GamesCom`10: Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

 

 

Mit Assassins Creed 2 lieferte Ubisoft eines der besten Spiele des letzten Jahres ab. Die etwas simple Spielmechanik des Vorgängers wurde durch viele gute Ideen und Rollenspielelemente aufgebohrt. Eine echte Fortsetzung mit neuem Setting und neuem Hauptcharakter lässt zwar noch auf sich warten, doch wer "Brotherhood" als simples Add-On bezeichnet, macht einen gewaltigen Fehler. Hinter verschlossenen Türen zeigte uns Ubisoft anhand einer bisher nicht gezeigten Mission in Pallatino Hill, einem Stadtgebiet von Rom in der Nähe des Kolosseums, welche Neuerungen „Brotherhood“ in der gut 15 Stunden umfassenden Singleplayer zu bieten hat. Eine eure Hauptaufgaben besteht, neben zahlreichen anderen Aufgaben, darin, die verschiedenen Stadteile von Rom aus den Klauen der von Gier und Korruption zerfressenen Stadtverwalter zu befreien und wieder aufzubauen. Wie der Namenszusatz bereits vermuten lässt, steht euch dabei die gesamte Bruderschaft der Assassinen treu zur Seite und erwartet eure Befehle.

 

 

Der Aufbau einer eigenen kleinen Armee ist ein zentrales Spielelement von „Brotherhood“, was sich in vielen Bereichen zeigt. Ihr könnt neue Mitglieder rekrutieren, sie durch häufigen Einsatz trainieren und mit Rüstungen und Waffen ausstatten. Dies lohnt sich, da ihr eure treuen Untergebenen stets und ständig zu Hilfe rufen und somit Wachen erledigen oder ablenken könnt. Ihr habt sogar die Möglichkeit, sie auf Attentats-Missionen in neun verschiedene europäische Städte wie Paris oder London zu schicken – für einen gewissen Zeitraum stehen sie euch dann jedoch für eure Missionen nicht zur Verfügung.

 

Darüber hinaus hat Ezio auch eine ganze Reihe neuer Fähigkeiten spendiert bekommen. So kann er jetzt Nah- und Fernkampfwaffen im Kampf gleichzeitig einsetzen, direkt vom Rücken eines Pferdes an Vorsprünge hechten oder andere Reiter mit Hilfe einer Lanze oder anderer Waffen aus ihrem Sattel stoßen. Pferde können jetzt übrigens auch in Städten geritten werden und es gibt verschiedene Arten wie z.B. schwer gepanzerte Schlachtrösser. Auch ein Gleitschirm hat den Weg in Ezios Arsenal gefunden, mit dem ihr größere Strecken überwinden könnt.

 

 

 

Auch für den Singleplayer hat sich Ubisoft offensichtlich tiefgründige Gedanken gemacht und viele sinnvolle Neuerungen ins Spiel gebracht, die auch denjenigen, die Assassins Creed 2 bis zum Exzess gespielt haben und eigentlich keinen Bock mehr auf Ezio haben, genügend Anreiz bieten dürften, sich mit „Brotherhood“ zu beschäftigen.

 

Ihr wollt noch mehr zu Assassins Creed: Brotherhood erfahren? Auf Seite 2 unseres kleinen Specials findet ihr einen englischsprachigen FAQ, in dem Producer Vincent Pontbriand zu allen Fragen Rede und Antwort steht.

 

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[u]Single Player[/u]

 

Moments after of the attack on the Villa started, Caterina decides to escape fromt the Villa with her troops in the hopes to flank the attackers but, she is caught by Cesare and his men. Now a prisoner, she is held captive in a cell located in one of the highest floor of Castel Sant’Angelo. The Castel is the fortress of Rodrigo Bordia, Pope Alexander VI, which houses his troops.

 

The infiltration of the Castel requires the player to sneak in without being noticed by the outnumbering Papal Guards. Ezio will have to use all of his abilities such as free-running and climbing to infiltrate the fortress’ inner walls and reach the castle’s higher grounds. This is a long and perilous mission in the game set near its beginning. Later in the mission, Ezio is tasked to protect Caterina, which in effect means he will have to defeat mobs of enemies. Outnumbered, Ezio must use his arsenal of weapons and his new moves, such as the ability to use the gun in combination with his sword, to survive against all odds as well as his stealth skills.

 

Based in the Mercenary HQ, Ezio can bet on fights and enter into the tournament. Challenged in a duel and encircled by an enthusiastic crowd, players will be challenged in different combat where quick reflexes and strategic thinking are your only allies to victory.

 

Depending the type of combat (Unarmed, No counter, etc..) and the number of enemies the player choose it will increase is gain of money if he succeed.

 

 

Leonardo left the Villa at the end of AC2. Ezio hasn’t seen him for a little while, but, suddenly, all the guards in Rome seem to have new guns. So there’s something suspicious going on. Leonardo will return and offer certain services to Ezio, but as for his motivations, you’ll have to play the game to see what they are.

 

The war machines pose a major threat to Ezio. These are all based on drawings Leonardo made for actual inventions. One of them is the naval cannon which can render useless an entire boat fleet in minutes. Mounted on top of a gondola, the cannon shoots flare which enflames the sails of boat, making them immobile and useless. Another war machine is Leo’s version of the machine gun. On top of a chariot is a mounted wheel with multiple small cannons. Like the chamber of a revolver, each cannon is one shot – transforming the mounted wheel into a deadly, but primitive, machine gun.

Ezio’s going to need to destroy them to stop Cesare’s advance through Italy. We’re not going to reveal how Cesare got a hold of the plans for these inventions just yet. There will be more about this closer to launch of the game.

 

Machiavelli will play a much larger role in Brotherhood than he did in AC2. He’s the leader of the Assassins in Rome when Ezio arrives and he’s not going to just let Ezio come in and take charge. So expect some competition between Ezio and Machiavelli. At the same time, he has a lot to learn about leadership and Ezio will be a major influence on him, despite their conflict. As for Mac’s gameplay role, he will be a major mission-giver in the game. You’re going to receive Assassination missions from him, as well as the locations of Templars in the city. How you dispatch them is, of course, up to you.

 

 

This time, while riding the horse, Ezio be able to perch himself on his horse’s saddle. This is a neat cool move you can do inside or outside cities. When perched, you will be able to jump on beams or on buildings and start a fluid free-run sequence.

 

Also, Ezio can now use various weapons, such as crossbows, swords or spears, and fight enemies such as horsemen and footmen – in a similar fashion to a joust. One new attack I thing is very cool is when you impale a guard, who’s on a horsem, from the ground using a spear. Horses can be use as free-running ingredients too as Ezio can stand on the saddle and begin, chain or end a free-running sequence. In fact, I believe there’s nothing more gratifying than, when you are about to lose a target in horse chase, to jump from your horse and climb on a building as to reduce the distance only to jump and assassinate the horse rider. It’s just epic.

 

 

After the events in Rome’s Sistine Chapel, Ezio retreats to his villa in Monteriggioni seeking inner peace. Meanwhile, Cesare, the ambitious, young general of the Papal forces, strikes back at the Assassins for the attack on the Pope. Setting up his battalion overnight, Cesare attacks the heart of the Assassin order and catches by surprise Ezio and his allies early morning – defeating Ezio and his allies.

 

To strike back at the heart of the enemies, Ezio journeys to Rome where he discovers a city in ruins and ruled through fear and corruption by the Papal forces. As Ezio becomes a leader, someone who unites the struggling Assassin order against the forces of the Borgia and the Templars, he will witness his impact on the city of Rome and the citizens. Determined to help Rome’s inhabitants, Ezio can bring the wonders of Renaissance and have a direct impact on the gameplay by investing into buildings, such as stables, shops and other surprises. This system, which we call “Rebuild Rome”, will also have an indirect impact on the city itself as each district will improve visually and building will be going from grey, run-down buildings to flourishing homes. Citizens will also see their life change and get better as beggars and dubious individuals will be replaced by artist and merchants. As you upgrade Rome, you will also unlock items and missions (faction missions)! Players investing time in bringing the Renaissance to Rome will definitely see the impact in the world itself, as well as the game play.

 

The enemies were updated visually to match the new setting for the game (Rome). We then took a look at the existing guard’s types and made sure that they had distinct “personalities”. Each enemy type fight and behaves differently. For example, an agile soldier now skips and jumps and is really fast. The Brute however will prefer to hammer you down, by using a mix of combo attacks and slam attacks. We also added new enemy archetypes, like the crossbowmen, the gunmen and the Swiss Guards. The crossbowmen and the gunmen replace the archers, and can now patrol the street in addition of the roofs. The Swiss Guards are the ultimate archetype – they are resistant to lots of Ezio’s moves, and they can use a combination of melee and range attacks that is deadly.

 

 

Our Gamescom demo begins in a new region of Rome, the Palatino Hill, which is situated near the Coliseum, the Forum and the roman ruins. This is a fresh and unique new playground in an Assassin’s Creed game. The idea of free-running in the roman ruins, jumping from column to column and looking for secret passages in the ruins is really cool!

 

In this demo, we will be playing around in the open-world, demonstrating new features and showing a few side objectives, not mandatory in the main mission path, but that will definitely have an impact in the game. First off – we will be using our Brotherhood members to clear out the guards in front of a shop. After eliminating the guards, Ezio heads off to the check out the shop but he realizes that it’s closed… The city of Rome is under the Borgia influence and Ezio needs to claim Borgia towers throughout the city to reduce the influence and bring back wealth and prosperity into the city. Doing that will enable him to rebuild the city and upgrade various buildings.

 

Before heading to clear the Borgia tower, I will go find a new potential assassin and recruit him to my cause, my own assassin’s brotherhood. To free this potential new recruit, I need to kill all the guards who are keeping him captive! By giving this man/woman a cause to fight for, I use the Borgia’s oppression to my own advantage. With all the assassins in my guild, Machiavelli has set up a means of communication with pigeon coops so I’ll head there to send my new recruit on a contract mission. Through a menu based interface, I can send my new assassin on various missions, he’ll come back with XP I’ll be able to spend to do tougher contracts and also upgrade him and unlock new skills that he will use when I call out for help. For example, this assassin returned from a mission and I can use the XP he got to level him up. As you upgrade your assassin, their moves become increasingly efficient. They’ll go from using their hidden blades, to crossbows to poison darts and smoke bombs!

 

To get to the Borgia tower, I can use the horse! The horse is now totally integrated in our gameplay loops. I’ll show you how you can use it in your free-running and combat strategy. I can jump from the horse and grab a beam! I can jump from my horse to assassinate another horseman who’s on his horse… There are a lot of cool opportunities to use the horse both for navigation and combat!

 

Now, let’s clear the Borgia tower and use the new assassin’s skills I’ve unlocked for my brotherhood. To get rid of the Borgia influence I must first kill the tower leader. There are various approaches to get to the leader… I can use a dead body to lure the guards between me and my target so I can get rid of them and then focus on my kill, I can use my brotherhood to distract the guards and go kill my target... The possibilities are vast. This time, the leader is a coward so I need to kill him before he gets to the tower or I'll have to wait a full day before he comes back out.

 

After liberating the Borgia tower, I need to tell the citizen’s of Rome that the Borgias have no more control over this area. I need to climb the Borgia tower and set it on fire… We like to challenge the player on some of our buildings and put small climbing puzzles on them. Now – the coup the grace, I’m setting the fire. By doing this, I’ve now removed the Borgia influence from this area and unfogged the map. Many shops and buildings are now available to upgrade and the area will eventually reflect this change. Now I can go back to the shop and buy new gadgets…

 

 

[u]Multiplayer[/u]

 

If you are familiar with online games, you will feel comfortable with our approach. The more effective you are during your gameplay session, the more experience you will get. By attaining a certain amount of experience, you will reach a new level and unlock extra content.

 

The extra content you unlock will add variety and options, meaning that you can still beat someone that has a higher level than you, and the fight will be fair. For example during our beta, you will unlock one ability slot, and the disguise ability (you transform into another player’s skin to confuse them) at level 2. Later on you will unlock more slots and different abilities including passive abilities that will boost your speed, allow you to blend faster, etc…

We will also include a specific progression system that we will reveal later on.

 

Basically you always have two ways of customization for gamers. You can either change your look, or the way you play. To suit your gaming style we will let you pick and equip different active and passive abilities that you will unlock through the course of the game. You will be able to create custom sets that will give you an edge on your opponents and allow you to play the way you choose.

 

We also know how important it is for player to be able to embody a cool looking avatar they care for, and that suits their style. That’s why we created a whole bunch of characters with lots of personality. So to begin with, they all have their own move sets and signature moves, but players will also be able to unlock new colors and visual upgrades for each of them! You thought the Courtesan was hot and the Priest creepy… Wait until you see their latest upgrades!

 

 

Well if you are one of the lucky few to take part in the beta, you will be able to discover all elements shown at E3 and won awards for best multiplayer. This means you will have the Wanted mode, 8 characters, different abilities (active, and passive). The beta will also feature several maps that were not revealed at E3, including an indoor map! You will also be able to test our progression system, with a specific leveling curve for our beta. And last but not least, you will be able to unlock lots of elements, that is, if you have the skills required….

 

You will have 14 characters in the final game, without counting exclusive characters (collector’s edition, pre order etc…). Each of them will have several colors, evolutions, their own move set, signature moves and weapon!

 

When we create a new map, we always start focusing on the gameplay. In Assassin’s creed Brotherhood Multiplayer, we want to offer a wide variety of maps that will offer different sensation and options. Some of them are more action oriented, some other will give lots of hiding spot, and some are well suited for parkour…

Once we have our gameplay ideas, we look into our design option, to get sure that each map will have a unique style and identity.

 

The map we are revealing today is called Castel Gandolfo. It is an interior map and that is unusual in a multiplayer competitive environment, but as you see it allows players to evolve in a rich environment, with lots of escaping options, and sweet spot for quick aerial attack. And believe me you will see a lot of them!

 

 

Well, challenges are specific event in which player will be prompt to realize a specific action, or series of action, from a kill streak to free running or acrobatics test. If you succeed, you will get some nice rewards, and upgrades.