It’s not very often you get invited to travel halfway across the world to go hands on with the near final build of one of the upcoming AAA titles of the year, but that is what happened last week as we headed into Ubisoft Montreal to get to grips with Assassin’s Creed 2. Unlike our hands on preview from earlier on in the year where we were thrown into the deep-end – about 10-12 hours into the game –  this time we were duking it out with Ezio and his emotional baggage right from the start.

The very beginning of Assassin’s Creed 2 picks up pretty much where the original left off, with Desmond basically trapped in Abstergo. Your first encounter in the game begins with the now-freaky-looking Lucy Stillman, who despite looking a touch more lifelike and realistic, has some freaky Botox/Joker thing going on with her lips. She’ll persuade you to re-enter the Animus for a short amount of time to access Desmond’s ancestor, Ezio, and his days as a new born baby. This short scene is designed to teach you the basics of how the controls work. Admittedly, it’s a little bit cheesy, but quite a clever and rather effective method of delivery.

After escaping Abstergo, into the Animus you’ll  go, like a happy chappy and more than willing this time. Throughout the first hour or so of your game, you’ll jump into the shoes of a young Ezio, a cheeky son-of-a-bitch with a passion for women and one-liners. I must say I found him a hell of a lot more likeable than the cold, calculated and arrogant Altair from original title who I never really felt a connection with at all. Ezio on the other hand, I couldn’t help but like him, and he definitely gives the game a more humorous and engaging edge that I found the original lacked somewhat. Unlike its predecessor, you’ll spend the game building Ezio up from a young man in everyday clothing, to a fully fledged assassin.  This time you aren’t teased with the full capabilities of the master assassin before having them yanked away from you; Ezio is a young man not an assassin, pure and simple. As a result, you can’t do any of the fancy assassin moves yet, hell no, you need to be backed into a corner through some tragic events, be told a few home truths and then learn them like any new assassin would. Obviously, this makes for a slow start, but if you stick with it, the action picks up ten-fold along the way.

The stronghold you say? Let me explain. The stronghold in the game is Ezio’s villa and its surrounding village, which can be found in the run down area of Monteriggoni. It will be about 2 hours into the game before you head here and meet one of your allies – who is introduced with a classic video game easter egg, something that seems to be present throughout. This is pretty much your base of operations. Your central hub. Throughout the game you’ll have the ability to come here, buy weapons and repair them in the village (you can do this in any of the cities too) and upgrade it to represent your growing stature as an aspiring assassin.

The cities we actually got chance to experience were a joy although a little bit trickier to traverse than the original due to the wider streets and the slanted rooftops. The fantastic recreation of the renaissance period flows throughout the street of Florence, from everything like the crowds of NPCs that seem more alive and distinctive to those in the original, to the beautifully sculptured landmarks. Obviously everything is a lot bigger than the original in terms of height, so that allows you to unleash your inner parkour a bit more often.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is shaping up to be one of the best games of the year without a shadow of a doubt. Having played a good 3 hours of the adventure from the beginning, it was impressive to see how the Ubisoft Montreal team have really created this free flowing, organic experience. The fact that I never repeated a mission type in this segment of the game is a testament to the game’s new mission structure and delivery. There is plenty of scope to step off the yellow brick road if you should so choose, but after having only seen a fraction of the story – and not even trying everything that the game has to offer, it’s plain to see that repetition is a thing of the past. Forget what you know about the original’s often predictable structure, you never know what’s coming round the next corner here. Unless the Ubisoft Montreal team have done something seriously wrong in the latter parts of the game, there is no reason why this game can’t be pushing for that coveted title of Game of the Year. Bold words I know, but I’d bet my camel on it.

Check back later on this week and next to see how we got on when we locked horns with the development team on everything Assassin’s Creed. I mean everything!