Ubisoft: ACII Is "Very Different" From The Competition

Assassin's Creed II

You can't expect Assassin's Creed II to sell as many copies as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which launched during the same week. But at the same time, Ubisoft's excellent sequel continues to sell well and both gamers and critics alike have embraced it.

During a recent VG247 interview with ACII scriptwriter Corey May and producer Sebastian Puel, they talk about the perceived slowness of the storyline's beginning, as well as how hard they worked to make the sequel significantly better than the original. When asked how they feel about the widespread acclaim and praise, May said it felt like a "twelve" on a scale of 1-10 but at the same time, they have to start thinking about the dreaded "what now?" question. Interestingly, when asked about the criticism leveled at the start of the plot, where the player actually sees Ezio being born and doesn't really get into the story for quite some time, May had this to say:

"I think it was necessary to spend time with Ezio as a carefree adolescent, unaware of his heritage. And it needed to be more than a token five minutes. So in that sense I disagree. But I fully admit that we could have refined the sequence so that it either moved faster or provided the player with more action-oriented activities. This would have likely made a big difference. But at the end of the day I think the idea of the beginning of the game is important. So, if I could do it again I’d try and 'sharpen' it but I wouldn’t cut it. Ezio’s origins are an integral part of his adventure."

In terms of the stiff competition ACII faced, Puel believes the game simply offers something entirely fresh and new in comparison to other titles currently available. He says that the "non-linear, open-ended" feature sets it apart, and the "systemic gameplay and vast playground" effectively separates it from the likes of Modern Warfare 2. As far as the narrative, Puel simply says, "like everything else in the game," they wanted to "address and modify what people didn't enjoy in AC1 and amp up what they did." He goes on to say they wanted the protagonist to have more of a personality - and Ezio is certainly more of a "face" than Altair - and he makes a few more interesting comments, too. The entire interview is worth a read but it only verifies what I've been saying all along: ACII is a relatively unique experience that will offer something entirely different in relation to MW2.

12/7/2009 9:31:35 PM Ben Dutka

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