed 2 1/2 I was just thinking oh god... whats he gonna think of the next 2 1/3 or somet then I see the link and on the thumb nail i noticed it says 2.5 and 2.75 haha he has a point :')

[@jigurd]

I didn't play Spec Ops, so I couldn't tell you. Characters having faces might make them easier to relate to, which is why I think it's an even greater achievement to manage it without graphics. One of the points of Thomas Was Alone's plot was that you don't need to be human to be a person. Also, how does TWA push the medium backwards? It cuts in one area to bush boundaries in a largely unexplored venue of development!

[@kingkoal777]

Yahtzee, I think you should feel honored that Ubisoft decided to include you in one of their games.

[@Red-S-267]

And that dog at x-2 makes me want to put you on a list of targets

[@johnybazukata]

' More fucking, goddam, by the jesus money' ! Absolute gold!

[@JimJava007]

Is that a reference to "The Room" I see in the credits?

[@crazykirby97]

Assassin quests: "Hey? You like playing Mafia Wars on Facebook? Now it's on the Xbox!"

[@1900maniac]

brotherhood probably had the easiest guards out of any of the series

[@MrNin10dope]

He was also Wheatley... maybe that rings more bells

[@redyrnogardash]

Sarcastic British Guy? Of course we all love Shaun...

[@Jaceblue04]

"More fucking, goddamn, by-the-Jesus money" lol

[@tome4376]

1:44 did he just predict AC Unity's assassination?

[@MicrowavedGrape]

Ass Creed Bro going "UP ME PIPE" to denote how easy it is is the funniest thing Yahtzee's ever put in any of his videos.

[@kurobara3]

A point could be made is that online play can provide a lot more play time then single player.

[@Aska2468]

Just when you thought Desmond was bad, Ubisoft barged in shouting "Not so fast!" and made you walk around an office in AC4.

[@ANTIMONcom]

Shean often really made my day in the last game

[@aizaz1234]

at least in every AC game there are new elements added like the bombs and tower defense in revelations or the stuff announced for AC3. unlike some other series we know. i mean call of duty if you didn't catch that. :P

[@Glandorray]

unlike COD AC is improving over time with a real good storyline.

[@cjzgatefan]

4 AM. Must. Sleep. Wait, was that just cause 2 a second ago?

[@TeChaff]

I think Shaun is the in-game representation of Ben, in which Ubisoft finally takes into consideration reviews like this.

[@jigurd]

You think so? I thought it was pretty good, especially at engaging you in the story. It made you care about rectangles. Non-animated, non-textured rectangles.

[@bigfatcarp93]

Lol the thumbnail showed me that he understood this game perfectly.

[@MasterCharlie104]

4:56 Quick question about said snarky British guy. Is he voiced by Stephen Merchent? Cos he sounds like him and his character design kinda looks like him.

[@Ilovevidgames123]

That's a true general concept, but with Assassin's Creed multiplayer it just wouldn't work. With most multiplayers, knowing your opponents' positions is only a small part of the battle; you have to actually engage them as well, which is usually a far larger part of the challenge. AC multiplayer is structured such that pinpointing your opponent's location is the larger part of the challenge, and, as a result, the screen-watching that inevitably accompanies local multiplayer would destroy it.

[@monkleymania123]

loves ending hahahaa

[@Montesama314]

Listening to this game premise, I'm wondering why Ezio doesn't just remove Borgia's power by buying up the city. Why kill a dude when you can humiliate him by getting even MORE influence than what he can wield?

[@Subscriber9192]

hopefully hes been following the storyline this whole time because thats my favourite part of the game.

[@zacflame1]

i mean that new feature that eliminates screenhacking and both players get 1 angle of a full screen.

[@tommangan7]

lol not picking sides here because nationalism is childish but in AC3 he fights on both sides, depending which advantages him best to kill the templars. In effect he really isnt on either side, which has been said by the developers over and over again.

[@willtreaty4020]

YES 350,000th SUBSCRIBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ADiceySituation]

Wow...Sean is totally like Yahtzee. How did I not realize it till now?!

[@Kingcameron66]

a true fan would watch his videos no matter the game

[@r_r_rye2441]

Evicting the Borgia's would have been a much more entertaining ending.

[@TheMayorofSpace]

craft a hat? five iron across the top, two on the sides

[@FullMetalAwesome7]

lol the credits: "Historians now believe he was gay"

[@informalfallacy9780]

I don't know why, but I found the idea of buying and essentially owning all of Rome kind of appealing.

[@JohnnyThousand605]

"More fucking God-damned by-the-Jesus money" is, to this day, still guaranteed to make me laugh. I just wish I could use it at work without getting fired =D