The latest trailer has shown an even more interactive world for all your free-running needs. One particular clip impressed me specifically - the new main character Ezio dropping from a building and swinging around a corner on a hanging flower pot. This may not sound impressive, but it conveys the ease and flow of free-running that we can expect from ACII. Unlike in AC, the newest instalment looks to allow curved paths around the cities whereas achieving this feat in the original was difficult at best.
Another level of interactivity is outlined in a small clip of our hero leaping viewpoint-style into a river. Swimming? Yes, swimming. This may again seem like a small feature, but it adds to the variety of escape options - something AC seemed to have a lack of.
Although Ubisoft have obviously tried to address the gameplay problems outlined in the original Assassin's Creed, it fills me with doubt that there has yet been a mention about major assassinations. One problem for me in the original was that I put a lot of work into completing missions to gain information about my target, only to find that not a lot of it really mattered at all. Without exception, the target was always most easily killed through a straight up slice-and-dice method, then a run-for-your-life-and-find-a-roof-garden escape plan. I have seen little so far to suggest that this will change at all - which is slightly worrying.
Another thing that worries me is the lack of mention of audio. I don't know about you, but after a couple of hours of hearing "What is he doing?" and "He's going to hurt himself!" I feel like slicing my own throat. It really is little things like this that make a game these days, no-one wants to be perpetually bugged by silly lines playing over and over - no matter how sad they are.
However, the biggest worry of mine over this game is whether or not Assassin's Creed II will discard it's predecessor and have actually developed even a shade of re-playability.
This was my biggest problem with the original, the fact that there was no way in hell I would go through all that again. For starters, you have to entirely start a level again if you want to go back and collect flags or visit viewpoints. That really annoyed me. Just the ability to go back and get collectables would be sufficient to extend the life of what was - in essence - an abysmally short game. If i think back to my favourite games of the last ten years, each one of them had at least 60 hours of gameplay before it reached trade-in. Assassin's Creed didn't even make a quarter of that. I sincerely hope that Ubisoft have addressed the re-playability issue so that I can continue to enjoy what is an excellent concept!
After all, who doesn't want to play the assassin?
Excitement Rating: A dream or two.
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