Are you a lonely assassin? A ruthless killer in need of a friend? If so, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood could be for you, Ubisoft's heroic Ezio returning - alongside a veritable army of murderous friends.

We're here at E3 looking at the new action-adenture game alongside lead AI programmer Stephane Assadourian, who is sporting an injured hand that would make any budding assassin proud.

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First things first: This may be the third in the series, but we're not jetting off to a new place and time with this Assassin's Creed. Despite rumours including England, France and Japan, the third will see us once again taking charge of Ezio - still battling the forces of darkness in renaissance Italy.

Brotherhood, however, is no add-on pack - the developers promising a bare minimum of 15 hours new action, possibly as much as 22 hours. We'll also be jetting off to Rome for the first time - the biggest Assassin's Creed cityscape to date - but more on that later.

The story itself will pick up where Ezio tale in Assassin's Creed II concluded, an older, wiser Ezio now established hero with his people. We're told the plot will fit in with the previous game's DLC, as well as the main story mode, and once again well-acted cinematic cut-scenes are the order of the day. The plot appears to be thickening too, a feud taking place within the wider context, pitting the Pope's merciless forces once again on a collision course with our Assassin's sensibilities.

In our preview we pick up the as Ezio's city comes under attack from enemy forces - walls and buildings crumbling and the town's inhabitants scramble for safety while Ezio and his friends fight a losing battle in the streets. My attention is drawn to the horse, now running freely within the city walls (another first for the series), and we gallop through the panic stricken alleys of the town, dodging blazing masonry while all around siege towers close in on the ramparts.

Atop the town walls we fire cannon at incoming soldiers and siege towers, leaping between gun positions using Ezio's still-excellent free-running skills. The battle is epic, easily the biggest we've seen in Assassin's Creed, and our hero is soon overrun, but not before showing off the game's new expanded kill moves, and his duel-wielding of a pistol and sword - which makes for some deliciously varied combat.

The sequence closes on something off a cliff hanger and now we're fast-forwarding, Rome beckoning us to a final showdown with Ezio's nemesis - the Pope's military chief. In Rome the game's title will suddenly become clear, the player tasked with building a Brotherhood in the city, capable of taking on the forces currently controlling the city.

Once your army is trained and ready, you'll be able to call for help during missions, as part of a new feature called the Brotherhood Assistance Move. This allows you to summon multiple assassin's at key moments, your nimble army helping you take out guards or other forces enabling you to reach your target.

You'll only be able to call for help sometimes, however, and if your side-kicks are killed you'll have lost a resource forever.This greater power will of course make for some interesting tactical choices, while some targets may be inaccessible without your army's assistance. We witness one assassination in which the Swiss Guard are attacked en masse, while you'll be able to send your forces on specific missions - rather than tackling them yourselves, should you wish to.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood will be released in time for this year.

By Luke Guttridge