The ending of Brotherhood felt horribly rush, especially when the Apple came into play.
The final scene was pretty good, I'll give you that.
Here's something I wrote earlier about the villains
*spoilers*
Each of the three games presented their villains in different ways:
2 gave you the maestro early on, while having you unravel the mystery along the way to the top. It’s interesting, because Rodrigo ordered the deaths of your family, yet you had to work your way up through the ladder to reach him and uncover the conspiracy.
Brotherhood was straight forward with you: here’s the main villain (look at the trailer), everything you do is working towards killing this man. That might sound like 2, but the key difference is Cesare was all up in your face about it, whereas Rodrigo operated from the shadows, and did more misdirection than direct involvement. Taking down Rodrigo was all about unraveling the conspiracy (plus fist-fighting the pope is awesome), whereas Cesare it was all about throwing him out of power. The fact that you finally killed him doesn’t hold much weight because he had already lost. Cesare had lost the moment he was dragged off by Papal guards, completely losing any satisfaction. Dispatching Lieutenants one by one to get to Rodrigo was far more satisfying.
Revelations is going a completely new direction so far: misdirection. Rather than having a shadowy figure pulling the puppet strings or a direct in-your-face villain, it’s all about introducing “potential villains.” And I personally love this approach. It changes everything about character interactions. Everything they say to each other, can be misconstrued as true sincerity, hiding an alliterative motive, or something else. In a scene early on, Tarik speaks freely about Ahmet’s ability to rule, and gives brutally honest answer to him. Ahmet becomes upset, but it begs the question: does Tarik seek to actively remove Ahmet as next in line, or was he just making a painfully obvious observation? Is he working for the Templars or merely preparing Ahmet for the criticism he will face? In a later sequence, when Tarik is revealed to be supplying a former man in line to the disposed Byzantine throne with weapons, Suleiman I orders the immediate execution of Tarik once Ezio finds and tracks him. Yet, Ezio is reluctant, almost believing that something is amiss. Is Ezio right here, perhaps Tarik is simply planning something against the Byzantines? Maybe Suleiman I knows about this whole thing and is sending Ezio into a trap by Tarik? Maybe it’s simple as Tarik is about to betray Suleiman I to the templars, or possibly Ahmet. And Ahmet and Suleiman I are on uncertain terms as well. Just look at their interactions while playing chess. Even Suleiman I is taking shots at Ahmet’s future reign. I have no idea WHO to trust and I love it. 2 was very straight forward that their villains were villains, and it was all about finding motivations. Now, we’re trying to piece together motivations based on actions with no set-in-stone allegiance, and it now makes every action come under a huge microscope. These stories always intrigue, especially when you look back and reflect on the actions AFTER everything is revealed.
*end spoilers*
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TheRock ~ Slow dramatic zoom-pan. Doesn't phase the hooded man.