Hands On: Assassin’s Creed 2

Like most EA games in attendance Ubisoft wasn’t letting anyone with a camcorder anywhere near Assassin’s Creed 2, however it was playable and after queuing up for a good 30 minutes I sat down with Ubisoft Montreal’s latest offering. The first thing you’ll notice is that it looks awfully similar to the original – sure it’s a bit more polished but when you’re up against the likes of Uncharted 2, looking like Miss World 2007 just doesn’t cut it!

I only got to try out the one mission on the floor so I can’t comment on repetition (if there is any), that said the studio have listened to the feedback given and seemed to have improved upon a lot of the games core mechanics. The fighting has been significantly improved, you can disarm and kill your enemies with their own weapons and we were also told that multiple enemies will attack you at once in the final build – apparently. This feature wasn’t present in the game we played but I guess I’ll have to take the reps word for it!

You’ll feel right at home if you ever picked up the first game, jumping between rooftops and scaling buildings feels more fluid than ever, Ezio’s combo’s improve over Altaïr’s basic moveset and your able to deliver some pretty good blows with your fists. The guards present more of a challenge this time around as well, so don’t expect escaping them to be a walk in the park.

There are now shops where you can spend the money you earn or steal on various weapons, repairs, amour and ammo, these upgrades can come in handy at times and gives some variation to how you go about certain missions. Thieves can be hired at the press of a button to lure out watching guards while you sneak in the back door unnoticed. Not only does it feel awesome to hide out until the coast is clear but it adds a strategic element to the open world game type.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is shaping up to give 2009 the strength it needs to go out with a bang, I just wish the sequel had taken a graphical leap although the version we played was said to have been an old build. I guess we’ll have to wait until mid November to find out if the game’s packing anything more up its sleeve than a hidden blade.