Assassin’s Creed 2 First Look Preview

Back in 2007 we witnessed the birth of a new series: Assassin’s Creed. It was a game of many shortcomings, but it stood out from the crowd and was considered by many, including myself, to be an awesome experience due to it being entirely innovative, unique and a new beginning to what just may be a fantastic franchise. At this E3 Ubisoft introduced the sequel, Assassin’s Creed 2, and it seems like they’ve been paying close attention to the first games mishaps, because Assassin’s Creed 2 looks to be simply mind blowing.

Name: Assassin’s Creed 2
Genre: “Sandbox” Stealth Action
Players: 1
Multiplayer: To be confirmed
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox360
Developers: Ubisoft Montreal
Publishers: Ubisoft
Release Date: 17 November 2009

Assassin’s Creed 2 picks up where the first game left off, meaning that players will once again take on the role of Desmond Miles, who is still held captive and forced to strap himself into the Animus – a machine that allows the user to relive the memories of their ancestors that, by Assassin’s Creed’s theory, are locked inside the brain, but unable to be obtained by the human mind. Desmond, from the present and modern-age, happens to be a descendant of some of history’s greatest assassins, which is the reason as to why he’s the wanted candidate for the Animus.

This time around, Desmond won’t be jumping into the shoes of Altair from the first game, but will instead play as the young nobleman, Ezio Auditore di Firenze, who is an entirely new ancestor. The game takes place in the year 1486, roughly three hundred years after Altair’s time, in Renaissance Italy. Ezio, once just an ordinary nobleman, journeys on a quest for revenge after the murder of his family. His journey leads him to a certain group of “friends”, one of them being the famous inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, who help Ezio become a deadly assassin and warrior. This signifies the beginning of the main story that will take players through the events of Ezio’s life as he trains to become a master fighter and assassin in order to have his vengeance on the people who took everything from him.

Assassin’s Creed 2 builds on every area of the gameplay, whether it be in platforming, combat, assassin techniques, mission variety and so on, of Assassin’s Creed 1. From the footage seen at E3, it’s easy enough to see the resemblance between the two games, but it’s even easier to spot the additions. To start, the first issue with the original game was the lack of mission variety. There were only about 6 different mission types for the entire game and those missions had to be done during the investigation sections in order to proceed to the actual assassination. They became tedious after a while and hardly provided any help in taking out your target, resulting in it taking a bit too long to get to the good parts of the game. However, Patrice Desilets, creative producer of Assassin’s Creed 2, claimed, during an interview, that the dual-headed structure of investigation followed by assassination has been done away with, as the missions are now much more open and involved. He went on to say that there will be between 14-16 mission types in the final game that can sometimes be interlinked to create one exciting mission. For example, you’ll start off with an escort mission that could lead to a chase mission and finally to an assassination. To put a long story short, the game will be much more open and diverse rather than revolving around one fundamental game structure that sticks all the way through.

The next area of improvement is the combat. Assassin’s Creed 2 adopts the same combat style seen in the first game, but looks to have once again improved on all aspects. To begin with, the final game will feature roughly 30 different weapons, in the form of swords, maces, lances, axes and more. [Note: There are also 6 bonus weapons to unlock if you get your hands on Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines for the PSP (releasing on 10 November) and connect it to the PS3 version]. Ezio is much more brutal in combat than Altair, and it shows when looking at the visceral counter attacks and killing blows that he pulls off. Ezio also has much more combat techniques, one of them being the ability to disarm an opponent and use their own weapon against them. Hopefully we’ll see a lot more of what he can do in the upcoming weeks. Next, the famous hidden blade makes a reappearance, except this time Ezio has two of them – and no missing finger. The simple reason is that Leonardo Da Vinci, genius inventor, discovered a way to construct the hidden blade in a much more effective way, no longer requiring a finger to be sacrificed in order to use it. Instead of the blade alone, it seems that the hidden blade is now a complex mechanism that can also fire off small blades (that look to be shruikens) at enemies, which was seen in the game’s official cinematic trailer. This will most probably feature in the game as well, as a possible replacement or addition to throwing knives, but I cannot confirm it just yet.

Ezio will also have access to various gadgets and tools that enhance the diversity. Leonardo Da Vinci will feature in the game as Ezio’s friend and provider. It’s from him that you will be receiving weapon upgrades, gadgets & equipment and even some of his machines. An example of this is his famous flying machine that was demonstrated in the E3 demo. In the demo Ezio needed to gain access to a heavily guarded fortress, in order to assassinate his target, and the only way in was from the air. Ezio climbed to the top of a tower to retrieve the machine and then set off. It was extremely impressive to see him flying across Venice, utilising the fires around the city to increase speed and altitude and diving low every now and then to kick a guard into the water. This is just one of the examples of the increase in variety. In terms of the gadgets, it looks like in Assassin’s Creed 2 you will feel much more like an actual assassin, because you will have access to various stealth tools that allow for distractions, quick get-aways and incapacitation of your enemies. One example that was displayed was the newly added smoke bomb, which quite naturally serves to blind enemies, allowing you to run past them and escape.

Aside from gadgets, there is also a large increase in assassination abilities available to Ezio. The awesome, aerial hidden blade kill features once again for a start, but the blade itself looks to play a much larger part in the sequel. Ezio will now be able to assassinate enemies in nearly any situation. He will be able to kill while sitting on a bench, reaching up and stabbing the target in a fatal area before placing him gently down in Ezio’s place. While climbing up a building he will be able to perform a similar kill to the one seen in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, where Ezio will reach up, stab an enemy and throw him off the building towards the ground below. He will also be able to stealth kill enemies while in hide spots, such as bundles of hay, but this might expose his position to the enemies. However, the most unique assassination technique seen so far, is definitely one that appeared in the E3 demo and features as one of the benefits of having two hidden blades. Ezio will be able to sneak up on two enemies, standing close together, proceeding to stab both in the throat (or back of the head) simultaneously for a double kill. It’s as awesome as it is humourous.

Ezio will also have a lot more abilities available to him such as being able to swim, which is definitely going to be interesting considering that Venice is filled with water. It not only provides an additional hide spot and escape route, but can also add to the stealth aspect of the game, as in being able to infiltrate certain areas from the waters. The climbing and platforming from Assassin’s Creed 1 returns as well as the famous Leap of Faith, but whether there are any changes or additions to them is unknown at this point. I can’t wait to find out more of the abilities Ezio will have, but unfortunately this is the end of the road.

From what I’ve seen so far, Assassin’s Creed 2′s graphics are looking completely incredible at this point. The city of Venice is filled with bright colours, impressive detail and real city life. I haven’t seen enough to give a full impression, but from what was shown at E3 the game is looking to be visually outstanding. The AI deserves a mention as well, as some of the improvements were also demonstrated at E3. Enemies are much more observant then they were in Assassin’s Creed 1, resulting in hide spots not being entirely safe anymore. Leap of Faith off a building, and a nearby guard might hear you landing in the hay, where he then will stroll over to investigate, poking around with his weapon. Luckily, you can take him out while inside the hay, but you’ll have to be extra careful not to be seen. A second example of the AI was when Ezio was sitting on a bench and a soldier proceeded to walk past. He actually stopped to take a look at Ezio and then, beginning to recognise him, tried to peek under his hood. Fortunately, you will be able to stealth kill the enemy in this situation as well.

Overall, Assassin’s Creed 2 is looking like it’s going to be a definite winner. The game really looks to have it all this time, with promise of more variety, enhanced enemy AI, more weapons, abilities & assassination techniques, stunning visuals and an intriguing and engaging plot. Assassin’s Creed 2 will be released on the 17th of November this year on PC, PS3 and Xbox360. Look out for more updates and a full preview in the coming weeks.

Interesting Facts

• Altair (the protagonist from Assassin’s Creed 1) means “The Flying” or “Bird of Prey” in Arabic. Ezio, from Assassin’s Creed 2, means “Bird of Prey” in Italian. It was admitted in an interview that as soon as the meaning of “Ezio” was discovered, it was appointed as the main character’s name to continue the trend from the first game.
• What was shown at the E3 demo has been claimed to be “just a short sample” of what’s really in store for you in Assassin’s Creed 2. Now that sounds interesting.
• Desmond Miles will feature in every Assassin’s Creed game. You, the player, will discover links between Altair and Ezio during Assassin’s Creed 2, but will also learn more of where Ezio comes from by playing Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines on the PSP. The PSP title is a backdrop to the story, but still remains important, as it continues Altair’s adventures.
• Ezio, unlike Altair, was said to be a “ladies man” as in he likes to be around women.
• There will be about 100 main story missions in Assassin’s Creed 2 as well as an additional 100 side missions.

Special Announcement for: saidin

• Jade Raymond is the executive producer for Assassin’s Creed 2. You can check out the interview below for more information on the game as well as proof: