{"id":8553,"date":"2010-11-16T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T05:58:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T22:00:00","slug":"assassin-s-creed-brotherhood-multiplayer-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/8553-assassin-s-creed-brotherhood-multiplayer-preview","title":{"rendered":"Assassin\u2019s Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week MyGaming took a look at the single player experience of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood<\/a> which promises to be every bit as good as Assassin’s Creed II with plenty of fine tuning and some interesting new gameplay elements thrown in. Undoubtedly, Brotherhood will be another epic single player experience for fans of the franchise.<\/p>\n

Ubisoft surprised gamers when they revealed that Brotherhood would also contain a multiplayer component. Judging from what we have come to expect from the singleplayer Assassin’s Creed experience, a multiplayer mode added to the game is a definite bonus, and it’s nice to see Ubisoft experimenting with some new ideas.<\/p>\n

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The question is, how is Ubisoft going to pull off multiplayer in what has been a single player franchise until now? The concern is that Ubisoft is tacking on multiplayer as a novelty afterthought. As more info has emerged, it appears to be a well considered attempt at bringing multiplayer to the existing Assassin’s Creed universe and MyGaming’s hands-on experience with the multiplayer gameplay at rAge showed it to be a promising mode. Let’s have a look.<\/p>\n

Game Modes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The exclusive PlayStation 3 beta testing period for Brotherhood multiplayer has drawn to a close and loads of information has come to light regarding the game. Below we’ll see what game modes are known to be on offer.<\/p>\n

\"Assassin’s<\/p>\n

Wanted<\/em><\/p>\n

Up to eight players compete on a medium sized map on which they must hunt and assassinate each other in a game of cat and mouse. Hunters will have a compass directing them toward their target but they will not know whom is hunting them and how nearby their would-be assailant is. If hunters break cover, the target is alerted and a chase sequence will ensue. Points are awarded for successfully completing contracts and lost for dying and killing NPCs. The player with the most points wins.<\/p>\n

\"Assassin’s<\/p>\n

Hunter<\/em><\/p>\n

One player will choose an Assassin character and is then assigned a target to kill. The other players must find the assassin and prevent the kill. NPCs will play a big role in this mode as they will add to confusion. Killing an NPC results in a loss.<\/p>\n

\"Assassin’s<\/p>\n

Alliance<\/em><\/p>\n

This is essentially a team version of Wanted. Three teams of two players will compete to kill their designated target team whilst avoiding the team chasing them.<\/p>\n

\"Assassin’s<\/p>\n

Manhunt<\/em><\/p>\n

Two teams of four players compete, one team as hunter and the other as hunted. Teams take turns in the roles. Hunters gain points from kills whilst hunted gain points from evasion, stuns and remaining incognito.<\/p>\n

\"Assassin’s<\/p>\n

Multiplayer characters<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a number of multiplayer characters to choose from (17 known so far) and each has their own unique visual style as well as a unique kill style. It is rumoured that there will be female and male versions of all characters. The characters come from the various walks of life to be found throughout Rome during the single player experience and Ezio will have encountered some as targets during the single player campaign.<\/p>\n

Their weaponry will reflect their origin, for example; the Engineer will use a compass, the Blacksmith a hammer, the Officer a Captain’s Sword, and the Courtesan a bladed fan. All multiplayer characters are equal in terms of base ability.<\/p>\n

\"Assassins<\/p>\n

The Harlequin makes a kill on the Executioner using dual daggers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As players level up their multiplayer profiles they will gain perks and abilities with which they can equip their assassin.<\/p>\n

\"Assassin’s<\/p>\n

Abilities are active and will have a cooldown period after use. They include: morphing a crowd into player doppelgangers, creating confusion; a disguise which lasts for 12 seconds allowing time to make an escape; a five second sprint boost; a hidden wrist gun; a smoke bomb for diversions which also stuns for three seconds; poison which delays contract death by five seconds (good for disappearing without being noticed by others); throwing knives; firecrackers which reveal a target but also draw attention to oneself.<\/p>\n

Perks occupy one slot in the player’s setup and act as passive enhancements, currently two perks are known. Enhanced Autobash increases the number of NPCs one can run into without stumbling when engaged in a high profile chase; Blender morphs an NPC character into the same appearance as the player when blending with a group, helping to fool pursuers.<\/p>\n

\"Assassin’s<\/p>\n

As players level up and complete contracts, they will unlock ‘streak bonuses.’ There are currently four known streak bonuses; two kill streaks and two loss streaks.<\/p>\n

Streak Bonus +100 is unlocked at level 5 and is applied after having killed three targets in succession. For each subsequent target killed the player receives 100 bonus points, until they lose a contract. Streak Bonus +300 is similar, unlocked at level 13 after having killed three targets silently, and adding 300 points to every subsequent silent kill until a contract is lost or a target is not killed silently.<\/p>\n

If players are struggling, loss streaks can help give them a boost until they make a kill. Extra Sensitivity is awarded at level 4 and will increase compass precision until a kill is made. Reset Cooldowns is awared at level 12 and it will reset abilities on cooldown after each death, until a kill is made.<\/p>\n

The video shows an example of how the hunted game mode can play out.<\/p>\n

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Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is shaping up to be another great single player game in the series that fans will undoubtedly enjoy. The addition of multiplayer is a bold experimental move by Ubisoft and its looking quite fun and promising, although it remains to be seen how much longevity can be squeezed from the multiplayer modes.<\/p>\n

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood will be hitting South African stores on 19 November 2010 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The PC version is set to arrive sometime in early 2011.<\/p>\n

Discuss Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer<\/a> on the MyGaming forum.<\/p>\n\n\t\t