A couple of months back IGN's own Daemon Hatfield got the initial look at Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's campaign. In his preview he detailed several new elements such as the ability to use your own group of assassin's to do your bidding, or how a major component of the game is taking out towers in Rome, but through it all we could only guess how much fun it would be to play. That all changed recently, though, when I went hands-on with the first couple hours of Brotherhood's campaign, putting Ezio through is paces in a gorgeously rendered Rome.
Yes, the game is as pretty as ever.If you haven't been following it, here's what you need to know about Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It's the third entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise, and it once again places you in the shoes Desmond Miles, who is going through his genetic memories to relive the lives of his assassin ancestors. While the game will include parts where you'll directly control Desmond, the bulk of the game has you playing AC2's hero (and Desmond's long-deceased ancestor), Ezio Auditore. And while AC2 ended with Ezio in a position of power, Brotherhood turns this around quickly, forcing him to fight for his very life and build up a new society of assassins in the city of Rome.
The bulk of the gameplay is very similar to AC2. Players still use Ezio to lithely jump around the environment, scaling any and every surface around them in order to get the drop on enemies. All the stealth mechanics also return, with players using crowds, benches, and the bustling nature of the city (read: hiring prostitutes) to disguise themselves. AC2 fans will feel instantly comfortable, as Brotherhood recycles enough of the last game to feel like it's more AC2.5 than AC3. That might sound disappointing to some people, I know, but I can't imagine anyone that played 2 is going to be sad to play a new story with largely familiar mechanics.
Not that everything you'll experience in Brotherhood is old though, with the biggest change coming in the form of your brotherhood. Through some twists of fate I won't spoil, Ezio ends up in Rome. Here his influence is limited, but he's out to hurt the reigning Borgia family any way he can. To this end Ezio assaults Borgia towers, killing the commander of the tower and then burning the structure to the ground. As you do this you'll slowly gain influence over the city, opening up new quests in liberated areas, and often giving you access to new assassins. Once you complete a quest to get the new assassin -- which can be as easy as saving them from some guards -- you recruit them into your brotherhood.
OK, so Ezio saves some guys and recruits them into his assassin's guild -- now what? Now is when you get the chance to use them to kick some serious ass. Recruits can periodically be used directly in the game for assistance in combat, and they can also be used to do missions around the world. Using pigeon coops around the city, Ezio doles out tasks to his underlings that make them temporarily unavailable for his direct use, but will give them valuable experience, as well as gold for the brotherhood.
Once recruits gain enough experience they'll level up, giving them access to better equipment, and making them even more valuable when you need to call them to your side. Experienced assassins are invaluable: at several points in the latter portion of the campaign I played they saved my life, providing either the distraction I needed to escape a high-profile assassination, or even helping me fight off a seemingly insurmountable group of attackers.
The downside of having assassins that you get to build up into on-call killing machines? They can die. It's strangely tragic to watch a character you've built up fall to an enemy, and the game takes this into account by giving you the chance to hear your recruit's final words. Granted, it's not something you have to listen to if you don't want, but it helps to build your investment in the characters and world you're playing in.
Another significant addition Brotherhood brings to the single player game is a whole lot more time with Desmond. While the other games let you wander around a couple of environments as the assassin's descendant, Brotherhood is the first that will let you see what he's learned from his ancestor's memories. I don't want to get too far into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say Desmond's got some moves, which you'll get to see a little here and there when you're not getting all stabby with Ezio.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is shaping up well considering how soon it's releasing -- just one year after AC2. Not all the changes in Brotherhood will be as dramatic as creating your own guild of assassins(players can expect to do a ton of the same type of side-quests), but it'll no doubt be more than enough to satiate fans who've been dying to know what became of Ezio and, more importantly, his descendant.
