What? Continuation of the main cultural-attractions parkour.
Where ? Italy of the late XV century.
Through the efforts of Dan Brown and individual workers of the game industry, the artistic and cultural value of the Renaissance was devalued by the most shameless way. Today it is difficult to imagine more non -original and wiped scenery: dilapidated folios, Da Vinci drawings, a mandatory “Vitruvian man” in the background – other signs you can probably list yourself.
At the same time, these were one of the most amazing, revolutionary and fascinating two hundred years in the vile history of mankind. As the producer says Assassin’s Creed 2 , Sebastian Puel, “at a certain time and in a very defined place, a small group of geniuses gathered and radically changed everything. They actually created a picture of the world as we see it today. A world where there is not a god in the center, but a person. They invented a new way to look at this world – the prospect was opened. They changed politics, architecture, came up with ways of conducting a modern war, invented diplomacy. In the end, they invented a modern banking system! Imagine how it happened that at one time and in one place were Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, the Medici family?".
Ubisoft Montreal , The main creators of interactive excursions on the key moments of human history, of course, have been late with their sequel. Assassin’s Creed 2 – expensive, baroque, in some places a grand production, the scenery of which, unfortunately, was pulled on monograms and textures much less talented, but agile authors. This, however, is not a reason to ignore, perhaps, the most serious game statement on the topic of the Renaissance.
Assassin’s Creed sequel is made with endless respect for the Renaissance. Telavs of photographs were shot, each lane of Florence and Venice was studied, detailed topographic cards of Tuscany of the 15th century were compiled. Several allergies have been earned during the study of dusty archives. Professor of the history of the University of Notre Dame was involved in the work on the game. Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci (as a talented supplier) are debuted as NPC). Judging by the hour that we spent in a stuffy room with a working beta version, Assassin’s Creed 2 will become the largest reconstruction of the most beautiful and historically important era. But, which is much more important, it will be a very interesting game.
Mona Lisa's smile
In the context of Assassin’s Creed written below, you can consider as a workpiece, the prologue to the second part. There were technology, parkour, animation, grandiose plan, finally. But with the actual game, things were sad. The notorious Procrustean bed, where the designers have laid all nine missions today is a reason for jokes and swearing shouts addressed to Ubisoft Montreal (which completely does not diminish their cultural achievements).
As we have already reported in our report with E3, in Assassin’s Creed 2 everything will be different. Having played at the technological revolutionaries, the authors finally took up the gameplay and actually rebuilt a new game on the finished foundation. What we knew about the second part when we entered the room, where there was an inconspicuous gray Xbox 360 with a game running on it? We knew that the structure of the missions is now absolutely different: the headerer would take out the wounded comrades and soar on the aircraft of da Vinci over Venice during a carnival. They knew that the mandatory and identical tasks of the type “Stole information” and “climb 10 towers” would no longer be. But here's how the new Assassin’s Creed 2 plays – no one had this information.
The answer may seem strange, but Ubisoft Montreal makes the game … more schematic. If the first part was a kind of Sandbox-abstraction, the authors of which tried to inspire the illusion of complete freedom with you, then in the sequel the indicated illusion is absent at all. The world Assassin’s Creed 2 is divided into understandable blocks, the elements from which the game is folded.
That is, for example, a crowd. People are carefully sorted by gamemeraduers to groups, to each of which, if you wish, you can join and hide in it: the game will immediately highlight the area in which you need to be not noticed so that the guard does not notice you (it works if the portrait of the chiefhero does not flaunt This moment on each Venetian pillar marked "is wanted"). You can really hide everywhere, and not just in a company with shuffling monks.
Or money. Ezio (the full name, reminds, sounds like this: Ezio Audience de la Firence) at any time can scatter under his feet under the feet of a copper, and a crowd will run away immediately-it helps a lot when half-Italia rushes for you on the heels. About money in general, a separate conversation. A full-fledged trade and money system will appear in Assassin’s Creed 2: gold can be stealing and earned by execution of third-party quests. The currency, in turn, is spent on the acquisition of poisons (about them a little lower), the payment of treatment (health is now restored by the doctor in strictly designated places), the upgrade of weapons (the double blades in the sleeve in the sleeve are not just like that) and the armor mentioned in our past) and armor) and armor (here the authors suddenly turn on RPG: you can separately purchase shields, shoulder stoutriers, knee pads, etc.p.). But what is much more interesting: you need money to establish diplomatic relations. There are three main fractions in Assassin’s Creed 2: thieves, mercenaries and courtesans. With the first two, everything, in general, is clear. But on courtesans, of course, I want to focus on attention. Having paid a certain amount, Ezio sends a detachment of ladies in corsets and garters on, say, nothing suspecting the guard: she immediately blurred in a carnivorous grin, and we, laughing gloomily, are seeding at this moment behind their assassin affairs.
Finally, in order to make missions more spectacular, Ubisoft Montreal made a rather unpopular decision – the conditions for their implementation appeared. To demonstrate new, “directed” tasks, the producer takes me a gamepad and loads the location. The task is to kill the target without using the weapon. For this, Ezio passes by one of the guards and imperceptibly hits him an ampoule with poison. At first, it seems that nothing happens, but the guard loses its balance, then grabs the giant ax and begins to wave it in hysteria from side to side. By decapitating a couple of surrounding merchants of seeds and one postal pigeon, the guard imprints Yummy Wins Casino the blade into nothing unmistenting owner. Blood, screams, curtain.
Portrait in the interior
Short guide for NPC Assassin’s Creed 2
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519)
Artist, scientist, sculptor and writer. It is considered the inventor of a parachute, tank and helicopter. Author of "Dzhokonda" and "Secret Party". The game will play the role of Q from Bondiana: its task is to supply with Ezio with dramatic gadgets, including the prototype of the aircraft and a miniature gun. In the game we will visit his workshop.
Niccolo Machiavelli
(1469-1527)
According to the plot, this philosopher should become a kind of mentor of Ezio. It is difficult to find a more suitable character for such a role. The word "Machiavellism", which initially designated Machiavelli's teaching about politics (treatise "Sovereign"), became somewhat insulting. "End justifies the means"; "Strength is more important than morality" – for computer games, these theses are by no means new.
Katerina Sforza
(1463-1509)
One of the most famous women in the Italian Renaissance. During the next confrontation of warring families (Sforza and Orsy), her children were taken hostage. In exchange for their lives, opponents demanded from Katerina the surrender of the besieged fortress. Instead, she lifted the hem of the skirt, demonstrating the invaders that she was expecting a child, and shouted that, if necessary, she also gives rise to. The embarrassed Orsy retreated.
Lorenzo Medici
(1449-1492)
Cultural figure, patron saint of science and arts. Being a large philanthropist, Medici gathered leading representatives of the Renaissance at his court: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello and Botticelli. The game will collect the most famous figures of the Renaissance policy. One thing is incomprehensible: as Cesare Borgia (whose name became the common synonym for intrigue) was not in this list)? We will not be surprised if later Ubisoft announces it.
Venetian plaster
As a result, from an abstract and rather ephemeral game to the second part of Assassin’s Creed, it has turned into an understandable, well -predicted action with RPG elements. This could be calculated by gamedic suicide: having signed in the inability to create a normal Sandbox, Ubisoft Montreal, without thinking twice, built a high -tech version Gothic. But then a parkour appears.
When the Ezio Spiderman takes off the facade of the Santa Maria del Fjor cathedral, when it rushes through the dark Venetian lanes (part of the missions passes at night), this game can be forgiven, including its schematic. Parkour is the main attraction of Assassin’s Creed, and he, of course, did not go away. You can still climb into some key building of the 15th century in a second and cast a panorama with an eagle gaze, for which many pay several thousand euros.
The authors were decorated literally with two strokes. Firstly, if Ezio does not reach the beam that is above it, you can jump up and try to grab it in flight. Secondly,-and this is a much more important point-a U-turn of 90 degrees appeared in Parkur. When Ezio jumps on a chandelier or a suspended flowerbed on the run, he can change the direction in one motion and wrap, say, around the corner. Taking into account this trick, a lot of locations are designed in the game – be sure you will have to rotate regularly.
But the main news is that not only the General Hero is trained in similar acrobatic sketches. Assassin’s Creed 2 will appear enemies. And here the sequel unexpectedly drops all historical reliability and turns into Mirror’s Edge from a third -person in the decorations of Europe of the 15th century. Ezio jumps on flower beds and facades, roofs, tables, facades and someone's heads fly under his feet, and at that moment the gloomy attachment of the pursuers is heard at that moment. And vice versa: with enviable regularity, you will rush for some particularly jumping opponent who climbs the facades no worse than the Assassins and Peter Parker.
Chases and persecution is now an important part of Assassin’s Creed: the authors threaten some kind of dramatic episode, where Ezio has to control the wagon with horses, which, like ants, the guards jump from the surrounding walls.
Sands of time
“I have not made a single“ Prince of Persia ”since The Sands of Time!" – complains the creative director of Assassin’s Creed 2 Patrice desile. And then he adds: “Therefore, I came up with a catacomb for the sequel!»Catacombs are something like a secret location, only the size of a small underground city. Such "Metro-2" named after Leonardo da Vinci. They exist at each level, and in order to find them, you will have to in the most detailed way to explore the settlements. This is especially true for inconspicuous gateway and suspicious dead ends.
When Ezio, under the leadership, Patris suddenly pulled by the nose of the gypsum lion, whose head stuck out of the usual wall expressively, he suddenly broke up into thousands of gears, drunk something and turned into a door handle. Secret meetings of the Templars take place inside the catacombs, there you can stumble upon a secondary mission, find some outstanding treasures, but most importantly, in the Assassin’s Creed 2 catacombs, it turns into a natural Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. A giant series of columns that go into an endless abyss. Some kind of intricate structure of rings and beams, installed in the very unsuitable place for this place. Catacombs are an ideal way to forget about all political intrigues, clans, families, assassins and, having rejected the time six years ago, remember what a wonderful game was not closed by any cultural allusions.
Tools
Short guide to Assassin’s Creed 2
The weapon in the game is divided into four types: swords, daggers, crushing (pins and hammers) and two -handed (axes). Within the framework of this gradation, there is a simple balance of the type “stone, scissors, paper”: peaks and axes, for example, cannot be blocked by daggers and swords. For each weapon there is a unique set of techniques and attacks, so Ezio will have to change tactics on the go, depending on what is in his hands and what opponents squeeze in his palms.
And of course, throwing weapons. Firstly, you can still accurately plant a dagger in the back of the head. The difference is that one abandoned knife will not be enough: it will take at least two. This was done because in Assassin’s Creed 2 with throwing daggers is not limited. In addition to them, there will be also a hand gun (!) and smoke bomb. Pocket pistol has only six charges, each of which kills the enemy from the first shot. But the cartridges, of course, will not work to pick up from someone's cold corpse. In addition, we are dealing with the first firearms: it raises a lot of noise and is wildly recharge for a long time.
Cartridges, poison, bombs and other spare parts for your deadly arsenal are purchased at specialized retail outlets throughout the city. Owners of Leonardo cards – discounts!
* * *
In general, if you try to smoke everything that Ubisoft Montreal was screwed to the second part, it comes out, to put it mildly, a lot. A clear upgrade system. Trade and money relations. Firearms. Giant underground catacombs. Enemies-parking workers. And this is not counting da Vinci – supplier! As they write in the friendly "gaming of light", the formula of the game comes out: 30% Mirror’s Edge + 30% Hitman + 30% Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Well, 10% Assassin’s Creed, of course.
P.S. By the way, about "Light Gambling". While these lines are written, George Kurgan is already packing suitcases, reads the Italian phrasebook and for the third day in a row is trying to order our secretary “Uno Coffee, Signora!"(Meets misunderstanding). Simply put, George goes to Florence, where Assassin’s Creed 2 will pass the “gambling” of the first in the world almost in the field: comparing virtual and real architectures and dodging the merry gondoliers. Assassin’s Creed 2 console version can be read in one of the closest issues of Light, and PC players will have to wait until 2010. We, in general, do not get used to.