So you might have noticed that last night, a little while after the AssBro review went up, I tweeted about playing AssBro's Multiplayer despite saying I had not and might not play it a few times prior. This is basically because I had an opportunity to play the MP alongside my buddy Haplo, who you've likely seen comment on a post here or there, for the first time since he got his PS3 a little while ago. It helps that I honestly, really -did- want to play the MP, so pretty much anything, any tipping factor, would've gotten me to do it. I figured that since I actually did play it, I'd write up a little addendum specifically talking about my limited time with it to be fair to the review and to the game.
Starting up was a little rough as I had to sit through the little story segment that's attached to the MP that, while I appreciate they bothered to think it out at least a little bit, I dunno about it. If they're using Desmond's DNA memory, as it's suggested, why are they only using Ezio's time period? If anything, I'd figure they would do Altair's because Altair's time period was what Abstergo studied while they had Desmond in custody for the first game. Yet, that's neither here nor there, I suppose, and after that I was subject to the Introductory Session that shows off the main mode of play in a fairly nice manner, if a little unpredictable. That Introductory Session was the first, but not last time I ended up in it, as after a connection drop between Haplo and I, I ended up being dumped in it again. I don't know how, but what annoyed me more was the second time around, I didn't get all three kills incognito because the second guy insisted on running away right when I got close for absolutely no reason.
When Haplo and I finally got into a match that contained people who were not he and I, the chaos of the MP descended full-force. On the way to find my first kill, I was the subject of Haplo's first kill; something I doubt he is going to let me forget any time soon. Throughout the two matches we got to play, we exchanged kills, mine against him were all incognito where his third was not, yet the majority of the game was not spent interacting with one another but killing and being killed by the random people we'd managed to have join. At one point during the second match, I was actually ranked first by some miracle and only when one of my three pursuers, dressed in the garb of the Jester, came around did that change, but for that precious little time, I felt good. I felt really good.
The actual Multiplayer mode, I think, is probably the most brilliant thing to come out of the Assassin's Creed 2 trilogy, if just for the concept of it. I'm sure it's not original, but it's not something we've seen a lot, nor recently, so for that I have to trumpet it because it is, in fact, actually good. It's interesting because it's a game and a social experiment all in one; the game, in so many ways, urges you to try and stay hidden and strike right out of the unknown, but in doing so, you leave yourself open to much of the same. Yet if you run, climb, and do everything that isn't suggested, you then influence others to do the same, either to catch you or to get away from you, because you are clearly not one of the many, many NPCs bumbling around. I suspect it's actually the happy medium between both extremes that you're encouraged to find, but it'd take more playing to accurately pin down.
In fact, earlier today, that's actually exactly what I wanted to do. I am not a multiplayer person at all, so it's definitely telling when I boot up a game and specifically want to dive into the Multiplayer mode of it. I suppose it was just as fitting that my searches were met with absolutely nothing. After about ten minutes of searching for games, it became abundantly clear that I wasn't doing to find one, whether it's because of some server shennanigans or because everyone playing Assassin's Creed Multiplayer is doing so on Revelations I have no idea. Still, I was actually a little disappointed that all I had was the single-player portion of Brotherhood, yet I delved back into it and spent the better part of today finishing up some of the superfluous fluff, Courtesan missions, Thief missions, Flag collecting and the like, and in doing so I couldn't help but wish that I was playing the Wanted mode.
That's saying something.
I was the subject of Haplo's first kill; something I doubt he is going to let me forget any time soon.
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