Just got the game (PS3 version) and I thought I'd share some first impressions about it (planning on writing a full review when I'm done with it). So yeah, about those first impressions: Amazing. They've expanded so much on the first game that it now feels more like a demo than an actual game. A list of the things that I found the most impressive:
-Beautiful graphics.
-Beautiful soundtrack.
-Huge variety of side missions to do and ways to earn money, which are needed to build up your character.
-Most of the characters are very well done.
-Very interesting story so far.
-Really fun and varied melee combat, punching someone, then grabbing him, head butting him, kicking his knees and then throwing him off a roof to his death never gets old.
-Impressive length and scope, I played about 8 hours and still haven't cleared the first city of several, mostly because it's so much fun just running around and discovering stuff.
-Stunning amount of detailed historical and fictional info on pretty much everything you come across. Virtually every small plaza and important building in the world has its own story which is recorded in your database, same goes with most characters. If you take the time to read those, not only does the world come to life but you learn so many cool things about the medieval times (I personally love that time period).
-I love the way your character progresses from a lowly pickpocketing bully to an unstoppable killing machine, for some reason the initial parts of the story reminded me a bit of the Robert De Niro parts of Godfather 2 (/bow).
Some bad things:
-Platforming doesn't feel as steady and controllable as in, for example, Infamous. Your character is a bit picky about things he can climb on and it's not always clear what those are.
-Character graphics look last gen and really poor compared to the awesome environment graphics. Or maybe that's just because of Uncharted 2 raising the bar so much...
-Excessive bloom is clearly used to cover for low view distance. Also, sometimes buildings get textured right before your eyes (rare but I saw it a couple of times). Frame rate is smooth though.
-The mix of English and Italian sounds meh. Go for full Italian imho.
-Some of the dialogue is pretty bad, other parts are awesome, there's a weird gap there sometimes.
-It refuses to run on 1080p for me although it says it supports it on the box...?
-The sound is too low, first time I've ever experienced this, I have to play the game at twice the volume I usually do in order to hear stuff (on a 5.1 system with optical connection). And then you unlock trophies and the sound is as normal and too loud (CLINGGGG!). Weird stuff.
So yeah, so far, verdict is if you even remotely enjoyed Assassin's Creed, the sequel will blow you away. Full review to follow soon hopefully.
-Beautiful graphics.
-Beautiful soundtrack.
-Huge variety of side missions to do and ways to earn money, which are needed to build up your character.
-Most of the characters are very well done.
-Very interesting story so far.
-Really fun and varied melee combat, punching someone, then grabbing him, head butting him, kicking his knees and then throwing him off a roof to his death never gets old.
-Impressive length and scope, I played about 8 hours and still haven't cleared the first city of several, mostly because it's so much fun just running around and discovering stuff.
-Stunning amount of detailed historical and fictional info on pretty much everything you come across. Virtually every small plaza and important building in the world has its own story which is recorded in your database, same goes with most characters. If you take the time to read those, not only does the world come to life but you learn so many cool things about the medieval times (I personally love that time period).
-I love the way your character progresses from a lowly pickpocketing bully to an unstoppable killing machine, for some reason the initial parts of the story reminded me a bit of the Robert De Niro parts of Godfather 2 (/bow).
Some bad things:
-Platforming doesn't feel as steady and controllable as in, for example, Infamous. Your character is a bit picky about things he can climb on and it's not always clear what those are.
-Character graphics look last gen and really poor compared to the awesome environment graphics. Or maybe that's just because of Uncharted 2 raising the bar so much...
-Excessive bloom is clearly used to cover for low view distance. Also, sometimes buildings get textured right before your eyes (rare but I saw it a couple of times). Frame rate is smooth though.
-The mix of English and Italian sounds meh. Go for full Italian imho.
-Some of the dialogue is pretty bad, other parts are awesome, there's a weird gap there sometimes.
-It refuses to run on 1080p for me although it says it supports it on the box...?
-The sound is too low, first time I've ever experienced this, I have to play the game at twice the volume I usually do in order to hear stuff (on a 5.1 system with optical connection). And then you unlock trophies and the sound is as normal and too loud (CLINGGGG!). Weird stuff.
So yeah, so far, verdict is if you even remotely enjoyed Assassin's Creed, the sequel will blow you away. Full review to follow soon hopefully.
