I can't wait for this. Imagine a nice multiplayer with it, sneaking around, climbing buildings then jumping on your opponent to kill them. Silent and deadly, that'd be awesome.
I read the Game Informer piece last night and it appears Ubisoft is going crazy with adding more diversity to the missions. Which is great to read cause I got so bored with the repetitive nature of the 1st game that I never finished it.
the part about being able to take an opponent's weapon and use it against him is exciting, and having BOTH hidden blades available by default, without having to 'choose' to use them.
i've found some unconfirmed reports that besides venice, florence, and the tuscany countryside, the vatican and/or rome will be the fourth location in the game (similar to how masyaf, acre, jerusalem, and damascus were all connected by the "kingdom").
that's what it says according to the wikipedia entry, but the link it provides as a source doesn't list it (unless it's mentioned in the video). i must have missed it in the GI article.
The Vatican and Roma could probably be their own game. I can't wait to see what then game looks like.
I think the plusses will far outweigh the minuses. One of my biggest quibbles with the original was the lack of variation in the side-quest, but it seems they've rectified that in this installment.
The official trailer is up ... looks amazing, too bad my speakers don't work. http://assassinscreed.us.ubi.com/assassins-creed-2/
told it'll have guns ... not sure if the trailer reflects that. a friend is at e3 and was at the unveil thingy.
Yeah, Ezio turns some switch/knob thing on his concealed blade to turn it into a projectile. He chases down his mark, then grows suspicious when the guy won't move from the archway (as there are guards hiding on both sides). -EDIT- Some gameplay as well ... [ame="http://www.gametrailers.com/player/50252.html"]Assassin's Creed 2 Video Game, E3 09: Conference Gameplay | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com[/ame]
I haven't watched the trailer yet - just the presentation from E3 - and that looked awesome. I loved the crowd reaction to the double-assassination move. Jade Raymond is listed as an EP for this game; they need to have her out there doing promo work. That girl is fine.
Assassin's Creed II: Lineage Movies http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-videogames23-2009jul23,0,5232624.story Q&A with Yannis Mallat and Jade Raymond: http://assassinscreed.us.ubi.com/assassins-creed-2/community_news/?p=912
I wonder if the short films are going to be used to promote the game, or as a separate product to buy. I regret this now; I just stumbled across some stupid internet ugliness from when AC was released about Jade Raymond. She's pretty. I'm attracted to her; I like pretty girls. When they are technically competent, it's an additional plus. But the purchase decision about the game doesn't depend on how attractive the producers are. I'm wondering if we aren't seeing much Jade because of the nastiness directed toward her when AC came out. If so, that's unfortunate (for a lot of reasons).
Didn't she say she wanted to take a break after the release of AC? Perhaps that's why she's taken on a more limited role in the release of the sequel. I do think she might have gotten tired of all the "what's it like to be an attractive woman in such a male dominated industry" type questions. I don't think I've read or seen an AC interview with her that didn't have one of those types of questions.
New AC2 gameplay footage ... http://www.gamespot.com/showcases/ubisoft?sid=6216725 The game will be released on Nov 17th.
Between Mass Effect 2 (early 2010), The Force Unleashed on PC (16th of September 2009), FIFA 2010 (beginning of October I believe), MW2 (November 10th) and this, it'll be an interested and busy couple of months for me gaming wise. (As a side-note, is Kirsten Bell reprising her voicing role in the sequel?)
Assassin's Creed Lineage (First Episode) [ame="http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/assassinscreed2/video/6238370/assassins-creed-lineage-first-episode?hd=1"]GameSpot Video: Assassin's Creed Lineage First Episode[/ame]
MW2 seems to be taking all the immediate spotlight, but we can't forget that AC2 will follow up a week later. A decent article from the CBC News Technology & Science section lauding the "home made" game. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/11/09/ubisoft-montreal-assassins-creed.html
It seems to me from the interviews that they've addressed what didn't work in the first game, and built on the stuff that did. ACI was flawed, but still very enjoyable. I really loved how the game wove it's story into actual historical people and events. I'm going to enjoy running around on the rooftops of Venice.