Before Words
Ubisoft had a terrific lineup at E3 this year including two of my most anticipated games, Assassin's Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction. Obviously, since I have a picture of the Assassin's Creed II cover art I'm going to be talking about said game.
A Change In Setting
The 12th century Holy Lands are now out of the picture in this installment. The games opens in 1476, the setting now being Renaissance Italy. What an odd time period to choose Ubisoft you say, well shut up and I’ll tell you why you’re stupid. First off, the compact nature of the Italian city-states make for an entirely new world to explore. The interconnected system of waterways in Venice make for a stunning backdrop and a great aid in assassination. The architectural marvels of Florence serve as beautiful and useful way to run, leap, and escape from your enemies. Unlike the first game, these city-states are not connected by empty wilderness but they are seamlessly linked together. So there you go, now you look stupid for thinking it was dumb for a game to be set in the Renaissance.
A Change In Character
This time around your old bff Altair is long gone and has been replaced by Ezio Auditore de Firenze (someone went a little bit overboard on the name), a Florence Nobleman. Ezio and Altair are linked in their ancestry, but their lifestyles are worlds apart. Ezio has grown up in life of privilege, educated in swordplay, poetry, art, and even seduction and charm. This provides for a quick and witty character unlike Altair. Ezio’s family is like much of the nobility of the time, with alliances with other houses and endless competition to one-up others. We’ll have to wait until the game comes out; however, to find out how such a distinguished nobleman is transformed into a cold-blooded assassin.
A Change In Gameplay
One of the great things about Ubisoft is that they actually listen to the gamer. There were many complaints after Assassin’s Creed I and they took the criticisms and built off of them. Assassin’s Creed II completely abandons the idea of the very simplistic get mission from the bureau, investigate target, assassinate target, and escape back to bureau game structure. Instead, an expansive network of contacts, that provide hints to Ezio, move him into cites, out into the countryside, and through ever-changing objectives. The more laid-back missions such as eavesdropping and pick-pocketing are now gone and replaced by more active missions like chasing characters through crowded streets which, in many cases, leads to a seamless transition into a race through the countryside. The game is planned to have around two hundred missions total.
Free running paths have been implicated into Assassin’s Creed II and are marked with a white flag to more easily escape from Ezio’s enemies. Another new feature is crowd blending. In the first game, blending was mostly useless because you could only blend with the monks, which you encountered practically never. Now for the second game, Ezio can blend with any crowd, which allows for new tactics of escape. Yet another new implication is notoriety. As Ezio assassinates and causes havoc in the city-states the people and soldiers will respond by becoming more suspicious of him. This will also allow for more missions for Ezio to complete, such as assassinating witnesses of crimes and taking down posters of himself. The biggest innovation would probably be with the combat. A new disarm feature has been added to the game which allows Ezio to use his enemy’s own weapon against him. Furthermore, each of the weapons that can be stolen all have their own unique special move. Finally, one of the most simplistic but most bad ass innovations is the use of two hidden blades. Now two targets can be assassinated at the same time in one go, just as stealthy as before, enough said.
A Change In Setting
The 12th century Holy Lands are now out of the picture in this installment. The games opens in 1476, the setting now being Renaissance Italy. What an odd time period to choose Ubisoft you say, well shut up and I’ll tell you why you’re stupid. First off, the compact nature of the Italian city-states make for an entirely new world to explore. The interconnected system of waterways in Venice make for a stunning backdrop and a great aid in assassination. The architectural marvels of Florence serve as beautiful and useful way to run, leap, and escape from your enemies. Unlike the first game, these city-states are not connected by empty wilderness but they are seamlessly linked together. So there you go, now you look stupid for thinking it was dumb for a game to be set in the Renaissance.
A Change In Character
This time around your old bff Altair is long gone and has been replaced by Ezio Auditore de Firenze (someone went a little bit overboard on the name), a Florence Nobleman. Ezio and Altair are linked in their ancestry, but their lifestyles are worlds apart. Ezio has grown up in life of privilege, educated in swordplay, poetry, art, and even seduction and charm. This provides for a quick and witty character unlike Altair. Ezio’s family is like much of the nobility of the time, with alliances with other houses and endless competition to one-up others. We’ll have to wait until the game comes out; however, to find out how such a distinguished nobleman is transformed into a cold-blooded assassin.
A Change In Gameplay
One of the great things about Ubisoft is that they actually listen to the gamer. There were many complaints after Assassin’s Creed I and they took the criticisms and built off of them. Assassin’s Creed II completely abandons the idea of the very simplistic get mission from the bureau, investigate target, assassinate target, and escape back to bureau game structure. Instead, an expansive network of contacts, that provide hints to Ezio, move him into cites, out into the countryside, and through ever-changing objectives. The more laid-back missions such as eavesdropping and pick-pocketing are now gone and replaced by more active missions like chasing characters through crowded streets which, in many cases, leads to a seamless transition into a race through the countryside. The game is planned to have around two hundred missions total.
Free running paths have been implicated into Assassin’s Creed II and are marked with a white flag to more easily escape from Ezio’s enemies. Another new feature is crowd blending. In the first game, blending was mostly useless because you could only blend with the monks, which you encountered practically never. Now for the second game, Ezio can blend with any crowd, which allows for new tactics of escape. Yet another new implication is notoriety. As Ezio assassinates and causes havoc in the city-states the people and soldiers will respond by becoming more suspicious of him. This will also allow for more missions for Ezio to complete, such as assassinating witnesses of crimes and taking down posters of himself. The biggest innovation would probably be with the combat. A new disarm feature has been added to the game which allows Ezio to use his enemy’s own weapon against him. Furthermore, each of the weapons that can be stolen all have their own unique special move. Finally, one of the most simplistic but most bad ass innovations is the use of two hidden blades. Now two targets can be assassinated at the same time in one go, just as stealthy as before, enough said.
After Words
As you can tell I’m pretty freaking excited for Assassin’s Creed II. Everything about the game seems pretty much epic and even better than before. This game is planned to hit selves in the fourth quarter of 2009 so make sure to keep an eye out and pick this game up when it comes out. To check out the E3 Assassin's Creed II video follow the link below.
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