Brotherhood oF death

The criTically-acclaimed AssAssin’s Creed series makes a deTour from The main sTory and Takes us back To renaissance assassin ezio,

abouT To Take on The Templar in Their hiding place of rome. But this time he won’t Be Alone...

one of 2009’s top games was definitely assassin’s creed 2 and this year it looks like its sequel is set to repeat history. Wait, a sequel? but

it’s only been a year! if you are worried that brotherhood seems to be rushed out as a cash-in on this franchise, you wouldn’t be the only one. many ac fans have voiced the same concerns. and if you look at its genealogy, it’s even more evident. it still takes place in renaissance italy and you still take charge of master assassin ezio. is this a retread or something like that? has ubisoft lost the plot with this excellent series?

but those opinions were quickly changed when the game was first shown earlier this year. it is a direct sequel of the second game, but it’s not assassin’s creed 3. in fact, this is apparently the last time you’ll play as ezio, who has some unfinished business with the Templar order. The developers also had some extra assets. if you finished the previous game you probably felt that the brief visit to rome was hardly even an appetizer. in brotherhood the series finds that all roads to indeed lead there, specifically the Vatican. The current pope is alexander Vi, but his close friends know him as rodrigo borgia, perhaps the most corrupt and violent pope in

history. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with cesare, his infamous son and one of the foulest characters from the rennaissance period. unfortunately he doesn’t know how to pick his fights: brotherhood opens as he attacks monteriggioni, killing ezio’s uncle, mario. ezio vows revenge and heads to rome. here he encounters more assassins from the brotherhood and soon he has an army to take on the corrupt powers occupying the Vatican.

unlike the previous games, there are fewer cities in brotherhood. in fact, thus far only rome seems to be in it, though some clues suggest florence will be as well. but rome alone will keep ezio busy for a long time. it is three times the size of florence and if you thought you had a lot to do in the previous game, you ain’t been to roma! during certain missions ezio will unlock new assassins, which he can assign to different missions or call in as back-up. These assassins also gain experience on missions, making them more lethal, and their look can be changed as you see fit. ezio himself will also upgrade to new abilities and he can rely on leonardo da Vinci to once again supply him with great gadgets (so far a parachute for getting off tall buildings has been shown).

if you found the combat in the previous

games a bit tedious, you’ll enjoy brotherhood. enemy units are far more aggressive and now don’t take turns to attack. To counter that ezio has a more aggressive fighting style, so he can easily go on the offensive. he can also seamlessly blend melee weapons with firearms (like a hidden pistol) and throw the weapon he holds at an enemy. and if you enjoyed riding his horse, you’re in luck: horses can now enter city streets and you will be able to unlock advanced fighting on horseback. as with the previous game you will have a town you can upgrade to unlock bonus items and earn more cash. This time it is rome itself, left to fall to pieces as the Templar shepherd all the money to the Vatican. ezio will take over parts of the city by destroying towers belonging to cesare.

brotherhood’s big new debut to the series, though, is multiplayer. in development for the past eighteen months, it drops eight players into the streets of the city, all on the hunt. There will be various modes, though only Wanted – a cat-and-mouse game where players hunt each other – has been revealed. multiplayer features several different character types (noble, priest, prowler, courtesan are a few of them) and each character can be equipped with two

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special abilities. smoke, for example, stuns

an opponent, while morph changes crowd

member to look like you, thus confusing

anyone chasing you – abilities can be mixed

with custom sets. in Wanted you have to hunt

someone while being hunted by others and

you can use various parts of the map (called

chasebreakers)to throw off pursuers or sneak

up on an opponent. The more you escape or

the more stylish your kills, the more points

you get. it is very fast-paced, but still works

perfectly inthe assassin’s creed world and we

expect it will be big online.

so, don’t worry – the ongoing saga of

desmond discovering what his ancestors

have been up to is not over and won’t end in

rome. This is just a happy detour of murder,

mayhem and other fun things to do when

you are in rome. and let’s be honest: did

anyone really want to wait for another two

years before slipping on the white hood of

the assassins again? keep an eye out for

assassin’s creed: brotherhood, in stores this

november on next-gen consoles.

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