[Mustard Broach]

So a few years back, I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed. It took me at least 5x the 5 hours a lot of people were complaining about it only lasting (and I'm still missing one f'ing flag somewhere in the overworld.)

I tend to be slow about getting games. Didn't buy Assassin's Creed 2 until earlier this year and didn't start playing it until a couple of days ago, after hearing about the imminent release of part 3.

Anyway, what I'm wondering about are the games that take place between AC2 and AC3. Are any of them relevant to the main storyline or are they purely side stories? Would I gain anything by playing them or lose anything by not playing them?

In particular, I'm referring to Brotherhood and Revelations but I'm also curious about the handheld games and the other little side games that came out. And are the graphic novels/films/etc worth looking into as well?

My time is more limited than I would like these days, so I want to get as much of the storyline as possible without wasting time on unnecessary diversions. (I'm also a big Kristen Bell fan, so if she's in anything other than the 1, 2 & 3, that's an automatic must play.)