Mon, Dec 07, 2009 | 17:07 GMT
Given chance, Assassin’s Creed II’s writer would “sharpen” game’s opening hours
The opening sections of Assassin’s Creed II may have benefited from more action, scriptwriter Corey May’s admitted, and given the luxury of reworking the game’s early hours he’d be looking to beef them up.
“If I could do it again I’d try and ‘sharpen’ it but I wouldn’t cut it,” said May, talking to VG247 in an interview published today. “Ezio’s origins are an integral part of his adventure.”
May said it was necessary for the player to spend time with Ezio as a “carefree adolescent, unaware of his heritage.”
He added: “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.”
The slower opening hours of Assassin’s Creed II are the most criticised of the game in general. Hasn’t stopped it being completely awesome, like, but there we are.
Hit the link for the full thing, including comments from producer Sebastien Puel.



5 comments
#1
SlayerGT
07/12/09, 5:17 pm
I didnt notice. I thought it was fine. But I will say it caught me off when you return to Leo and it was only then did I relise two years had passed while you were at the hideout. I must have missed something.
#2
Dr.Ghettoblaster
07/12/09, 5:32 pm
Agreed opening was a bit slow and weak compared to rest of game. I’d say the same about MW2′s campaign though as well.
#3
Gekidami
07/12/09, 5:58 pm
I didnt find the intro to long. Just poorly written.
#4
NiceFellow
07/12/09, 6:04 pm
It was fine in concept, it just needed sharper dialogue and a little more focus, but I hate this ‘rapid fire’ urgency to hurry things up anyway.
It’s all popcorn speed and no time for pacing. Slow down! But improve the writing.
#5
Bulk Slash
07/12/09, 7:30 pm
I really enjoyed the opening. Based on the reviews I was expecting a slow start anyway, but I felt it really helped make Ezio an interesting character and also set up a good back-story for why he does what he does.
In the first game I was probably more interested in Desmond’s story than Altair’s. But in AC2 I think I was actually more interested in Ezio’s story (not that the game gave you many chances to leave the Animus anyway).
In fact I liked Ezio so much I felt really bad for him when I finished the game. I don’t want to spoil anything, but after all that effort to find out the entire purpose of his life was to just stand there and listen and not get any answers was really harsh!