From a short hands-on, it’s tough to see how a couple of dozen hours of gameplay and story is going to sit when applied a collective whole. In the grand scheme, our shortish time with the game was a mere snapshot of Ezio Auditore da Firenze’s well-moneyed and luxuriously equipped frolic through renaissance Venice. But as snaps go… this one’s a keeper.

We’re firmly on the side of not kicking the original game’s teeth in. By now you’ll already know whether Assassin's Creed’s greatest shortcoming – that of tedious repetition – concerned you a lot, a little, or not at all. Speaking broadly of games in general, attending the first hands-on showing of any sequel is always a slightly tentative affair. Especially when said sequel follows a game so ultimately divisive. Our comfort levels largely rely on the answers to one pertinent question. Has the developer spent the last two years with its fingers in its ears, singing la-la to the wind, or has it instead systematically addressed every single criticism by way of improvement? In the case of Ubisoft’s treatment of this particular sequel, we’ll go firmly with the latter.

It takes a surprising amount of bravery to answer negative censure by simply fixing those elements that led it to a stiff dressing down from a significant number of gamers and critics. Doing so could be seen by some as an admission that the initial iteration wasn’t quite all the developer had hoped for. But despite a justified pride in what was certainly the prettiest and most original blockbuster IP of 2007, there is now an attitude toward its evolution that’s both admirable and humble. Gone entirely is the bombast, the hyperbole and the implied attitude that what’s being made is the most unfathomably amazing experience of your lifetime, and in its place the more realistic sense that what we have here is a very good game. No more, no less.

And that gives us cause to hope. As does the hour or so spent actually playing Assassin’s Creed II; a brief time, granted, but one in which we found it impractical to find fault. In short, because we were just having too much fun. Outfitting Ezio with variously sturdy and increasingly expensive weapons and armour has to be one of the most satisfying of experiences new to this sequel. It’s a shame we didn’t get to feel for ourselves the sense of achievement intrinsic to the game’s steady upgrade path, but with only an hour to play with, frittering it away building finances and browsing spaulders would hardly seem the most worthwhile way to get a thorough idea as to how it plays. So instead we begin our mission with vast sums of money in our evidently capacious pockets and supple metal plating freshly upholstering our lithe dandy hide. Which at least will protect us from our own noobish stabs at ham-fisted dexterity. To give you some idea of the economy of scale, post-mission we were awarded about a third of the cost of some top-level foot armour. But even with super-Ezio, starting an assassination 15 hours in without having stockpiled the necessary experience is going to be tough.

… continued