Assasins Creed 2 Coming To Stores November 17, 2009

Bad News:

According to Connected Consoles, Ubisoft confirmed at the Eurogamer Expo that it has no plans to make a demo of Assassin’s Creed 2 available before its full launch on November 17.

It seems odd that Ubisoft won’t increase excitement about the highly anticipated title by letting players get a taste of the Renaissance setting and new combat moves.

When we got hands-on with Assassin’s Creed 2, we were really impressed with it. So why not let us have a taster?

Info on game:

Assassin's Creed II takes place in an open world with nonlinear gameplay, allowing the player to free roam within the four cities: Venice, Rome, Florence, and the Tuscan countryside and acquire weapons which the character may buy from vendors at will. Also available is colored dye used to change the color of the player-character's outfit. An article published in Game Informer revealed that Assassin's Creed II will grant the player the ability to swim and use the canals of Venice as hiding spots and will allow the player to drag city guards into the water as a means of assassination.^[1] At E3 2009, it was confirmed by the creative director that Ezio will be able to "drive small boats". A young Leonardo da Vinci is present in the game, as an aid to the player who provides a host of weapons and contraptions available for use.^[1] At one point in the game, the player can access da Vinci's flying machine which he actually built, keeping airborne using thermals from fires lit by friends gathered previously in the game.^[1] The game will feature a host of new mission types for the player to complete.^[1]

ScrewAttack revealed that there will be many weapons included in the game such as halberds, axes, long pikes, swords, daggers, and numerous others.^[11] Six additional weapons can be unlocked by players who completed Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines by linking their PSP to their PS3. Additionally, the player can disarm opponents and use their own weapons against them.^[1] The game is stated to have a much more sophisticated combat system; the player will have to use a variety of tactics on different enemies and – as demonstrated in E3 2009 demo – can now assassinate two people at once by means of Ezio's dual hidden blades. The player will also be able to automatically commit a stealth kill if the player is positioned correctly in proximity to the target and if Ezio remains anonymous without having to select the hidden blades. The poison blade is another one of the hidden blade upgrades that Ezio will get from da Vinci.

The developers said that while in Assassin's Creed there were around 5-6 misson types, there are around 14-16 misson types in Assassin's Creed II. This makes for bigger missions altogether, as a mission may start as an escort mission, then become a chase mission, and then end as an assassination mission. The structure of missions from Assassin's Creed is taken away, so there is no more investigating, as missions are available from people on the street and people met in the game. There are roughly 200 missions in this game; one hundred are part of the main narrative, while the other hundred are side quests.

The health system has been adjusted to allow for a more dynamic and participatory experience, meaning that the "memory sync" system used in the first game only helps to recharge health up to a certain point.^[1] More grievous injuries will require a trip to one of the many street-side doctors, who can help return Ezio to full strength.^[1]

As well as using water as a hiding place, the player can utilize a broader array of scenery as cover and can now blend in with any crowd rather than a group of scholars dressed in white, as in Assassin's Creed.^[1] Like in the 2006 video game Hitman: Blood Money, there will be a notoriety system, and the player will become more notorious as Ezio completes more missions, however Ezio's infamy can be reduced by bribing, removing wanted posters of him or assassinating witnesses.^[1] Also, a day and night cycle has been added to the game, giving the sense of a passage of time but additionally certain missions will only be able to be performed during the day or night .^[1] The game will feature some sort of economic system that makes it possible to hire services from non-player characters (NPCs). Ezio can steal from any of the NPCs, and likewise there are NPCs who can also steal from Ezio. The player can also use money to buy tools made by Leonardo da Vinci.^[12]

Besides the main city of the game, the player can access hidden locations such as catacombs and caves, the contents of which have been compared by the developers to the Prince of Persia series. Exploring these locations rewards the player. It has also been said that the player can choose to throw money to the ground, which attracts the attention of nearby civilians, creating a distraction. Additionally, the eagle vision from the first game has been improved, now giving the option of remaining in third person with eagle vision initiated, allowing the player to spot targets while moving.

The animus has also been updated in Assassin's Creed II. This time, it will have a database, giving extra information about all the key locations, characters and services that the player will encounter during play. For example, when the player approaches a famous church - like Santa Maria Novella in Florence - with a simple button press, its history is revealed.

The trailer, which debuted at E3 2009, displayed many new things such as improved parkour mechanics. The main reveal of the trailer involved Ezio withdrawing his hidden blade to access a rudimentary gunpowder-based mechanic on his wristblade to take out a target from a distance. It has also been confirmed at E3 2009 that Desmond himself will "do more than just walk" in this game. Another feature, as seen in the gameplay video, no cover is safe, as guards can search them. To counter this Ezio has the ability to assassinate the incoming guards before detection, and placing the bodies in his former hiding location (he drags them into haystacks, places dead enemies on the bench he was sitting at between two allies etc).^[13] Another aspect revealed in the gameplay trailer was the addition of "smoke bombs" to aid in Ezio's escape.

Another new feature in Assassin's Creed II is the economy system which allows players to use an in-game currency to purchase items such as poison bottles, armor and swords.^{[citation needed]}

 Plot

While not much is known of the plot yet, it has been confirmed that the player will assume the role of a young nobleman-turned-assassin named Ezio Auditore da Firenze. In an interview with Patrice Desilets, the game's creative director, it was revealed that Ezio's father, Giovanni, a banker and secretly an assassin, as well as two of his brothers have been executed; thus, the essence of the plot is to get revenge on the rival families that murdered them while Ezio watches over his mother and sister.^[14] Like Altaïr in the first game, Ezio is an ancestor of Desmond Miles, the modern day bartender who was captured by Abstergo, with Ezio himself being a descendant of Altaïr.^[15]

A hands-on exclusive at GameSpot revealed part of Desmond's plot. The game picks off immediately after the events of Assassin's Creed. Desmond and a fellow assassin Lucy Stillman escape from the lab to a nearby warehouse where Stillman reveals she and a new team have been working on a new device, the Animus 2.0. Desmond will view the memories of Ezio through the new machine. The hands-on also revealed that Ezio owns a small villa, which will act as a home space, but can be upgraded to include churches, shops and brothels. As well as Ezio and his family, non-player characters can pay taxes to reside at the villa.

The game takes place in late 15th century, early 16th century, Italy during the Renaissance, approximately three hundred years after the first game. ^[11] Like Assassin's Creed, characters based on historical figures will be present in the game including Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, Caterina Sforza, Lorenzo de' Medici, the Pazzi Family and Pope Alexander VI.^[11] Unlike Altaïr, whose ring finger was amputated in order to accommodate use of his hidden blade, Ezio's has not; his finger bears a ring displaying his family crest. This was made possible by just one of numerous technical advances made by his close friend – Leonardo da Vinci – who helps Ezio throughout the course of the game.^[16]

Locations mentioned as being in the game thus far included Venice^[1], Florence^[1], Rome^[1], the Tuscan countryside^[1], San Gimignano^[17] and Forlì.^[17] Specific landmarks include St Mark's Basilica^[1], the Grand Canal^[1], the Little Canal^[1], the Rialto Bridge^[1], Santa Maria del Fiore^[17], Santa Croce^[17], Palazzo Vecchio^[17], Ponte Vecchio^[17] and Santa Maria Novella.^[17]

 Development

Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot officially confirmed that Assassin's Creed II was in development on November 26, 2008 during the company's financial performance report.^[18] This was followed by Michael Pachter speculating in GameTrailers' "Bonus Round" that game would change its setting to the events of the French Revolution, which turned out to be false.^[19]

A promotional video was released by Ubisoft on April 6 showing a skull, some hidden blade designs, and Leonardo's flying machine on a scroll.^[20]

On April 16, Game Informer magazine released details of the game, including pictures of Ezio,^[15] a new teaser trailer^[21] was released, and the game was "officially" announced by Ubisoft.^[10]

In an interview, in May 2009, Sebastien Puel stated that the development team working on Assassin's Creed II had increased to 450 members, and the development team's size had tripled since the first game.^[22]

On June 1, 2009, Ubisoft released a new 4-minute cinematic Assassin's Creed II trailer at E3.^[23] On June 2, 2009, Ubisoft revealed the first live gameplay demo lasting 6 minutes at the Sony Press Conference.^[24] GameTrailers features an exclusive developer walkthrough from E3 2009. In an interview with GameTrailers Ubisoft Montreal creative director Patrice Desilets stated Desmond would be doing more than walking around and discovering clues.^[25]

It was announced at the Assassin's Creed panel at Comic Con 2009 that a mini-series of three episodes would be released showing the events leading up to the game and the history of Ezio and his father.

It was revealed that the humorist Danny Wallace will be voicing a new character in Assassin's Creed II by the name of Shaun Hastings, a sarcastic historian assisting Desmond. The character's face will also be modeled after him^[26]. Actress Kristen Bell will be returning for the character of Lucy Stillman.^[27] The game was originally due to be released at the same time on all the three platforms, but Ubisoft announced on September 24, 2009 via Twitter that the PC version would be delayed to the first quarter of 2010 in order to have "a bit more time for the dev team to deliver the best quality game".^[9]

On October 26 2009, the Assassin's Creed II Achievements list for the Xbox 360 version of the game, which was to be secret until release, was leaked on the Internet. There is a total of 50 achievements that count for 1000 GamerScore Points^[28]

 Promotion

On October 20, 2009 Ubisoft announced an upcoming series of short movies to be broadcast via YouTube that will provide additional back story and the introduction of some of the characters found in the game. The shorts, called Assassin's Creed: Lineage will come in three parts and is being developed by Ubisoft’s Hybride Technologies who have previously worked on the films 300 and Sin City. The Lineage films are intended to focus upon Ezio's father, Giovanni Auditore da Firenze and are to be a mixture of live-action and computer generated imagery. The first of the films was released on October 27, 2009, and was available exclusively on YouTube for 24 hours.^[29]

 Reception

In an exclusive review by Official Xbox Magazine, Assassin's Creed II scored 9/10. Its second review was a perfect score from the Official PlayStation Magazine US.^[9]

 Limited editions

Several different limited editions of Assassin's Creed II will be released. The "Black" limited edition release is packaged with an Ezio figurine who is garbed in an upgraded black Assassin cloak which Ezio earns in the advanced stages of the game. Included are 3 bonus missions and a "conspiracy book" giving details of the plot. An additional DVD containing the game's soundtrack, behind the scenes information and more will also be included. The "White" limited edition release is packaged with one bonus mission, and an Ezio figurine in his standard white Assassin cloak.^[30] "Master Assassin's Edition" is the North American limited edition, which will include the white-cloaked Ezio figurine, two in-game maps, an art book and an additional DVD containing the game's soundtrack, behind the scenes information and more. ^[31]