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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a historical fantasy third person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2010, and is due for release on Microsoft Windows in Q1 2011.^[7] The game is a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed II, with Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Desmond Miles returning as the main protagonists, and it takes place right after the conclusion of the previous game's story. It is the first game in the main series to feature a multiplayer mode.

Gameplay

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a third person action-adventure with main emphasis on sandbox style gameplay in an open world of Italy. Like the previous installments, the gameplay's core mechanics are based on parkour movements, crowd-blending stealth, assassinations and melee fighting system. The combat system features several improvements and for the first time in the series, the game offers a multiplayer mode alongside 20+ hours of singleplayer gameplay.^[8] Assassin's Creed Brotherhood won best Action Adventure game in the Spike TV video game awards 2010

The game introduces a brand-new management system: the player can recruit new members by destroying any of twelve "Borgia towers" around Rome where papal troops are stationed, then rescuing disgruntled citizens in their districts from harassing 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). The assassin recruits are also able to provide arrow support for the player. Tasking the novice Assassins is essential to make them gain experience, and the player will be able to customize their appearance, skills and weapon training by spending the skill points they've earned. Assassins can die on missions, from which they will not return. Ezio will master new gadgets, such as Leonardo da Vinci's parachute, which can be used when jumping from tall buildings.^[8] Along with poison darts, a faster acting poison, a crossbow, and the ability to hold and throw heavier weapons like axes.

Ezio using the BAM system (Brotherhood Assist Move).

The player will have to rebuild Rome, which has fallen into ruin due to the corrupt rule of the Templars over the Papal States and concentrating all the wealth in the Vatican. Just like the village of Monteriggioni in Assassin's Creed II, the player will be able to invest in the city and witness its development and unlock rewards.^[9] The player will have to conquer and destroy Borgia's towers to free city zones from the family's influence.^[8] 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^[8]) and includes five varied districts: Vatican, Downtown, Tiber, Country and Antique. The players will be able to explore the entire city of Rome, visit a part of Naples, Spain and Monteriggioni.

The combat system has been upgraded to be faster and more dynamic. 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 and spears toward 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 introduced various types of horse-related assassinations, featuring horse-to-horse assassinations. There will be 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.^[10]

Multiplayer

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the first game in the main series to feature multiplayer mode. It was heralded by many at E3 2010, where it was showcased for the first time. GameTrailers awarded it as the Best Multiplayer Game of the show.^[11] Multiplayer portion of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was generally well-received by critics.^[12][13]

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 to acquire their skills using the "bleeding effect". There are four game modes and different maps, including the areas from the first and the second game like Florence, as well as new maps like Rome, Castel Gandolfo, Siena and the newly announced Mont- Saint Michael.^[14] 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 completing each assassination without being detected and escaping after each kill. Breaking cover makes the player visible to other players and makes them easier to assassinate.

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 cooldown 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.^[14]

The multiplayer beta, exclusive for PlayStation 3 users, was announced at E3 2010.^[15] It began on 4 October 2010, with early access for Playstation Plus subscribers from 27 September,^[14] and ended on 18 October 2010. Three maps have been playable in the beta: Rome, Castel Gandolfo and Siena.^[16][17]

Game modes

In Wanted, up to eight players are dropped on a map of medium size where they must find and assassinate 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. The player with the highest score wins. Points will be removed for dying or killing NPCs, otherwise players would feel the need to kill everyone in sight. A player cannot interact with another player who is neither the target or the hunter of that player, but they can stun their hunter. This mode is very similar to the multiplayer mode of The Ship.

In Wanted, one player chooses a character and is assigned a target to kill. The other players must find and stop the assassin. This mode relies on use of NPC characters to make it more difficult as there can be several characters who look like the target in the same area, and any visual customizations on a player character will be shared by their NPC counterparts. Killing an innocent person cancels the assassination contract.^[18]

Advanced Wanted mode is a variant of Wanted mode, with the only difference involving the player's radar no longer specifying the height of the target.^[19]

In Alliance, there are three teams, each limited to 2 players. Each team represents a character. The point of this mode is to get more points than the other team, 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 target simultaneously.^[14]

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 incognito. The team with the highest score wins.^[20]

Characters

Plot

A portrait of Cesare Borgia by Altobello Melone

The main story is set in 2012. After escaping the Templars' attack at the end of Assassin's Creed 2, Desmond Miles and other modern-day Assassins go to Monteriggioni and set up a new hideout in the ruins of Villa Auditore. After restoring the electricity in the old tunnels under the villa, the player once again takes control of Ezio Auditore through the genetic memory of Desmond Miles using the Animus 2.0 (which is the game's memory interface).^[8]

Ezio's story begins in 1499 as he exits the vault, still confused by what he saw inside. He escapes Rome with his uncle Mario Auditore and arrives at Monteriggioni. Soon after that, his city is besieged by Cesare Borgia, son of Rodrigo Borgia. The Assassins are overpowered by this attack and the entire city is left in ruins. Mario dies in the attack, after being shot by Cesare, and the Apple of Eden, the mysterious artifact of great power, is lost to Cesare Borgia and the Templars. Ezio escapes with his family and decides to travel to Rome, the center of the Templar Order in Italy. As a Master Assassin, Ezio will have to reestablish the Assassin Brotherhood in Rome and destroy the Templars, as well as his new arch-nemesis, Cesare Borgia, son of the Pope.

During the attack on the Villa, Ezio's ally and love interest Caterina Sforza was taken away by Cesare's army. While trying to rescue Caterina from the Castel Sant Angelo, Ezio witnesses Cesare passionately kissing his sister, Lucrezia Borgia. Once Cesare has left, Ezio is able to sneak into the Castel, hold Lucrezia hostage, and use her to free Caterina from her cell. Not long after the rescue, Ezio is made head of the Assassin order, and promoted to the rank of Il Mentore due to his attempts to rebuild their brotherhood.

As in Assassin's Creed II, Subject 16 has placed hidden file fragments inside the Animus landscape in Brotherhood. Once all of the fragments have been found and deciphered, the consolidated file loads a framework-like level in the Animus. Desmond makes his way through it and at the end encounters a virtual copy of Subject 16, whose body is made up of code. His speech is scattered and vague, but he tries to warn Desmond that there is little time left. He says that "it is too late to save them" and that "she is not who you think she is." He tells Desmond to find Eve in Eden and that her DNA is the key. He then suddenly says, "The sun. Your son," and trails off. Desmond tells him not to go, to which 16 replies, "I am with you till the end. Find me in the darkness." He then disappears and the framework world collapses.

Towards the end of the game, Rodrigo becomes suspicious of his son's activities. Using his power as Pope, he withdraws the funding that Cesare needs to keep his army running, and then attempts to murder him using a poisoned apple. Cesare, saved from death by his sister, turns the tables on his father by shoving the poisoned apple in his mouth when Rodrigo refuses to reveal the location of the Apple of Eden. When Cesare storms off to look for the artifact - destroying his relationship with his sister in the process - Ezio races ahead and uses the Apple to destroy Cesare's army and to make his supporters withdraw their backing from his campaign to become King of Italy. When all of his "friends" have abandoned him, Cesare is arrested by the new Pope's Papal Army for murder and incest, finally leaving Rome in peace.

Ezio, however, is not convinced, and so uses the Apple to check up on Cesare. He discovers that the Borgia Captain General has escaped from his prison and has launched an attack on a small city in Spain. Ezio arrives and corners Cesare on the battlements of a crumbling castle. Ezio and Cesare engage in a sword fight, but Ezio overpowers his enemy. Cesare, however, refuses to be killed by the hand of man, and so Ezio decides to "let fate decide". He pushes Cesare off the castle battlements, and therefore does not directly kill him. Ezio then takes the apple and hides it in a place in which no-one will find it - another temple, this one built underneath the Santa Maria Aracoeli, within The Temple of Juno.

Using the co-ordinates taken from Ezio's memories, Desmond, Lucy, Shaun and Rebecca open the temple, intending to use the Apple to locate the remaining temples in order to keep the other Pieces of Eden out of the Templars' hands. As Desmond makes his way into the temple, he is confronted with holographic apparitions of a being called Juno, who appears to be of the same race as Minerva in Assassin's Creed II, and she is neither audible nor visible to Lucy, Shaun, or Rebecca. Most of her comments center around humanity's lack of knowledge. She states that humanity is "innocent and ignorant": that people were not built to be wise, having been given only five of the six senses, sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing, but lacking knowledge. However, Juno says that when the initial disaster that wiped out the first people came to pass, they tried to "pass it on through the blood"; it is implied that this sense is Desmond's "eagle vision", which is passed on through the Assassin bloodlines. Her careful cadence then drops as she suddenly becomes angry, yelling "We should have left you as you were!"

A staircase leading to the Apple is activated and Desmond and the others ascend it. Desmond approaches the Apple and glowing symbols begin to appear in the air. As Shaun starts to explain what they are, Desmond touches the Apple. His DNA activates it and suddenly they are all frozen, although Desmond can still speak. Juno cryptically says that Desmond is descended from her race and their enemy. She then says that there is a woman who is supposed to accompany him through "the gate", but she is not with him. She says, "The cross darkens the horizon," a clear reference to the Templars, and takes control of Desmond's body, forcing him to draw his hidden blade saying, "The Path must be opened," and that "the scales must be balanced". She then begins to force Desmond to walk towards Lucy. Desmond pleads with her to stop, but she replies, "You know so very little. We must guide you!" and forces him to stab Lucy. Juno says "It is done," and then refers to the woman who is to accompany Desmond, telling him to find her and "awaken the sixth". She tells him to go alone and releases her hold on the group, at which point Desmond and Lucy fall to the floor, unconscious, and a pool of blood spreads around Lucy.

As the credits roll, two men are briefly heard arguing. The first man says "He's gone into shock!" A second man suggests that they put him back in the Animus. The first is unwilling to do so, as it was the Animus that did this to him. The second man insists, claiming that he's the expert. The exchange ends with a third man saying "no". It is currently unknown who these men are or who they are talking about.

Development

A new Assassin's Creed episode featuring multiplayer was announced during Ubisoft's 2009 fiscal third quarter results while not revealing its name. In early May 2010, a GameStop employee published on Internet some images of a pre-order box featuring the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood title while Ubisoft was teasing the game on Facebook and Twitter. Ubisoft then confirmed the authenticity of these pictures.^[26] Brotherhood has not been numbered unlike Assassin's Creed II because players, and even developers themselves would have expected a new setting and a new ancestor while this is only the continuation of Ezio's story.^[27]

While still in development, Creative Director Patrice Désilets left before the game's presentation at the E3 2010. Ubisoft and Production Manager Jean-Francois Boivin stated that he only took a "creative break" after completing his task on Brotherhood.^[28]

A teaser trailer of the multiplayer mode was released on the official site before the E3. A cinematic debut trailer was diffused during Ubisoft's E3 2010 press conference along a walkthrough of the game's beginning.

The game is being developed by five Ubisoft studios with Montreal as the lead, and four other developers: Annecy, Singapore, Bucharest and Québec City. The multiplayer mode is mainly developed by Ubisoft Annecy, the studio responsible for creating multiplayer mode in Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.^[29][30] Ubisoft also announced plans for DLC after the game's launch, but its content hasn't been detailed yet.^[8] From the perspective of performance, Ubisoft have commented that they hope the gaps between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions will be even smaller with Brotherhood.^[31]

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has reached the gold status on October 28, 2010.^[32]

From WIKIPEDIA