Game Title: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Consoles: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Deveoloper: Ubisoft
Release Date: November 16, 2010
Pregame:
Assassin's Creed II was a widely successful sequel that was hailed as better than the original, and Ubisoft set out to one-up itself again with Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The idea had to be fairly simple: keep things almost identical to ACII, and focus on what worked. If it's not broken, don't fix it. What's more, Ubisoft focused the whole experience by keeping the protagonist rooted in one city (albeit one huge city) this time around.
For those who don't know, the AC series is about a present-day guy named Desmond - wait, no, it's about a crusades-era Assassin named Altair - no, no, no, it's about the Italian Renaissance man Ezio. Well, whoever it's about, there's quite a lot of jumping through the air and stabbing people, I can tell you that. In reality, Desmond is reliving the lives of his ancestors to discover the secrets of their pasts, which gives the player an excuse to be an Assassin in multiple time periods.
Play-by-play:
In practice, Ubisoft's plan played out very well. For Brotherhood, players don't have to learn too many new moves, and they get to further Desmond and Ezio's stories. This time around, Ezio is all set to take Rome back from the wicked Borgia family, while Desmond is determined to uncover some key locations that could tip the scales of the present-day Templar-Assassin war.
Mechanically, Brotherhood hits a couple of walls that the other AC games built, like the endless countering making combat laughably easy, the silliness of hiding on a bench to escape your pursuers, the endless money supply you couldn't possibly spend and the impossibly high Leaps of Faith that, despite the haystack at the bottom, should easily crush Ezio's bones. A new way to make combat even easier is the execution streak system. Kill one bad guy, point to another one and say "die," and so he will. Counter when necessary. Repeat until all enemies are dead.
Also, if you're not a big fan of using actual stealth on the "don't be detected" missions, Ubisoft gladly hands you the crossbow, which will kill a man from a reasonable distance silently with one shot. But wait, there's MORE! Poison darts that kill without any indication that you fired them, the arm-mounted gun is even easier to use, and you can even call up rookie Assassins to assassinate your targets for you.
That last one is a pretty highly-touted feature of Brotherhood, actually. Ezio recruits the oppressed people of Rome to strike back at the Borgia, and they pledge themselves to become Assassins. This could have been fairly heroic for the little guys if you ever interacted with them outside of hitting a button to have them fight your battles. The rookies could have even added more depth to Ezio's character, showing his evolution into a leader. If that were the case, however, Ubisoft would have a lot of writing to do, since it is possible for you to get the rookies in over their heads and killed. Then a new recruit appears, read to join up. You can't have a revolving door of Assassins and have them all have character.
Of course, as Ezio ups his arsenal, so do his enemies. Guards with crossbows, rifles, lances (can't counter those with a sword) and heavy armor will show up to add some variety to the everyday slaughter grindstone.
Despite AC's dual nature, Desmond never gets a whole lot of face time. He does so more in this installment, but for the most part, he's stuck in his chair with his brain in the past. Occasionally he can stretch his legs and check his email (not joking), but there's not much of a point to it, beyond a couple collectibles and some amusing conversations with the three other members of his team. Personally, I'd like to see a game where Desmond gets into the thick of it more often, but it's hard to put down Ezio's vibrant life.
Since there isn't much that's absolutely groundbreaking about Brotherhood, I'd say I'm surprised it wasn't released as a huge DLC pack if it wasn't for one thing: multiplayer. The online multiplayer mode breaks very, very new ground, and will have you wondering why more online games don't focus on subtlety.
This is best explained by the game mode Wanted: in this mode, you are given a picture of a target to assassinate and a general idea of where he or she is. Another player (or two or three) is given a picture of you and a general bead on your locale. While you hunt one another, there are crowds of NPCs whose character models each match a player's. The idea is to distinguish your target from the NPCs by his or her actions, while not revealing yourself to either your target or your hunters.
It's incredibly common to be within a few feet of your target when someone unexpected sidles up to you and stabs you in the back. Multiplayer keeps you on your toes and paranoid; you're never sure who to trust, who to run from, or who to chase. Now, of course it's possible to go full-on high profile, and some players do, but a kill after revealing yourself is only worth a fraction of the points a covert assassination will get you.
Points are used to level up and gain advanced abilities, like longer lasting smoke bombs or the ability to switch NPCs in a certain radius to your character model. While these abilities give advantages to high-level players, they don't break the game. It's still possible for a newbie to get the upper hand on a veteran, and it happens a lot.
That's a key difference between the story mode and mutiplayer: dying happens quickly and often. In the story, Ezio is an unkillable demigod because of his ability to counter guards until the last few decide it's probably best to keep their blood on the inside and run away. In the multiplayer, there are no fights, only assassinations or stuns (delivered by the would-be targets to their hunters). While death might be common online, respawn times are only a few short seconds until you're back in action.
Final Call:
Overall, Brotherhood functions a lot like the previous versions, and why not? Despite a few gripes, hunting down your targets, slashing your way through city guards, and walking through historic Rome is a ton of fun, and Brotherhood is a must-have for AC fans.
Plus, with AC: Revelations coming out next week, the price for this one is hitting an all-time low. At the time of writing, Amazon.com has brand new copies available for under $30. That amount of money is easily worth the hours upon hours of entertainment Brotherhood can bring, especially if you embrace the online multiplayer.
For those of you who are still unsure, here's the Brotherhood trailer with some awesome descriptive accompaniment.
Consoles: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Deveoloper: Ubisoft
Release Date: November 16, 2010
Pregame:
For those who don't know, the AC series is about a present-day guy named Desmond - wait, no, it's about a crusades-era Assassin named Altair - no, no, no, it's about the Italian Renaissance man Ezio. Well, whoever it's about, there's quite a lot of jumping through the air and stabbing people, I can tell you that. In reality, Desmond is reliving the lives of his ancestors to discover the secrets of their pasts, which gives the player an excuse to be an Assassin in multiple time periods.
Play-by-play:
In practice, Ubisoft's plan played out very well. For Brotherhood, players don't have to learn too many new moves, and they get to further Desmond and Ezio's stories. This time around, Ezio is all set to take Rome back from the wicked Borgia family, while Desmond is determined to uncover some key locations that could tip the scales of the present-day Templar-Assassin war.
Mechanically, Brotherhood hits a couple of walls that the other AC games built, like the endless countering making combat laughably easy, the silliness of hiding on a bench to escape your pursuers, the endless money supply you couldn't possibly spend and the impossibly high Leaps of Faith that, despite the haystack at the bottom, should easily crush Ezio's bones. A new way to make combat even easier is the execution streak system. Kill one bad guy, point to another one and say "die," and so he will. Counter when necessary. Repeat until all enemies are dead.
Also, if you're not a big fan of using actual stealth on the "don't be detected" missions, Ubisoft gladly hands you the crossbow, which will kill a man from a reasonable distance silently with one shot. But wait, there's MORE! Poison darts that kill without any indication that you fired them, the arm-mounted gun is even easier to use, and you can even call up rookie Assassins to assassinate your targets for you.
That last one is a pretty highly-touted feature of Brotherhood, actually. Ezio recruits the oppressed people of Rome to strike back at the Borgia, and they pledge themselves to become Assassins. This could have been fairly heroic for the little guys if you ever interacted with them outside of hitting a button to have them fight your battles. The rookies could have even added more depth to Ezio's character, showing his evolution into a leader. If that were the case, however, Ubisoft would have a lot of writing to do, since it is possible for you to get the rookies in over their heads and killed. Then a new recruit appears, read to join up. You can't have a revolving door of Assassins and have them all have character.
Of course, as Ezio ups his arsenal, so do his enemies. Guards with crossbows, rifles, lances (can't counter those with a sword) and heavy armor will show up to add some variety to the everyday slaughter grindstone.
Since there isn't much that's absolutely groundbreaking about Brotherhood, I'd say I'm surprised it wasn't released as a huge DLC pack if it wasn't for one thing: multiplayer. The online multiplayer mode breaks very, very new ground, and will have you wondering why more online games don't focus on subtlety.
This is best explained by the game mode Wanted: in this mode, you are given a picture of a target to assassinate and a general idea of where he or she is. Another player (or two or three) is given a picture of you and a general bead on your locale. While you hunt one another, there are crowds of NPCs whose character models each match a player's. The idea is to distinguish your target from the NPCs by his or her actions, while not revealing yourself to either your target or your hunters.
It's incredibly common to be within a few feet of your target when someone unexpected sidles up to you and stabs you in the back. Multiplayer keeps you on your toes and paranoid; you're never sure who to trust, who to run from, or who to chase. Now, of course it's possible to go full-on high profile, and some players do, but a kill after revealing yourself is only worth a fraction of the points a covert assassination will get you.Points are used to level up and gain advanced abilities, like longer lasting smoke bombs or the ability to switch NPCs in a certain radius to your character model. While these abilities give advantages to high-level players, they don't break the game. It's still possible for a newbie to get the upper hand on a veteran, and it happens a lot.
That's a key difference between the story mode and mutiplayer: dying happens quickly and often. In the story, Ezio is an unkillable demigod because of his ability to counter guards until the last few decide it's probably best to keep their blood on the inside and run away. In the multiplayer, there are no fights, only assassinations or stuns (delivered by the would-be targets to their hunters). While death might be common online, respawn times are only a few short seconds until you're back in action.
Final Call:
Overall, Brotherhood functions a lot like the previous versions, and why not? Despite a few gripes, hunting down your targets, slashing your way through city guards, and walking through historic Rome is a ton of fun, and Brotherhood is a must-have for AC fans.
Plus, with AC: Revelations coming out next week, the price for this one is hitting an all-time low. At the time of writing, Amazon.com has brand new copies available for under $30. That amount of money is easily worth the hours upon hours of entertainment Brotherhood can bring, especially if you embrace the online multiplayer.
For those of you who are still unsure, here's the Brotherhood trailer with some awesome descriptive accompaniment.
No comments:
Post a Comment