Is Assassin‘s Creed Ezio Collection worth it?

In short – yes, the Assassin‘s Creed Ezio Collection is absolutely worth picking up for most gamers. This remastered bundle offers hundreds of hours of extremely highly regarded content and excellent value at a budget price point. While dated at times, Ezio‘s journey remains one of the iconic gaming sagas and a must-play for AC fans. Read on for a comprehensive, 2500+ word guide on whether the Ezio Collection should be in your library.

Overview of the Ezio Collection

Released in 2016 for current generation consoles, the Assassin‘s Creed Ezio Collection bundles together the single player campaigns and DLC from three of the most beloved titles in the franchise – Assassin‘s Creed 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations.

These games focus on Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a fan favorite protagonist that long time AC players have grown incredibly attached too. Being able to experience his full origin story, from young nobleman to legendary assassin mentor across decades, is a truly special opportunity.

On a technical level, the games have been upgraded with higher resolution textures up to 4K, improved lighting, and enhanced character/environment models. The core gameplay though remains largely the same as the original releases. This is more of a visual overhaul than a full rebuild. Still, the graphical bumps are very welcome.

Hundreds of Hours of Content and Gameplay

The amount of content and gameplay hours provided in the Ezio Collection for the asking price is almost unrivaled. Each of the three games takes around 15-20 hours just to complete the main story missions and assassinations.

But with all side activities, exploration, recruiting assassins, renovating property, seeking out treasures and diverse side quests, you‘re easily looking at 30-50 hours per game. Not to mention the inclusion of all DLC released for each title.

All up, you could spend over 150 hours reliving Ezio‘s life from his beginnings in Florence to becoming a legendary mentor in 16th century Constantinople. This incredible value cements the Ezio Collection as a must buy.

The Finest Games of the "Classic" Assassin‘s Creed Era

While the more recent AC titles have focused heavily on large open worlds, RPG mechanics and dialogue choices, the "Ezio Trilogy" represents the finest games of the earlier "classic" era of the franchise.

These games strike a brilliant balance between narrative, parkour traversal, stealth, combat and assassination. The stories are linear but engaging, with memorable missions and set pieces. The gameplay feels fluid and focused around the core tenets of the series.

For AC fans who enjoy the franchise‘s roots and want to experience Ezio‘s journey, the Ezio Collection is a dream package.

Key Features of Each Game

Let‘s take a deeper look at some standout qualities of each title included:

Assassin‘s Creed 2

• Seen by many fans as one of the best AC games ever made
• Introduces an iconic setting – Renaissance Italy
• Focuses on revenge story as we follow a young Ezio
• Major gameplay improvements over the first AC game
• Packed with content and side activities – feathers, tombs, assassination contracts

AC2 took the basic formula established in the first game and elevated it to new heights. After a repetitive opening, AC2 opened up into a vibrant world brimming with life. The story captured fans hearts and perfectly set the stage for future games.

Assassin‘s Creed Brotherhood

• Refines core mechanics – combat, parkour, stealth
• Introduces the assassin recruit system
• Memorable missions like infiltrating the Vatican
• Allows players to conquer and renovate Rome
• Continues Ezio‘s story arc hunting the Borgia family

While Revelations often gets highlighted as the weakest of the Ezio trilogy, Brotherhood is arguably just as strong as AC2. It provides meaningful improvements without drastically altering the formula. Managing your brotherhood of assassins added plenty of strategy and satisfaction.

Assassin‘s Creed Revelations

• Set later in Ezio‘s life, provides closure to his story
• New setting of 16th century Constantinople, Turkey
• Introduces more RPG mechanics like crafting
• Ezio has new toys like the hookblade
• Ties back to the original protagonist Altair

As the final chapter in the Ezio saga, Revelations successfully wrapped up our hero‘s story while laying groundwork for what was to come. The slightly repetitive tailing missions and lack of new mission design types meant it wasn‘t quite as groundbreaking. But Revelations remained a quality experience.

Enhanced Visuals, Controls and Quality of Life

Being a remastered collection, The Ezio Collection boasts overhauled visuals and some quality of life gameplay improvements. Here are some of the enhancements added:

• Native 4K resolution support on PS4 Pro/Xbox One X
• Improved lighting, shadows, textures
• Upgraded character models and environmental details
• Higher resolution textures and graphical effects
• Enhanced draw distances for improved views
• Smoothed out animations and cutscenes
• Additional UI and menu options
• Tweaked control scheme for more fluid parkour
• Optional database menu and in-game map

Keep in mind the Ezio Collection is still fundamentally the same games underneath. But the visual overhaul combined with some control and convenience improvements are very welcome. Purists may still prefer the original look and feel, but most will appreciate the updates.

Expert Analysis on Key Gameplay Elements

As a long time AC fan and expert analyst on the franchise, I want to provide deeper perspective on key elements of the Ezio Collection gameplay:

Parkour and traversal

Climbing cathedrals and leaping across rooftops remains satisfying, though the mechanics are less smooth than recent entries. You‘ll need to exercise patience and prudence at times. But moving through these historic cities is still a joy.

Combat

The rhythmic combo based combat holds up reasonably well, though lacks the hitbox detection and animation quality of newer combat systems. Tools like smoke bombs add fun wrinkles without over complicating things.

Stealth

Stealth is emphasized more than later games, with replay memories if detected. Blending into crowds and using tools like poison darts open up options. However stealth suffers from dated AI and trial and error frustration at times.

Assassinations

Assassinating key story targets features some of the series‘ most iconic kills. Scoping out locations and finding creative opportunities allows for player creativity. Though linear, these sequences capture that true AC fantasy.

Modern day

The games contain the present day sequences involving Desmond Miles, which some players may not enjoy as much. But they‘re limited enough to not hinder the experience.

Potential Drawbacks and Limitations

For all the merits of the Ezio Collection, I must also acknowledge some drawbacks for players to consider:

• Fundamental gameplay can feel dated, restrictive and repetitive
• Missions heavily rely on tailing targets
• Stories follow very familiar tropes and cliches
• Open world activities like collecting feathers feel like filler
• Parkour and combat lack fluidity of newer games
• Stealth is very trial and error rather than skill based
• Modern day sequences may not appeal to some

The dated design, clunky mechanics and mission repetition may frustrate players accustomed to recent AC games or other modern titles. The Ezio trilogy shows its age at times.

However, for those focused on engrossing narrative and experiencing Iconic moments in gaming history, these drawbacks are easier to overlook. The games‘ strengths still far outweigh their flaws.

Should You Buy the Assassin‘s Creed Ezio Collection?

Hopefully this detailed guide has given you all the insights needed to determine if picking up the Ezio collection is right for you. Here‘s my final verdict:

If you are a long time Assassin‘s Creed fan, absolutely buy this collection, especially if you have nostalgia for these earlier games. Reliving Ezio‘s most legendary moments with improved visuals is an opportunity you don‘t want to pass up.

For players newer to AC, the dated design elements may be frustrating. Trying a newer game first like Origins or Valhalla may be preferred. But if you‘re intrigued by Ezio‘s story and willing to overlook some clunkiness, the value is exceptional.

Overall, I firmly believe that the Assassin‘s Creed Ezio Collection is a must own title for most gamers, delivering hundreds of hours of rich content showcasing one of gaming‘s most iconic sagas and characters. Unless you require cutting edge mechanics, this is absolutely worth adding to your library.