The original Assassin’s Creed was in many ways a massive success. It forced a considerable collective jump forward in animation across the industry, it had the foundation of a great multi-enemy combat system with its deliberate, timing-based street scuffles, and the engine presented the player with a massive playground in which to feel superhuman in a world convincingly populated by mere humans. Lets not forget the advertising campaign which seemed to pervade every orifice of its TV demographic (in the UK at least), making it the most successful new series of all time. However, that is really where its merits ended. After a couple of hours spent learning the combat animations and repeating the same three core mission types (interrogation, pick-pocketing and assassinations), completing the original AC began to feel less like reveling in the future of gaming, and more like going through the same old motions with a fancy new layer of polish.
It was to my relief that James O’Reilly, Ubisoft’s Group Brand Manager understood my sentiments, commenting: “We are responding to direct feedback from the fans of Assassin’s Creed. Variety and depth of gameplay is an important learning and the team have been hard at work ensuring that the Assassin’s Creed 2 experience delivers accordingly.” When questioned if things be different this time around, he responded, saying, “I’m really excited about AC2. I feel like we’ve been able to really get what we want out of the game this time.”
Visually, the game has certainly received an upgrade. Climb a building and you’ll see that the play-area is now genuinely city-sized, with no “fog of war” cheats. See a building on the other side of town? You can free-run your way there across the roof-tops with no loading. Other touches, such as how Ezio’s (highly customizable) outfits will darken and stick to him when wet, both dripping and leaving squelchy footprints as he tries to inconspicuously wander across town, add an extra feel of finish.
The first one didn’t do too bad for itself though, did it? “What? 1.2million units for a new IP? Yeah, it did OK,” O’Reilly laughs, “but the ad campaign for the new game will be immense. I’ve never spent this much money before, it’s quite scary,” though no fear was showing in his eyes. “I really can’t wait for it to come out. It’s something the whole team’s really proud of and we know we’ve got a great game on our hands.” When saying this, O’Reilly seems genuine, as if he feels that the team has something to prove this time around, especially after the first AC showed so much promise and technical merit, but failed to cement itself as one of the greats, in the minds of players.
So where will the game be bettering its predecessor, I questioned. “Altair was already a master assassin when we jumped into his part of the story” O’Reilly reminisces. “Players will meet Ezio da Firenze Auditore before he becomes an Assassin and will join him on the path to becoming an Assassin. We can’t wait to see what’s in store as you join the character throughout a 30 year span.” He continued discussing what players would be doing over the span of the game, saying, “In the first game there were really only three mission types. In AC2 there are about 15 mission types in rotation, and the order’s mixed up so the repetition is completely gone. There’s also a ton of side missions outside the main rotation, so there’s loads more for the player to do.”
We’re not allowed to reveal anything about the story yet, but it seems that Ubisoft have really given their all to throttle out the first game’s failings, and make better still its successes. The combat animations were from a three month-old build, but they played at least as well as the first game, with more variation promised. It goes without saying that the free-running and animations are set to once again drop the jaws of passers-by. In its current state the game seemed fairly fleshed out, with surprisingly unique and varied inhabitants wandering its world, not to mention a lot of side-missions apparently already in place. That AC1 sold so well was probably down to expert marketing and the ‘wow’ factor, but AC2 looks to be shaping up to be one of the must-haves in a sea of great story and character-driven games coming our way soon.
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