Assassin's Creed II

Preview - Enter Ezio, stage right

Third-person action-adventure games are going through their own mini-renaissance this year, no doubt pleasing those with a taste for jumping, shooting and searching. The likes of Resident Evil 5, Red Faction: Guerrilla and Batman: Arkham Asylum have all managed to find a niche among their potential audience, offering experiences that are genuinely different enough from each other to justify playing all three - and with the likes of Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 on the horizon, the third-person barrage looks set to continue unabated.

With such high-profile competition breathing down its neck, Assassin's Creed II is under pressure not only to provide a satisfactory second act to the trilogy but also to make sure it doesn't get lost in the controlled carnage commonly known as the Christmas release period. Having been lucky enough to get the opportunity to sit down with a small-portion of the game prior to the uncontrolled carnage of the Tokyo Game Show, we thought it would only be right to let you in on what we saw.

The mission we got our hands on takes place in Venice, somewhere towards the middle of the game (so we're told), and involves Ezio (that's you) assassinating a castle-dwelling target known as Emilio at the request of a guy named Antonio, the head of a thieves guild operating throughout the city. Your immediate goal however, is to locate Antonio's hideout among the densely packed, fire marshal's nightmare that is renaissance-era Venice.

To do so you need to 'synchronise' with your environment, in exactly the same way as in the original; climb up the tallest structures in the city, perch on the end of the wooden plank jutting out from the brick work and hit the button to highlight key locations on your mini-map/radar. This is also a great time to admire the quality of the visuals, which are altogether darker and moodier than the first game, the dimly-lit, narrow passages between brickwork buildings standing in stark contrast to the sun baked, sand blasted biblical locations of Altair's adventures. The team has obviously put in a lot of effort making sure the details are perfect, the flickering of lights, casting of shadows and the incredible draw distance all rendered to an impressive degree - despite the constant reminders from our hosts that we're playing a preview build and some things still need some work.

With synchronisation complete, it's time to find Antonio. It's only a short trip to his hideout but you have a number of travel options at your disposal. You can shuffle quietly along the streets amongst the crowds of civilians, soldiers and ladies of the night, quickly make your way up and along the rooftops while being careful to avoid the attention of the bow and arrow wielding guards that patrol along them or even swim through the canals upon which the city is built. Swimming is an entirely new feature and a great way to evade pursuing guards; Ezio can hold his breath for a short time, allowing you to duck under water and head for cover (a nearby boat or low bridge should do) until the guards get bored and move on.

If you decide to walk through the streets you have the option of blending in amongst small groups of people, in an attempt to pass by suspicious guards without drawing attention to yourself. To do so you need only walk at their pace, making sure to stay within the highlighted area that appears around them as you approach. While Altair had the ability to pull off a similar trick whenever you saw a group of monks wandering around in the first game, the ability to use it almost as often as you like should provide an extra layer of freedom when it comes to traversing the city or getting close to potential targets.

Upon reaching Antonio's hideout we're treated to a short cut-scene in which he explains that the only way to get to Emilio is by breaking into his heavily guarded castle and quietly eliminating him inside. First however, we need to take out the archers guarding the outskirts of his less-than humble abode so we can safely do the Spider-Man thing and climb up the walls without taking one in the back of the neck. You really have no choice other than to head up onto the rooftops to dispose of the archers, but once up there you're free to do swerve up an unhealthy does of death in whatever manner you choose. Personally, I prefer the quick and quiet route of sneaking up behind each one and either planting the hidden wrist knives into their back, or simply grabbing them and throwing them to the cobbled streets below. If you decide to take the brazen option of marching straight up to them, sword drawn, then you better act first as they start shooting long before you reach them, the arrows visibly embedding themselves in Ezio's armour.

Archers killed; time to move onto the main event. The castle in which your target, Emilio, resides is guarded by a troop of soldiers at each entrance, each troop accompanied by a man-mountain of a knight kitted out in some very fancy looking armour. Making the mistake of drawing their attention towards you results in a fight in which you are significantly outnumbered - the best recourse being to turn and flee up the side of a building (or into a canal) until your radar stops flashing, signalling you're no longer being hunted. The wagons overflowing with straw that you could use to hide in the original are back, but the guards seem to take a little more interest in them thistime around; the one time I used it as a hiding place I was quickly discovered, despite not being seen climbing in.

If you do find yourself in a real brawl the best tactic is to use the counter and dodge moves to give yourself a positional advantage over your foe, allowing you to put them to rest with a single decisive blow (some of which are pretty out there in terms of the violence on display). The knights are much more difficult to defeat than your average drone, which is where the new disarm ability comes in useful. Time it right and you can take an opponent's weapon for yourself, giving you the use of axes, two-handed hammers and long broad swords; all of which can be purchased from a shop, but that costs money. Each have different attributes in terms of their potential to inflict damage and the speed at which they can be swung, so you'll probably end up focusing in on a few favourites that fit with your playing style.

Guards either evaded or killed, it's time to enter the castle itself, which is just a simple matter of scaling one of the outer walls. The castle is fairly high so its important to not get too casual as you make your way up, as the fall will deplete a good chunk of your health bar. If you do fall off, and if your reactions are slick enough, you can hit the 'B' button on the 360 pad (presumably it'll be mapped to circle on the PlayStation) causing Ezio to flail his arms around in a desperate attempt to snatch hold of any ledge he can find. It's a nice addition that comes in very handy when soldiers start throwing stones at you in an effort to cause you to lose your balance and break your back on the ground below.

Once inside Emilio's domain it's a simple matter of avoiding a few guards, sneaking up behind him and sticking a knife in his back. We then found ourselves holding Emilio in our arms as he died, telling you how he spent his whole life trying to do good for the people. Just where his story, and that of Antonio, fits within the bigger picture is unknown at this point but the fact that you've just killed a man who believes he was one of the good guys is interesting enough to cultivate a little curiosity.

Despite the segment we played only lasting around half an hour it's clear that Assassin's Creed II is sticking fairly close to the mantra that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. The changes are small, but seem to go a long way to ridding the game of many of the criticism levelled at the original. We were assured, although not shown, that missions have a much greater diversity this time around, not simply confined to pick pocketing, eavesdropping and assassinating. Whatever those mission types are will have to wait for another day, but as it stands Assassin's Creed II is looking every bit the blockbuster title its budget dictates that it is.