[Mr. claw]

I've got to say I'm actually pretty excited about this. The first one made me want to pound my face into a wall after the first run through, but it sounds like they've really expanded and improved on the original concept.

And Venice will be awesome. A short list of new things/abilities:

-You can SWIM! Thank God.

-Pick up weapons from fallen enemies

-Blend with any crowd, not just monks.

-There is a money system. You get money every time you do...anything. And you can buy all sorts of good stuff with it.

-There aren't any passive missions like eavesdropping and pickpocketing.

-There is no big empty "kingdom" space. What space exists between the cities has plenty of side missions, just like the cities.

-The hidden objects in this game are much more than just flags, and always yield immediate rewards for being found. Namely lots of money.

So yeah. But I'm still renting it first...

[Mr. claw]

A friend brought it over yesterday and I got to play for a good three hours.

It's better than the first in every way possible. Get it. Unless you completely hated the first in which case this won't change your mind.

I'm nowhere near finishing it yet but thus far I'm not sure why it didn't get a perfect score.

[slap_j]

The first one looked alright but all the complaints I read kept me from trying it out. But I'm seeing lots of raving over this game. I might have to give it a shot.

[Mr. claw]

The first is worth play through in my opinion. I enjoyed it. Plus if you go to a gamestop at the most you're paying twenty bucks if it's new and a few less if it's used.

And if you don't play the first, look up a plot synopsis or prepare to be confused.

And if you play the first....Do not bother with finding the flags. Do not. I did and it's so not worth it.

[slap_j]

Picked this up over Christmas. I'm in Sequence 7 right now. Taking a bit of a break from the story to do some of the side quests and find glyphs. It's definitely up there with the best games I played this year. I just may have to try the first Assassin's Creed as well. Like you said, it's a steal now.

I read that a lot of people don't like the combat system. I don't think it's that bad. The only thing I don't understand is, aside from improving the villa's value, why bother to upgrade your weapons? Unless you're assassinating someone I don't know why you wouldn't always want to be empty-handed during a fight. You can disarm and usually get an instant kill directly afterward. Maybe eventually you run across people you can't disarm? The only other thing that could've been improved is the controls for free running. Sometimes it's too easy to leap in the wrong direction and off a rooftop. It's especially annoying during the race missions (which I hate in most games anyway). Overall those are small complaints though.

[DaGeek]

I may have to pick this one up sometime. I enjoyed the first, but wouldn't buy it. I'll see if I can get ahold of this one.