14 DAY TRIAL // Assassin's Creed was one of 2007's most interesting titles, telling the story of master Assassin Altair, a man who single-handedly shaped how the 1100s Crusades were fought and for whom nothing could stand in the way. That is, except water, as, when Altair fell in it, he would immediately drown, prompting up the loading screen to appear.
This made quite a lot of fans angry, as Altair could easily kill almost anyone, could execute death-defying jumps, could climb up on almost any surface, yet a small patch of water was fatal to him. Luckily, the team at Ubisoft has decided to listen to fans, and, in the upcoming sequel the new assassin, Ezio, will be able to swim around Venice.
Here's what the game's lead designer, Patrick Plourde, had to say about the decission: “We listened to the feedback of the players who were pretty vocal that the fact that Altair couldn't swim wasn't feeling right for a master Assassin – they were right. Also our new setting which included Venice has a much stronger need to interact with water. So that explains why swimming wasn't in Assassin's Creed but is in Assassin's Creed II.”
Plourde revealed that, for the first game, including a swimming mechanic just wasn't feasible, as water was only featured in one mission, set in a harbor, where Altair needed to jump on top of pillars in order to avoid it. This time around though, as Venice is filled with water in Assassin's Creed 2, things needed to change, as Ezio wouldn't have been a natural around the city if he couldn't swim or if the slightest contact with the substance killed him.
Do you still think that the first game should have included a swimming mechanic or would it have made less of a difference for the majority of gamers? Leave us a comment on this subject.