Assassin's Creed II

[apsham]

I assume there isn't a topic on this for the sole reason that everyone is either;

a) out of money

b) currently playing the game

I had a really hard time putting it down and this is from someone who usually can't stand more than three hours of ANYTHING no matter how much I'm into it. I hated the first game after the first few hours.. nothing gripped me. The setting, the way the story was done, the actual assassinations sucked and everything outside of advancing the story was vanilla and boring as fuck. However, hours and hours into this one there's still new shit coming at me and about 50 things I'm progressively working on. Movement seems smoother, settings are far more varied and the way you interact with crowds is top notch.

Cheers to Ubisoft for flat out stating they knew where the problems were and ironing them out.

[Lint]

Just two questions will sell me on this game..

1. Is there the same pointless travelling like there was in the first one? I remember they said that machine would "focus only on the neccesary memories" or something..yet wondered why travelling all that distance between cities was deemed neccesary or important. I hated that and it totally turned me off to the game.

2. Do you get spotted if you walk/ride past guards faster then a turtle? Again, something that just got on my nerves. It seemed like if you walked or rode your horse any faster then a snails pace, you'd hear "Its the assassin!" and would get chased. Hated that too

If those two things are different...then it might sell me on this game

[KevinStorm]

Is the combat easier than "hold down two buttons, press a third button at the right time" in this one? I can't finish the first because that makes it so boring.

[apsham]

Just two questions will sell me on this game..

1. Is there the same pointless travelling like there was in the first one? I remember they said that machine would "focus only on the neccesary memories" or something..yet wondered why travelling all that distance between cities was deemed neccesary or important. I hated that and it totally turned me off to the game.

2. Do you get spotted if you walk/ride past guards faster then a turtle? Again, something that just got on my nerves. It seemed like if you walked or rode your horse any faster then a snails pace, you'd hear "Its the assassin!" and would get chased. Hated that too

If those two things are different...then it might sell me on this game

1. There are some areas outside of each city, some extended countryside so you can get like.. a small walled town in before the city or some farm land.. however now there is fast travel any place you can pick up a horse outside the city gates, and there's also a message once you get so far that states "You are now enterting ___" and you confirm.. and now you're on that map. It really works out awesome and if you find yourself in the middle of no where, they usually stash a horse somewhere to get you to the houses/people fast.

2. It works out a lot better now. You don't have to walk/pray everywhere you go.. hell you can run full speed past people and not catch attention, you can even do it past guards most times.. except when your noterity is high. That's when people see you doing stupid shit that an assassin shouldn't do, and guards will notice you quicker and will be more suspicious of your activites as that meter goes up. However, it's really easy to bring it down.. all you have to do is a) rip down your wanted posters b) bribe the town criers to shut up about you or c) kill a city official because.. they have it coming. Horse riding is the same.. don't go really fast because you're going to knock people over and raise suspicion.. but going at a steady trot is considered normal.

Is the combat easier than "hold down two buttons, press a third button at the right time" in this one? I can't finish the first because that makes it so boring.

It's pretty slick; there's more than just swords now as you can pick up war hammers, different styles of swords.. knives instead of daggers as your secondary weapon, advanced combat with the wrist knives and awesome hand combat. It's pretty easy to do crowd control.. just focus on doing the counter attacks and you'll take them out almost everytime, but you can have some fun with it too. I've had some pretty epic rooftop sword battles because of this system and there are varying difficulties of enemies. I STILL don't think I've run through all the kill animations for the weapons that I have at the moment and it's realistic too. You attack a guy who is engaged with someone else, he's not going to magically turn around and block it. You go through through him and move onto the next guy. They're good to throw in a decent amount of guys so it isn't boring, too.

[Lint]

Oh good. I remember I lost my horse at one point...had to walk to the next city and do it while praying most of the time because there were guards everywhere. 10 minuntes into that, I said "Fuck this" turned off the game and never touched it again

[RoyWill Rumble]

I am in the A category, and it pisses me off because of the giant fuckton of games that have come out recently, this is probably the one I've been most hyped about aside from Dragon Age: Origins. I was weary, because the premise of the game is awesome, but quite frankly Assassin's Creed was alright at best. From reading reviews, though, the sequel seems amazing and I honestly don't know when I'll be able to play it.

I think a rental is at hand, and soon.

[King Ellis]

Is anyone using the new U-Play service whilst they play?

[apsham]

I'm doing it but I don't really understand it.. but even when I'm not online it's keeping track of shit.. I guess.

Care to explain what the hell it is?

[King Ellis]

As far as I can tell, it's an advancement of the achievement/trophy mechanic but specific to Ubisoft games. Actions in game will net you points, the difference being that those points can be used on in game content (levels, skins, weapons) and/or game themed content (dashboard themes, gamer pics etc). You don't have to use the points on that specific game either. You could earn them on ACII now and save them for say, Splinter Cell Conviction. The points are also usable across all platforms (360/PS3/PC) so if you played ACII on PS3 but had to jump to 360 for the exclusive Splinter Cell.

Some of the ACII stuff I heard of as being unlockable is a new in game area and the ability to hold extra throwing knives.

[apsham]

It lists it on the back of the manual as being five additional throwing knives, Altair's costume, access to your family's tomb and a dashboard theme. Interesting I guess.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

It's number 1 on my Christmas list from my family cos it's not out over here

Annoying as it was one of my most wanted this year, if not most.

[The Mask of Norro]

I'm buying gifts for so many people that despite me wanting this so damn bad, I can't get it for myself. This and Modern Warfare 2. This sucks

[Rocketbusta]

Haven't played as much of it as I'd like, but so far I'm enjoying it more than I did the first. Looking forward to getting a couple more hours in tonight after work.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Lousy Japan. They get EVERYTHING late (well nearly everything).

But hey! At least I can play mahjong and Japanese league baseball games on my PS3!

So that makes all four of Christmas wishlist games (AC2, MW2, PES10, WWE10) out in the UK but not available in Japan....Well Winning Eleven is but that's all Japanese.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Get FIFA then >_>

Or is that also going to take 4 months until it reaches there?

[zero]

After Smackdown, New Mario Bros., L4D2, MW2, and a bunch of Wii games I picked up on sale a couple weeks ago, I really don't have the time or money to play this, which is a damn shame because I'm hearing it's better than the original in every way.

[Mr Evil Guy]

i wants it; first one was badass - this one will surely be fancy

[Maxx]

After Smackdown, New Mario Bros., L4D2, MW2, and a bunch of Wii games I picked up on sale a couple weeks ago, I really don't have the time or money to play this, which is a damn shame because I'm hearing it's better than the original in every way.

Time to ask Kliq for a raise.

[King Ellis]

After Smackdown, New Mario Bros., L4D2, MW2, and a bunch of Wii games I picked up on sale a couple weeks ago, I really don't have the time or money to play this, which is a damn shame because I'm hearing it's better than the original in every way.

Time to ask Kliq for a raise.

Say hello to our newest staff member, NBT!

[Captain Eo]

I love that theres actually a coherent story this time around. And Da Vinci!