Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - Impressions from first time playing this game
Hi, when I joined this Forum and introduced myself as first time Assassin's Creed Player you said I should feel free posting my impressions. I've just finished Brotherhood and while Revelations is being installed I thought I share some of my game experiences. So, here you go, reaction-vampires 
Content - Compared to ACI and even AC II, this game felt HUGE! I remember when I first started it and saw all you can do in this world - main Story, City renovation, guild missions, Cristina Memory and Da Vinci DLC, trophy hunting, Lair parcouring and tearing down Borgia Towers - I was quite overwhelmed. All in all though it felt a bit too much; I got easily distracted from the main Story. Mind you, I enjoyed all of it except maybe feather and treasure hunting - again...but for me it was hard to get back into the Story and pick it up where I left off.
Story - Story was good. Ezio's development to Leader and Assassin's Mentor was well described even though towards the Show down with Cesare it felt a bit rushed. Main missions were diverse and sometimes quite challenging, especially with the 100% Synch requirement on top. I enjoyed both past and present Story lines; great that the Player could leave the Animus whenever s/he wanted. Though nothing much happened in the present until the end except the odd email and one or two dialogue bits, I liked walking around present Monterrigioni. One of my favorite moments was right after the attack to the Villa when Desmond experienced the Bleeding Effect with the villagers and Ezio - Past and Present blended perfectly! The end though in the Present was a bummer. Unfortunately I was unvoluntarily spoilered so I knew what to expect but still it was quite intense. Now I am curious what Revelations will reveal (pun intended 
) as I go completely unspoilered into that game
- Side Missions - There is so much to do in ACB, it's hard to pick my favorites. I think of the side missions I most enjoyed the Da Vinci Disappearance, the Romulus Lairs with ist diverse Environments and requirements which made parcouring quite fun and the Borgia Towers. Thanks to different difficulties and Tower Captain mentality it was quite interesting, especially as you had complete control here how to plan your attack and were not "taken on the ride" as you sometimes were during main missions. Treasure and Feather hunting as well as Glyphs took a back seat here; felt too much like in AC2. Trade and Shop Quests also were of little interest to me. Recruiting and Training of assassins however was more fun than I thought at the beginning. Now Help the Citizen made more sense as in AC1 and I enjoyed sending out my assassins for Training missions. I tried however not to use them during fighting too much to not make things too easy.
Gameplay - Gameplay - parcouring and fighting - felt like the other two games, nothing much new there. But controls were smooth as always so no complains there
100% Synch - Now that was a challenge! Almost every Mission came with an extra requirement on top. I tried to fulfill them and so far got all sequences of the main Story, the Da Vinci DLC, Da Vinci War Machines (except Tank, it's only 50%) and all of the side missions as far as I did them with 100%. This sometimes was a pain in the ass, I fondly remember the timed missions as Romulus Lair Halls of Nero with its 8 Minute requirement or Courtesan Assignment Malpractice with 2:30 minutes to get there and back again. And of course the Stealth Missions like e.g. Castello Crasher where several times I got caught by the very last guard. Even though this made me sometimes repeat memories over and over again it was still fun and a feast when you finally got the 100% Sync
Graphics - Again, not much change in graphics either, many of the houses in the City Center looked familiar even though they lacked the distinctiveness of the Venetian buildings. The Antico District however was cool with all the ruins. Btw. I didn't mind the game taking place only at Rome, the City was big and diverse enough for me. Especially in the outer parts I used horse riding rather than the tunnels. And I loved renovating the City and purchasing buildings; hey who hasn't wanted to own the Collosseum! 
Fazit - I really enjoyed this game, it was a fun ride. Though it was not any more as new and striking an experience like AC2 it continued the Story well. Now I'm looking forward to Revelations
YES! Another post from SunBlade's first plays!
Keep them coming. We're all experiencing vicariously through you.
There are tricks around "redoing the entire mission" for 100% sync objectives. Search around, and I'm sure you'll find them.
The Tank mission, to me, is still one of the hardest full sync missions in any of the games (there are a few in Rogue that I gave up on because they weren't fun).
Someone else can chime in here, but I think one of the tricks is to change your outfit colors mid mission and you'll restart at the last checkpoint. If you feel like you're about to get hit in the tank, change your outfit!
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Awesome! New impressions post, woo~! I remember feeling pretty similar when I played Brotherhood. I think the trick with the Tank mission for the final battle, is to rest just outside the Desynchronization Walls and shoot the enemy from there. In here, you can't take damage, and any damage you do seem to take won't break your Full Sync. I need someone else to confirm this though, but I'm pretty sure this is how that mission can be cheesed.
I think I've heard about the changing outfits as a speedrun tactic to revert to the last checkpoint.
DAZ, I can confirm that you can cheese the tank mission by resting just outside the Desynch wall. That's how I did it every time. Just do the mission as well as you can, up until the citadel-like structure: keep moving AT ALL TIMES, evade the red lines indicating where the enemy will shoot, keep targeting the enemy, and mash the shoot button. When you get to the citadel, there will be two tanks, which was impossible for me. Hit a checkpoint to cause the game to progress, then back up outside of the citadel. You can still shoot, but you can't get shot there.
Also, nice post! Always great to read first impressions. It makes me jealous to experience these games for the first time again.
I think I even commented when I first played Brotherhood that Rome was "too big." That it was going to be impossible for me to learn the map by memory like the earlier games. Revelations scales back some, but after that it only gets bigger...
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Thanks guys for the feedback! As to Tank mission, I read about that method and will try this once I'm absolutely feeling like breaking my PC after failing the umpteenth time. I am not at that point...yet... Funny thing though if I remember correctly - it were the cannons damaging my health whereas the tanks just destroyed my tank and didn't affect my health. So I just desynchronized and could start at the last checkpoint. I will check again but later as now I want to start with ACR
Hey, I'm a new user too, DarkAlphabetZoup suggested I introduce myself, so here I am 
it was cool to read your first impression on brotherhood, I recently finished it for the 3rd time as well and it was my first time 100% synching it, and I agree it was really challenging! And if you thought brotherhood had a lot of content, just wait until you get to 3, Black Flag, Unity, etc. Full sync is even harder and more time consuming and there is so much to do and see (which imo is a good thing)!
For the tank mission, I have some tips. It's easy to dodge the cannons as long as you strafe left and right, the tank doesn't handle moving straight or forward very well. It is best to shoot from as far as possible, so when the cannons lock onto you, you can just move behind a rock or quickly out of the way. Don't charge because the cannons are faster than you and you don't always destroy the cannon on the first shot. If you know you're going to get shot, quit to the main menu and it will reload you at the last checkpoint. Don't bother killing the guards that shoot at you, they don't hurt you. For the tank before you get to the last point in the mission, it shouldn't hit you as long as you spam attack and strafe left and right. In the last part with the 2 tanks approach the marker but don't go to it yet. Destroy everything you can reach in the fortress including the decoy tank and make sure to blow up the explosive barrels. Finally, approach the marker and do as the others are saying, lure the two tanks out and hide behind the desynch wall but don't go too far because it does drain your health. I hope you can manage to get full sync on this, it's infuriatingly hard.
Anyway, you're going to love revelations, even though desmond looks like adam sandler and there isn't as much to do as in Brotherhood (it took me around 40 hrs to 100% brotherhood, and only 29 hrs for revelations). I hope you keep us updated on how you're liking it
Hey, Charlotte, welcome! Nice to meet a fellow female here in the forums I read your introduction, you already have quite an AC history under your belt and it was interesting to read about your Sweetfx graphics enhancements. Have fun here and get yourself a computer suitable for handling Black Flag and later games
Thanks for your comment and advice on the Tank Mission - will certainly try it after checking out Revelation. Can't wait to see Adam Sandler Desmond ... But as I still have unfinished guild missions in ACB I might play the games side by side to get closer to the 100% Sync. It's so strange to have achieved your main goal, finished Da Vinci DLC and War Machines, got all towers and most of the Lairs and still have only around 75% overall synch. That's Open World...
I will keep you posted about my impressions on Revelations, sad to hear that playing time is rather short. But if the following games are really as big as you stated, I'll have plenty to explore in the games to come.
The following games are massive.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Thanks! I was really bummed out when I tried to play Black Flag and couldn't even run it higher than 20 fps on the lowest settings. I'm working on getting a new pc, i just have to somehow find the money for it
I totally feel you, even if you do finish the game there are still so many things you can do, some are completely unnecessary. The guild challenges take so long to complete too (and most of the rewards are mediocre). Maybe since you're so eager to start with Revelations you should leave 100% sync in brotherhood for a second playthrough, the game doesn't really lose replay value. Plus, 100% sync in Revelations is surprisingly easy, as far as optional objectives go. And don't worry, Adam Sandler Desmond is still Desmond, even though he looks funny!
The play time is shorter but you can definitely spend a lot of time just exploring beautiful Constantinople and Cappadocia. And without spoiling anything, the Altair missions are great! For your first time playing the game, I think you'll have a lot of fun and you'll be able to put a lot of hours into it without getting bored. It's just slightly lacking in content and world size, that's all.