Assassin's Creed 2 Details Revealed

So long, Altair. Renaissance man Ezio Auditore de Firenze is the new star of Assassin's Creed, and he can swim, fly, and, thankfully, doesn't need to do pickpocketing or eavesdropping missions.

No more looking at the Assassin's Creed 2 teaser site upside down and sideways in the mirror, folks. Somebody who's friendly with Screw Attack has apparently gotten a hold of the newest issue of Game Informer, and they've spilled the beans on the sundry AC2 details within.

Let's start with the star of the show. Altair and his crusading ways are gone, replaced by a Florentine fellow by the name of Ezio Auditore de Firenze who, according to Game Informer, lost his family thanks to an old-fashioned Renaissance-style rivalry between two clans.

Maybe he's out for revenge, or maybe he just likes to kill people. In any case, he's got quite the arsenal to do the job: mechanized wrist blades (as seen in the teaser), as well as an axe, hammer, mace, spear, swords, a "spear axe" and some "smaller blades." Each weapon has a "special move," and if you get tired of using your own gear, you can disarm enemies and take their implements, which is neat.

Ezio's also much more mobile (and dandishly dressed as you can tell from the art to the right) than Altair: he can swim and also glide, using the presumably Da Vinci-designed glider we saw in the teaser. Horse-riding and tower-climbing (and hopefully tower diving) return in the game.

What don't return are a number of annoyances from the first game, most thankfully the omission of the pickpocketing and eavesdropping missions that precluded the actual assassinating and dragged down the gameplay for many folks. Missions themselves will also be getting a shot of variety as they'll come in 16 different types.

As rumored before, the game takes place in Venice, though it'll likely move beyond the confines of the city to other locales, with "the countryside of Tuscany" already confirmed. And since this is 1476 Venice after all, the all stars of the Renaissance are in full force here and seem to play major roles in the game: Niccolo Machiavelli, Lorenzo de Medici, and, very likely Leonardo, though the information only makes mention of his workshop being in the game.

Sounds pretty good to me, but I'm one of those weirdos who enjoyed the first one with few qualms. My only concern so far is the new character design. A bit too, uh, flowery? I guess he is Italian, though.

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"Hello I'm an assassin, and in order to make sure no one notices I'm going to dress like a gigilo, and have a massive neo sign sticking out my back saying 'Sssh I'j an assassine'."

bodyklok:
"Hello I'm an assassin, and in order to make sure no one notices I'm going to dress like a gigilo, and have a massive neo sign sticking out my back saying 'Sssh I'j an assassine'."

True, but you have to admit he looks pretty badass. And it's not like Altair ever really blended in. Plus "The Soldiers will be looking for the Man in white." I always wondered why Altair just didn't, ya' know, wear a different color after that.

Does anybody else think Ezio has some serious spirit fingers going on? In fact, there's something about his whole getup that just screams figure skater to me.

No more Altair? :(

How is he going to hold all those weapons? He better not just pull them out of nowhere.

Mstrswrd:

bodyklok:
"Hello I'm an assassin, and in order to make sure no one notices I'm going to dress like a gigilo, and have a massive neo sign sticking out my back saying 'Sssh I'j an assassine'."

True, but you have to admit he looks pretty badass.

Well I suppose he looks pretty cool.

Sounds pretty exciting. I didn't mind the repetitiveness of the first one too much. But getting rid of some of the grinding will most likely be a good thing. By the end of the first game I was trying to get through them as fast as possible to get to the story parts.

Gameplay changes sound like good things, but they better provide some damn resolution to the story of the first one. I can't remember being so pissed off at the end of a game as I was with AC 1.

I dunno, man, I actualy think he looks pretty badass.
Like a terrible assassin, but definately badass.

Mmm. He can glide.
That'll be inconspicuous.
A man gliding over the city.

im just happy his sword isnt in clear view this time

so its the steampunk version of Altair...
sweet!

This sounds pretty cool. I'm just glad those stupid pickpocket missions are gone.

Lord_Ascendant:
so its the steampunk version of Altair...
sweet!

I was hesitant until this thought clicked into my head.
Now I think I need a cold shower.

Sweet. Swimming! That was the dumbest thing about the first one for me--that you died instantly if a toe touched the water (and in some parts there was a lot of water around). Overall I think AC was awesome and I'm really looking forward to this one. Hope they keep the combat like they had it before: even bosses are human and if you hit them the right way it only takes one or at the most two hits to kill them, and combat is more about counterattacks than button mashing.

Eavesdropping was an exposition type of mission--wonder what they're replacing it with. And I didn't mind pickpocketing that much... maybe I was good at it? [shrug]

I really liked the first game, having barely any complaints about it. This sounds even better. I really hope they pull this off.

laryri:
How is he going to hold all those weapons? He better not just pull them out of nowhere.

ya all ways hate that in the game *hey nice pistol (1 sec later) wtf! where id the rocket launcher come from?*
gotta love magic pockets

bodyklok:
"Hello I'm an assassin, and in order to make sure no one notices I'm going to dress like a gigilo, and have a massive neo sign sticking out my back saying 'Sssh I'j an assassine'."

True, as cool as it looks, I really don't see him blending in with civilians unless almost everybody else in the game dresses in a similar fashion which would make for a very umm... interesting game.

The news about swimming is good though, but hopefully it won't be as sluggish and boring as every other game out there.

ryai458:

laryri:
How is he going to hold all those weapons? He better not just pull them out of nowhere.

ya all ways hate that in the game *hey nice pistol (1 sec later) wtf! where id the rocket launcher come from?*
gotta love magic pockets

"Get your timelord-science-coats here!!"

That costume is unforgivable. Liberace would blush.

Keane Ng:
Assassin's Creed 2 Details Revealed

In any case, he's got quite the arsenal to do the job: mechanized wrist blades (as seen in the teaser), as well as an axe, hammer, mace, spear, swords, a "spear axe" and some "smaller blades."

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A Spear axe?

Do they think Halberds dont exist and they have just created some new awesome weapon hybrid?

I swear to god if there's some Da Vinci glider stuff going on, I will lose my mind.

I'd like to see more focus on the actual stealthy assassination aspects too. Like attending a masquerade ball, dancing with the aristocrats, twirling to work my way towards a target; kill her, dump her in some guys arms, and off I go.

Lots of potential :) Lets hope they can pull it off.

I hope they have you assassinate Da Vinci instead of just talking to him or something lame like that.

tendo82:
Does anybody else think Ezio has some serious spirit fingers going on? In fact, there's something about his whole getup that just screams figure skater to me.

agreed

I don't see the problem with the clothes, didn't (rich) people wear such flamboyant clothes during the time? Anyway, if he doesn't end up sticking out of the crowd like a black sheep(hehe, joke) then the clothes are great IMO. Also, greater mobility(contrary to the battle-tank stiff Altair?), more weapons and more choices while fighting and during overall gameplay sounds great. Let's just hope the story gets continued in a good way as well(grr at a new cliffhanger-ending)

tendo82:
Does anybody else think Ezio has some serious spirit fingers going on? In fact, there's something about his whole getup that just screams figure skater to me.

Honestly i expect, from that pose hes striking, to just drop his shirt and start river dancing.

i had just beaten AC yesterday, sorry i'm late to the party, i htoguht the gameplay was good, but the whole "eavesdropping/pickpicket" thing was kinda boring after a while, but i'm excited about this new Ezio character, i just hope he is going to be a part of the guild and follow the creed, instead of just going rouge.

xmetatr0nx:
Honestly i expect, from that pose hes striking, to just drop his shirt and start river dancing.

Okay, that was funny as hell. Maybe they modeled him after a Michael Flatley? Assassin's Creed 2 = Lord of the Dance?

tendo82:

xmetatr0nx:
Honestly i expect, from that pose hes striking, to just drop his shirt and start river dancing.

Okay, that was funny as hell. Maybe they modeled him after a Michael Flatley? Assassin's Creed 2 = Lord of the Dance?

lol! Well i guess the game would have him start as just a back up dancer for Mr. Flatley, the ultimate goal of the game would be to become Lord of the Dance, then you unlock the alternate shirtless costume. The final battle would be the most intense dance off in the histry of games where the aprentice takes on the master. brilliant.

xmetatr0nx:

tendo82:

xmetatr0nx:
Honestly i expect, from that pose hes striking, to just drop his shirt and start river dancing.

Okay, that was funny as hell. Maybe they modeled him after a Michael Flatley? Assassin's Creed 2 = Lord of the Dance?

lol! Well i guess the game would have him start as just a back up dancer for Mr. Flatley, the ultimate goal of the game would be to become Lord of the Dance, then you unlock the alternate shirtless costume. The final battle would be the most intense dance off in the histry of games where the aprentice takes on the master. brilliant.

Quite nice, although I think Ezio would use his dancing skills to get information by courting women. A kinda Casanova-ish approach to spying on targets:)

Glerken:
Mmm. He can glide.
That'll be inconspicuous.
A man gliding over the city.

Yeah, inconspicuos. Inconspicuos like Batman! Provided he does it mostly at night. And stops wearing so much white.

It's good to hear that they're removing some of the unnecessary boring stuff, but what they really need to do is make enemy guards a lot harder to kill but less agile, to actually encourage the stealth and movement aspects of the game.

Is it a bird?
Is it a plan?
No its a motherfucking badass Italian assassin with blades for hands swooping down to own you!

Damm, i want this game now!

So indescribably awesome! Italy during the Renaissance, couldn't wish for a better setting. And addressing repetition issues, man, I just cannot wait! I always said this was along with Mirror's Edge the one sequel I really wanted to see!