April 20, 2011
Be Artificial In Your Movements
At this point, I’ve played an afternoon or so of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer, and I just have to say, it was everything I hoped for.
A long time ago, I bought The Ship, because it sounded really cool. The idea of having one target you had to sneak around and kill sounded like a lot of fun, but in reality, it just didn’t work. Since the only people on the map were players, it was much safer just to kill everyone, even if they weren’t your target, in case they were gunning for you. There was no actual way to hide or be stealthy, because there was no way to mistake you for someone who wasn’t out to get you. It was a good idea, but a flawed execution.
Similar, Assassin’s Creed 2 did a lot of things right. You felt like a real badass when you stabbed someone, and you could really move about the world well, climbing over buildings and so on. However, needing to be stealthy always annoyed me. I’m just trying to get somewhere fast, why am I getting in trouble for running instead of moving at a snail’s pace? The game seemed to punish you for using the movement freedom it gave you by making you run about and avoid guards all the time. It annoyed me. What was the point of hiding from the stupid AI? Why is running a crime in Italy?
Brotherhood multiplayer is the best of both of these worlds. The way you have to stalk your targets works just how it should have in The Ship. The game world is populated with AI versions of all the players, who go about their daily lives. Thus, you really do have to check out each character, and see if they are acting “AI-like,” all while not blowing your cover as well. This gives you a reason to do all the cool things you can do in Assassin’s Creed. Blending in with crowds makes you go into AI routines, so you look like everyone else. Walking with a crowd makes you automatically follow the crowd in an AI-like way. You can scale buildings to give chase to your targets, or run away, but that is non-AI behavior, and is going to be noticed by other players who will react accordingly. Thus, it becomes less stupid that running tips people off to your presence.
Anyway, I love it. It’s a lot of fun. With Portal 2 waiting, I can see me never playing the single player of Brotherhood, and just playing more rounds of this from time to time when I need a break.
The main complaint I’ve heard about the multiplayer is how you can’t really do anything about who is hunting you. Personally, I think that works as it should. It dodges the “just kill everyone” thing that happens in The Ship. Attacking anyone, AI or player, who isn’t your target will turn out very badly for you. It keeps you focused on what the multiplayer is all about, which is stalking people. Yes, sometimes I found myself frustrated that my counter didn’t go off before I died, but for the most part, if I get killed, I just go “Ah, damn, should have paid more attention,” respawn, and keep going. Plus, I’ve unlocked the Smoke Bombs, and those totally let you fuck over pursuers that you see coming, but can’t stun. There are options.
Basically, the game forces you to play the game, which I don’t mind at all. Even if you’re bad at Brotherhood’s multiplayer, you’re still getting a worthwhile experience. Smart things, like having multiple people targeting players high on the leaderboard, and nearly nobody trying to kill lower ranking players, really helps make the game feel friendly if you aren’t doing well, and really intense, even if you’re playing a bunch of newbies who don’t know what they’re doing.
Anyway, it’s not perfect, but I am really, really impressed and wanting to play more. Even little touches, like the fact that your character moves about the city like an AI player until you tilt the stick when you respawn is just such a nice touch. I’m sure the experience will be even better in the inevitable Assassin’s Creed sequel, and I look forward to that too. But it’s just so refreshing to have a multiplayer versus mode that doesn’t feel like the same deathmatch bullshit over and over again. I love it.