For any gamers that didn’t get a chance to participate in the PSN PlayStation 3 multiplayer beta for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, you’ll be pleased to know that there are some minor changes coming that should put a smile on your face.

To begin the beta, you’re presented with what looks like a “testing” area where you can familiarise yourself with the game a little and get your “hands dirty” learning the ropes of basic control mechanics in Assassin’s Creed Revelations. I’ve only ever played a couple of games of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood so I’m by no means adept at playing AC:R nor am I all that experienced with the AC universe. I’ve only ever played the first game and a little of the multiplayer so coming into the beta like this is great, something new and wonderful to experience.

The maps seemed a lot smaller than maps in Brotherhood and you were very restricted when you tried to follow your target around. Many areas simply wouldn’t allow you to enter them, effectively cutting you off from any shortcuts you may have taken to get to your target quickly. The compass had also disappeared, making it a lot more challenging to find your target. It’s replaced by a small indicator underneath your target’s portrait on your screen that “lights up” when you are in line of sight of them. This game mode is called “Wanted” and I’m told the same game mode exists in Brotherhood but I’m not entirely sure I’ve actually played that (as someone else was hosting the games that I played). I actually preferred this redesigned mode to the same mode in Brotherhood and felt that it added more of a challenge to the “hunting” down of your mark.

In the same area of the portrait you’ll see triangles that appear which indicate how many people are also hunting down your target, adding the pressure ever so slightly to getting to your target first before anyone else does! Nice little touch.

As you play through, you’ll be presented with tutorial dialogue that will aid you in learning how to play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations multiplayer. I did notice the dialogue about listening out for “whispers” but I never got around to hearing anything as I played. Perhaps I just wasn’t concentrating enough but the closer you get to your target, the louder these whispers are supposed to get. Perhaps they will make this more obvious in the upcoming game (or perhaps you’re just supposed to listen a lot more intently than I did).

Whilst my beta experience was very short (and I didn’t get an opportunity to play in the extended week Ubisoft had afterwards), I did enjoy seeing the changes that have been made. It will be interesting to see how the game progresses in terms of multiplayer community appeal. With so many AAA shooter titles coming out this year, it’s going to be hard to grab hold of that all-important audience to allow for multiplayer matches to happen.

Check out the multiplayer trailer from Ubisoft here.