Comments on: Assassin’s Creed 2: First Impressions

By: George Gumpert

George Gumpert — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:49:37 +0000

yeah, the first one had a way of getting boring, yet it was strangely addicting despite that. It had such a great concept, but seemed to fumble on the execution. AC2 seems to have gotten the execution just right.

I think part of the reason the first one was so boring was because a lot of the gameplay mechanics were the same at the end of the game as they were at the beginning. I've already put 5 hours in, and have only gotten 2 assassination targets, and am still getting more new core features to play with. Even so, there is plenty to distract you from your core mission if you get bored with it, however the addition of a good storyline has made following the main storyline much more enjoyable.

By: Doryan Algarra

Doryan Algarra — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:30:58 +0000

I'm gonna give it a chance, although the first AC started great then got real boring real quick. Hopefully they've learned that good looks aren't everything.

By: David Chevalier

David Chevalier — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:54:21 +0000

Ooo, I love Assassin's Creed – this and Modern Warfare 2 are at the top of my list.

By: George Gumpert

George Gumpert — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:49:37 +0000

By: Doryan Algarra

Doryan Algarra — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:30:58 +0000

I'm gonna give it a chance, although the first AC started great then got real boring real quick. Hopefully they've learned that good looks aren't everything.

By: David Chevalier

David Chevalier — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:54:21 +0000

Ooo, I love Assassin's Creed – this and Modern Warfare 2 are at the top of my list.

By: George Gumpert

George Gumpert — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:18:23 +0000

I found that Assassin's Creed (the first one), like most sand box games, gets as repetitive as you let it. There are two parts to a good sandbox game: Letting the player do whatever they want, and providing them with the tools and, more importantly, motivation to do so. It's all too easy to fall into "this is what works, so I'll keep doing it that way." I can honestly say I only did one assassination in the original AC the "right" way, and it was the most rewarding part of that game.

Having said that, the original game didn't do much to convince the player to try anything new. It pretty much let you fumble without consequence. If you were caught, you were pretty much a god in combat, so it didn't matter. While Ezio slowly becomes godlike in combat, the new game does give you motivation to try things in different ways, and gives you a lot of different goals (both long and short term) to distract you should the main quest line get boring. For example, last night I just learned that one of the side missions involves rebuilding the city and restoring the Auditore family's prestige.

As far as assassinations go, they removed the research element of it (that most people just ignored anyway), and instead let you go about your business your own way. I agree the original was a game of research-research-kill, that did get old after a while. Research has been completely removed from this game, but it is actually stronger for it. In its place is a ton of other content but a compelling enough story to keep you moving it forward.

Check it out when you get a chance. It definitely offers a hell of a lot more than Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, or any of these woefully short, charge-$60-for-5-hours-of-content-and-a-multiplayer-engine games.

By: ethanquin

ethanquin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:57:49 +0000

I liked Assassin's Creed as much as many other sand box games out there, fun at the beginning, but the missions no matter how complex they try and make them still feel redundant after awhile. I might get around to Assassin's Creed 2 sometime in the next couple of months but I am in no rush.