Yes indeed it is that time yet again. If you haven't figured it out yet, multiplayer betas are a big part of the gaming industry these days. While it may give us players a chance to test out a game much earlier than its release date, it allows developers to test out the code for the multiplayer portion of their game and make sure the balance is up to snuff. If you remember my write up on the Gears of War 3 beta, you'll note that I had some problems with some weapons that needed a bit more balancing in terms of their damage and range. So I went into the beta for Assassin's Creed: Revelations with the same mindset of seeing how tight the gameplay was and if there was anything that needed to be tweaked.
This seemed kind of hard on m part at first because I didn't play Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood so this would be my first foray into the franchises' multiplayer. Needless to say it took me a while to get adjusted to the game's control scheme once again since the last game I played in the series was Assassin's Creed 2. Sure enough, the same mechanics from the main game seem to be intact in multiplayer. You're still able to scale rooftops and do the fantastic free-running that the series is known for.
Things are a bit more hectic in multiplayer though. So far I have seen two modes of gameplay; manhunt which stands in as a form of team deathmatch and artifact which is like capture the flag. These modes are pretty standard in any multiplayer game these days so I was not surprised to see them here. I was shocked by how well they're pulled off with the game's engine and the amount of fun I had playing them. And thankfully before I jumped into this pit, I was treated to a brief tutorial session that showed me the ropes.
In Manhunt you're broken into two teams for two rounds of action. In one round you and your teammates will do your best to seek out the other team in the midst of a sea of non-playable characters and assassinate them. Sounds fun and very simple honestly but the fun part is that much like the single player game, the opposing team has the abilities to go incognito by blending into the crowd, sitting idly on benches out of sight or even retreating to rooftops or haystacks. Should they see you coming they can just as easily attack you and stun you before running away; depriving your team of a kill and collecting points for their team in the process. However in the next round the sides change and it will be your turn to evade the enemy team.
You'll have more than your wits and cunning to aid you though. Each player will be able to choose a pre-made ability set which grants you such items as knives, smoke bombs, or disguises. Though you must use them wisely as disguising yourself in sight of an enemy will leave you wide open for an assassination attempt.
The Artifact game type reminded me of Uncharted's Treasure Hunter mode. Each team has a set spawn with an artifact and the other team must retrieve it and run it back to their spawn. Sounds like your basic capture the flag mode but once again the game play style of Assassin's Creed breathes some much needed life into it. It was amazing watching some of these players swoop in from rooftops to steal the artifact and then hightail it out of the spawn zone with enemies in pursuit.
Considering I was still getting used to the play style I kept back to play more of a support and protect role for the team. Being able to blend into crowds and sit on a nearby bench allowed me to quietly monitor artifact and watch for suspicious movements from other players. Whenever someone moved in to steal it I was able to spring into action and quickly assassinate them as they tried to steal our artifact. Of course as I got more familiar with the game I was able to venture out and attempt to steal the enemy artifact, though not with much success at first.
In any case I can say the game is running very smooth so far. I haven't seen any bugs to report but I have encountered some connection issues. Sometimes the game just can't seem to connect to other players. And other times I've seen people constantly drop from lobbies or the game itself. Also I've had the game lock up my system once. Still it has a better track record than the glitchy DC Universe Online beta back in December. I was granted early access to this beta by being a PS Plus member but I do believe it is now open to all PSN members so I highly recommend checking it out if you have a chance. In the meantime, check out the trailer for the game from the Gamescom conference in August.
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