Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Singapore

About This Game:

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is a 2010 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft.[2][3] It is the third major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, a direct sequel to 2009's Assassin's Creed II, and the second chapter in the 'Ezio trilogy'. The game was first released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November and December 2010, and was later made available on Microsoft Windows in March and June 2011.

The plot follows the centuries-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Templars, who desire peace through control. The framing story is set in the 21st century and features series protagonist Desmond Miles who, with the aid of a machine known as the Animus, relives the memories of his ancestors to find a way to avert the 2012 apocalypse. The main story takes place immediately after the plot of Assassin's Creed II, featuring Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze in 16th century Italy and his quest to restore the Assassin order, and destroy his enemies: the Borgia family.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is set in an open world and presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on using Desmond and Ezio's combat and stealth abilities to eliminate targets and explore the environment. Ezio is able to freely explore 16th-century Rome to complete side missions away from the primary storyline. The game introduced a multiplayer component to the series, portrayed as a Templar training program.

The game received critical acclaim with critics praising its setting of Rome, content, gameplay improvements over its predecessor and the addition of a multiplayer mode; the story received a mostly positive response, although several critics found it to be inferior to Assassin's Creed II's. It also won multiple awards including a BAFTA award for Best Action Game. It was followed in November 2011 by Assassin's Creed: Revelations, a direct sequel that served as a conclusion to Ezio's story and continued the story of Desmond Miles.

A remastered version, along with II and Revelations, was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 15, 2016 under the name The Ezio Collection.

Gameplay:

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is an action-adventure video game with main emphasis on nonlinear, sandbox style gameplay, parkour movements, crowd-blending stealth, assassinations and melee fighting system. The combat system features several and for the first time in the series, the game offers a multiplayer mode alongside 15+ hours of single-player gameplay.

The game introduces a new management system: the player can recruit new members by destroying any of twelve "Borgia towers" around Rome where papal troops are stationed and then rescuing disgruntled citizens in their districts from being harassed by guards. The player, as Ezio, can then send them to assignments around Europe or call them for support during missions (if they are not already occupied). Tasking the novice Assassins makes them gain experience, and the player is able to customize their appearance, skills, and weapon training to some degree by spending the skill points they have earned. Assassins can die on missions, from which they will not return. Ezio masters new gadgets, such as Leonardo da Vinci's parachute, which can be used when jumping from tall buildings, along with poison darts, a faster acting poison, a crossbow, and the ability to hold and throw heavier weapons like axes.

The primary setting is Rome, which has fallen into ruin due to the corrupt rule of the Borgia papacy and the Templars over the Papal States and concentrating all the wealth in the Vatican. Just like the town of Monteriggioni in Assassin's Creed II, the player is able to invest in the city, witness its development, and unlock rewards. The player has to conquer and destroy Borgia towers to free city zones from the family's influence. Completing this unlocks new missions and opportunities. Rome is the biggest city ever created after the first two installments (Rome is three times bigger than Florence from Assassin's Creed II and includes five varied districts: Vatican (Vaticano), Central (Centro), Trans-Tiber (Trastevere), Country (Campagna) and Antique (Antico). Unlike the previous installments, travel between different cities or regions is no longer present, as most of the action in the game takes place around the city of Rome. Instead, a series of tunnel networks throughout the city allow the player to travel to different sectors of the city with ease. However players will be able to explore the entire city of Rome, visit the harbour of Naples, a part of Navarre, Spain, Valnerina, Lake of Nevi and present day Monteriggioni.

The combat system has been modified. Striking first and offensive actions are more deadly in Brotherhood than previous games where counter-attacks were the most efficient. Before, this made the player wait until the AI struck, 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 as introducing the hidden pistol in combat. After killing one enemy the player can start an execution streak to dispatch multiple enemies quickly. Ezio can throw heavy weapons (axes, spears, and swords) at his enemies. There are new enemy archetypes in addition to those seen in Assassin's Creed II such as horsemen, arquebusiers, papal guards and others.

Horses play a larger role in Brotherhood, not only used as a 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. Brotherhood also introduces various types of horse-related assassinations, featuring horse-to-horse assassinations. There are environmental objects like the flower pot in Assassin's Creed II to move faster inside the city (a system of tunnels around the city allow fast travel), as well as new objects such as merchandise lifts to quickly climb up high buildings or structures.

Unlike previous installments, Desmond can leave the Animus at almost any time. This allows Desmond to explore the present-day town of Monteriggioni. The player is also offered virtual training, a mini-game where the player may test their free-running or combat skills.

Multiplayer

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the first game in the main series to feature a multiplayer mode. 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 old Templars and to acquire their skills using the "bleeding effect". There are eight game modes (Wanted, Alliance, Manhunt, Chest Capture, Advanced Wanted, Advanced Alliance, Escort and Assassinate) and different maps, including the areas from the second and the third game like Florence, as well as new maps like Rome, Castel Gandolfo, Siena and Mont Saint-Michel. The gameplay in multiplayer mode is similar to the core gameplay of the series, as players are required to use their assassination and stealth skills. The players must hunt down targets while being hunted themselves. Players earn points by performing assassinations, defending against pursuers, attaining bonuses or completing mode-specific objectives. It also contains a variety of characters, most of which must be unlocked.

The multiplayer mode also includes a leveling system, which allows players to unlock rewards by earning experience points during the matches and gaining new levels. Players can then unlock abilities, perks and streaks. Abilities are active skills, which can be used again only after a cool down time. Perks are passive skills, which can be equipped before the match and they are active all the time. Streaks are bonuses awarded for reaching certain number of successful or failed contracts.The multiplayer beta, exclusive to PlayStation 3 users, was announced at E3 2010. It began on October 4, 2010, with early access for PlayStation Plus subscribers from September 27,and ended on October 18, 2010. Three maps were playable in the beta: Rome, Castel Gandolfo and Siena.

Game modes

Free-For-All

In Wanted, at least six players are on a map where they must find and assassinate each other. 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 pursuer or pursuers. If the player breaks cover, they are more easily spotted by pursuer or target alike, sometimes resulting in a chase. The player with the highest score at the end of the session wins. Players will lose their contract if they kill an NPC, are stunned by their target or their target is killed by another player. A player cannot kill another player who is not the target, but they can stun their hunter. Advanced Wanted mode is a variant of Wanted mode, with differences between malakas and skilas includes an increased amount of NPCs on the map to make it difficult to pick out targets, and a less accurate compass. There is generally more stealth involved in this mode than in basic Wanted.

The Assassinate mode is similar to Wanted, but instead of target contracts being assigned to players, all players are fair game. Players must identify other player characters and lock on before assassinating. Because two players can kill each other, whoever locks on first becomes the hunter and the other becomes the target. The standard compass found in Wanted is replaced by directional arrows based on proximity, that grow to become arcs around the perimeter of the compass as other players near, and will eventually create a full circle when other players are very close. As in other modes, the player with the highest score at the end of the session is the winner.

Team

In Alliance, there are three teams, each limited to two players, both of which use the same persona. The point of this mode is to get more points than the other teams, but each team is chased by another and is only allowed to kill one specific team (not the team chasing them, but they will be able to stun the team hunting them). This mode encourages players to work together, as teammates can help each other or they can assassinate their targets simultaneously.The Advanced Alliance mode is a variant of Alliance mode, however the players' compasses as well as target engagement becomes more difficult, similar to the Advanced Wanted mode.

In Manhunt there are two teams of four. One team is the hunters, the other is the hunted. Each team looks like a specific character and takes turns being the hunter and the hunted. Hunters obtain points by assassinations, while the hunted obtain points from escapes, stuns, and remaining hidden. The team with the highest score wins. In Chest Capture there are two teams of four. One team is the hunters, and the other is the hunted who need to steal chests by standing close to them. Each team looks like a specific character and takes turns being the hunter and the hunted. Hunters obtain points by assassinations, while the hunted obtain points from escapes, stuns, and stealing chests. The team with the highest score wins. The Escort mode sees one team of four players protecting a wandering NPC while the other team of four tries to assassinate him. There are two NPCs to protect at a time and they walk through a series of checkpoints, which are visible to both teams. When an escorted NPC is killed, another is synchronized. This mode has two rounds with each team playing once as escort and once as assassins.

Characters

Players are able to choose one of the 21 available characters, including: Courtesan, Barber, Priest, Noble, Prowler, Executioner, Doctor, Blacksmith, Captain, Smuggler, Engineer,[Footpad, Thief, Hellequin (a female Harlequin, which is available through uPlay) and Mercenary. Two special characters were only available in the selected pre-order editions of the game: the Harlequin and the Officer. However, these two pre-order special characters are also included in The Da Vinci Disappearance downloadable content as are the formerly pre-order only Trajan Market and Aqueducts special locations. The pack contains 4 new characters, Dama Rossa, Knight, Marquis, and Pariah. Each character has unique assassination moves and a signature weapon. Characters can be customized as the player levels up. These customization options include changing the color of the outfit, and equipping different gear.

Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.8 Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+

Memory: 1.5 Gb

Hard Drive: 8 Gb free

Video Memory: 256 Mb

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 7900 / ATI Radeon X1950

Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Network: Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer

DirectX: 9.0c

Keyboard

Mouse

Other Controllers: Game Pad Recommended

DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.6 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+

Memory: 2 Gb

Hard Drive: 8 Gb free

Video Memory: 512 Mb

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 GT / ATI Radeon HD 4700

Sound Card: 5.1

Network: Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer

DirectX: 9.0c

Keyboard

Mouse

DVD Rom Drive