Want AC2!

I concur, can't wait for this one!

Yeah Assassins creed had a cinematic quality about it. I didn't know you were an AC fan. That game seemed to hit or miss for people. I rarely find people in between.

I like Ubisoft too... always such high production value in their games.

Before I got back into this generation's console(s), I was really eager to play Assassin's Creed. It was one of the first games I planned to get.
Then I started paying attention to reviews and general commentary on the game, and I got the impression that it really wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I never bothered to get it.

AC II looks promising, and the developers have made a point to stress the fact that they have addressed concerns brought up regarding the first game. I'm pay attention to it, but it is competing with a lot of other top titles.

I found AC to be repetitive in the same way that Mass Effect was repetitive... if you did all the side quests and ran all over the world looking for the collectibles... yeah... it was pretty much the same every where you went... and they didn't take full advantage of an open world with invisible walls and such for no reason.

But the story and the main quest line was pretty solid... and there is enough complexity with all the different worlds that they crafted a unique adventure. So I say it is a win in my book.

It was also one of the only games that people could sit and watch me play... it seemed cinematic in that regard with all the climbing... jumping... action battles... etc.

I'm with the fans on this one. I like the original, so I'm hoping I'll love the sequel. The repetitiveness, the major gripe of most, shouldn't be a problem in part II.

As a matter of fact, I just pre-ordered the Black Edition earlier today. I had already pre-ordered the White Edition since it was a free upgrade if you responded quickly and I didn't realize there was a Black one. I'll just have to undo that pre-order. :) It's a bit more expensive, so I thought about it for a few days, but I figured if I would end up loving the game, I'd be sorry if I didn't go for the whole experience.

The secret locations as explained in this video helped me decide on Black.

I liked Assassin's Creed in terms of combat, and I thought some of the story stuff was good, but there were some *very* flawed parts of the game.

The lab scenes were very boring and poorly designed, since they took you out of the action and left you to walk around a room and try to figure out what the heck the game designers wanted you to do.

The repetitive nature, the lack of telling you what you needed to do to complete the village so you could move on to the next one, and the lab scenes were what ruined the game for me. I didn't complete the game and sold it to Gamestop.

I'm hopeful that this new game will reflect the things they learned from AC and be a good game. Other wise I'm afraid I'll be disappointed again : /

yeah the lab was a pain in the butt!

I thought the lab scenes were cool. I sort of rushed through them -- I was a little bummed when I found out that there were some cool parts of the story hidden there. When I play AC2 I'll be paying better attention.

The lab scenes are slow, or more precisely, Desmond walks slowly after you've been running with Altaïr the entire time. It's somewhat annoying if you want to explore every corner of the lab, and when you do, you only discover there's usually nothing to interact with other than the Animus/Lucy, Vidic, and later the computers.

I did read everything I could, listened whenever possible, to learn more about the background story. This is basically optional, unless you want the associated Achievement. The only thing I think you really need to do is go to bed every evening, get up every morning, and that is pretty straightforward.

I thought it was easy enough to play through the different cities as well. Do enough of the side missions, or all of them if you want the whole (somewhat repetitive) experience (or the Achievement), and then assassinate your target using the clues you collected. The last part is the only part that can get a little tricky if you want to be completely stealthy until you draw blood, but you don't necessarily have to be.

Anyway, they really should have learned from the worst parts of the first game. They say they did, told/showed us numerous examples to illustrate that they did, so I expect AC II to be a fun game.

For those interested, there is another gameplay video showing a bit more of the new stuff.

What are the odds that you have a picture of Asheron's Call 2 and beside it you go "I want AC2" and you mean an Assassins Creed 2. Your comment almost produced a space/time rift. Be careful.