Ubisoft: No demo for Assassin’s Creed 2

If I recall correctly, the first Assassin’s Creed game did not get a demo released to the public either, and it seems that Ubisoft are continuing the newly established trend. Recently, a spokesman for Ubisoft confirmed that there will be no demo for Assassin’s Creed 2. So you won’t be able to “try before you buy” until the game is released, which will be on the 17th of November. Personally though, I think that demos are never, ever clear indications of the final product. Ultimately, hardly anything good comes out of them, because they either leave you thoroughly disappointed or get your expectations too high. I mean, sometimes even a bad demo turns out to be a fantastic game, examples being Killzone 2 and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune – when I played those demos (back in my noob days) I was completely unimpressed and lost interest in both titles, but once I got down and played both of them, I discovered they both were incredible and, then and there, realised that demos will never ever be able to do the final product justice, whether it be good or bad.

Take a game like Mirror’s Edge, for another example. When I played that demo I thought it was an awesome idea for a game and I had a great deal of fun, but when the final game came along I was bored within four hours. However I cut Mirror’s Edge some slack because it was an experiment, and experiments generally learn from their mistakes, and besides, Mirror’s Edge was by no means bad, it was actually a great attempt for a first try. All I’m saying with the above is that demos should not be the judge, or even a deciding factor, of whether or not you purchase a game. Sure you can argue that demos give you an idea of what to expect and allow you to become accustomed to the game’s controls, feel and style, but in the end, I think that they just cause more harm than good.

So, before I end up typing an encyclopedia or, more appropriately, a Wikipedia entry, I’ll stop here. Assassin’s Creed 2 will be released on the 17th of November 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox360 – and if you haven’t heard yet, just a reminder that the PC version was delayed to Q1 (the first quarter) of 2010. There will be no demo for the game.
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- Azhar “Tody” Amien (click to email me if you have any questions)