Assassins Creed 2

[Treedude]

Anyone got this yet? I've rented it from Lovefilm, expecting it to be waiting for me when I get back tonight, just wondering if anyones played it yet and has any early impressions.

It's most definitely come at a bad time, my call of duty time will be getting seriously hammered for the next week or so, but all the reviews i've read so far seem to be saying that it's brilliant and they've pretty much improved upon every aspect of the last game (which I was a big fan of). Anyone got any other thoughts?

 

[pinpower]

I was litterally just contemplating going and buying this today, if I've got enough cash left after rent goes out I probably will...I really liked the last one (even if it was a bit repetitive)

especially as my Internet has been playing up the last few days meaning my cod time has been limited.

 

[Hobbezak]

Same, very much looking forward to getting it, although I don't know if it's out for pc yet or not.
TO THE GOOGLEMOBILE!

edit: Apparently the PC version is for next year. :'(

 

[Dark_Angel]

My play.com review of the first Assassins Creed

Insane.
Ubisoft Montreal have created what at first glance appears to be the best gaming "world" since Oblivion.

Ok, the graphics are nice - in parts. But in all honesty the graphics are the only nice thing about this game.
So much more should have been done with it. It's too short, the missions are horribly tedious and very repetative. Also, the game is easy - a monkey could be trained to use the one-button combat system.
Basically this game, though nice in parts, is over-hyped and over-rated. Not enough content, not enough difficulty and nowhere near enough life-span.
Dissapointment.

For that reason I will very unlikely be buying the game, at least at full RRP. From what I've heard the combat system is still exactly the same (i.e a small number of well-timed orchestrated button presses that are fascinating for about 15 minutes before you realise you aren't really fighting).

If anyone does get this please let me know if any of my cons are addressed in the second game, as I genuinely loved the fresh graphics in the first. The gameplay was simply crap, though.

I don't think anyone who has found themselves loving the sheer epicness of Oblivion can honestly say Assassins Creed was any good. The world was nowhere near as big, you couldn't enter any of the buildings. Yet, this game was developed a couple of years after Oblivion.

Also - another ridiculously crap aspect of the first game was these "Mini-missions" you had to do. Save a woman from someone roughing her up. Only to complete the task and find her brothers, all 5 of em, were standing not 2 metres away from where she was being attacked. Failllllllllll.

 

[marvin]

My play.com review of the first Assassins Creed

Insane.
Ubisoft Montreal have created what at first glance appears to be the best gaming "world" since Oblivion.

Ok, the graphics are nice - in parts. But in all honesty the graphics are the only nice thing about this game.
So much more should have been done with it. It's too short, the missions are horribly tedious and very repetative. Also, the game is easy - a monkey could be trained to use the one-button combat system.
Basically this game, though nice in parts, is over-hyped and over-rated. Not enough content, not enough difficulty and nowhere near enough life-span.
Dissapointment.

<3 quicktime events

 

[Treedude]

The review that I read made the same points as you about the first one DA (although they didn't seem to dislike it quite as much as you, general ideas were the same tho) and they came to the conclusion that they'd pretty much sorted most of the shame out. Said the repetetive mini-missions were now not so repetetive and actually just felt like a natural/organic progression of the story. There's a fair whack of new features as well (including a mini city building sim type thing, you get to rebuild your family's town and get discounts in the shops and that).

As I said hoping to have it waiting for me when I get home tonight so will hopefully be able to post up my first impressions of it tomorrow morning

 

[Bobbin]

Can't wait to get it. Really can't wait. Assassins Creed is probably one of my favourite games ever.

Oh, and Oblivion was utter ****.

 

[Dark_Angel]

This says different, Bobbino

 

[CrimsonFury88]

Having played a good hour or so of the game (and having previously owned the first game), my comments are as follows:

1) The world is as incredible as in the first, graphically and interactively.

2) There is a much more "in-depth" combat system. I disagree with the "1 button mashing" remark of earlier, as you find when fighting against the likes of Crusaders you need to make use of blocks and evades to fight effectively. AC2 features mobs that can be "recruited". You target a group of whores, thieves, street thugs, etc etc and pay a set fee to have them follow you to help you "blend" or to go off and attack/distract guards. It's all been improved, right from "throwing coins" to gather the common people to get in the way of guards, to being able to pick up and move/hide dead bodies (depending on what you want to do).

3) Everything is more "Personal". -You- are your own assassin. Yes, you have the role of Ezio to play, but you make him into what you want him to be. You buy health potions, new armor, new weapons etc etc...

4) "Notoriety" has been improved. If you're a notorious killer and commit public acts of indecency often, "wanted posters" are put up, and the local speakers will talk of your sins. This in turn affects a guards behaviour towards you, so you can tear them down to reduce notoriety.

5) You have a "stronghold", which, although I've not got to yet, I believe you can build up in a way that you want to... It has a "value" apparantely, and you can buy paintings and things for it.. So I assume it's a bit like a families House like in the Godfather series of games.

It's a much more "interesting" game than the first.. And there has been a lot less "in and out" like in the first game. The back and forth between Desmond and Altair annoyed me immensely, but so far, I've only had one instance of Desmond being active, and the rest has been as Ezio. The story so far has been top notch and I see only signs of it getting better.

EDIT: Now you can swim!! How could I forget that. EASILY one of the best changes they've made to the game. I hated dying because Altair "couldnt swim".

 

[Treedude]

Well my night last night involved getting in from work, seeing this game waiting for me and proceeding to sit in my seat playing it until I had to go to bed.

I pretty much agree with everything said in the review above by CrimsonFury, and overall it is absolutely awesome in my opinion

As he says the new world is phenomenal, the graphics are actually unbelievable and the switches from gameplay to cutscene are seamless and you still have some control during a fair few of cutscenes as well. It has a very film-like feel, literally looks like an animated film that you're controlling the outcome of. Very impressed by the sheer scale of the game, your first views of each town being built up in the Animus is glorious, some truly stunning settings

There is still a bit of the repetition of missions but as I mentioned in an earlier post it doesn't seem to be as formulaic and is integrated well to fit into the story so all these mini missions do feel neccessary in terms of the story rather than "i'm doing this because if I don't the game won't let me carry on"

Only thing I can add really is that I have got to the stronghold that you can build up and it's quite well done.
Basically the town is a mess, you can either restore shops (Tailor, Art Shop, Blacksmith and Bank) by upto 3 levels (each level costing more of course) but with each level you get a larger discount in the shop (except the bank, that just increases the value of the town quite heavily).
Then there's also other things that just need to be restored once (Mine, Thieves guild, barracks, church, brothel etc) and each one you restore increases the value of your town. Now the town has a chest which collects income (income increases as town value increases) every 20 minutes but it can only hold a certain amount (also increases as the town value goes up). So basically it just builds up as you go about your missions, then make a short trip back to collect and renovate some more stuff and then go off while the coffers fill up

Swimming is handy as well, should make for some very sneaky assassinations. Oh also there are 3 new techniques for killing people and as was said above, plenty of new tactics to use for distractions etc. The game could still be 'repetetive' like the last one but there are so many options for how to do things that it's only going to be like that if that's how you chose to play, all the choice is there for you to make, you aren't forced to do it any one way

 

[Mattheus]

Question to people who've played it: Is it important to have played the first one storyline wise?

 

[Treedude]

Not particularly, there's only a few key elements that you need to know really. Essentially it's Assassins vs Templars through the ages, you play a bartender who is descended from Assassins, and there's this crazy idea of genetic memory so using this device (Animus) they can access the memory and you relive it through your ancestors eyes (hence the games being mainly played out in historical periods).

Basically it's just Templars want to take over the world, you're trying to stop them Although obviously it's a little more complicated than that, various conspiracies etc but to be honest I can't remember much of the actual story of the first one (as in the story in the Animus as opposed to the overall plot) so it can't have been that important lol. Also they give you a very short overview/explanation at the start of the game which gives you most of the important stuff

 

[CrimsonFury88]

ROFL.

Rob.. When you're defending your family upon escaping the city....

"Don't you recognise me? It's a me... MARIO!"

Shameful, but I can't stop laughing haha.

 

[Treedude]

Haha aye I laughed at that as well, such a cheap laugh for the developers but you can't help yourself. I like to think of it as a tribute to the great moustachioed plumber.

Have now almost fully restored my town and I am still loving the game, waiting til I've finished the town then I will be taking full advantage of those discounts, get myself some swanky new armour and weapons

 

[Alcibiades]

Loving hte game so far, rented it last night and have only put it down for my 4 hour work shift

Will report more later, but Crimson Fury and Treedude seem to have summed it up quite accurately so far

 

[Treedude]

Yeah I've pretty much been playing it non stop when I'm not sleeping/at work, absolutely loving it.

Definitely much improved on the last game, can't just use the old block counter maneuver to kill everyone anymore, they all deal with the counter pretty well once you get to Venice, gotta find other ways around it. Currently I'm using a fast sword and the dodge technique you learn, bloody awesome, but even that they seem to have adapted to fairly quickly, will have to start using something different soon. Grabbing and throwing guys seems to be a fairly reliable avenue, you do really have to keep it mixed up tho, especially for the harder guards, got absolutely creamed by one with a javelin last night, he managed to back me into a corner and stabbed the living daylights out of me

 

[BeakY]

javelin man is easy just low profile dodge then grab/throw into the wall and slash half his life away in one sword sweep.


The game is great (if a little repetitive at times), the side missions are fun and rewarding even though some are blatantly impossible :lol: (10 guards in 1 min, 5 of which are brutes!? i mean what, rent some thugs and double assassination from above then mini-pistol and i doubt u could beat them)

hows your statue hunt/seal hunt going TD?

 

[pinpower]

Gonna definitely be buying this tomoro, my internet has got so bad that i cant really play MW2 atm so need something to distract me!!!

 

[Treedude]

hows your statue hunt/seal hunt going TD?

got 4 of the seals I think, only 2 statues but havent really been looking out for them. earning a fair whack from the villa now so just buying everything i can lay my hands on, will go looking for the statues later on prob, when I get bored of going through the story

 

[pinpower]

Bought it this afternoon and have barely stopped playing it...wow...amazing!!!

Nuff said