Genre - Third Person Action
Publisher - Ubisoft
Developer - Ubisoft Montreal
Platforms - PS3, Xbox 360, PC
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2. Game Overview
Live and breathe as Ezio, a legendary Master Assassin, in his enduring struggle against the powerful Templar Order. He must journey into Italy’s greatest city, Rome, center of power, greed and corruption to strike at the heart of the enemy.
Defeating the corrupt tyrants entrenched there will require not only strength, but leadership, as Ezio commands an entire Brotherhood who will rally to his side. Only by working together can the Assassins defeat their mortal enemies.
And for the first time, introducing a never-before-seen multiplayer layer that allows you to choose from a wide range of unique characters, each with their own signature weapons and assassination techniques, and match your skills against other players from around the world.
It’s time to join the Brotherhood.
3. Features and Benefits
# Master the possibilities – As Ezio, a legendary Master Assassin, experience over 15 hours of single-player gameplay set in the living, breathing, unpredictable city of Rome.
# Lead a legendary brotherhood – Recruit and train promising young Assassins. Deploy them across the city as you see fit, or call upon them to aid you in your quests.
# Experience a rich historical tapestry – Collaborate with real historical characters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza.
# Win the heart of a city – Use your hard-won currency to revitalize the crumbling capital city. Rally the citizens to your cause and unlock extra factions and missions.
# Deploy secret weapons – Swiftly eliminate your enemies using tools such as poison darts, parachutes, double hidden blades, hidden guns, and an advanced flying machine at your disposal.
# Memorable Multiplayer – Choose from multiple authentic character classes, each with their own signature weapons and killing moves. With richly-detailed maps and a wide variety of unique multiplayer modes, you’ll never fight the same way twice.
4. Plot
The game begins shortly after the events of Assassin's Creed II in the year 1499. Monteriggioni is besieged by the Borgia's forces led by Rodrigo's son: Cesare Borgia. During the battle, Ezio's uncle Mario is killed and the Apple of Eden is taken by Cesare. Ezio begins to greatly regret leaving Rodrigo Borgia alive, as his son and daughter help to continue the Pope's regime. 1503: Ezio, now a Master Assassin, seeks revenge and heads to Rome to take the fight at the heart of the Templar reign.
The player once again controls Ezio Auditore through the genetic memory of Desmond Miles using the Animus (which is the game's interface). As a Master Assassin, Ezio will have to reorganize his Brotherhood in Rome to fight against the Templars. Hence the new management system: the player can recruit new members, send them to assignments or call them for support during missions (if they are not already occupied). Tasking the novice Assassins is essential to make them gain experience, and the player will be able to customize them as well as giving them specific weapons. Although Ezio being a Master Assassin in this episode, his progression is not over and he will also have to master new gadgets.
The player will also have to rebuild Rome in ruins due to the corrupted ruling of the Templars over the Papal States, concentrating all the wealth in the Vatican. Just like the village of Monteriggioni in Assassin' Creed II, the player will be able to invest in the city to see it evolves and to unlock rewards. This feature is fully integrated in the storyline making Ezio and Rome progress simultaneously. Rome is the biggest city ever created after the first two installments and includes five various districts: Vatican, Downtown, Tiber, Country and Antique. No other cities or locations than Rome have currently been announced as explorable, although Monteriggioni will appear at the beginning of the game, and Florence has been seen in mutliplayer screenshots.
The combat system has once again been reviewed to be more dynamic and faster. Striking first and offensive actions will be more deadly in Brotherhood than previous games where counter-attacks were the most efficient. This made the player wait until the AI strikes which slowed down the pace of fighting. The AI in this game is thus more aggressive and enemies can attack simultaneously. To dispatch them, Ezio can use melee and ranged weapons at the same time as well, introducing the hidden pistol in combat. It has been shown that Ezio can throw axes toward his enemies. There are new enemy archetypes in addition to those seen in Assassin's Creed II: horsemen, riflemen, papal guards and others.
Horses play a larger role in Brotherhood, not only used as means of transport (inside the city for the first time) but as a component of acrobatic sequences and advanced combat as well, allowing ranged weapons to be used while riding them. There will be environmental objects like the flower pot in Assassin's Creed II to move faster inside the city such as pulleys to quickly climb up high locations. There will be "special" gameplay sequences: for example, Ezio will have to man a canon to stand against Borgia's siege.
7. Multiplayer
The players are Templars in training at the Abstergo facility. They use the animi (plural for animus) seen at the beginning of Assassin's Creed II to access memories of Assassins and then acquiring their skills using the "bleeding effect" just like Desmond did with Ezio's in the previous episode. There will be various game modes. One of them is called "Wanted": six to eight players are dropped on a map of medium size where they kill each other. However, the rule is not the one of a standard deathmatch but rather a cat-and-mouse game. Each player is given another player as a target. The goal is to find and kill a target without being seen or killed by the player's own predator. If the player breaks cover, the target will be warned and will run away, starting a chase sequence.
Aside from the characters and the "Wanted" game mode, a few more specifics have been revealed: eight characters have been confirmed (Courtesan, Hunter, Barber, Priest, Banker, Executioner, Doctor and Merchant) and two special characters, the "Harlequin" available with a pre-order at GameStop, and the "Officer", available with a pre-order at Best Buy.
It is confirmed that the multiplayer experience can be accessed through Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and also on the PC. The multiplayer beta will be exclusively for PlayStation 3.
8. Limited Editions
There are different limited editions of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The "limited codex edition", exclusive to Europe and Australia, contains the game, a renaissance collector's chest, the codex, a bonus DVD with behind the scenes footage and game soundtrack, as well as a Assassin's Creed: Lineage DVD. It will also feature multiplayer character playing cards, 2 bonus in-game maps (Aqua Gear and Trajan Market), 2 exclusive multiplayer in-game characters, additional bonus content, and a full map of the game's setting, Rome. The "special edition" contains "Trajan Market" map, as well as "The Officer" multiplayer character. Both limited editions guarantee access to multiplayer beta for Playstation 3 players.