X’10
Chapter 4 – We Are All Brothers
By Jorge Figueiredo - August 22nd, 2010
As I walked through X’10, I rounded a corner and my smile widened impossibly; two screens were displaying Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood in vibrant majesty. As many who read this site know, I have a thing for the Assassin’s Creed series, and for good reason: it’s one of the best franchises in the history of video games? Some may think that this is a lofty statement: they obviously haven’t played it yet…
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
I shook hands with Christophe Grandjean, Public Relations Manager from Ubisoft; he’s a man who is very proud of the work that Ubisoft does, and he’s not afraid to show it off. He motioned me over to one of the two screens showing Brotherhood, and spoke to me in his charming French accent.
“Do you remember the E3 trailer for Brotherhood?” he asked. I’m sure a number of you have seen this trailer from E3; if you haven’t, feel free to click on the link and drool – it’s okay, I’ll wait. He continued, “Well, that trailer is not in the game, actually.”
I couldn’t believe it. Mind you, trailers created for games do not always appear in the games themselves. “I will show you something that you will like, though, ” Christophe smiled, mischeviously.
Monsieur Grandjean then proceeded to re-enact the E3 2010 trailer in game. It was magnificent. I watched in awe as Ezio made his way down from the rooftops to the location of his target, his fully-trained assassins clearing a path for him the entire time. With a mere hand gesture, the Brotherhood rained down terror in the form of crossbow bolts, smoke bombs, or even themselves. At the end of the scenario, after a successful kill, Ezio leaves the building only to be met by an entire line of soldiers. Ezio calls down the troops, who drop smoke bombs and begin slaughtering the guards. Ezio then walks away having killed only one person the entire time.
“It’s good to be the boss, ” I commented.
“You bet, ” Christophe nodded.
Brotherhood takes place shortly after Assassin’s Creed II; Monteriggioni is besieged by the Templars, and you have to help your uncle Mario fight them off. It is a fantastic scene; scores of Templars march against your home base, bringing with them catapults and large breeching engines of war. You get to take control of some cannons to try and stem the tide. Eventually, the game moves on to Rome, where you are now a Master Assassin coming to wreak vengeful havok on the heart of the Templar empire for attacking your city.
Gameplay follows the same formula as the previous iterations, except, as I mentioned before, Ezio can now recruit and train other assassins to help out with missions around Europe, as well as aid him in local conflicts if they are available. The horses are back (yes), and will allow you to cover ground much quicker than if you were to rely on your own two feet; this is probably for the best, as Rome is three to four times bigger than the large areas in Assassin’s Creed II.
Combat is also much quicker and more dynamic. I recall in the previous games, it was in your best interest to counter enemy attacks; this would lead to some pretty slow moments (albeit beautiful ones). Now the enemy AI is more aggressive, and it appears that they can attack simultaneously, rather than waiting in an attack queue. Your own abilities have progressed as well, allowing you to mix ranged and melee combat seamlessly. The hidden pistol makes a triumphant return, and Ezio can also throw large axes at his enemies.
Also standing by to show the game off was programmer Aleissia Laidacker. She was very happy to be able to show off something that she had worked on so hard. Her area of expertise was the same in Brotherhood as it was in Assassin’s Creed II…
“So, as a programmer, which element did you work on? ” I asked.
“Ezio, ” she replied.
“I love you,” I declared, honestly. Aleissia laughed – I know her one true love is Ezio.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood hits shelves on November the 16th for most next-gen consoles; the game will also hit the PC early next year. A regular edition is available, as well as an awesome Collector’s Edition.
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