Most of my reviews will probably be considerably shorter, but I like to be as informative as possible and keep even the casual gamer in the loop. For a high-profile sequel such as Assassin’s Creed II, that means quickly going over the original, the special editions and the downloadable content, so the run-time piles up.

Still, some bits are edited out, believe it or not. For example, I really wanted to debate whether “Assassins” is an accurate name for our hero’s group. They are vigilantes, sure, they take the law into their own hands, but assassins?

When I think of an assassin, pop culture makes me picture someone you’d hire to sneakily & efficiently terminate an enemy.

In Assassin’s Creed the self-proclaimed Assassins usually kill out of their own volition, to protect their beliefs, and they go about it using the most extravagant methods possible. There is no poisoned food or drinks, there are no “accidents” or staged suicides.

You might argue that you can play it very sneaky if you want, but the gameplay clearly regards complete stealth as a secondary matter. Besides, even in the short movie, Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, Giovanni reveals himself early in order to have time to make his little speech first. The bad guys of the AC universe actually prove much more assassin-like in their ways.

Now, I’m fine with fiction breaking stereotypes, but I’d like some acknowledgment that the writers do realize that if an average person met an assassin, they wouldn’t curiously look at their ring finger and assume they’re looking for Templars to kill.

That would be like having something as strikingly unconventional as vampires that sparkle in the sunlight or werewolves that are unaffected by the moon, yet every supposedly normal person in your universe acts all nonchalant about it. That would drive me crazy.

Even though I did like the original and had high hopes for this one, Ubisoft still managed to surprise me positively with Assassin’s Creed II. More insight when the video review goes live, hopefully by the end of the week!

Assassin’s Creed was a very divisive game that you could love as easily as you could hate and it was apparent which way the experience would go for you within the first hour of gameplay. I belonged to the former group and quite liked it… even though I vividly remember the ending making me furious.

The original Prince of Persia is one of the first games I vividly remember playing, way back, in the years of the Amiga. The platforming action, the sword-fighting, the seminal tale of saving the princess in the last minute, these were all great elements, but it was the smooth animation that made it unforgettable. It really was something else.

Incredibly, the series went on to revolutionize platforming yet again, when most people had written it off, with Sands of Time and its “Time Rewind” feature. The latest, “next-gen”, Prince of Persia played it a bit safe but I have a feeling that the series will someday present us with more genre-defining features that will make us wonder how we ever played games without ‘em.

Ubisoft is a publisher I’m really getting mixed feelings about. It has released some of my absolute favourite games, but it also frequently rushes its releases and exploits franchises to no end.

I really want to love the company behind the revival of Prince of Persia, but they almost ruined it with Warrior Within. Assassin’s Creed was a good concept that needed just a little extra polish to become an instant classic. And of course, they’ve pretty much milked everything Rayman-related dry, including the Rabbids series that could have remained something special, if only they weren’t so desperately trying to release them yearly.