Thread: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: Multiplayer Beta Hands-On

Traditionally, the Assassin's Creed series has been a story-driven single-player experience, but with the upcoming Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ubisoft is introducing a full-blown multiplayer mode for the first time. While the stealth-driven gameplay might not immediately come across as multiplayer friendly, a number of tweaks have been introduced to the combat to try to ensure matches remain fair, balanced, and, most importantly, fun. Ubisoft will be road-testing the new online modes in an upcoming beta for the PlayStation 3, and we got an early peek at the content to see what players can expect.

Unlike many multiplayer experiences, Brotherhood's is set up with a narrative, albeit a brief one. You play as an agent at Abstergo Industries who has been handpicked to take on the Assassins. You're placed into an Animus training program, which sends you into reconstructed training areas to practice your skills against other agents. It's in those training areas that the multiplayer takes place, which conveniently lets you play in areas from both the first and second games, as well as all-new locations. There are two maps unlocked from the start in the beta: Rome and Castle Gandolfo. Rome is what Ubisoft calls a "neutral" map, because it contains indoor and outdoor sections, as well as a ton of tall buildings to climb up. Castle Gandolfo is much more enclosed, with most of the action taking place indoors. An additional map located in Sienna isn't available from the start of the beta, but players will be able to unlock it later. Details for the unlocking haven't yet been finalised, but it will likely revolve around a certain number of matches taking place or a certain number of kills being reached.

Before jumping into a match, we played through a brief tutorial section, which introduced us to the unique gameplay mechanics behind the multiplayer. Rather than a free-for-all deathmatch where everybody is a target, Brotherhood's multiplayer allows you to kill only those enemies that you're specifically assigned to. A picture on your HUD lets you know who your target is, and a compass at the bottom of the screen tells you where he's located. As you get closer to your target, the compass turns blue, gradually getting brighter until you are at close range. There is also a detection meter to worry about, which decreases if you execute visible actions, such as sprinting through crowds or killing civilians. Once the meter drops below a certain point, your target is alerted, and you then have a limited amount of time to chase him before you lose the mission. However, all the usual assassination tricks from the single-player game can be used to sneak around, including blending in with the many non-player characters, hiding in hay bales, sitting on benches, or assassinating from rooftops. The tutorial had us practice sneaking up on targets in the city of Florence, and once we had killed three targets, we were able to jump into a proper match.

The beta will launch with two modes: Wanted and Alliance. Wanted is the simplest mode, with players all fighting against each other deathmatch-style, albeit with the aforementioned targeting system. You can play with up to eight players, each of whom is assigned a target from the group. This means that while you are attempting to assassinate someone, another player is attempting to assassinate you. This unique twist constantly keeps you on your toes, and we found we had to juggle our stealthy attacks while attempting to hide from our pursuer. Each kill nets you experience points, the number of which vary depending on how stealthy your kill was. You also net XP for more dramatic kills, such as leaping from a rooftop, or by flanking your victim.

Sounds like a pretty interesting game to me!

i love Assassin's Creed and always want it to be a multiplayer game. with the millions of trailers for this it has to be good. lol

AC brotherhood rocks but I prefer the play alone. Any game can team but you have to really set up destination gameplay for that. I like a pickup experience, if you will.

Great review of this game. I have played it a few times and it is not too bad. I can play by myself or with someone else.

Sounds awesome! thansk for the game review!